Winter 2009-2010

Restoration Program

The top story in this quarter’s restoration news is the allocation of $90 million to the Forest Service for the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative for fiscal year 2010.   This effectively doubles the allocation to Legacy Roads in FY08 and FY09 combined!   As we reported in the fall, our Restoration Campaign Director, Sue Gunn, led the campaign to allocate and increase this watershed restoration funding.

And that’s not all: The Forest Service also awarded a national Rise to the Future award to the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI) for our work to promote public awareness of Legacy Roads.  The WWRI is a coalition of more than a dozen conservation and recreation organizations and state agencies in WA, and its primary focus is promoting the Legacy Roads program and ensuring that it is run effectively, especially in WA.  Wildlands CPR is a key member of the coalition, with Sue serving as their campaign director and running the campaign to increase Legacy Roads funding – clearly her work is paying off.

In addition to being recognized nationally, Sue also was invited to give a presentation to the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Regional fisheries and watershed staff about Legacy Roads.  Her presentation was extremely well-received by the more than 40 staff in attendance, helping expand their understanding of the opportunities to restore watersheds, fisheries habitat and water quality using Legacy Roads funds.

Wildlands CPR staff also went on several field trips in WA and MT to learn about specific Legacy Roads projects on the ground.  Sue spent a day on the Olympic National Forest, and also attended meetings with staff from the Gifford Pinchot NF, while Staff Scientist Adam Switalski attended a two-day field trip on the Lewis and Clark NF in MT.  It’s exciting to start seeing the field results of Legacy Roads funding “up close and personal.”  The agency has been able to do some great projects with this funding, resulting in restored habitat, cleaner water and green jobs at the same time.

In other Legacy Roads news, Wildlands CPR received a grant from the National Forest Foundation to begin a new Legacy Roads field monitoring program during the summer of 2010 in Montana and Northern Idaho.  Adam Switalski will be coordinating this effort.  Sue has also been working with grassroots partners in the northwest to begin monitoring implementation and effectiveness on three different national forests in WA and one in OR.

Adam S. was also responsible for finalizing our varied summer field research programs.  With assistance from Greg Peters, for example, he finalized analysis on five years worth of data from our wildlife monitoring program on the Clearwater National Forest (ID), compiling the information into a final report and working with researchers at the University of Montana to further analyze data.  He also compiled the field data from our Lolo National Forest (MT) road inventory cost-share agreement.  Our field researchers conducted comprehensive analysis on more than 50 miles of roads this summer, documenting hydrologic problems, culvert condition, weed infestations, erosion, user-created route presence and more.  Adam S. compiled all of their data into a final report that he presented to the Lolo staff in late October.  He and MT ORV Coordinator Adam Rissien continue to work with the Forest Service to discuss opportunities to continue and possibly expand this program in 2010 (see pages 18-19 for results).

Transportation Program

Decisions, decisions, decisions…  The Forest Service is completing its fourth year of travel planning, with more and more travel management decisions being released every day.  Sarah Peters, our Legal Liaison, continues to work with activists around the country to help them prepare final analyses of those decisions, determine whether appeals and/or litigation are appropriate, and follow through.  

During the past quarter, she worked closely with groups in ID, CA, UT, MT and OR on litigation related to travel planning.  In OR, for example, Wildlands CPR joined several other organizations in filing suit in early December against the Siuslaw National Forest for inappropriate off-road vehicle management on the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.  The Ashley NF in UT released its final travel plan and Sarah took the lead in writing the appeal of that plan, in partnership with several grassroots groups in UT.  Sarah also worked closely with Adam Rissien on a lawsuit we filed against the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest for their failure to analyze snowmobile grooming in the West Pioneers Wilderness Study Area.  The result: The Beaverhead-Deerlodge agreed to stop all snowmobile grooming in the area as part of a legal settlement agreement with Wildlands CPR and our co-plaintiff, Friends of the Bitterroot.  They will continue to groom some trails in the southern portion of the WSA this winter because of previous commitments, but all current and future grooming will cease after May 2010.  While this doesn’t stop all snowmobiles from entering the WSA, it should dramatically reduce their presence!

In addition to stopping snowmobile grooming in the West Pioneers, Adam Rissien was very busy coordinating the technical comments on the Bitterroot National Forest’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for travel planning.  As part of this, Adam worked closely with our many allies, including hunters and anglers, non-motorized recreationists, and local conservationists to generate comments on the plan.  He assisted with media and outreach efforts that resulted in several guest editorials in local papers.  He also worked with several mapping specialists to pull together cutting-edge research on the impacts of route designations on both wolverines and water-quality impaired streams.  Adam R. has developed a comprehensive approach for dealing with travel planning on both the Bitterroot and Beaverhead-Deerlodge NFs, incorporating field work, outreach, media, mapping and policy approaches to secure the most protective travel plans possible.

On the scientific side of things, our off-road vehicle best management practices are receiving more notice.  Adam S. and his ORV BMP co-author developed a poster about the BMPs, which Adam presented at the Northern Rockies Transboundary Regional Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) meeting in Missoula, MT, while his co-author presented the poster at the North American SCB meeting in Flagstaff, AZ.