Economic Stimulus through Watershed Restoration
In late March, the Northern Region of the Forest Service (Montana, Northern Idaho, Western North Dakota), announced the dispersal of $4.7 million in new road management funds. The funds are part of the new $39.4 million Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative that the Forest Service received in December 2007.
Rural Utah has been waking up to the drawbacks of promoting ORV tourism.
In the winter of 2006/2007, a “one hundred year” storm came tearing through the pacific and intermountain northwest, dumping massive amounts of rain, causing major landslides and road failures throughout the region. The flood even caused a major blowout on the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
Wildlands CPR is putting extra effort into stopping off-road vehicle abuse and restoring watersheds and landscapes in our home state of Montana. And the benefits are already beginning to surface. A diverse coalition of hikers, horseback riders, hunters, homeowners and other conservationists are taking a stand to conserve clean water, healthy wildlife, and opportunities for folks to enjoy nature.
Thousands of miles of wildland roads are being removed across North America to mitigate their negative impacts. The U.S. Forest Service alone has decommissioned more than 30,000 miles, and yet, research related to road removal is just beginning to catch up with the practice.
Executive Director, Bethanie Walder, received this email from Quilcene, WA resident Connie Gallant Sat. April 28, 2007.
Dear Ms. Walder,
On behalf of the residents of our small town of Quilcene, Washington, I would like to extend our appreciation to your organization and to Scott Bagley for putting together the excellent publication, The Road-Ripper's Guide to Off-Road Vehicles.
This publication helped us develop our campaign against an ORV site proposed in our pristine and environmentally sensitive area of the Olympic Peninsula.
Wildlands CPR co-sponsored the Governor’s Restoration Forum in Billings, Montana June 8-9. Montana’s Gov. Brian Schweitzer is very interested in pursuing a restoration economy, and Marnie devoted time working with members of his staff to help coordinate this event. One key theme of the Forum was investing in restoration work in Montana. Wildlands CPR intern Breeann Johnson finalized a paper that addresses this issue, and Marnie presented the paper at the Restoration Forum. More than 300 people attended the extremely successful event.
The forum seeked to establish:
On September 19, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision upholding the legality of off-road vehicle restrictions put in place by BLM to halt considerable adverse impacts caused by these machines in Box Elder and Grand County, Utah. The radical motorized recreation group Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL), sued the agency, seeking to overturn the restrictions so that off-road vehicle abuse could continue without management oversight.
Wildlands CPR’s Transportation Program is pleased to announce that we have awarded strategic mini-grants ($3,000-$5,000) to activists in the thick of off-road vehicle planning. On-the-ground fieldwork is expensive and difficult to fund, but critical considering that desk-bound land managers are often unaware of the devastating impacts that unmanaged off-road vehicle use has wrought on their watch.
