Blog Archives for Policy

By Thomas R Petersen - March 10, 2010    Canadian conservationists called for limiting off-road vehicle use in grizzly bear habitat, in an article referencing the province of Alberta's recently released report on grizzly bear numbers. The province's report called the the area south of Highway 16 (connecting Edmonton to Jasper) a "population sink," for grizzlies, which could support a sustainable population if human caused mortality — the report highlights motorized access — is reduced.

By Bethanie Walder - February 26, 2010    Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell spent some time on Capitol Hill this week explaining the Forest Service’s proposed 2011 budget with Congressional appropriators and oversight committees.   The new budget proposes to pool numerous existing line items into one large “Integrated Resource Restoration” (IRR) program.  The idea is that this would enable the agency to move forward more effectively toward all restoration objectives, including watershed restoration.

By Greg Peters - February 22, 2010   At the tail end of 2009, two prominent political bodies, the Western Governors Association (WGA) and the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) each sent letters to the USDA extolling watershed restoration, the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative, and "Right-Sizing" the Forest Road System.

By Bethanie Walder - February 11, 2010    Eastmans’ Hunting Journal recently posted a poll to their readers about ATV violations and penalties.  While it’s not a scientific poll, and they didn’t list how many people responded to the poll, the hunters who did respond overwhelmingly supported stronger penalties for ATV violations.  The results were released in the February/March 2010 issue of the journal. Here are just a few of the quotes from respondents that Eastmans highlighted:

By Bethanie Walder - February 2, 2010   The President’s budget was just released, and with it came increased attention to restoration within the Forest Service, unfortunately that was coupled with what appears to be a decrease in focus on the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative.   After a cursory view, it also seems that the increased attention on restoration continues a long-running trend within the Forest Service of creating new euphemisms for the old habit of logging.

By Bethanie Walder - January 20, 2010    Maybe it’s because I live in Montana and the small town of Libby has been declared a federal superfund site due to asbestos contamination from a nearby vermiculite mine.  With extremely disturbing stories about the Libby, MT asbestos situation a mainstay of state and even national news for practically a decade, Montanans tend to take asbestos seriously.  And one of the prime questions about Libby relates to responsibility…  when did the W.R.

By Greg Peters - January 13, 2010   

By Bethanie Walder - December 22, 2009    I was intrigued and pleased to see an article in the Spokane, WA Spokesman-Review the other day highlighting potential snowmobile closures as a result of illegal activity.  Since beginning to research off-road vehicle enforcement issues nearly 5 years ago, Wildlands CPR is always on the lookout for off-road vehicle enforcement changes that impose real consequences for bad behavior.  In our Six Strategies for Success Enforcement Report, f

By Bethanie Walder - December 9, 2009    On October 30, Congress appropriated $90 million for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative.  The funds are used to protect and restore clean water by reclaiming unneeded roads and fixing the roads we do need.  We just received the 2010 regional allocations, and added them into a chart showing how they compare to the 2008 ($40 million) and 2009 ($50 million) allocations:

By Adam Rissien - November 17, 2009    US District Judge Donald Molloy recently ruled against the Gallatin National Forest's proposal to allow snowmobiles into the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area (read more here). The ruling centered around the agency's inability to prove that it was preserving wilderness character when it increased the area for snowmobile use inside the WSA.