October 2002
Volume 10

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:

Recreation user fees on trial – Seven plaintiffs in California have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court charging the Forest Service with exceeding its legislative authority by issuing citations to those who refuse to pay recreation fees on public lands. Under fire nationwide, the experimental program has been extended multiple times since 1997.

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life!" — John Muir

Contents:

Wilderness News Briefs provide short issue summaries and contact information. Action Alerts are full-length, time-sensitive postings.

Wilderness News Briefs:

1. Dam construction in San Pedro Parks Wilderness, NM without motorized equipment.
2. Backcountry management plans coming for three National Park Wildernesses in Alaska.
3. Viewpoints clash over the future of the Colorado River.
4. Bob Marshall update

Action Alerts:

1. Poison planned for the Gila Wilderness, AZ

* Wilderness News Briefs *

1. Dam construction in San Pedro Parks Wilderness, NM proceeds without motorized equipment.

In New Mexico, two men are building a 40-ft dam in the San Pedro Parks Wilderness without motorized equipment. Their three packhorses have hauled 20,000 lbs of sand, 90,000 lbs of rock, and 100 bags of cement to the site. Though the project will be more time consuming and cost more than if motorized equipment was used, the Forest Service demanded that the project conform to Wilderness standards. Rather than finding it a hardship, the men are enjoying their work – "I’ve worked with equipment, and to be honest with you, I’d rather do this," Wetterer said. "It’s good work."

View the full article at:
http://mg9889126@www.abqjournal.com/news/772263news09-22-02.htm

2. Planning a wild future

In September the National Park Service announced it is beginning a backcountry management planning process and EIS for Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska. These three parks combined contain nearly 20 million acres of designated wilderness, including the largest wilderness in the System, the 9.7 million-acre Wrangell-St. Elias Wilderness. Out of our 644 wildernesses, these three wildernesses account for nearly 19% of the total acreage in the entire System. Keeping these places wild must be a priority for wilderness advocates. The new backcountry plans will provide management direction for these three wildernesses for the next 15-20 years. Wilderness Watch will keep you informed of comment opportunities.

3. Viewpoints clash over the future of the Colorado River.

As the National Park Service finishes a nation-wide round of public scoping meetings, two fundamentally different viewpoints have emerged in the battle over the future of the Colorado River. At 277 miles, the stretch of river flowing through Grand Canyon National Park (NP) is the longest undeveloped stretch of whitewater remaining in the continental U.S. The National Park Service proposed the river for wilderness designation, along with 1.1 million acres in the park. It is NPS policy to manage proposed wilderness the same as designated wilderness – meaning that the use of motors is prohibited. However, one of the prominent viewpoints is that of the motorized commercial river concessionaires. More than 80% of the people who float the river through the Grand Canyon today are forced to do so on motorized commercial rafts, as the motorized rafting companies control majority of the river access allowed annually by the NPS. Only two companies offer completely non-motorized trips, although non-motorized trips are a profitable alternative.

The other prominent management viewpoint is voiced by the Grand Canyon Wilderness Alliance, comprised of two dozen conservation organizations including Wilderness Watch, The Wilderness Society, National Parks Conservation Association, Friends of the Earth, and many others. The Alliance wants to see the river managed as wilderness, not as a motorized conveyor belt. Grand Canyon NP will make decisions about the river’s future in a new management plan scheduled for release in 2004. Politicians are stepping in on both sides of the issue. The commercial concessionaires have indicated they will use any means possible, including circumventing the public planning process and seeking a legislative rider, to assure the river is not managed as a motor-free wilderness. For wilderness advocates, it stirs the imagination to know there is at least one place remaining in the lower 48 where it is still possible to experience a multi-week river trip at the river’s own pace, where canyon walls echo with the river’s voice instead of the noise of outboard motors. The Grand Canyon Wilderness Alliance hopes to make this vision a reality, rather than a distant memory that no longer exists in our modern world.

4. An update on the issuance of commercial outfitter permits in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

Wilderness Watch was contacted by Seeley Lake District Ranger, Tim Love, who took issue with an earlier Guardian posting which stated that in the past the reissuance of outfitter permits has "not been subject to environmental analysis or public review." Love indicated that 5 years ago prior to categorically excluding all 64 permits from documentation in an environmental analysis (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS), that the Forest Service did solicit scoping comments (as it has now) and that on the ground impacts were internally reviewed by agency personnel.

We'll take Ranger Love's word on both counts (we know "scoping" occurred) and apologize for any confusion caused by our alert. We should have been more explicit--our concern is that the public interest in the Bob and environmental impacts from these operations beg for more than a cursory "scoping" comment period - they cry out for an environmental impact statement (EIS) as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Excluding these permits from such an environmental review and related public comment process doesn't meet the spirit, intent, or letter of the law in our view.

It's not too late to add your voice to those trying to protect the Wilderness character of the Bob Marshall. You can get more information on our website at: http://www.wildernesswatch.org.

*Action Alerts*

1. Poison in Wilderness

The Gila National Forest wants to allow the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF) to dump poison in 30 miles of Animas Creek and 21 miles of the Gila River to kill introduced non-native trout and then re-stock the streams with native Rio Grande Cutthroat trout. The Rio Grande Cutthroat is not an endangered species, but is a popular sport species among fishermen.

Nine miles of the proposed poisoning site on Animas Creek flows through the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, while the entire poisoning site on the Gila River flows through the Gila Wilderness. The poison antimycin will kill not only the trout, but also all the native macroinvertebrates and amphibians in the streams, including the Chiricahua Leopard Frog which is a federally listed threatened species. The Forest Service makes the dubious claim that any tadpoles that are found will be removed to a safe location prior to the poisoning. Other threatened or endangered species in the area include the spotted owl, common black hawk, and bald eagle, which feeds on fish. Directions for applying the poison state that wildlife should be prevented from drinking the water for at least 48 hours, but there is no practical way to prevent this from happening along more than 50 miles of open waterways. The NMDGF has no staff who are certified pesticide applicators, and stream poisonings conducted elsewhere in New Mexico have resulted in more stream miles being poisoned than were intended. It is not known whether antimycin is a carcinogen, and the Forest Service has not assessed the poison’s impact on downstream residents who rely upon wells for their drinking water. Despite the heavy-handed manipulation of riparian ecosystems and severe impact to numerous native species, the Forest Service states that the proposed poisonings have no negative impact on wilderness qualities. It is both sad and ironic that it was Aldo Leopold who convinced the Forest Service to protect the Gila as our nation’s first wilderness in the 1930’s – now, it is in danger of being converted to a fish farm for recreationists.

PLEASE COMMENT ASAP:
Art Telles
Gila National Forest Supervisors Office
3005 E. Camino del Bosque
Silver City, NM 88061
(505) 894-6677
atelles@fs.fed.us
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

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