Frank Church - River of No return Wilderness, ID. WW file photo.	Wilderness Watch Appeals Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Management Plan MISSOULA, MT – In February, a coalition of conservation and recreation organizations appealed the Forest Service’s Wilderness Management Plan for Idaho’s Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness (FC-RONR), including the Wild & Scenic Salmon River. Far from preserving wilderness character and addressing the significant degradation of the FC-RONR, the Management Plan allows for increased damage to one of America’s premier Wildernesses. The coalition includes Wilderness Watch, Friends of the Clearwater, Ecology Center, Wild Wilderness, Northwest Rafters Association, Californians for Western Wilderness, and River Runners for Wilderness. The Management Plan violates the Wilderness Act, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and the Central Idaho Wilderness Act, which charge the Forest Service with protecting the wilderness qualities of the FC-RONR so they are preserved for future generations. Far from heeding this mandate, the Plan allows for increased jetboat use on the Wild Salmon River, does nothing to address increased aircraft landings on strips little more than Wilderness meadows, and approves visitor use levels on the Middle Fork that far exceed the agency’s own definition of ‘primitive’ experience. "Eleven years ago, the process of drafting the new Management Plan began with the recognition that the FC-RONR Wilderness was being degraded," says Gary Macfarlane, executive director of Friends of the Clearwater. "Sadly, instead of addressing this problem, the new Plan capitulates to certain special interests wishing to exploit the public’s Wilderness." "As the public steward entrusted with protecting is the largest contiguous Wilderness in the Lower 48, the Forest Service has an obligation to the American people to protect the wilderness character of the River of No Return Wilderness," said George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch. "It is quite telling that the term ‘wilderness character’ does not even appear in the agency’s Record of Decision!" While allowing some abuses to increase, the Management Plan fails to even address others. There is no discussion concerning campsite erosion, trail standards, commercial outfitter use, heavy aircraft use, or packstock impacts. In addition, the Plan continues the inequitable allocation of permits on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, granting the vast majority to commercial outfitters while 96% of private boaters are turned away. "Commercial outfitting is allowed only as it is necessary," says Jo Johnson, co-director for River Runners for Wilderness. "Obviously, the need for self-guided trips far outweigh the demand for commercial trips on the Middle Fork. It is inexplicable that the Forest Service failed to address this."