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.

Watershed Restoration

Our restoration program had two emphases in 2008 – engaging in pilot projects to build a restoration economy in the state of Montana and securing national funds for watershed restoration on public lands. We spent the early part of the year working with the Forest Service to ensure they spent their ~$40 million in Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative money (Legacy Roads) effectively and appropriately.  Concurrently, we worked to ensure the Legacy Roads program was funded in FY 2009 and beyond. 

Here in the region, Restoration Program Coordinator Marnie Criley continued her leadership role in on-the-ground activities with the Montana Forest Restoration Committee and Restore Montana.  At the national level, Wildlands CPR’s Washington Field Rep Sue Gunn acted as the Campaign Coordinator for the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI) and related national efforts.  In addition, our Restoration Research Associate, Josh Hurd, began a year-long project to identify the regulatory and policy changes needed to build a sustained, robust restoration sector of the economy. 

Restoration Program Accomplishments

• Expanded program with two new staff: Sue Gunn at ½ time and Josh Hurd at ¾ time.
• Provided support and oversight to the Forest Service for implementing the $39.4 million Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative (LRRI), including: 
• Presented the Washington Office of the Forest Service with a national report of road decommissioning needs and recommendations on how to spend LRRI funds.
• Reviewed the distribution of LRRI funds and challenged projects that didn’t meet Congressional intent; several inappropriate projects were pulled and replaced.
• Promoted LRRI to regional and national media, with numerous newspaper and television reports that focused on LRRI implementation and green-jobs.
• Developed a multi-faceted approach to advocate for LRRI funding from multiple sources:
• Worked with congress on “dear colleague” letters in the house and senate supporting LRRI funding and green jobs.
• 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).
• Promoted on-the-ground restoration in Montana through leadership of the Montana Forest Restoration Committee (MFRC) and Restore Montana.
• Completed our fourth year of citizen monitoring of road removal on the Clearwater National Forest – began final assessment of multi-year data with statistically significant information about wildlife use of roads.
• Developed a set of watershed restoration/road removal resources for tribes and posted this information on a new section of our website.
• Co-sponsored two critical restoration/stewardship summits.
• Recruited speakers and participants for the Pacific Rivers Council/WWRI watershed restoration symposium in Tacoma, WA in April
• Participated in the steering committee for Sustainable Northwest’s Western Stewardship Summit in Bend, OR in September. Presented at or chaired numerous panel discussions.

ORVs

Wildlands CPR is heavily engaged in the Forest Service’s national travel planning process.  Our ORV state coordinators in MT and UT (Adam Rissien and Laurel Hagen) worked tirelessly to influence travel planning on their priority forests.  They also established many new partners and expanded public support for stopping off-road vehicle abuse.  Our Legal Liaison, Sarah Peters, assisted activists throughout the nation in legal efforts surrounding travel planning and road management.  And our Staff Scientist Adam Switalski partnered with the Wild Utah Project to publish a report on Best Management Practices (BMPs) for off-road vehicle use on forested ecosystems.   The BMPs, along with our earlier report on effective enforcement strategies, are another example of Wildlands CPR’s focus on providing real-world solutions to difficult land management problems.

Off-Road Vehicle Program Accomplishments

• Published and distributed ~1000 copies of BMPs 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.  Several thousand additional copies of both reports have also been downloaded from our website.
• Distributed nearly 5000 copies of the coffee-table book Thrillcraft.
• Helped with two congressional oversight hearings on off-road vehicle management.  Identified witnesses and key questions.  Our enforcement report was highlighted in the hearings as a critical resource for land managers.
• Provided extensive support to the Bitterroot Quiet Use Coalition and Montanans for Quiet Recreation.
• Coordinated meetings with rural Utahns and the governor of Utah regarding challenges with motorized recreation and promotion of non-motorized recreation.  This resulted in favorable press in the Salt Lake Tribune, including a statement by the Governor that the effects of off-road use in southern UT are “abominable.”
• Provided leadership and strategic support to numerous organizations in Montana working to develop enforcement legislation for the 2009 legislative session.
• Participated in a three-day field meeting with top level Forest Service staff and a variety of motorized and non-motorized recreationists.  Coordinated conservation comments to the interim final trail classification guidelines.
• Partnered with The Wilderness Society’s Recreation Planning Program to provide leadership to activists throughout the west on national forest travel planning. 
• 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.

Additional Accomplishments

• Took a behind the scenes leadership role in challenging Plum Creek Timber Company’s efforts to develop a new road easement agreement with the Forest Service nationally – which would have facilitated Plum Creek’s sale of lands in the wildland urban interface.
• Worked with several organizations to prepare for possible litigation against any final agreement.
• Partnered with Clark Fork Coalition (MT), Newground Social Investing (WA), and Trillium Asset Management (MA/ID) to develop a shareholder’s action requesting that Plum Creek cease the negotiations.  On January 5, 2009, Plum Creek pulled out.
• Upgraded our website and electronic communications tools, including significant expansion of our electronic newsletter, The Dirt.
• 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.

Organizational Development

Wildlands CPR continues to be supported by foundations and individuals.  We’d like to thank the following for their support for our work in 2008:  Bullitt, Cinnabar, Firedoll, Harder, Horizons, Maki, National Forest, New-Land, NW Fund for the Environment, Page, and 444 S Foundations.  In addition, we extend a huge thank you to all those individuals who provided us with financial support to complete our projects.  Our successes are your successes, and they always will be.  Thank you!