| |
December 2002
Volume 12
Welcome to the Wilderness Guardian, a monthly online digest
dedicated to providing up-to-date news and
information concerning Wilderness protection and stewardship nationwide.
A service of Wilderness Watch, the
Guardian was created to help Wilderness advocates keep abreast of
breaking news, as well as providing
contact information to facilitate public participation.
Interesting Tidbits & Wilderness Quotes:
Christmas Excess – Wilderness in the Pacific Northwest
is facing degradation from thousands of non-timber forest product
harvesters. Harvesters gather cones and boughs for Christmas wreaths,
a business that garners roughly $5 billion annually. Legal (the
Forest Service estimates that there are hundreds of illegal harvesters)
harvesters took more than 10,500 tons of pine, cedar and fir boughs
from federal and state forests in Oregon and Washington in 2001,
and more than 13,800 bushels of pine cones. (Associated Press, Gillian
Flaccus, 12/2/02)
Backing Down – British Petroleum (BP) has announced that
it will withdraw from the lobbying group working to open the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling due to concern over
its public image. The company will move to other grounds and return
"when and if the American people decide ANWR should be opened."
(New York Times, Neela Banerjee, Nov. 26, 2002)
Out of Bounds – In late November, the Bend Bulletin
reported that snowmobile trespass into the Three Sisters Wilderness
has already begun. Early snowfall has triggered an early snowmobile
season, and officials have noted tracks where they are forbidden.
(Wilderness trespassers can be cited and face up to six months in
jail and/or a $5,000 fine)
Quote:
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading
to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above
the clouds. - Edward Abbey
Contents:
Wilderness News Briefs provide short issue summaries and contact
information. Action Alerts are full-length, time-sensitive postings.
Wilderness News Briefs:
1. External Threat - Toxics drift into Wilderness (CA)
2. Forest Service plan has ATVs at on Wilderness doorstep (MT)
Action Alerts:
1. Comments needed for Guadalupe Mountains Wilderness, TX
*Wilderness News Briefs*
1. External Threat - Toxics drift into Wilderness (CA)
From Californians for Alternatives to Toxics:
Environmentalists filed suit recently against the Department of
Pesticide Regulation (DPR), alleging that the state agency failed
to reevaluate the registration of pesticides that are blown by air
from the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada. Growing evidence suggests
that this pesticide contamination has played a major role in the
drastic population declines of four Sierra amphibian species over
the last 25 years.
Populations of the red-legged frog, foothill yellow-legged frog,
mountain yellow-legged frog and Yosemite toad have each declined
precipitously in recent decades, often disappearing without any
explanation from high elevation, seemingly pristine habitats such
as Lake Tahoe or Yosemite National Park. Recent studies conducted
by the U.S. Geological Survey show evidence that frogs are being
exposed to organophosphate pesticides, including chlorpyrifos, malathion
and diazinon, in their Sierra habitats.
For More Information:
Californians for Alternatives To Toxics
315 P Street, Eureka CA 95501
phone: 707-445-5100
fax: 707-445-5151
www.alternatives2toxics.org
cats@alternatives2toxics.org
2. Forest Service plan has ATVs at on Wilderness doorstep (MT)
The Forest Service has proposed a new travel plan for Montana’s
Rocky Mountain Front that would bring motorized vehicles to the
doorstep of the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Great Bear Wildernesses.
Good for 15 years, the proposed plan would open a 90-mile swath
of the roadless land to ATV use (snowmobiles, ATV, dirt bikes).
The plan is not altogether new, as hikers, hunters and outfitters
fought it in 1987. In 1989, the Forest Service found its own plan
to be illegal, though this didn’t stop them from resurrecting
it in 2002.
There is no doubt that opening these areas to motorized use will
impact wildlife and degrade the wild character of the Rocky Mountain
Front. Snowmobile trespass, already endemic in Wilderness, can only
be expected to escalate.
The comment deadline for this issue was December 13, but you can
still send your letters to: Rick Prausa, Forest Supervisor, Lewis
and Clark National Forest, P.O. Box 869, Great Falls, MT 59403,
Fax: 406-731-5302, rprausa@fs.fed.us
For More Information:
Montana Wilderness Association – John Gatchell, JGatchell@wildmontana.org
Missoulian: http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2002/12/10/build/forests/bobmarshall.php?nnn=5
Great Falls Tribune:
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20021209/localnews/537116.html
*Action Alerts*
1. Comments needed for Guadalupe Mountains Wilderness, TX
This posting is from the Houston Sierra Club:
Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GMNP) lies 100 miles east of
El Paso and is a wild, quiet, peaceful, isolated, jewel of a national
park. The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking comments on three
alternatives that may be included in the Draft General Management
Plan (GMP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The GMP will
guide management of GMNP for the next 20 years. Your comments on
the desired future conditions (DFC) that the alternatives will produce,
the specific actions that each alternative will implement, and the
need for additional alternatives are needed.
This Houston Sierra Club (HSC) fact sheet provides you with recommendations
that will result in more protection for GMNP. If you have questions
about the GMP contact Brandt Mannchen at H713-664-5962 or W713-640-4313.
Please write your comments and send them to Mr. Ellis Richard, GMNP,
HC 60, Box 400, Salt Flat, Texas 79847-9400 by the end of December
2002.
1) Alternative A, No Action, is a continuation of present management.
Alternative B, is more protective and Wilderness oriented. Alternative
C, emphasizes intensive recreation and visitor facility development.
Alternative B must include removal of horses from Wilderness trails,
no developed trailhead/parking in the Salt Basin Dunes, protection
of Dog Canyon from horse use, maximum Wilderness designation, no
improvement of the Williams Ranch landscape, ranch house, and road,
and removal of the Pine Springs campground and RV site. If GMNP
does not include these elements in Alternative B then a Maximum
Wilderness Alternative should be included in the GMP.
2) Support a Wilderness Study for new lands acquired since some
Wilderness was designated in 1978 (Salt Basin Dunes) and to review
other lands (like Patterson Hills, Bear Canyon, Guadalupe Peak,
and Dog Canyon).
3) Support a Wilderness Management element in the GMP. GMNP would
spell out what activities will and will not be allowed in Wilderness
and show how these activities comply with the Wilderness Act.
4) Oppose Alternative C which proposes construction of sanitation
facilities and tent sites in Wilderness, expansion and creation
of new horse and hiking trails and centralized access facilities,
new road construction, new campground and picnic area construction,
and more intensive use of Pine Springs, Dog Canyon, Frijole Ranch,
and McKittrick Canyon.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Since
its founding in 1989, Wilderness Watch has pursued its mission
as the citizen voice for Wilderness
stewardship, giving a voice to the wilderness and wild rivers of
our national preservation systems. We
seek to preserve our unique natural heritage - the public will articulated
by the Wilderness Act and Wild
and Scenic Rivers Act.
To join Wilderness
Watch please visit our website at www.wildernesswatch.org.
If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe from
this list, have any questions, or would like to post a news
release, please contact Hilary Wood at hwood@wildernesswatch.org.
If you prefer the post, please send your
letters to:
Wilderness Watch
P.O. Box 9175
Missoula, MT 59807
Ph: (406) 542-2048
Fax: (406) 542-7714
http://www.wildernesswatch.org
|
