2006-2008 Actions & Accomplishments

 

 

2008

2008 Annual Report.   In 2008 Wildlands CPR led national conservation efforts to secure increased funding for watershed restoration on public lands.  We also continued to play a strong leadership role in the campaign to stop off-road vehicle abuse on national forests.  For fifteen years now, Wildlands CPR has identified strategic solutions to intractable conservation, transportation, and restoration problems on public lands.  2008 was no exception, with real on-the-ground success in both our transportation and restoration programs.

Published and distributed ~1000 copies of Best Management Practices (pdf) for Off-Road Vehicles in Forested Ecosystems, in conjunction with Six Strategies for Success: Effective off-road vehicle management on public lands, to Forest Service, Park Service and Bureau of Land Management staff. 

Settled a lawsuit with the National Park Service over off-road vehicle management in National Parks.  The settlement identified pilot parks where new reporting methods will be tested, and it guaranteed that parks that have not undertaken planning for off-road vehicles (where such use is allowed), will complete the needed planning.

Implemented a strategy for stimulus funding for LRRI that was incorporated by national environmental and sporting organizations and other diverse partners.  (More than 100 groups and individuals directly endorsed our proposal.)

Secured language in the stimulus bill that ensures the Forest Service can spend a portion of their funds on road decommissioning (finalized in 2009).

Published a leather-bound collector’s edition of our book (and accompanying woodcut engravings), A Road Runs Through It, which was signed by all 26 of the living authors.

2007

2007 Annual Report. Bringing home the bacon… That short phrase pretty much sums up Wildlands CPR’s most significant successes last year. Through two campaigns, we helped secure $73 million for federal and state agencies for public lands watershed restoration (to be spent mostly in 2008)! To accomplish this and our other work, we expanded significantly — increasing our staff from six to ten people and engaging in more work on-the-ground.

Wildlands CPR and the UC-Davis Road Ecology Center have organized an Organized Oral Session on road removal at the Ecological Society of America/Society for Ecological Restoration conference this August in San Jose, CA. Click here for a list of speakers and more information.

New Report Reveals Enforcement Solutions to Off-Road Vehicle Abuse of Public Land. The report was mentioned in several articles highlighting abuses and was distributed to more than 100 agency staff and over 150 partner organizations.

Wildlands CPR's Publication "Road Ripper's Guide to Off-Road Vehicles" Helps Halt a 1,000 Acre ORV Park. Quilcene, WA resident Connie Gallant writes to tell us how our Road Ripper's Guide helped her citizen group to develop a successful campaign against ORV's.

Road Removal Article Featured in the Dartmouth Green Magazine. Former intern, Josh Hurd, writes about Road Removal and the New Economy.

Video News Release Introducing Montana's New Restoration Initiative. Watch the video here.

A Road Runs Through It reading, Gardiner, Montana. Sponsored by the Bear Creek Council, contributors David Havlick, Tom Petersen and Carolyn Duckworth read at the Gardiner Community Center in June 2007.

2006

Effective Collaboration Training Workshop. Forest Service planners, conservationists, off-road vehicle riders, backcountry horsemen and others from Montana and Idaho gathered in Missoula for a workshop on working together to resolve conflicts around motorized use and abuse of national forests. Click here for the press release.

Road RIPorter Recommended as Further Reading by Utne Reader, according to Utne Reader's Street Librarian, which "highlights publications whose creators are motivated by passion for ideas instead of profit." Thanks Utne!

A Road Runs Through It: Limited Collector's Edition Available. A special fundraising project of Wildlands CPR includes a leather bound edition signed by every contributor including Annie Proulx, Peter Matthiessen, Barry Lopez and two dozen more. The Special Collection also includes the six original wood engraving prints from the book. Available September 2007.

A Road Runs Through It Book Reading in Ashland, OR. Contributor Pepper Trail presented a reading from our book on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006 at the Northwest Nature Shop.

10th Circuit Court Upholds Travel Restrictions on BLM Lands to Halt Off-Road Vehicle Abuse in Utah. BLM off-road vehicle restrictions are upheld in Utah.

Victory for Wildlands! Court Dumps Bush Roadless Repeal. A federal court tossed out the Bush administration's rewrite of the "Roadless Rule" for America's forests and reinstated a Clinton-era rule that protected 58.5 million acres of roadless areas.

A Road Runs Through It Book Reading at Montana Festival of the Book. Contribors David Quamann, Phil Condon, Carolyn Duckworth and our very own Tom Petersen gave a spirited reading to 60 people at the Festival in Missoula, MT in September 2006.

Comments on Proposed Changes to the National Trails Classification System. 57 organizations sign on. (Word doc)

Wildlands CPR's 2006 Gifts Campaign. Wildlands CPR raised more than $30,000 in our 4th Annual Gifts Campaign.

2006 Wild Rockies Rendezvous. Wildlands CPR co-sponsors The Rendezvous which brings together citizens to discuss the future of wilderness, wildlife, restoration and collaboration in the Wild Rockies.

The Governor's Restoration Forum 2006: Wildlands CPR co-sponsors a forum that highlights the Economic and Public Benefits of Revitalizing Montana Landscapes.

Strategic Mini-Grants Awarded to Activists Wildlands CPR awards strategic mini-grants to activists in the thick of off-road vehicle planning.

Wildlands CPR Files an Unnecessary Lawsuit Blown deadlines and an unjustly denied fee waiver request by the Forest Service has forced Wildlands CPR to file a lawsuit that should not be necessary.

Ecosystem Management Decision Support Wildlands CPR helps organize a Forest Service Regional Training Academy workshop on using Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) in transportation planning.

 

"It is refreshing to work with Wildlands CPR because they have a real hands on approach to restoration issues and are genuine in understanding and support of those who work in the woods. Because they have technical expertise in restoring degraded road systems they bring practical perspective and credible information to the discussion of policies related to roads on our public lands. Plus, they are fun people to be around and work with."

-Maia Enzer, Sustainable Northwest

 

 

1995-2005 Actions & Accomplishments Highlights

Activist and agency trainings
We have trained more than 1,000 agency staff and citizen activists in road removal, road inventory and motorized recreation workshops. For example, in 2006 we organized three trainings to introduce new Forest Service staff to road removal resources that work well. A Region 6 training occurred with Annie Connor, Road Removal Project Leader on the Clearwater National Forest speaking with approximately 100 other agency staff on road decommissioning efforts. A second training occurred in Reno, NV with regions 2,3, 4 of the Forest Service, with Marnie Criley, our Restoration Program coordinator, and Rebecca Lloyd of the Nez Perce Tribe, one of our restoration partners. A third 2006 workshop was a technical training focused on new GIS models for prioritizing which roads and motorized routes to keep open and which to close. About 25 Region 1 staff, University of Montana faculty, EPA personnel, and private consultants attended it.

Establishment of effective coalitions
In 1999, Wildlands CPR and 106 other groups submitted an administrative rulemaking petition to the Forest Service challenging their management of off-road vehicles. As follow up, we were a lead group in creating the Natural Trails and Waters Coalition, a national campaign to fight motorized recreation, and continue to serve as co-chair of the steering committee. Other members of the steering committee include American Hiking Society, SUWA, Bluewater Network/Friends of the Earth, Colorado Mountain Club, Great Old Broads for Wilderness and the Sierra Club. More than 100 grassroots groups around the country have joined as active members.

Resource Toolbox and Strategies distributed to agencies and activists
Wildlands CPR has worked with more than 250 groups around the country to assist them in their road and off-road vehicle battles and to help them promote road removal and restoration. We have published an economic report on the job potential of road removal, title, ""Investing in Communities, Investing in the Land;" a brochure on funding options for land management agency staff; a lay guide to transportation planning titled, "Planning Pathways;" a complete Handbook of Road Resources and Guides including the Guide to Road Removal, which was selected for the National Agricultural Library collection; and a 12,000 citation online bibliographic database on the ecological effects of roads and motorized recreation.

On-the-ground success
Our strategy and policy work revolves around a single goal—on-the-ground results. For example, in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve, after seven years working with the Florida Biodiversity Project, and on behalf of the National Park Service, a county magistrate ruled in our favor to permanently close 23,000 miles of muddy, rutted two tracks in Big Cypress, the first National Preserve in the U.S. This protects thousands of acres of the Preserve's natural areas. Legislatively guaranteed, off-road vehicles will only be allowed on 400 miles of designated routes. We also worked closely with Sky Island Alliance to help establish their very successful road removal program. In six years their program has involved 600 volunteers who have inventoried 2,000 miles of system roads and removed more than 60 miles, with more scheduled.

"Wildlands CPR first came to my attention when as Forest Supervisor of the Lewis and Clark National Forest, I realized that these folks had much better monitoring data on road closures than we did. Since then they've assumed a leadership role in helping citizens and forest managers understand and implement effective road decommissioning and monitoring of off-road vehicle impacts. Their latest publication, Investing in Communities, Investing in the Land, is an exciting testament to the achievability of sustainable economies and ecosystems in the rural west. Thank you Wildlands CPR, just in time to resuscitate our beloved lands!"

-Gloria Flora, Sustainable Obtainable Solutions