Autumn 2009 Program Updates

Restoration Program

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Late spring and early summer marked a very busy-time for our restoration program. Our Restoration Campaign Coordinator Sue Gunn has been informing Congress and the new Administration about the value of watershed restoration and road removal for protecting clean drinking water, enhancing wildlife and aquatic habitat, improving resiliency in the context of climate change, saving taxpayer dollars, and creating green jobs in rural communities. Sue and Executive Director Bethanie Walder traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with key agency and Congressional staffers to promote various restoration projects.  Top among those projects: The renewal of funding for the Legacy Roads and Trails Restoration Initiative at $100 million dollars a year; and the initiation of a forest roads program as part of the reauthorization of the National Transportation Bill. This program would provide funding for maintenance of the 20-40,000 miles of forest roads most used by forest visitors and help free up other Forest Service funds to decommission and repair the balance of the system. The new forest roads program has been included in the House mark-up of the Transportation bill; it’s now up to the Senate to pass it – unfortunately, at this point in time they’ve opted to extend the current transportation bill for another 18 months before considering a new one (these bills usually last 5-6 years).  

In addition, Wildlands CPR was joined by The Wilderness Society and Pacific Rivers Council in co-hosting two Congressional briefings on the importance of these programs.  Bethanie and Sue met with a host of DC staffers and officers, including top officials at the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Federal Highways Administration, Office of Management and Budget, and the Council on Environmental Quality.  

Our Restoration Research Associate Josh Hurd finished six reports that make up a new “Political Economy of Watershed Restoration” series.  The highlights from the six reports are featured in this issue’s cover story, and you can download the full reports at www.wildlandscpr.org/resources.  Once he was finished with his year-long research project, Josh left to enjoy the rest of the summer and prepare for graduate school where he’ll be pursuing a Masters in Public Policy at the University of Chicago.  We’ll miss you Josh!

Back at the ranch and in the field, the “Adams” (Adam Rissien, our Montana ORV Coordinator, and Adam Switalski, our Staff Scientist) have begun an innovative new partnership (cost-share agreement) with the Lolo National Forest. We’ve hired two field staff to conduct location, condition and impact surveys of a portion of the Lolo’s road system. Switalski trained the crew (one of whom is suspiciously also named Adam, while the other field tech’s last name is McAdams) to document wildlife signs, noxious weeds, signs of road or culvert failure and/or other hydrologic damage, and off-road vehicle abuse.

Switalski and our field coordinator Greg Peters have also been busy on the Clearwater National Forest (ID), working with local volunteers and with University of Montana students to conduct field research and analysis on decommissioned roads. For example, Greg and Adam are following up on previous reports indicating that recontoured and regrown ex-roads are popular with bears. As one report asks, “Is their use driven by food, security, or both?”  Interestingly, it appears as though there are significantly more foods on decommissioned roads than on open roads. Greg will be working with volunteers to collect data until the end of October.

Transportation Program

Adam Rissien has been spending most of his time addressing travel plans, with a focus on the Bitterroot National Forest.  The Bitterroot released its draft plan and Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) this summer, and Adam continues to coordinate with the Bitterroot Quiet Use Coalition (BQUC) to participate in the planning process.  Adam has helped BQUC prioritize their field monitoring efforts to document use and impacts.  We hope that, as a result, the Bitterroot will be a kinder, gentler place for hikers, backcountry horsemen, mountain bikers, traditional hunters, skiers, and wildlife. Wildlands CPR and BQUC have been engaged with Bitterroot travel planning since the process started and we are delighted to see that some of their initial work has already paid off.  The preferred action in the DEIS protects the Sapphire Wilderness Study Area, a critical roadless area in the region.  In addition, it currently provides only very limited motorized recreational opportunities in two other roadless areas – this is a huge victory, though we will continue to work to fully protect those two roadless areas.

Utah ORV Coordinator Laurel Hagen successfully concluded a multi-year Travel Planning process with the Dixie National Forest, which contains much of the green headwaters of southern Utah’s canyon country. Back when the process began, the Three Forests Coalition (TFC) of Utah wrote and submitted a science-based Citizens’ Alternative Travel Plan during the pre-draft period. After the draft plan was released, Laurel worked with community groups to collect local land lore, raise money to hire a field worker, conduct trainings and outreach, and write up detailed site-specific comments. Laurel coordinated the legal and policy-based comments of the TFC. When the final draft emerged, it was greatly improved, but still had some problems. The TFC appealed the new plan, and negotiated with the Forest Service to reach a resolution. The TFC agreed to drop our appeal, and in exchange the Forest Service corrected several problems, most notably not designating any new roads within inventoried roadless and other sensitive areas! We look forward to working with the Dixie on the restoration and decommissioning efforts that will emerge from this process.   

On a less exciting note, and in large part because most of the travel planning is now finished in Utah, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our UT office at the end of September.  Laurel’s done a great job on travel planning and rural organizing and we’ll hate to see her go, but the primary projects for which we hired her are coming to completion.  Thanks for everything you’ve done for Wildlands CPR Laurel – we’ll sure miss having you on staff!

Sarah Peters, our legal liaison, has been spreading her expertise around many forests.  In addition to her invaluable help with legal issues on the Bitterroot and Dixie National Forests, Sarah provided advice on an appeal of new ATV trail construction in Idaho, a forest travel plan in Oregon, the resolution of a construction appeal near the Oregon coast, early intervention in a travel plan in the Cascades, road litigation in southern Montana, protecting a wild and scenic river in Idaho, and possible litigation regarding snowmobile recreation in northern Utah. She also interpreted impenetrable thickets of policy-speak for activists, on issues such as Travel Management Rule Directives, “Infra baselines” and the Forest Service’s “Road Analysis Process.”  Sarah and Greg also worked to finalize our “Managing the Miles” report about Forest Service road policies and practices.  We featured the results of that report in the last issue of The RIPorter, but we are just now tying up all the loose ends to post the full report on our website.  Check it out at: www.wildlandscpr.org/resources.