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* WILDERNESS GUARDIAN *
November 2004
Volume 11
Interesting Tidbits & Wilderness Quotes:
Quote: "The care of rivers is not a question of rivers, but
of the human heart." — Tanaka Shozo
Vote Wilderness! Working Assets
selected Wilderness Watch as one of 10 national conservation organizations
for inclusion on its 2004 Donations Ballot. This is an excellent
opportunity to save on your long distance, mobile service, and/or
credit card payments while making a real difference for America’s
Wilderness!
If you are already a Working Assets customer, you will be able to
vote for Wilderness Watch on the Donations Ballot provided in your
monthly bill or online at www.WorkingAssets.com/voting.
If you are not a customer, please consider using Working Assets
for your long distance, credit card, or wireless services. Working
Assets donates 1% of its revenue (35 million since 1985) to nonprofit
groups - at no extra cost to its customers! If you are not already
a customer, it is not too late to support Wilderness Watch’s
efforts to ensure the protection and proper stewardship of lands
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. Outgoing Congress Whacks Away Wilderness Protections - Precedent
Setting De-Designation of Wilderness in Last Minute Riders
2. Olympic Park Violating Wilderness Act - Lawsuit to block pre-fabs
being helicoptered into Wilderness
3. FERC issues license for Glacier Bay hydro project
Action Alerts:
1. Calling all Colorado River Lovers! Powerboats Will Destroy Grand
Canyon Wilderness!
*Wilderness News Briefs*
1. Outgoing Congress Whacks Away Wilderness Protections - Precedent
Setting De-Designation of Wilderness in Last Minute Riders
Note: Wilderness Watch would like to thank
everyone for their calls, letters, and support on this issue.
Washington, DC –– In its final action, the 108th Congress
nullified the effects of three recent court rulings extending key
wilderness protections to wildlife refuge, national park and forest
lands, according to Wilderness Watch and Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER). Through unrelated provisions inserted in
the $388 billion omnibus bill, Congressional leaders cut back wilderness
safeguards in Alaska, Idaho and the Georgia seacoast.
Ironically, 2004 marks the 40th anniversary of the passage of the
Wilderness Act. In last week’s lame duck session, Congress,
for the first time, stripped wilderness protection from federal
lands. And, for only the second time in 40 years, it suspended restrictions
on motorized access to an existing wilderness. The three anti-wilderness
riders affected Cumberland Island, Alaska National Wildlife Refuge
Wildernesses, and the Wild Salmon River. More...
More Information:
LA Times:
http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=3659
2. Olympic Park Violating Wilderness Act - Lawsuit to Block Pre-Fabs
Being Helicoptered Into Wilderness
Tacoma, WA – Olympic National Park’s decision to airlift
pre-fabricated buildings into designated wilderness is a violation
of the Wilderness Act, according to a suit filed in U.S. District
Court in Tacoma by Olympic Park Associates, Wilderness Watch and
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
This past September, the National Park Service announced plans to
transport two trail shelters by helicopter into the park’s
remote backcountry. The new pre-fabricated buildings would replace
old forest shelters that collapsed several years ago under heavy
snows.
Park officials contend that the pre-fabs are actually historic resources
that will enhance wilderness character and are necessary for visitor
safety. The conservation groups dispute both claims. Today they
served notice to park service officials of their suit filed in federal
district court to stop the operation.
"Flying new buildings with heavy-lift helicopters is a misguided
means of managing one of the world’s premier wilderness parks,"
said Donna Osseward, president of Olympic Park Associates, a group
that focuses on the park. "The Wilderness Act is clear on this;
new structures simply aren’t allowed in wilderness…"
More: http://www.ems.org/nws/2004/11/04/olympic_park_vio
More Information:
kitsapsun.com: http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/local/article/0,2403,BSUN_19088_3303177,00.html
kgw.com: http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D865FPB83.html
Peninsula Daily News: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/177657
3. FERC issues license for Glacier Bay hydro project
Mary O'Driscoll, Greenwire senior reporter
"Federal energy regulators yesterday issued a license for an
800 kilowatt hydrodam to be located within southeastern Alaska's
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.
The license, granted under the Glacier Bay National Park Boundary
Adjustment Act of 1998, calls for a first-of-its-kind federal land
swap of 1,145 acres of parkland and wilderness to the state of Alaska
in exchange for state parkland so the power company for the nearby
town, Gustavus Electric Co., can build a hydropower project on the
Kahtaheena River, also known as Falls Creek….
The Sierra Club and other groups have fought the project, saying
it will diminish the value of the national park after the land exchange,
as the plan would encourage development on and increase access to
lands adjacent to the park as constituted following the exchange.
FERC, however, says those environmental impacts will be short-term
and localized. Some 100 acres of the 1,145 acres potentially available
for the land swap would be required for the project facilities and
a buffer zone, the commission said, adding that the license also
will include many environmental protection and mitigation measures…
*Action Alerts*
1. Calling all Colorado River Lovers! Powerboats Will Destroy Grand
Canyon Wilderness!
From the Arizona Wilderness Coalition:
We need to tell the Park Service we want the wilderness of the Colorado
River protected from the noise and crowds of motorized boats!
The Problem: The National Park Service (NPS) released a draft
EIS for the Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP) on October 1st.
The CRMP does not protect natural resources and the wilderness experience
at the river. Instead, the current Administration is pushing forward
a river management plan with alternatives that protect a handful
of special interest commercial concession operations that provide
noisy, crowded powerboat tours. These tours disrupt and continuously
degrade the rare wilderness experience found nowhere else in the
lower 48 states.
Because of this motorized monopoly, thousands of other people who
wish to float the river at its own pace and enjoy the natural quiet
and solitude wilderness offers are unable to do so. But river access
does not need to be limited by a phase out of motorboats because
oar trips are in just as much demand among the visiting public.
How You Can Help Us: Open house meetings are scheduled for
the Colorado River Management Plan. Show up and you can help protect
Grand Canyon Wilderness!! Write comments using our talking points
as a guide. A strong showing will help turn the tide towards real
protection for the heart of Grand Canyon National Park. Bring your
friends, bring your family, tell as many people as you can by forwarding
this alert.
All meetings are open to the public from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Locations are as follows:
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Washington, D.C. Area
Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel
Ballroom
1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington
http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage/WASGW
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Las Vegas, Nevada
Henderson Convention Center
Ballroom and Sierra A & C
200 Water Street, Henderson
www.visithenderson.com/index01.html
Monday, November 22, 2004
Flagstaff, Arizona
Coconino Community College
Administration Building – Commons Area
2800 S. Lone Tree Rd.
www.coconino.edu/campuses/lonetree.html
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Phoenix, Arizona
Glendale Community College Student Lounge
6000 W. Olive Avenue, Glendale
www.gc.maricopa.edu/map/
Thursday, December 2, 2004
San Francisco, California
The Presidio of San Francisco
Presidio Officers’ Club
50 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco
www.presidio.gov/Visiting/DirectionsShuttle/OfficersClub.htm
To download the full plan, visit www.nps.gov/grca/crmp.
For more information on how the plan will harm wilderness at Grand
Canyon National Park, visit www.azwild.org.
Read a related editorial by Rod Nash, author of Wilderness and the
American Mind: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1115nash15.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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