In FY 2008, the Forest Service received $39.4 million for the new Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative.
These funds were designated to protect and restore aquatic habitat for
threatened or endangered fish, and clean drinking water for
communities. The money was allocated for watershed restoration through
road reclamation of unneeded roads and culvert upgrades/critical
maintenance on needed Forest Service roads.
Wildlands CPR board member Cara Nelson is a professor of restoration ecology at the University of Montana in Missoula. The attached article from Universtiy of Montana newspaper, The Kaiman, highlights some of her and her students' successes in UM’s wildland restoration program - which Cara coordinates. Restoration ecology is a growing activity in the west. Wildlands CPR works with Cara and her graduate students
on restoration research projects.
On Sunday, April 26, and again on Thursday night, April 30, Wildlands CPR's Development Director Tom Petersen was featured on the Montana Public Radio program, The Write Question, which "explores the world of writing and publishing in the western United States."
This past week, Wildlands CPR assisted The Nature Conservancy in hosting a workshop entitled, “Improving road systems in the context of watershed restoration” in Astoria, OR. The workshop was attended by a diverse group of about 25 watershed restoration specialists from around the region. Representatives from the Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, Washington Department of Natural Resources, NGOs, and private consultants exchanged information about planning, prioritizing, and implementing road system treatments including road decommissioning.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) released a new report, The Bottom Line Report 2009, on national transportation needs last week. The report was released as Congress begins discussing reauthorization of the national transportation bill. The current bill, SAFETEA-LU expires on September 30, 2009. For a brief review, see this article in the Wall Street Journal.
Last week the National Rifle Association decided to weigh in on travel planning in the fashion they typically use for gun control issues – their over-exaggerated sensationalism argues that travel management planning will end hunting as we know it.
An article in this morning’s NY Times caught my eye in the hopes it might provide a good analogy to the type of watershed restoration that Wildlands CPR promotes. While the title might seem completely unrelated to our work “An Effort to Save Flint, Mich., by Shrinking It,” the concepts in the article are dead on.
The article discusses the ongoing economic crisis in Flint, Michigan and an old concept that is gaining new steam for improving this struggling city:
The Flathead NF released a decision on April 17th to protect 19.7 miles of trails between the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Jewel Basin Hiking Area (see attachment). The Bruce Creek to Alpine 7 to Napa Point Motorized Trails Project addresses ongoing concerns with motorcycle use that has led to rutting and widening of tight switchbacks. These trails have highly erosive soils on steep terrain along with a history of user conflicts. In addition to addressing these impacts, the trail protections will help move the forest towards achieving better security for grizzly bears.
ORV proponents say they are being denied the right to enjoy their property...but ORV opponents are claiming the same thing...what happens when two opposing views use the same argument to support their position?
That is what might unfold tomorrow when Yakima County commissioners take up a controversial proposal on ORVs that would allow their use virtually throughout Yakima County without regulation.
