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July 2004
Volume 7
Interesting Tidbits & Wilderness Quotes:
Quote: "The more civilized man becomes, the more he needs and
craves a great background of forest wildness, to which he may return
like a contrite prodigal from the husks of an artificial life."
- Ellen Burns Sherman
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If you are already a Working Assets customer, you will be able to
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and rivers included in the National Wilderness Preservation System
and Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
To learn more about Working Assets or to become a customer, call
1-800-788-8588 or visit www.workingassets.com.
Thank you!
Contents:
Wilderness News Briefs provide short issue summaries and contact
information. Action Alerts are full-length, time-sensitive postings.
Wilderness News Briefs:
(1) Court rules Park Service violates Wilderness Act - End of Motorized
Vehicle Tours in Georgia’s Cumberland Island Wilderness!
(2) Court rejects ownership claims in Colorado Wilderness
(3) Explore the Steens Mountain Wilderness while pulling fence (OR)
(4) Forest Service expands definition of "outfitter" in
an effort to curb degradation of Illinois Wilderness
(5) Illegal use of Chainsaws in Kalmiopsis Wilderness, OR
Action Alert:
(1) Comments needed to ensure proper regulation of commercial horse
and mule packing businesses in the John Muir and Ansel Adams Wildernesses,
CA
*Wilderness News Briefs*
(1) Court rules Park Service violates Wilderness Act - End of
Motorized Vehicle Tours in Georgia’s Cumberland Island Wilderness!
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has slammed the door on the
National Park Service's motorized sightseeing tours through the
Cumberland Island Wilderness. The three judge panel ruled that the
motorized tours violated both the Wilderness Act and the National
Environmental Policy Act. The court wrote, "The language of
the…Wilderness Act demonstrate[s] that Congress has unambiguously
prohibited the Park Service from offering motorized transportation
to park visitors through the wilderness area."
"This is one of the most important rulings in the 40-year history
of the Wilderness Act," stated George Nickas, Executive Director
of Wilderness Watch. "The court has upheld the principle tenet
that protecting Cumberland's wilderness character comes first, and
that the uses of the area must be managed in a way that doesn't
impact its wild character. This decision is a wake-up call for the
park service, which has failed to live up to its Wilderness obligations
at Cumberland Island for more than two decades."…
(2) Court rejects ownership claims in Colorado Wilderness
This July, a U.S. magistrate judge ruled against individuals asserting
ownership rights to four mining claims in the backcountry around
Aspen, including an inholding in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness.
The four claims are representative of approximately 65 other claims
to inholdings in the area, including 50 in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass,
Collegiate Peaks, and Hunter-Frying Pan Wildernesses. Thanks to
the court’s ruling, it is unlikely that any of the parcels
will pass into private hands for development.
More Information:
http://www.aspentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040705/NEWS/107050004&SearchID=73176831864437
(3) Explore the Steens Mountain Wilderness while pulling fence (OR)
ROY GAULT
Statesman Journal
What: A series of working camping trips this summer to remove barbed-wire
fence in the Steens Mountain Wilderness
When: Work will run through early September. Each outing will be
three days to five days.
Partnership: The Bureau of Land Management, the Oregon Natural Desert
Association and Oregon Trout are coordinating this work.
What's provided: The BLM will provide tools. Participants provide
their own food and camping gear and are reminded to bring heavy-duty
work clothes.
Why: These miles of fences became unnecessary when the BLM acquired
thousands of acres of land previously used for ranching. Biologists
say the fences pose a threat to wildlife, including pronghorn, deer
and bighorn sheep, and that they inhibit hikers, hunters, fishermen
and others who use public lands.
Who's needed: Able-bodied volunteers. The BLM will match each volunteer
hour with federal funds to pay local contractors to pack out the
wire and, when appropriate, the fence posts.
The goal: To ensure that all fence in the wilderness will be removed
within three years…
More Information:
http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=83574
(4) Forest Service expands definition of "outfitter" in
an effort to curb degradation of Illinois Wilderness
BY JEFF SMYTH
THE SOUTHERN
SHAWNEE NATIONAL FOREST -- Owners of equestrian campgrounds adjacent
to the Shawnee National Forest are circling their wagons in preparation
for a showdown with the U.S. Forest Service over a new operating
permit policy.
Campground owners are upset at what they say is unwarranted intrusion
and discrimination against their businesses. They cite new fees
and new regulations that potentially would allow the government
to set the fees they charge their customers.
Forest service officials, however, say they are trying to do what's
fair.
The forest service last week notified 10 campgrounds near the forest
that they have until Aug. 3 to sign up for the permit, which would
designated them as "outfitters." But some owners say the
new policy is discriminatory, does nothing to protect the forest
and could jeopardize their businesses…
For More Information:
http://www.thesouthern.com/rednews/2004/07/20/build/top/TOP001.html
(5) Illegal use of Chainsaws in Kalmiopsis Wilderness, OR
By PAUL FATTIG
Mail Tribune
The U.S. Forest Service has launched an investigation into the illegal
use of chainsaws in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area during removal
of hazardous roadside trees following the Biscuit fire.
Between 10 and 20 trees were cut with chainsaws along Bald Mountain
Road where it borders the wilderness in the Siskiyou National Forest,
according to Judy McHugh, spokeswoman for the Biscuit Fire Recovery
Project.
The problem is that it’s illegal to use motorized equipment
in a wilderness area, she said.
"You can cut hazard trees in the wilderness but you can’t
use motorized equipment," she said…
For More Information:
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2004/0713/local/stories/06local.htm
*Action Alert*
(1) Comments needed to ensure proper regulation of commercial
horse and mule packing businesses in the John Muir and Ansel Adams
Wildernesses, CA
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) recently announced the beginning
of two new planning processes for the John Muir and Ansel Adams
Wildernesses in California. Scoping comments are urgently needed
by July 26.
Background: In April 2000, Wilderness Watch, the High Sierra Hikers
Association, and Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics
filed a lawsuit against the Inyo and Sierra national forests for
inadequately regulating commercial horse and mule packing businesses
that operate in the John Muir and Ansel Adams Wildernesses. These
groups (and others) were concerned that the USFS was allowing commercial
outfits to continually expand, resulting in degradation of the wilderness
character. A federal district court ordered the USFS to conduct
a planning process to consider limits on commercial outfits, limits
on the number of stock animals they may use, and restrictions on
the places they may go.
In response to the court order, the USFS has just released its "Proposed
Action," and it is unacceptable in nearly every respect. Comments
(written or email) are needed by July 26. The USFS will then begin
to analyze the comments received, and proceed to develop two plans:
one specific to commercial packstock operations, and one specific
to trails management.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. Send a letter or email by July 26, raising the issues below regarding
the Pack Stock Use Proposed Action. Send your letter to:
Pack Stock Use Proposed Action
Inyo National Forest
351 Pacu Lane
Bishop, CA 93514
Email: comments-pacificsouthwest-inyo@fs.fed.us
(type "Pack Stock Use Proposed Action" in the subject
line)
2. Send a second letter (or email) about the Trail Management Plan,
using the issues below to inform your comments. Send this letter
to:
Trail Management Plan Proposed Action
Inyo National Forest
351 Pacu Lane
Bishop, CA 93514
Email: comments-pacificsouthwest-inyo@fs.fed.us
(type"Trail Management Plan Proposed Action" in the subject
line)
Some points to consider about the Pack Stock Use Proposed Action:
* The USFS is proposing to eliminate the use of "service days"
that cap commercial uses, and instead proposes to allow the outfits
to expand over time, with no upper limits on the number of people
served. Oppose the elimination of "service day" limits
on commercial outfits. Tell USFS that it needs limits on "service
days" to prevent increases in the number of commercial visitors
over time.
* In an attempt to defend the proposed increases in commercial use,
the proposal states that its purpose is to "...balance resource
protection in the wilderness, including the protection of the wilderness
character, with the economic realities of small, locally based tourist
businesses..." Tell the USFS that the Wilderness Act does not
allow such "balancing," and that the USFS must first and
foremost regulate and limit commercial enterprises to fully preserve
the wilderness character. It's simply not proper for the USFS to
enter this planning process with the assumption that commercial
operations must be allowed to increase.
* The proposed action would allow commercial stock groups to travel
off-trail in many areas, despite the knowledge that cross-country
travel by stock is highly likely to adversely affect natural resources
(e.g., soils, vegetation) and the experience of other visitors.
Tell the USFS that commercial stock animals should be required to
stay on designated, maintained trails at all times.
* The proposed action would allow commercial packstock outfits to
pack firewood into fragile, high-elevation areas that are currently
closed to campfires. This ridiculous proposal would establish privileges
for commercial outfits that are not available to the non-outfitted
public (i.e., inequitable), it would create even more impacts to
trails and meadows (from the extra stock needed to haul firewood),
and it would invite abuses (i.e., packers will surely burn local
wood when their packed-in supplies are depleted. Tell the USFS that
its proposal to allow commercial outfits to pack firewood into closed
areas is wrong-headed.
Some points to consider about the Trail Management Plan Proposed
Action:
* In response to requests from commercial outfits, the proposed
action would add numerous new routes to the formal trail system,
essentially creating new trails. The proposed action would also
increase the trail "maintenance level" designation for
many existing trails, which will lead to trail upgrades to facilitate
stock access into remote areas not now used by commercial packstock.
Tell the USFS that unofficial routes should not be added to the
network of "system trails," and that primitive trails
should not be upgraded to improve wilderness access.
* The proposal assigns a "Trail Class" to each trail segment.
The proposal claims that the new National Trail Management Classes
must be used. However, that system has never undergone NEPA review,
and it contains many elements that do not conform to the Wilderness
Act Tell the USFS that it must develop trail management direction
for the John Muir and Ansel Adams Wildernesses that conforms to
the Wilderness Act.
* Because the proposed trail plan would allow for significant expansion
of the trail network, and substantial upgrade of many trails, tell
the USFS that an environmental impact statement (EIS) should be
prepared to fully evaluate and disclose the impacts of the proposal
on the wilderness character.
For more info, you can view the proposed actions at the USFS website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/projects/wildplan2004.html
_____________________________________________________________________________
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
Phone: (406) 542-2048
Fax: (406) 542-7714
http://www.wildernesswatch.org
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