Alan Gregory’s Conservation NewsThe Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa Mountains is large and rugged. It’s in extreme NE Oregon near Washington and Idaho. This herd of 25 bison is of unknown origin. What a happy discovery!
The Eagle Cap Wilderness, the nearby Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness and areas in Oregon’s Blue Mountains are also where the state’s wolves live.
Wild herd of bison roams base of Wallowa Mountains in Oregon. Richard Cockle. The Oregonian
One of my photos of the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
Judge upholds ban on motorized travel in Badger-Two Med. By Karl Puckett. Great Falls Tribune Staff Writer.
I’ve only been there twice, and just into it a little way. My impression is that it isn’t quite as rugged as the country to the north (Glacier N.P.) and the Great Bear and Bob Marshall Wildernesses to the south. It is very much full of wildlife.
The oil and gas industry has lusted after it for a long time. It has religious significance to the Blackfeet Nation (an issue in this failed lawsuit).
Rocky Barker has an important column on this many-years-in-the-making-“wilderness” bill.
Simpson addresses Otter’s concerns about wilderness bill. Letters from the West. Idaho Statesman. By Rocky Barker.
It looks to be that Rep. Simpson mostly just reassures the governor and promises him no changes in the language of the bill. After all Otter will not support a Wilderness bill anyway, regardless. The important people who have to go along are Idaho Senators Crapo and Risch and national conservation groups, especially the Sierra Club, who can probably have the bill killed if funny language shows up.
Below a prominent Idaho Statesman political columnist weighs in to Otter’s sorry move. Considering Otter’s last minute actions to turn once supportive congressional Republicans against this fairly good and delicately balanced bill, I am reminded of Otter’s position on wolves. We can certainty trace the change from partial compromise on the Idaho wolf issue to one of nasty divisiveness to one man — Butch Otter. Thinking of all the other non-outdoor related things he has done, I think he’s Idaho worst governor, even including legendary “dumb” Don Samuelson back in the day.
Kevin Richert: Otter writes his sorry wilderness legacy. By Kevin Richert. Idaho Statesman.
There have been a lot of battles fought over the use of the Badger/Two Medicine area on the national forest just south of Glacier National Park. A good portion of this is roadless, but vehicles use some trails and old roads. All of the area is important for wildlife, especially because it is more gentle than Glacier National Park (better habitat, at least in principle).
Recently the Forest Service adopted a new travel plan for the area. Like most travel plan revisions nowadays, the revision has been heated and the off-roaders went to court alleging violations of the law and the U.S. Constitution. The judge has now rejected some, but not all of the off-roaders’ claims and refused to give an injunction on the new travel plan.
Badger-Two Medicine motorized travel ban upheld. By Karl Puckett. Tribune Staff Writer. Great Falls Tribune.
We have covered this battle before. Dec. 13, 2009. Idaho Senators try to pressure Tester to remove an area from his “wilderness bill”
Photo of Mt. Jefferson from the Montana side. It is the highest mountain in the Centennial Range. Photo of Lilian Lake at the top of Hellroaring Creek.
Mount Jefferson access rises to forefront of forest bill controversy. By Ben Pierce. Bozeman Chronicle “Out There” Editor
From the standpoint of wildlife, the Centennial Mountains have long been know for terrific elk hunting. They are also a key corridor of wildlife migration from the Greater Yellowstone area to central Idaho. The biggest problem is the Sheep Experiment Station, but very high snowmobile use causes damage too. See photo of how busy it is at high elevation.
The Forest Service has settled a lawsuit by Wildlands CPR of Missoula and Friends of the Bitterroot regarding the terms of the Montana Wilderness Study area act of 1977 regarding allowed uses of one of the study areas in the Act. Snowmobile grooming will end. Snowmobiles are still permitted.
Story in the Montana Standard. Sled grooming to end in West Pioneers. By Nick Gevock.
Well they finally issued it. People I talk with are really stirred up about this. It is not a wolf thing. It is the integrity of Wilderness. The Forest Service needs to have their hat handed to them on this one. We need to kick their sorry ass. RM
USDA Forest Service. Intermountain Region. Payette and Salmon-Challis National Forests. Idaho, Custer, Lemhi and Valley Counties, State of Idaho. Various locations in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness
Rocky had a story on it yesterday in his blog. State biologists may soon dart wolves from helicopters in Frank. Rocky Barker.
Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act Gets First Hearing. By Courtney Lowery. New West.
Here is the video of the full hearing.
” . . . Mount Jefferson is a tiny portion of Tester’s plan, it is one that many supporters of the bill hold dear.”
Read the rest in Idaho enters . . . By Daniel Person. Bozeman Chronicle.
This is one where Idaho residents can really help. I’m emailing Tester, “As an Idahoan, Senators Crapo and Risch don’t speak for me. Please keep Mt. Jefferson in your bill. My senators only represent the snowmobile industry which already totally dominates the area south of Mt. Jefferson.” Added. Email Senator Tester.
The hearing on the bill in the Senate Committee is tomorrow.
Mt. Jefferson is a key part of the Continental Divide wildlife migration corridor to central Idaho, which is already messedup in part by the [domestic] Sheep Experiment Station on the Continental Divide in Idaho.
Two stories:
Montana Wood products industry losing a big player. By Rob Cheney of the Missoulian.
Western Montana forest fuel reduction projects will take a big hit. By Perry Backus. Ravalli Republic
Events like this may make the mandatory logging goals in Senator Tester’s “wilderness bill” completely irrelevant. In fact, the anticipation of this effect of the recession may be one reason some conservation organizations are supporting his bill.
Basic economics. When the supply is huge (all the dead wood) and the demand low (due to recession), price will drop and the industry will shrink.
Tester Forest Bill. Two Views of the Tester Forest Jobs and Recreation Bill. By Dr. Tom Power. Montana Public Radio.
I’m not sure what to think about the logging part of Tester’s bill either. If you look at it one way, it represents the worst top down mandated logging since the days of the “lawless logging” rider of 1995. On the other hand, wilderness supporters who support this “wilderness bill” might figure correctly that very little logging will really be done because the demand for logs, especially dead lodgepole pine is weak because of the economy. Meanwhile the supply of these logs is overwhelmingly large, coming from the bark beetle-killed pine from the Yukon south to New Mexico. There are many billions of board feet of logs from better places than the remote Beaverhead National Forest.
He explains that the “bill would set aside just over 600,000 acres of Wilderness, withdraw current protection from nearly 250,000 acres, and require that 100,000 acres be made available for logging and roading in an already fractured landscape.”
Senator Tester Betrays Montana Wilderness
By Brian Peck, New West Unfiltered 11-03-09
In May, the Obama administration announced its intention to give Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack top level oversight over incursions into roadless areas. The move was said to be Obama’s re-commitment to the Clinton Roadless Rule.
Obama administration inches away from ‘time out’ for roadless forest logging – The Oregonian
Now it appears the administration is backing away from that directive, if only a little.
This month, the Agriculture Department returned to the Forest Service the authority to undertake certain projects in roadless forests without the secretary’s approval.
A scenic hike. By Mike Cothern – Times-News correspondent
This article contains more information about something I posted a while back.
I don’t think the rational behind this plan is to kill wolves inside the wilderness but rather to document the minimum number of 150 wolves the state thinks is required so that they can kill more OUTSIDE of the wilderness.
Jon Marvel has the same perspective.
Idaho could use information gleaned from wilderness helicopter missions to accelerate wolf killing where conflicts with ranchers and hunters are more common, he said.
“If all of those breeding pairs are found inside the Frank Church, then you can kill all the wolves outside the wilderness with impunity,” Marvel said.
Idaho again wants to land choppers in wilderness
John Miller Associated Press
Wolves add to awe of El Capitan hiking adventure. By Will Moss. The Ravalli Republic (in the Missoulian)
A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.
On January 17, 2008 I attended an Idaho Department of Fish & Game Annual Commissioner Meeting in which Commissioner McDermott of Idaho’s Panhandle region expressed the commission’s desire to capture and collar wolves in the Frank-Church Wilderness.
Steve Nadeau explained to the commissioners that the IDFG had “beat that dog perty hard” but that the environmental analysis alone needed to land a helicopter in a wilderness area would cost as much as $250,000 to land once or twice.
McDermott expressed that the commission had an idea about how to deal with that, at which point Nadeau suggested the commission might not want that conversation on the public record. The commissioners laughed, and the topic was dropped from the public record – until now.
The Salmon-Challis National Forest has announced scoping comments for its proposed NEPA analysis of the Idaho Department of Fish & Game’s requested permission to land a helicopter up to 20 times to support radio collaring of up to 12 wolves in the Frank-Church Wilderness :
This bill has been wandering the wilderness for a long time, but now a supporter chairs the important House committee — Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. The finally got a hearing. Odds against are long because Congress rarely passes wilderness legislation against the wishes of a state’s congressional delegation. However, consider Utah’s delegation . . . 4 noisy Republicans against everything the majority party proposes and one bluedog Democrat.
Passing this bill would teach them the merits of comity and compromise. I think Utah political leaders need to relearn the virtues of moderation.
After 20 years, Red Rock bill gets first hearing in Congress. Wilderness » Legislation to get first committee hearing. By Matt Canham. The Salt Lake Tribune.
The primary moving force behind this bill for all these years has been the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA)
Administration will defend the Clinton version in the 10th Circuit Court-
President sides with environmentalists to reinstate roadless rule. By Gary Harmon. Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
Note that while this article emphasizes Colorado, this applies to all the states with national forest roadless areas that have not been designated as Wilderness areas.
I like the roadless rule. One major reason is that it reduces the need to accept bad provisions in Wilderness bills. If you have abusive livestock grazing, and get the “traditional” language when such an area is designated Wilderness, it actually makes it harder to bring abusive livestock operator to account or rid the area of these animals incompatible with real wilderness. That’s because, like proposed Tester bill in Montana, politicians usually grandfather the livestock. They pretend, or don’t know, that cows are not compatible with real wilderness.
In a roadless area, the Forest Service can (doesn’t mean they will), crack down on the grazing, close the grazing allotment, etc.
There are other arguments to consider, however. A roadless area might be getting torn apart by off-road vehicles, for example. In many of the past Wilderness designations, the amount of livestock was so small that other arguments for the otherwise strong legal protection a congressional act gives to an area were probably more important.
The 9th Circuit just upheld the Clinton Roadless Rule, and slapped down Bush’s amended rule which granted states and local interests undue influence to craft their own roadless rules, rules which ended up being weaker than the Clinton Rule. Idaho and Colorado were the only states to ride Bush’s timber-train.
Clinton-era Rule Protecting Forests Upheld Green Inc., New York Times
The “roadless rule,” approved in 2001 during the waning days of the Clinton administration, substantially limited road development in national forest lands. The Bush Administration effectively replaced it with another policy that allowed states to establish their own rules on roads in forests.
A Bit of the Backstory
More fallout on the costs to conservation Montana Senator Jon Tester’s new Logging Bill (couched in “W”ilderness designation) may have to Montana’s wildlife.
Collateral damage: Experts wonder what Tester’s bill may kill Missoula Independent
While much of the critique coming from conservationists focuses on the negative impact of the logging on other-than-wilderness public lands of which existing protections are traded away in the bill, Ralph Maughan previously leveraged a convincing repudiation of Tester’s logging bill pointing out that much of the Wilderness will be Cow-trashed Wilderness, “Wilderness” designated landscapes allowed to be grazed to the dirt as before. How’s that for “untrammeled” ?
Ralph previously noted how the Western Lands Project monitors public land privatization, which let people know about a great book, Carving Up the Commons (pdf), freely available for download. The book gives great history and analysis of. Here’s a recent book review :
Required reading: How Congress crafts public land bills – Missoula Independent
Perhaps the most succinct summary is provided by former congressional public lands committees staffer Erica Rosenberg in the introduction.
“Armed with insider know-how, Janine distills an astoundingly complex political process into an accessible manual. Although the process remains unwieldy, Janine’s illumination of the legal framework and political context makes it far less so. In Carving Up the Commons, Janine has provided a much needed window into a shady world of back-room deals, special interests and cronyism, while offering pragmatic information and a tactful approach to citizen involvement.”
Ever since I returned to Idaho in 1971, one place I wanted to see was Burnt Creek in the high colorful foothills on the east side of the Lost River Range. It has been selected as a wilderness study area by the BLM long ago, and assumed must be at least somewhat protected.
The truth was revealed in 2007 when I went with “kt” to see if the BLM was complying with removal of an illegal turnout of cattle in the area.
The steep, low mountains composed of Challis volcanics were very pretty, but the stinking mess made by the cattle was not. Thanks to indefatigable “kt” who seems to know all the hidden pockets where livestock operators try to stash their cattle, they were removed. However, the BLM just seems determined to screw up, ignore the law, and cater to the cowpersons on the grazing allotment. So, the Western Watersheds Project has gone to court.
I won’t go over the details because Schneider seems to do a good job, but my general impression is that there is no reason for Montana conservationists to support this, even though it is not immediately clear whether the “stewardship” elements are good, bad or neutral.
What Tester’s Forest Bill Really Does. “Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act attempts to cover a lot of ground and address a lot of issues, but will it be enough to win passage?” New West.
I don’t see any Wilderness designation in this bill that is a wow! This is great . . . something that would offset the other provisions.
I haven’t been to some of these areas, but I have to the southwest Montana ones. These have one thing in common and wrong — they are all abused by livestock.
The provision grandfathering livestock grazing in designated Wilderness area was absolutely necessarily in 1964 to get the Wilderness Act passed, and in many of the early Wilderness areas, livestock grazing was not a big issue because it was a minor use generally affecting just a small part of the total area.
In recent years, however, areas have been proposed for Wilderness designation where livestock effects are seen and felt on almost every acre. Yes, these areas are roadless, with little previous logging activity, and no permanent structures, but to call them places where the effects of humans are not lasting or very evident is a bad joke.
This bill continues in this bad tradition and grandfathers this use.
I’ve always been a strong supporter of Wilderness areas, but I refuse to support any more cow or sheep wilderness areas. It’s a joke, and just like depredation payments to livestock operators for losses to predators, this doesn’t win their support. They always opposed Wilderness and they always will no matter who low you bow before their majesty.
I’d rather have a clear trout stream with a road along side it, than some cowshit filled mud wallow you reach after a steep hike of 5 miles.
Why give up anything to win a pile of dust? Let’s kill this sucker!
Wilderness Dedux. From the Goat Blog in High Country News.
In recent years we have seen the emergence of “quid pro quo” Wilderness, where Wilderness is designated only if some developors are authorized to do something bad in exchange. This was not the way Wilderness designation used to take place. It was done simply top protect a pristine place. Conflicts were worked out. If they could not be, the Wilderness proposal died.
Now proposals are made with the intent of weakening the act itself in exchange or facilitating some unrelated project. Western Public Lands has a free book (as a download). This book ($10 if you want a printed version) looks at the details of five of these wilderness proposals so to “illustrate the elaborate machinations and distortions” that we find in them. A number of these involve privatization in exchange for Wilderness designation.
More wilderness, please. Oregon still lags behind other Northwest states. Register-Guard.
Yes! but no cow Wilderness, please!
Bill Schneider at New West has followed the long battle of what was originally Bill Clinton’s roadless rule for the national forests. Today the Obama Administration made its first move.
Schneider tells the story in New West.
Vilsack Takes Over Roadless Rule.
“After hearing conservation group recommendations, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has decided to take over authority to approve any development in national forest roadless areas, taking this decision away from district rangers and forest supervisors, where local politics often has a big impact.”
Update . . . more. This article from the New York Times. One-year delay on roadless rule for federal lands expected. By Noelle Straub and Eric Bontrager.
The Return of Citizen King. By Todd Wilkinson. Huffington Post.
While collaborationism puts the local political power structure first in determining the use of America’s public lands, NREPA does the opposite. It puts the national interest first. This Congress is the first real chance that it could pass.
Bill Schneider reports in New West on the recent House hearing. “WILDEST BILL ON THE HILL ADVANCES. House Holds Hearing on Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.
With lots of support, but none from local delegations, NREPA backers remain optimistic. Will it make it out of committee this time?”
Bill Schneider believes the anti-wilderness attitude of Montana business is changing, but the view of Montana’s congressional delegation (which includes two Democratic senators) has not.
“JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
Business People Call for More Wilderness in Northwest Montana.
Another sincere call for Montana’s delegation to designate Wilderness; this time because it’s good for business. Will it finally prompt our elected officials into action?” By Bill Schneider. New West.
On the other hand, Schneider doesn’t like the wilderness bill being pushed by the Montana Wilderness Association, Nature Conservancy and National Wildlife Federation. It is another collaborationist “wilderness” bill. FIX IT OR KILL IT. Montana Delegation Wise to Avoid Current Beaverhead-Deerlodge Plan. By Bill Schneider. New West.
Note that the Beaverhead-Deerlodge is in Southwest Montana.
Federal appeals court blocks mine expansion. By Rebecca Boone. AP.
I was told that
In summary, the appellate court:
1. Issued a stay of mine development activities;
2. Ruled that the Idaho magistrate judge erred in disregarding GYC’s demonstration of harm to the Sage Creek roadless area from mine develoment activities;
3. Sent the case back to the magistrate judge for reconsideration of the preliminary injunction issue in light of the threat of harm to the roadless area;
4. Ruled that GYC had raised very serious questions on the merits; and
5. Provided that any future appeals in this litigation will go back to the same 9th Circuit panel.
Earlier on this issue http://en.wordpress.com/tag/smoky-canyon-mine/
Forest staff to implement Snake protections. By The Associated Press. Billings Gazette.
Because the point of the bill is to keep things the way they are, keeping things the way they are doesn’t require a great amount of work to implement. However, there is some.
The bill designated 388 miles of wild, scenic or recreational rivers. The creeks and rivers included are portions of Bailey Creek, Blackrock Creek, Buffalo Fork of Snake River, Crystal Creek, Granite Creek, Gros Ventre River, Hoback River, Lewis, Pacific Creek, Shoal Creek, Snake River, Willow Creek, and Wolf Creek.
There was much rejoicing as the President signed the Omnibus Public Lands Bill, usually and incorrectly called the giant new “wilderness bill.”
It does add 2-million acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System, but it does many other things, including protect 1.2 million acres of the Salt River Range, Wyoming Range, and Commissary Ridge areas in Western Wyoming from oil and gas leasing (and hence drilling). These areas will not be managed as Wilderness, although as a result of the bill, large parts of them will remain roadless. Drilling in these scenic, but unstable, wildlife rich areas would cause immense devastation. They still suffer from excessive livestock grazing.
The bill also designates new Wild and Scenic Rivers, including the first in dry Utah, where building dams on rivers has been a tradition. To win support for the bill, money was provided to study the rebuilding of the Teton Dam in Eastern Idaho, which failed catastrophically in 1976 when it was first being filled after a long fight with conservation groups who predicted it would not hold water. I should note that fighting this dam was my first major conservation issue.
There are 500,000 of new official Wilderness in Idaho and 316 miles of wild and scenic rivers included in the larger Owyhee Canyonlands bill. This bill has sparked conflict among conservation groups, not because it designates Wilderness, but because it also releases to livestock development a number of roadless areas, plus other provisions. I have heard that the bill did undergo some improvement in the U.S. Senate when it was “cleaned up” by Committee Staff.
Salazar is drilling home renewables’ new power.By Michael Riley. The Denver Post
Wilderness Bill Clears the House on Its Second Go-Round. By Mireya Navarri. New York Times. Published: March 26, 2009
Senate Passes Lands Bill One More Time. By Kate Phillips. New York Times.
The article indicates that this time the House will not reach for the procedural ease of the suspension of the rules procedure. They will consider the bill, I think, under “regular order” and a closed rule (no amendments allowed). This requires only a simple majority to pass. It does takes more time because of the debate allowed.
The NRA is trying to stir up a phoney gun rights issue on the bill, and Democrats don’t want that “poison pill” allowed as an amendment.
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Road Through Alaskan Refuge Wins Senate Backing. Provision, Opposed by Environmentalists, Is Part of Broad Bipartisan Lands Measure. By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer.
Omnibus bill attached to a new vehicle moved through the Senate filibuster last night by a vote of 73 to 21. Final passage in the Senate will come soon and take it back to the House.
Story in New York Times blog, “The Caucus.” Big Public Lands Bill Goes Another Round. By Kate Phillips
Note that Phillips (or was she quoting Republicans?) when she said the bill was controversial because it moves a lot of land out of private into public lands. These lands are already public lands. Most of measures simply change their management category or rules.
House Votes Down Omnibus Public Lands Bill. House rules requiring a two-thirds vote proved to be its undoing. By Bill Schneider. New West
The vote was 282 in favor and 144 against.
I still don’t know why they didn’t consider the bill under “regular order” and with a “closed rule” (a closed allows no amendments). The Washington Post says regular order is too complicated, but I don’t see how. House Defeats Bill to Protect Wilderness Areas. By Juliet Eilperin. Washington Post Staff Writer.
I think the bill will come up against in the House. It was passed the Senate.
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3/12. Much more on the temporary(?) derailment of the bill.
House Rejects Massive Public Lands Protection Package. ENS
Ill-fated Rocky Mountain National Park bill snagged again. Wilderness designation held up by rules change. Coloradoan.com|
Proposal that would protect public wild lands in Oregon and across the nation loses in the House by two votes. By Charles Pope. Oregonian.
‘Temporary setback’ for Wyoming Range bill. By John Barron. Casper Star Tribune.
Southern Oregon wilderness push hits snag. Public lands bill with proposed Soda Mountain and Copper Salmon areas fails. By Paul Fattig. MailTribune.com
In Colorado: Coffman, Lamborn blasted for vote on wilderness. Aspen Times.
Sportsmen Support Wilderness. The River Guide.
I haven’t been to these roadless areas, but the relief of the Scotchman Peaks is some of the greatest in Montana.
Congressmen to hear resident’s testimony
By Thomas Dewell, Jackson Hole, Wyo
McCarthy’s testimony will focus on the Outdoor Alliance’s perspective that public lands are vital in combating climate change because of their role in ecosystem adaptation, their natural ability to sequester carbon, their potential for renewable energy projects such as wind farms and solar arrays, and that they provide the opportunity for Americans to stay connected to the natural world.
It’s the Wilderness, Stupid
By Bill Schneider
Current Creek, Owyhee Canyonlands © Brian Ertz
George Wuerthner questions the quid pro quo strategy that a small number of groups have claimed necessary to promote wilderness designation – some even going so far as to nearly become cheerleaders for the very industries that threaten the wild.
Wilderness Strategy Questioned – Is the future of Wilderness simply more of the past? NewWest.net
“Compromise is often necessary, but it ought not to originate with environmental leaders. Our role is to hold fast to what we believe is right, to fight for it, to find allies, and to adduce all possible arguments for our cause.“‘– David Brower
When I think of wilderness, I imagine a place untrammeled by man. But when looking at a quid pro quo “W“ilderness bill such as the Owyhee Initiative – it quickly becomes very unclear. The “pros” and “cons” are measured as apples to oranges – is the release of existing protection for ‘X’ acres of existing quality habitat for wildlife worth gaining ‘Y’ miles of mystical/beautiful canyons even as they aren’t likely to be harmed anyway ? Is ‘X’ acres of “W“ilderness worth release of so many more to its antithesis – logging, grazing, development, etc. ? Who knows ?
That’s not a clear way of communicating an advocacy. George’s article is good because it calls for honesty.
Northern Rockies Wilderness Bill Back in Congress
After many years of failure, will this be the year?
By Bill Schneider, 2-11-09
This Bill is sponsored and presented by Raul Grijalva among others but is widely opposed by the usual suspects from Wyoming and Idaho…
Lummis should vote for public lands bill
Star-Tribune Editorial Board
This is a big surprise.
Because the House leadership wants to pass the bill under suspension of the rules, it requires a 2/3 majority. If it can’t muster that, it goes to regular order, perhaps pushing the bill’s consideration months into the future.*
Folks will recall that the massive measure recently passed the U.S. Senate.
Story: Paleontology provisions threaten bill that includes Dominguez conservation area. By Mike Saccone. Grand Junction Sentinal.
– – – – – –
* Major bills in the U.S. House must obtain a rule (a set of procedures for debate) from the House Rules Committe) before they go to the floor, unless they are brought up under suspension of the rules. Under suspension, a bill is debated for only 20 minutes with time divided equal between for and against. No amendments are allowed, but the bill must get 2/3 or better in favor. If it does not get this, the bill is not dead, but it must then first get a rule from the House Rules Committee and be considered in the way the “rule” specifies. This can be done quickly, or if there is a long stack of legislation of higher priority, it can take a long time to get a rule.
Idaho has more roadless, undeveloped national forest land than any other state but Alaska. Compared to most other western states only a modest portion of this has been protected as designated Wilderness. The rest was allocated into various categories in an initiative pushed by Jim Risch during his brief governorship of Idaho. This was done under the Bush version of the roadless rule, which modified the roadless rule originally issued in the last months of the Clinton Administration. Idaho and Colorado were the only states to do this. Colorado’s effort is not complete.
This allocation of Idaho roadless lands is final and now part of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Several conservation groups in Idaho were willing to go along with this (Trout Unlimited, Idaho Conservation League). Because the process had fully played out, I doubted a lawsuit would happen. However, a major lawsuit was just filed. It includes some of the groups who were enthusiasts for the “collaborative” Owyhee Initiative which will probably soon become law.
News story on the lawsuit. Conservation groups sue over Idaho roadless plan. By Jessie L. Bonner. Associated Press Writer
News release from the Wilderness Society. Idaho Roadless Rule Challenged in Federal Court. Note that the same release was issued by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The Lands Council, the Sierra Club and the NRDC.
Blog. Wilderness Society sues to stop Risch roadless rule for Idaho. By Rocky Barker. Idaho Statesman. Here Barker explains the basics and bemoans the defection of the Wilderness Society away from collaboration.
The Caucus. New York Times blog. On a Sunday, the Senate Votes Yes on a Lands Bill. By Carl Hulse.
Here is the AP story. Senate boosts wilderness protection across US. By Mathew Daly.
The bill now goes to the House where there should be no challenge unless the bill gets an open rule from the House Rules Committee. An open rule permits amendments. The Rules Committee almost always follows the will of the Speaker. It is “her committee,” so to speak.
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Reaction is coming in.
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Cheers. SUWA Statement on Inclusion of Vastly Improved Washington County Public Lands Legislation in Senate Omnibus Lands Package
Federal wilderness protection for California land moves forward. By Richard Simon. LA Times
Senate votes to increase protections for land in Oregon and nationwide. By Charles Pope, The Oregonian
Another point is that Ken Salazar is still a U.S. Senator. It is smart not to resign your old job until you actually confirmed (witness Bill Richardson who is still New Mexico’s governor)
– – – – – –
Salazar is also pushing for 210,000 acres of protection on the Uncompahgre plateau of SW Colorado. It would be named the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area. About 65,000 acres of this would be classified as the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area. This is possibly more significant than the Rocky Mountain NP Wilderness because designating the backcountry of a national park as Wilderness can be a bit redundant.
Salazar’s actions will no doubt burnish his credentialsl as future secretary of Interior.
Walt Minnick, the Democrat who defeated incumbent nutwinger Bill Sali for Idaho First Congressional District, joined with Idaho Second District Representative, Republican Mike Simpson to reintroduce the controversial Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA) on the first day of Congress.
With Democrats in control the prospects for the passage of the bill written by Simpson have increased as well as the possibility of making the legislation less damaging.
While the media often call it a “Wilderness bill” because it designates 318,765 acres in the Boulder Mountains and White Cloud Mountains as Wilderness, there are other aspects of the bill that many see as problems. We need to see the actual text of the bill to see if any of these have been removed.
Several mainstream groups have joined forces with representatives of the wood products industry in a grand attempt to end what I call the “Wilderness Drought.” But, the bill that has come out of one collaboration could extend, instead of end, the drought. Bill Schneider
Once again the pitfalls of collaborationism.
Story: Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership: Right Idea, Wrong Bill. New West.
Although it was supposed to move in the lame duck session, that session fizzles and the bill was pulled under threat of filibuster by Tom Coburn (R-OK).
Senator Reid, the major leader, has announced that an unrevised version of the massive public land bill (pieces of public lands legislation all over the United States inside) will be brought up early in the next Congress.
This is good news. This is also horrible news because of the the content of the various individual items. One of the worst is the Owyhee canyonlands a.k.a. Owyhee Initiative in SW Idaho.
Rocky Barker traces its origins in his blog today and Begreen has a fine response.
In New West, Bill Schneider wrote: “We Americans have high expectations for President-elect Obama and the bluer-than-ever Congress, and a good way for them to convince us we did the right thing is immediately codify the Roadless Rule.”
Rest of the story. Time to Codify the roadless rule. New West
Assuming there is a lame duck session of Congress (very likely), this bill could designate a lot of public land areas “this” or “that.”
53 new measures were added to the omnibus bill on Oct. 31. It is hard to figure out what is in this bill.
Here is an article about it with a focus on Wyoming from today’s (Nov. 3) Jackson Hole News. By Noah Brenner.
Regarding Oregon. Omnibus land act includes wilderness designations. Senate next month will vote on creation of Oregon’s Soda Mountain and Copper Salmon wilderness area. By Paul Fattig. Mail Tribune.
In Colorado, New senator-elect Udall (I’ll call the race) favors adding wilderness acreage to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Reason for the omnibus bill was Senator Coburn’s (R-OK) “holds” on individual measures. Lame-duck will take up Coburn bill. By J. Taylor Rushing. From The Hill.
It may be best to let the omnibus bill die. There are too many half-assed measures like the Idaho Owyhee Canyonlands bill by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) in it.
Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, and especially idaho Senator Larry Craig, have dropped their opposition to the bill by Wyoming’s two U. S. senators to protect the Snake River and its headwaters tributaries as parts of the national Wild and Scenic Rivers system.
The Snake River rises in Wyoming, but runs through Idaho where much of it is diverted for irrigation.
The Snake River protection plan has advanced, but over the wishes of Idaho’s Larry Craig (who will be retired in a couple months, but could yet cause problems in the U.S. Senate).
Crapo too has opposed the protection of the Snake River. One reason for the change may be Crapo’s desire to advance his “Owyhee Initiative” in Idaho, which would designae a number of canyon areas as Wilderness and give preferments and advantages to Owyhee area ranchers. Both the Snake River Bill and the Owyhee Initiative are expected to be in a massive omnibus public land bill to be taken up in the likely “lame duck” session of Congress after the Nov. 4 election.
Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. Idaho Senators Now Support Snake River bill. By Noah Brenner
Did Idaho’s short term governor Jim Risch produce a compromise that finally protected most of Idaho’s 9-million acres of roadless area? Roger Phillips of the Idaho Statesman thinks so.
Phillips: Groups work together to protect 9 million acres. Idaho Statesman. By Roger Phillips
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Some earlier stories in this forum on the Idaho roadless rule.
8-30-2008 Truce Is Reached in Battle Over Idaho Forest Land
1-15-2008. Idaho roadless plan is good but it needs tweaking, Risch says
12-26-2006. USDA accepts Idaho’s roadless area plan
9-20-2006. Officials close to final Idaho roadless plan
NOTE: Jim Risch became Idaho’s governor for about a year, when Bush tapped Idaho’s governor Kempthorne to be the Secretary of Interior. Risch had been Lt. Governor when the governor’s office became vacant.
Risch is once again the Lt. Governor, but is running for the U.S. senate seat of retiring Larry Craig against Democrat Larry LaRocco. The governor is Butch Otter. IMO, Risch was a lot better governor than Otter.
The Aug. 2008 The International Journal of Wilderness has a fine article by George Wuerthner.
Most of the rural East has become reforested as agricultural has shifted and these relatively marginal lands for cultivation have grown back into forests.
It may appear the old forest has now been considerably restored, but Wuerthner argues we hardly even know what the orginal forest was like. The new forest is something quite different, and “mere sticks and ghosts compared to past glory.”
The final roadless area rule for Idaho has been released.
There are many improvements in the rule, especially in Eastern Idaho where I live.
When President Bush tried to overturn the Clinton roadless rule (protecting all the national forest roadless areas as what you might call “backcountry” or sorts), western governors were invited to develop a plan for their states’ national forest roadless areas.
Idaho has more national forest roadless, non-Wilderness land than any other state — over 9-million acres. Conservationists feared the worst when Idaho became the only state to accept the Bush Administration’s invitation.
Protecting the remaining roadless areas on the national forests is not nearly as controversial as designating Wilderness areas, but these areas have no real protection under the Bush Administration, or before until the executive order by President Clinton.
The New York Times says “There Ought to be a Law” to protect them.
– – – –
I want to remind folks that there is now an excellent web site on roadless areas to which you can upload your photos and comments. http://roadlessland.org/
Outdoors enthusiasts pushing for creation of West Hermosa Creek Wilderness. By Dave Buchanan. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
A link to the Hermosa Creek roadless area at roadlessland.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 15, 2008
CONTACT:
Brent Fenty 541-330-2638
Jon Marvel 208-788-2290
PORTLAND, ORE. — The Bureau of Land Management must rewrite its land use plan for southeast Oregon due to a landmark decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. The BLM wrongly refused to evaluate impacts to wilderness values on the public lands in the challenged plan, according to the decision, which overturned a district court decision upholding the plan.
The ruling will have a profound impact on BLM’s management of the public lands it is charged with protecting. The court specifically rejected BLM’s disavowal of “the very idea of wilderness” as one of many resources and values for which the agency must manage. Finding that the law, including BLM’s own guidance documents, unmistakably requires BLM to analyze impacts to a landscape’s wilderness characteristics, the court vacated the plan and ordered BLM prepare a new plan.
UPDATE: Read a Copy of the Decision
The Doña Ana County Wilderness debate.
Wilderness bill deepens gap between groups. Las Cruces Sun News.
The good news is that Representative Steve Pearce is running for the U.S. Senate where he is going to be beaten badly. He has been a real problem for the sound management of public lands in New Mexico on many fronts.
This is from Wilderness and Environmental Medicine: Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 245–249.
Also avoid areas with high human use.
Whatever your take on whether the quid pro quo is worth it with wilderness designation, we’re in a different political atmosphere and that is beginning to show results – the bills are getting better :
Simpson removes criticized portion of Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill – Idaho Statesman
94 federal acres that would have been transfered to local development saved – 5,500 more to go.
Yesterday I posted about the passage of the bill to protect the vast Wyoming Mountain range from oil and gas — a big matter for Wyoming.
The same committee also passed Idaho Senator Mike Crapo’s “Owyhee bill,” which failed at the last minute at the end of the last Congress.
This has been very controversial in Idaho with some conservation organizations and ag organizations saying it shows what can be accomplished to settle differences, protect the land and the traditions of the area if people are willing to settle down an talk and compromise over the long run.
Others are saying that yes it does show exactly what can be accomplished — not much protection and free money for well positioned ranchers who give up wasteland and “paper cows” for excessive payments.
This bill is likely to also pass the full U.S. Senate attached as a pdf file is the language of the bill as it passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The Owyhee Bill as Passed by Committee
I should mention that this is a huge chuck of country.
First new wilderness in state in 2 decades is easily accessible. By Jennifer A. Dlouhy. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The new Wild Sky Wilderness Area is 106,000 acres. It failed in the last Congress when House Resources Committee Chair Richard Pombo killed at. Due in part to strong action by conservationists across America, he is no longer a member of Congress.
This was part of an omnibus bill, not the best way of passing legislation, but that is another topic.
May 1. I got some email from a listserv I’m on. Regarding Wild Sky, it was written “Wild Sky has few trails, and the land is topographically pretty vertical — not conducive to biking. That’s why we had no significant motorcycle opposition. Washington’s other remaining Wilderness candidate areas will be different.”
May 9. Bush signs Wild Sky wilderness bill in Washington state. By Matthew Daly. Associated Press Writer
Owyhee Canyonlands protections back before Congress. By Rocky Barker. Idaho Statesman
This article in New West is a good update on the status of the National Forest roadless area issue. Roadless without a map. Hazy Horizon for West’s Roadless Lands. By David Frey.
In fact there is a very good map of the roadless areas on-line. It is an interactive map to which you can contribute photos and comments. Roadlessland.org.
As I speculated in a number of threads, the hot new issue over guns in the national parks is indeed a political invention for this presidential campaign with the primary intent to stop a large number, over 60, relatively low controversy land protection measures that had been rolled into an omnibus bill.
Those promoting “the Coburn Amendment” were so effective in raising this wedge issue that few of media either knew or bothered to explain that it is an unrelated amendment to a public lands bill to designate wilderness areas, and enlarge a number of minor national park service sites.
Once Senator Coburn (R-OK) unwrapped this smelly fish of an amendment, it immediately became a partisan issue with McCain signing on as a co-sponsor and Senator Reid pulling the bill from the floor. It had already passed the House. Reid feared it would put too many Democrats in jeopardy with the upcoming election.
On most major Senate bills, senators bargain beforehand how many amendments and what kind of amendments will be offered to a bill when the bill is brought to floor. Senators of both parties generally do this is in good faith because they know their transgression of process today will come back and haunt them on their own bill tomorrow. The bargain between Coburn and majority leader Reid was that Coburn would get to offer five amendments, but this kind of amendment was not expected because Coburn had not raised this issue (guns) at all in the months leading up the floor action. Instead he had opposed the bill for being “bloated” and “too expensive.”
So Coburn will earn himself some payback, but for now he has probably blocked measures like the Wild Sky Wilderness near Seattle for yet another Congress.
Meanwhile, sensing an issue they can use, Republican Secretary of Interior Kempthorne is ordering the Park Service to see if he can allow guns in some national parks by administrative actions of the Department of Interior.
Story in the Missoulian by Michael Jamison. Park’s Gun Rules May Change.
This kind of amendment is called a “poison pill,” and Coburn and the Republicans carried it off with success.
Michael Garrity gives a thoughtful account of The Political Viability of NREPA citing the Speaker of the House and Chairman of the Natural Resources committee’s support.
A lot of good things may be on the horizon for those willing to push.
This from Rocky Barker’s blog today, Idaho environmental pioneer Day dies..
I’m sad to learn of the passing of Ernie Day. Ernie taught me that premature compromise with the resource extraction industry never protected anything. I remember his anger when he found us sitting around in one of the early, and of course unproductive meetings with . . . I can’t remember if it was cattle, timber, or off road vehicle people.
Learning to photograph Idaho’s landscape in those cherished and all-too-rare sessions with him was really learning from a master.
When Ernie was in his prime (fortunately for Idaho, that was a long time), it took real bravery to speak out against mining, timber, and ranching. Most people who dared would quickly lose their job.
While saving the White Cloud Mountains from the open pit moly mine was a great group effort, Ernie was foremost among the leaders. One of his photos of Castle Peak, in particular, had influence for many years.
Alert on Idaho roadless areas-
On December 26, 2007, the Forest Service released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that seeks to weaken protections for much of Idaho’s 9.3 million acres of roadless lands. Nearly 6 million acres of those lands would be opened to potential logging and mineral development. An additional 600,000 acres in Southeast Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem would be virtually unprotected, opening these backcountry lands to phosphate mining.
Idaho’s roadless plan is good but it needs tweaking, Risch says. He says it needs to further restrict logging, but conservationists say that revision is not enough. Idaho Statesman. By Erika Bolstad.
This roadless area plan was developed by Risch in 2006 while he was briefly governor. He was one of just a few governors who took up Bush’s offer to states to let them resolve the roadless area issue (subject to Bush Administration approval). Most governors preferred President Clinton’s total protection plan.
The Administration’s final approval was for a modified plan that provided significantly less protection than Risch had proposed (more logging). Now Risch is running for the U.S. Sentate to replace Larry Craig (his Democratic opponent will be Larry LaRocco, a former Idaho congressman).
Nelson Guda has developed and deployed an incredible new resource for the location, description, and maps of the roadless areas.
His website http://roadlessland.org allows users to look at photos and comments about individual roadless areas and to upload their own comments and photos.
Because this was just announced, so far there are not a lot of comments and photos, but with some help this could become invaluable for locating places to explore with your own effort and to protect from the depredations of the industrial machine that is overrunning the planet.
I think it will be a lot of fun showing folks the photos you have taken and making comments about the places.
I’ve written a number of hiking guides. My tendency on comments was always political . . . .” Hike up the SW side of the ridge. Watch out for rocks that just small enough you can’t step on top of them, but too big not to notice each step. When you get on top, look to the west. The haze is from natural gas drilling and production at emission level’s far beyond that which is legal.
The Salt Lake Tribune features an article about a letter that a couple of Utah legislators wrote associating wilderness designation in the state with aiding terrorists. Letter links wilderness, threats of terror. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance takes the brunt of these bumbling assaults on preserving wild places, wilderness that when properly protected actualizes the most potent and important manifestations of genuine public freedom remaining – the wild.
“Man always kills the thing he loves, and so we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. Some say we had to. Be that as it may, I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?”
– Aldo Leopold 1949 A Sand County Almanac
Rocky Baker at the Idaho Statesman makes some predictions about 2008. Salmon, roadless and wolves will come to a head in 2008
While I don’t cover the salmon issue a great deal, there is potential for real economic cost and benefit here (unlike wolves which are cultural issue).
Some good news for the vast, but increasingly threatened boreal region of Canada.
Canada creates huge protected forest reserves. Area as big as 11 Yellowstones offers buffer from oil, mining. AP in MSNBC.
Off-road activist [Huck] says he’s tossed in the towel. He declares, after ruling, he’ll no longer fight wilderness designations. By Patty Henetz. (link expired) The Salt Lake Tribune. Note the SLT link died, but a found an active link at an off-road activist site.
“It’s like battling the Borg: Resistance is futile,” Huck said during a phone call from Blue Notch, a desert region near Lake Powell’s Hite Marina where he was dirt-biking with his family. “We might as well just designate all of Utah wilderness now and get it over with.”
The House Natural Resources committee gave NREPA, the Northern Rockies ecoystem protection act it’s first hearing yesterday.
You will read objections of people like Idaho governor Butch Otter, and Montana’s lone U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg. These people have opposed much smaller efforts too, even those with lots of local backing.
On the other hand, objections from possible, but not currently likely winning U.S. Senator candidate Larry LaRocco running for the seat of Idaho’s most “famous” senator are more significant because of his party (Democrat).
The comments by Idaho Republican congressman Mike Simpson are encouraging in that many say NREPA is really designed to make smaller efforts, like Simpson’s, politically feasible.
Story. Rockies wilderness bill gets mixed reviews at House hearing. Singer Carole King addresses Congressional committee. By Erika Bolstad – ebolstad@idahostatesman.com
Note: Songwriter and singer Carole King has lived in Idaho at the Robinson Bar Ranch, upstream from Clayton for many years.
This is a pretty controversial topic. When the Wilderness Act was passed in 1964, there were not really any mountain bikes. The Act clearly bans motorized recreation, but it is somewhatunclear about muscle powered mechanical. I think it is clear enough that the judgment is against bikes.
The regulations written to flesh out the Act prohibited mountain bikes. The government’s interpretation has been very purist. Some really like that; others don’t; but it surely makes it harder to pass a Wilderness Bill.
Some mountain bike organizations have supported Wilderness anyway, but others have teamed up politically with the real target of the Wilderness Act, motorcycles, ATVs (although they didn’t exist in 1964), 4 x 4s, aircraft (except for some grandfathered backcountry airstrips), motorboats.
Allowing mountain bikes will probably require an explicit statement that they are allowed in future legislation.
Wild Bill: Are We Ready for Wilderness Lite? By Bill Schneider. New West.
Here is the text of the Act regarding “prohibited uses,”
(c) Except as specifically provided for in this chapter, and subject to existing private rights, there shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act (including measures required in emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within the area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area.
This is a report in New West on NREPA, which is getting its first ever hearing in Congress.
Opponents have always argued that the grand Northern Rockies Ecosystem Projection Act isn’t’ politically feasible, but bills that are commonly hailed as “feasible” have not been enacted either. There are a few exceptions in greener places like California, or where very unpleasant trade-offs were made like White Pine County, Nevada. There also some places where that nasty slug Richard Pombo (now oozing his way around D.C. as a lobbyist) held up bills despite support by the state’s congressional delegation (Oregon and Washington).
Rocky Barker has a short and interesting blog as to how the presence of roads affects the interaction of predators and prey.
Yellowstone moose use roads to outsmart grizzly bears. By Rocky Barker. Idaho Statesman.
Update: I just found this. It’s the same story with a somewhat different slant on the matter. It’s from Science Daily Study: Moose move toward humans for safety.
10-13. More still on the moose/grizzly bear/roads story. Mother moose know best. Bears avoid park roads, so expectant ungulates stay close. By Mike Stark. Billings Gazette Staff
NREPA is by far the best Wilderness Bill out there, but it has always been criticised as politically infeasible.
Now, however, the political climate has changed, although NREPA hardly has a steady and strong political wind behind it.
Songwriter, singer Carole King who has lived near Clayton, Idaho (between Challis and Stanley) for many years has been a leading supporter and financial backer of the legislation.
Rocky Barker as a blog on it. Carole King and supporters finally get House hearing on ambitious wilderness bill. Idaho Statesman.
Rocky Barker’s blog: Roadless rule resolution may wait for next administration. Rocky Barker. Idaho Statesman.
Barkers writes about the latest chapter in the struggle over national forest roadless areas. This is a battle that has been going on since the early 1970s, but especially since President Bill Clinton gave an executive order to protect all remaining roadless areas over 5000 acres in size on the national forests and President Bush replaced it with a much less protective rule.
This fire will be monitored and treated as a wildland fire (allowed to burn as long as it does not surpass pre-established conditions).
Arizona Lake and Creek are in the extreme NE part of the Park adjacent to the huge Teton Wilderness on the national forest. Much (most) of the west half of the Teton Wilderness burned in 1988 in the huge fires of that year.
Lee Mercer and I walked through miles and miles of burned timber in the West half of this Wilderness when we were writing our guidebook to the area in 1996-7. I’m not so sure that more burning in the area is harmless, given the wholesale transformation of the landscape and ecology of the area after 1988.
Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. Reid Fire starts near Arizona Creek in Grand Teton National Park.
This fire has been burning deep in the Frank Church Wilderness NW of Challis and has received little attention. Some days it has put up very large plumes as this story from the Challis Newspaper indicates, and it has a big impact on wilderness recreation, air quality, and the future ecology of the area.
Shower Bath and Red Bluff fires increase substantially in size. By Todd Adams. Challis Messenger.
Shower Bath plume. Challis Messenger.
To sum it up, President Clinton issued an executive order that the Forest Service would keep all the non-wilderness, but yet roadless areas on the national forests, free of new permanent roads.
There were a number of court challenges filled to this by states like Wyoming and Idaho. They had mixed success. Then, new President George W. Bush rescinded the roadless area protection rule. More court cases were filed, and eventually the Administration said the states could petition a special committee to adopt a state-created plan to manage the roadless area for various development and retention purposes. Idaho was the only state to do this. The plan was created and adopted by the committee. Most of the rest of the states, but not Wyoming, said “keep the roadless areas, roadless”.
Then a California district judge ruled the whole Bush enterprise invalid, restoring the Clinton rules, but Wyoming is going to its favorite judge, Clarence Brimmer of the Wyoming federal district, to try to invalidate the California judge, at least for Wyoming. The result could be a different “law” for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the 10th Circuit Court.
California, Montana, New Mexico and Oregon have formally intervened in the case arguing that Wyoming’s case threatens them.
Here is the AP story: States line up against overturning roadless rule.
a
In Idaho’s Pioneer Mountains roadless area. Fall creek canyon.
Here is more on the big victory, slapping down the Bush Administration’s new grazing regulations. Rocky Barker goes on to tie it with the recent Bush defeat on the roadless issue ruling.
One point about the headline — ” Cowboys and loggers.” Cowboys and loggers are the employees. Like so many of us, they are the ones who get the “short end of the stick.” It’s ranchers and forest developers who lost in two courtrooms. The condition of injured or “retired” loggers and cowboys is often not a happy one.
Barker’s blog in the Idaho Statesman.
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Information on the big victory on roadless areas- June 8, Rocky Mountain News. Roadless rule survives challenge By Todd Hartman.
post 1198
Freudenthal: Keep Thomas’ proposal alive. Before his death, senator worked on Wyoming Front bill. Billings Gazette. By The Associated Press.
Hopefully for the great scenery and wildlife in the area, this plea will turn out to be more than an nice sentiment upon the death of Senator Thomas.
Far-reaching roadless legislation introduced in Congress. By Jason Kaufmann. Idaho Mountain Express.
The bill, which affects the entire United States, not just Idaho, would make President Clinton’s roadless area protection rule into law, thus voiding President Bush’s weaker protection of roadless areas administrative action. The bill would not change the current use or non-use of these roadless areas by off-road vehicles.
There are many other stories about this.
The best web site for detailed information about this and other roadless area issues is The Heritage Forests Campaign
A story today says the reason for the lack of controversy is that only the uncontroversial stream segments were included in the legislation.
Bill leaves out some waters. By Whitney Royster. Casper Star-Tribune environmental reporter.
At the present only part of one river in Wyoming is in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. That is a portion of the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone to east of Cooke City.
This is the first time in memory that I recall a Wyoming member of Congress wanting to do anything like this. Many of these streams are already mostly protected by virtue of being in designated Wilderness Area (regarded as near perfect protection anyway), but the Wilderness Act has a little known provision that has never been used that allows a President to authorize the development of dams, etc. inside designated Wilderness areas. No one has every worried about this in the past, but there has never a President like George W. Bush. So this action would not be redundant.
In addition the proposed segments of the Gros Ventre, Snake River, Hoback River, Willow Creek, Bailey Creek, and Wolf Creek, currently have no protection.
Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. Bill to protect Snake. By Noah Brenner.
Notice. On June 2, Senator Thomas died of cancer. This is almost certainly end this bill for the duration of this Congress.
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Rocky Barker has written about the Owyhee Initiative in the Idaho Statesman:
Just weeks after a snowmobiler was almost killed by an avalanche in Jewel Basin in Montana’s Swan Range, closed to snowmobiles, the Forest Service wants stiff penalties for those riding illegally in Wilderness and other closed areas. The increasing number of rescues and fatalities of these illegal riders is both dangerous to rescuers and expensive.
Law-breaking snowmobilers face crackdown. Billings Gazette.
Earlier story about the incident in this blog.
Here is a current, March 18, related story. Flathead National Forest snowmobile use likely headed to courtroom. By Michael Jamison. Missoulian.
Representative Mike Simpson is reintroducing his Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act and Senator Mike Crapo his Owyhee Canyonlands bill.
Both measures failed in the last Congress, although Simpson’s CIEDRA came close to being sent to Bush’s desk.
Here is the story in today’s Idaho Statesman.“Simpson, Crapo again push their wilderness bills. Lawmakers say getting legislation for Owyhees, Boulder-White Clouds passed will take a lot of work.” By Keith Ridler. The Associated Press
Both bills have stirred up a lot of contention amongst conservation groups, with some favoring and some opposing these “wilderness bills.” Many folks believe that both bills will have to become greener to clear the new Democratic congress. Some conservation groups, not to mention the many anti-conservation interests, will continue to oppose them no matter what.
I have a proposal as to how to think about these bills which might be useful for all sides of the issue.
While these two bills are often called “wilderness bills,” both measures contain many side payments to non-wilderness and anti-wilderness interests in an effort to gain their support or at least reduce their opposition. In reality, these 2 bills are a list of changes to the public land laws, not wilderness bills. Designating some wilderness is just one item on the list. That one item attracts the attention of the media, many conservation groups, and die-hard anti-wilderness groups like the Blue Ribbon Coalition.
I think interest groups would do better to list each item in each bill and assign it a + or minus score. For example a conservation groups might figure “over 300,000 acres of designated wilderness, +10;” “the wilderness is split by two off-road vehicle corridors, -2;” “public land is given to Idaho counties for development, -3;” “there is a voluntary buyout of grazing leases, +5,” etc. Each group could come up with their own score. If it is positive, support it. The more positive it is, work harder. The same is true for the negative.
Given that Congress is now greener, conservation groups should insist on a higher net positive score than last year. The additional positive points do not have to be immediately on site. They could be somewhere else in Idaho. For example, last year one payoff to off road vehicle groups was creation of a public lands sacrifice area near Boise, many miles from the White Cloud and Boulder Mountains.
On way of increasing the net positive score on CIEDRA for me would be more grazing buyouts in the general vicinity. To me the biggest problem in the area is livestock grazing in country not really suited for it, or country where grazing detracts more from the area’s value, than it adds in the way of the meager economic activity it generates.
If groups dropped their ideology for or against wilderness and thought about these bills in the way I suggest, I think a resolution might be at hand. However, as long as the groups stand on abstract principles such as “wilderness, land of no use,” or “wilderness, it most not be compromised in any way,” or “there must be transfer of some public lands to private hands simply because Custer County is already 95% public land,” this issue will go on and on and never be resolved.
This happens every winter, some folks ride illegally into an area closed to snowmobiles and meet an avalanche. Jewel Basin is in the Swan mountain range, east of Kalispell, Montana. Story no. 1. Story in the Casper Star Tribune
Story no. 2. Illegal and ill-equipped snowmobiling. Montana Avalanche Victim Survives An 8 Hour Burial. By Lucia Stewart. New West.
Story no. 3. Added on March 10. Opinion of the Missoulian. Snowmobilers need ethic of responsible play “SUMMARY: Irresponsible, illegal snowmobile use creates needless dangers and invites greater restrictions.”
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My personal opinion is, it isn’t worth shedding a tear for a snowmobiler caught in an avalanche inside an area closed to them. If they survive the avalanche, jail them.
Now that Dale Bosworth is a free man, but no longer a person with authority as when he was Bush’s Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, he tells us that he basically supported President’s Clinton’s national forest roadless area protection role, not Bush’s.
I can only hope he did his best to sabotage the Bush rule from within.
Read: Ex-Forest Service chief backs most of Clinton-era `roadless rule’. By Martin Griffith. AP in the Las Vegas Sun.
The benefit’s of Pombo’s loss keep coming in . . .
Wild Sky Wilderness area back in Congress’ sights. Protection may pass by summer. By Charles Pope. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
This is a very important bill because it includes lowland forests. Most designated Wilderness in Washington State is “rocks and ice,” meaning high elevation or otherwise unproductive forest, tundra, severely steep slopes, and rocks and ice.
NREPA is a grand wilderness vision and more, but had fallen on hard times in the Republican congresses.
NREPA is back, with a greater chance, now that Congress has turned greener. Its name has been changed to the “Rockies Prosperity Act.” Here is the bill’s text.
Bill Schneider at New West has a favorable review. Ending the War Over Wilderness. By Bill Schneider.
A nameless meadow in the Nameless Creek roadless area. Boise National Forest. This, among hundreds of other roadless ares, would be designated Wilderness by the Rockies Prosperity Act. Copyright Ralph Maughan
Here is another great victory for the Clinton rule protecting all national forest roadless areas.
A federal judge in Northern California issued a final injunction Tuesday that protects 52 million acres nationwide from a repeal of the 2001 Clinton roadless rule. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte included language in her decision preventing roads and surface disturbance related to energy development, though oil and gas deposits would still be available through directional drilling. Read the rest in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. Story by Cory Hatch.
What the fight is over — unprotected roadless lands like these. This is the Marten Creek Cirque
inside a large roadless portion of the Wyoming Range (SW Wyoming). Copyright Ralph Maughan
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