February 2003
Volume 2

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:

On the Ground in Texas – The Forest Service has permitted search crews looking for Columbia shuttle debris to use AVTs in the Indian Mounds Wilderness, TX. The use of motorized vehicles in the area has been prohibited since 1984.

Quote:

" How much wilderness does it take to fulfill the needs of civilization? That really isn't the key question. What counts more is whether each succeeding generation must settle for an increasingly degraded world and know the experience of the past from books and pictures only. Must the future be satisfied with mediocrity because nothing better will be known?"

-Michael Frome, Battle for the Wilderness

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

Wilderness News Briefs:

1. EPA charges gold miner with destruction of Wild & Scenic River, ID
2. Forest Service considers opening mining claims in Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness, ID.
3. Barricading the border - Organ Pipe Cactus Wilderness (AZ)
4. Update – Arctic National Wildlife Refuge commercial hunting guidelines

Action Alerts:

1. Keep construction out of the Emigrant Wilderness, CA
2. Letters needed to protect the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, MT
3. Support the Bill to Ban Unsporting and Cruel Bear Baiting on Federal Lands

*Wilderness News Briefs*

1. EPA charges gold miner with destruction of Wild & Scenic River, ID

From MINEWIRE - Essential Reading for Mining Activists

In the 1960s, Eugene Weiss began searching for gold in the St. Joe River, a federally designated Wild and Scenic River. According to the EPA, placer or dredge mining, the method employed by Weiss, destroyed the river habitat. Government officials have finally filed civil trespass charges against Weiss, seeking money to repair the creekbed.

For More Information:
Spokesman Review, 01/13/03:
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=011303&ID=s1287644

2. Forest Service considers opening mining claims in Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness, ID.

From the Krassel Ranger District:

"The Krassel Ranger District, Payette National Forest, is completing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Golden Hand No. 3 and No. 4 Lode Mining Claims Proposed Plan of Operations. The proposed plan, submitted by American Independence Mines and Minerals, Inc., would allow for mineral development of the claims in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. We expect to have the DEIS available on February 28th, 2003."

The proposed opening of old mining claims in the Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness raises many issues of concern. Developing the claims would entail reconstructing a long-abandoned road inside the Wilderness boundary. In addition, mining pollutants from the claims could effect the water quality of Big Creek, a salmon bearing tributary to the Wild & Scenic Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

For more information:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/payette/quarterly/qtly_krassel.html

3. Barricading the border - Organ Pipe Cactus Wilderness (AZ)

Organ Pipe Cactus National Park will examine the environmental impacts of constructing a proposed barrier along the park’s boundary with Mexico. Illegal vehicle trespass from Mexico into the park and Wilderness has significantly increased due primarily to drug smuggling. Serious impacts are occurring to the area’s wilderness character as well as to public safety. The proposed barrier would be constructed of railroad steel laced through steel poles 4-5 feet high.

4. Update – Arctic National Wildlife Refuge commercial hunting guidelines

When the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge issued new requirements for the operation of commercial hunting guides within Wilderness on the refuge, the Alaska Commercial Hunting Guides Association raced to their hired legal counsel to complain. Attorney Bill Horn sent strong letters of disapproval to the FWS’ regional office in Anchorage, complaining that the refuge’s attempt to prohibit parking of aircraft in camp, restricting the use of aircraft to spot game, and limits on the amount of airplane fuel that can be stored in Wilderness were unacceptable. Although Horn is not a federal employee, he has very close ties to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, which makes Interior agencies such as FWS reluctant to take actions opposed by Horn. The Arctic Refuge withdrew the protective provisions that were intended to limit the proliferation of aircraft in Wilderness associated with commercial hunting.

*Action Alerts*

1. Letters needed to protect Emigrant Wilderness

The Stanislaus National Forest in California is requesting public comments for a new environmental impact statement (EIS) to decide what should be done with 18 mostly-delapidated rock and mortar dams in the Emigrant Wilderness. Built prior to Wilderness designation, 15 of these dams were intended to "improve" non-native fisheries and 3 were to sub-irrigate meadows for livestock grazing, but their effectiveness for these purposes is questionable. What IS clear, though, is that the dams are inappropriate for the purpose of Wilderness. Nonetheless, because some locals have aggressively demanded that the dams be maintained, the local Forest officials have twice issued decisions since 1989 calling for the repair, operation and maintenance of 8-12 of the dams. Both of those decisions were overturned on appeal by the Regional Forester. In addition, local congressman John Doolittle has introduced 4 different bills between 1996 and 2002 to preserve all the dams, but none of his bills have passed. Continuing political pressure has generated this latest attempt to approve maintaining the dams.

The Forest Service's current proposal is to reconstruct, operate, and maintain 12 of the dams, similar to the 1989 decision and a "compromise" proposal put forward by Congressman Doolittle. Since the two previous appeal decisions firmly rejected the rationale local Forest officials used for earlier proposals, it is not clear how they will justify it this time. Your comments can help remind them that there really is no basis for maintaining the dams and that their responsibility is to ensure "an enduring resource of wilderness", not to cater to the demands of anti-wilderness interests. Please mention, in your own words, the following points:

® The legislation establishing the Emigrant Wilderness contained no provision for maintaining the dams, but directed that the area would be administered in accordance with the provisions of the Wilderness Act. Structures like dams are prohibited by the Wilderness Act unless they exist as a private existing right, which is not the case in the Emigrant.

® The maintenance and operation of these dams interferes with the free operation of natural processes and degrades the wilderness character of the area.

® Many of these dams have substantially deteriorated and would require extensive reconstruction to make them safe and operable. The dams should be allowed to deteriorate naturally, or be removed if necessary for safety and resource protection. Any debris remaining from construction or past maintenance should be removed.

The Stanislaus National Forest has asked for scoping comments by March 3, 2003 although they will be accepted after that date. Please send or email your comments to: Stanislaus National Forest, ATTN: Emigrant Dams, 19777 Greenly Road, Sonora, CA 95370, or by email to mailto:jmaschi@fs.fed.us

For more information contact Wilderness Watch.

3. Support the Bill to Ban Unsporting and Cruel Bear Baiting on Federal Lands

From The Fund for Animals:

Dear Friends:

The United States House of Representatives will soon be considering a bill to ban bear baiting on federal lands and your assistance is urgently needed - especially if you live in a state key to this legislation. As you may know, bear baiting is the deliberate placing of food - such as baking grease, rotting meat, jelly donuts, and horse carcasses - in the woods to attract a bear so that a trophy hunter can shoot the animal at point-blank range while he or she is feeding. Bear baiting is unsporting and biologically reckless, and should be prohibited on the millions of acres of federal land (including Wilderness) where it now occurs.

We need to generate as many letters as possible from residents in your state. PLEASE visit our Action Center today at http://action.fund.org/action to send a letter to your representatives. Thank you!

Background Information:

Bear Baiting is Opposed by Many Segments of the Population

Even among hunters bear baiting is often viewed as unethical since it removes the element of fair chase - similar to the practices of jacklighting deer and dynamiting fish. In the 27 states that allow bear hunting - including major pro-hunting states - only nine permit baiting. Additionally, wildlife biologists and managers, animal welfare advocates, outdoor recreation user groups, and other citizens oppose this unsporting tactic. In the past ten years voters have strongly supported statewide bear baiting bans in Colorado (1992), Oregon (1994 and 1996), and Washington (1996).

Bear Baiting Creates Numerous Problems while Solving None

Wildlife biologists and land managers are concerned that baiting:

~ Habituates bears to human food sources, creating nuisance bears who are more likely
to search for those food sources in homes, campsites, and agricultural crops.

~ Increases the orphaning of cubs in spring hunts.

~ Contributes to litter on federal lands.

~ Decreases the bears' ability to survive without such artificial food supplies.

~ May result in an overharvest.

Bear Baiting is Not a Necessary Management Tool

Some hunters profess that baiting allows them to target certain age and sex groups of bears and increase the overall number of bears killed. But many hunters and wildlife management professionals maintain that the bear population can be managed without resorting to baiting. They counter that it is extremely difficult to distinguish males from females or adults from subadults, making targeting nearly impossible. Furthermore, Washington effectively reduced the bear population after banning baiting by lengthening the hunting season and lowering the price of licenses. Eighteen states - ranging from Montana to Pennsylvania - have successful bear hunting seasons without using bait.

Federal Legislation is Necessary and Appropriate

While federal agencies usually defer to states on wildlife management and hunting methods, exceptions in compelling cases are not unprecedented (e.g., 1971 Airborne Hunting Act). In addition to the strong public support for a bear baiting ban, federal land management agencies need a consistent policy on the feeding of wildlife. Prohibiting all recreational visitors from feeding wildlife while making a clear exception for trophy hunters is blatantly inconsistent and unfair to non-hunting users of federal land.

For More Information:
Andrea Lococo, Rocky Mountain Coordinator
The Fund for Animals
P.O. Box 11294
Jackson, WY 83002
Telephone: (307) 859-8840, Fax: (307) 859-8846
http://www.fund.org

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