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September 2003
Volume 9
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:
Quote:
" To me, a wilderness is where the flow of wildness is essentially
uninterrupted by technology; without wilderness the world is a cage."
— David Brower
Contents:
Wilderness News Briefs provide short issue summaries and contact
information. Action Alerts are full-length, time-sensitive postings.
Wilderness News Briefs:
1. Fate of High Sierra dams debated (Emigrant Wilderness, CA)
2. Controversy surrounds new EIS for Frank Church-River of No Return
Wilderness, ID
3. Wilderness & Fire - Official says letting fires burn sometimes
can have great benefits
Action Alert:
1. Your Help Needed to Keep the Izembek Wilderness (AK) Road Free!
*Wilderness News Briefs*
1. Fate of High Sierra dams debated (Emigrant Wilderness, CA)
San Joaquin Record - 9/21/03 / By Francis P. Garland, staff writer
SONORA -- The U.S. Forest Service has been struggling for more than
a decade to decide whether to keep 18 High Sierra dams built to
bring more fish to the Emigrant Wilderness.
Twice since 1989, Stanislaus National Forest chiefs reached decisions
on the controversial dams, only to have them reversed by regional
Forest Service officials after opponents filed appeals.
The debate pits those who want a dam-free and, in their view, pristine
wilderness against those who like fishing in waters behind the dams.
Now, Stanislaus Forest Supervisor Tom Quinn is considering yet another
plan, which calls for maintaining 12 of the dams and letting the
other six deteriorate naturally.
And this one, too, is running into opposition.
Read More at:
http://www.recordnet.com/articlelink/092103/news/articles/092103-gn-8.php
2. Controversy surrounds new EIS for Frank Church-River of No
Return Wilderness, ID
"Users criticize new plan for Idaho Wilderness – Frank
Church proposal in works for 9 years"
By Rocky Barker, The Idaho Statesman
Outfitters are happy with a revised plan for floating on the Middle
Fork of the Salmon River because it doesn’t cut the size of
their rafting parties in the critical month of July.
But the U.S. Forest Service’s proposal to balance float boaters
and jet boaters on the main Salmon was panned by both groups. And
backcountry pilots are unhappy that the agency all but closed four
airstrips in the remote Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness
of Central Idaho.
The comments came as the agency released its final environmental
impact statement and plan for the 2.4-million-acre wilderness area.
The plan, released after nine years of meetings, analysis and comments,
updates the management rules for the largest mountain wilderness
area in the lower 48 states.
Read More at:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/News/story.asp?ID=49632
3. Wilderness & Fire - Official says letting fires burn sometimes
can have great benefits
What in the blazes?
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian (Sept. 21, 2003)
Official says letting fires burn sometimes can have great benefits
HUNGRY HORSE - Two decades back, in the summer of 1983, the unthinkable
happened deep in the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Lightning
struck, a tree burst into flame, a wildfire crept up a mountainside
- and firefighters simply sat back, waiting and watching.
No hand crews, no helicopters, no smokejumpers. Eventually, left
to roam where fuel and wind would take it, the fire burned across
some 230 acres.
"It was a huge moment for people who had been taught for decades
that all fires are bad and should be put out immediately,"
said Dale Luhman. "But it came as part of a professional recognition
that sometimes fire is good, that it's a necessary and natural process
in healthy forests."
Read More at:
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2003/09/21/news/mtregional/news06.txt
*Action Alerts*
1. Your Help Needed to Keep the Izembek Wilderness (AK) Road Free!
Background regarding the King Cove Access Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (DEIS):
The small communities of King Cove and Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula
are asking for the construction of a road to link the two villages.
They argue the residents of King Cove need access to the large airstrip
in Cold Bay for emergency medivac purposes. The Army Corps of Engineers
analyzed various access alternatives in a DEIS, including one alternative
for building a road through the Izembek Wilderness. Although approval
for a road through Wilderness would require an act of Congress,
the Aleutian East Borough insisted this alternative be included
in the EIS.
The 6 alternatives in the DEIS:
1. Road/hovercraft with the road on King Cove lands within the non-wilderness
portion of the refuge
2. No action
3. Hovercraft/road with road on non-refuge Native land
4. Ocean-going Ferry
5. Helicopter based in King Cove
6. Original proposal for all-road link that would cross Izembek
WildernessSome comments raised at public meetings:
- King Cove has an airstrip that can handle small jet aircraft from
Anchorage for medivac purposes.
- A medivac helicopter could serve not only Cold Bay and King Cove,
but other small communities on the peninsula.
- Ocean-going fishing vessels could medivac patients to Cold Bay
if air travel were prohibited.
- Extreme weather would make road travel on the east side of Cold
Bay hazardous due to ice and severe winds, so even if the road in
Alt. 1 were built, it might not be very useful.
- Hovercraft are an untested option in the area's severe weather
conditions.
- The Corps admits that alternative 6 "is not available for
selection by the Decision-Makers" -- it was only included under
insistence from the local communities.
- King Cove and Aleutian East Borough are pushing for adoption of
Alt. 1.
Wilderness is no place for roads! Please oppose both Alternatives
1 and 6. Road construction is unnecessary, and also the most expensive
option. Please support access by ferry as the most reliable year-round
transportation, with back-up of a medivac helicopter available when
weather allows.
Lloyd H. Fanter
U.s. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District
Regulatory Branch, PO box 6898
Elmendorf AFT 99506-6898
e-mail: kingcove@mbakercorp.com
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
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