Post by chevit on Aug 8, 2006 9:37:42 GMT -5
Skid Marks, Wildlands CPR’s monthly e-mail newsletter, reports on activist efforts to challenge roads and motorized recreation nationwide. Skid Marks shares instructive and precedent-setting successes and failures in the campaign to halt motorized abuse of wildland systems.
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1. NEW WILDLANDS CPR PUBLICATION, A Road Runs Through It: Reviving Wild Places
2. FEDERAL COURT CONSIDERS LEGALITY OF OVERTURNING ROADLESS RULE
3. GOVERNOR WANTS TO HALT ROAD-BUILDING IN CALIFORNIA FORESTS
4. CONSERVATIONISTS PRAISE NEW NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PROPOSALS
5. COLLABORATIVE INPUT PRODUCES NEW DUAL-USE MONTANA ROAD
6. UTAH'S CONTROVERSIAL OGDEN RD TRAVEL PLAN TO BE REVIEWED
7. COLORADO CONSERVATIONISTS PETITION TO PROTECT PLANT HABITAT
8. RESIDENTIAL OFF-ROAD VEHICLE USE BANNED IN NEW YORK COUNTY
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1. NEW WILDLANDS CPR PUBLICATION, A Road Runs Through It: Reviving Wild Places
Wildlands CPR is excited to announce the release of its new anthology, A Road Runs Through It: Reviving Wild Places. It explores what many consider to be the most important issue in the rewilding of America today – roads. With a forward by Annie Proulx and edited by Wildlands CPR Development Director Tom Petersen, the book features a collection of essays by some of today's finest nonfiction writers, including Peter Matthiessen, Barry Lopez, Janisse Ray, David Quammen, and William two dozen others. The essays are accompanied by original wood engravings by artist Claire Emery. The book explores the devastation and loss of wildlands due to the more than 700,000 miles of roads on our public lands. The writers also offer hope for a restored landscape, along with inspiring words on how to preserve what roadless lands we have left. AS all royalties are being donated to Wildlands CPR, the book not only educates and informs on the issue of roads – it becomes part of the solution.
A Road Runs Through It: Reviving Wild Places
$17.50 ($15 for Wildlands CPR members) * 240 pages * soft cover
To order, call the publisher, Johnson Books, at 1-800-258-5830.
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2. FEDERAL COURT CONSIDERS LEGALITY OF OVERTURNING ROADLESS RULE
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte has suggested that the Bush administration acted within its legal rights when, in 2005, it overturned Clinton's ban on further development in unprotected roadless areas. However, Laporte questioned whether the ban could be overturned without analysis of potential ecological effects, as mandated by environmental law.
The lawsuit was filed by 20 environmental groups, as well as the states of California, Oregon, New Mexico, and Washington.
Laporte said the question is whether federal procedures were violated when Clinton's Roadless Rule was overturned. If so, that could prompt the court to invalidate the new state-by-state management strategy put in place by the Bush administration and restore the Roadless Rule. Laporte said she did not know when she would reach a final decision in the case.
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3. GOVERNOR WANTS TO HALT ROAD-BUILDING IN CALIFORNIA FORESTS
California's Governor Schwarzenegger has filed a petition with the U.S. Forest Service to prevent further development in 4.4 million acres of roadless areas covering one-fifth of the state in 18 national forests.
The petition presents a challenge to proposed new management plans for four national forests in southern California. According to Mary Wells of the California Wilderness Coalition, the proposals would allow roads to be built in 90 percent of the region's 1 million acres of unprotected roadless areas.
“We are taking action to keep our pristine forests roadless and in their natural state,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “It is critical that we safeguard these areas. They are home to plants and animals at the risk of extinction, provide incredible recreation and are the source of drinking water for millions of Californians.”
The petition was filed under the federal rule established by the Bush Administration in May 2005, replacing Clinton's Roadless Rule. The new rule seeks input from governors about the future of roadless areas in their states.
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4. CONSERVATIONISTS PRAISE NEW NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PROPOSALS
The latest draft of new management proposals for the National Park Service has been hailed by environmental groups as a conservation-friendly improvement over the much-criticized 2005 version.
The new draft policy plan could limit the use of off-road vehicles in National Parks, including snowmobiles in Yellowstone. According to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, “When there is a conflict between conserving resources unimpaired for future generations and the use of those resources, conservation will be predominant” under the new proposal.
The most recent draft brings National Park Service goals and priorities back into line with those stated in a 2001 Park policy plan. The 2005 draft represented a stark departure from these standards, and would have allowed expanded off-road vehicle use in national parks around the country.
The new proposal may play a pivotal role in ongoing Park management controversies. Historical off-road vehicle use in Canyonlands National Park's Salt Creek area would have been allowed to continue under the 2005 draft, as would historic cattle grazing in Dinosaur National Monument. Both of these uses may now be restricted in National Parks.
Ron Arnberger of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees said, “When you mess with the Parks, you're messing with a national heritage that will bring people to the front. [The new draft] reaffirms the very principles that parks are all about, and I found that just a wonderfully refreshing thing to happen.”
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5. COLLABORATIVE INPUT PRODUCES NEW DUAL-USE MONTANA ROAD
A groundbreaking dual-use road in Montana's Bitterroot Valley is currently being modified, with the approval of conservation and off-road vehicle groups alike.
Dual use roads allow access for those too young to legally drive on Forest Service or county roads. A major goal of this relatively new concept is to provide off-road vehicle users with legal alternatives to riding on undesignated routes.
This 12-mile loop road is the first of its kind in Montana, and links a Forest Service road to an existing off-road vehicle road while closing portion of the existing road that was deemed dangerous. This unsafe portion was an undesignated road, and will be revegetated. The road was planned and designed with input from the Ravalli County Off-Road Users Association, Friends of the Bitterroot, the Montana Chapter of the Sierra Club, and the Montana Wilderness Association.
Forest Service officials have praised this road modification as an example of collaborative decision-making among diverse stake-holders and a welcome departure from the bitter conflict that often characterizes environmental decisions. Many hope this process will serve as a template for upcoming discussions about a new travel management plan in the Bitterroot National Forest.
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6. UTAH'S CONTROVERSIAL OGDEN RD TRAVEL PLAN TO BE REVIEWED
Forest Service officials of Utah's Wasatch-Cache National Forest have decided to put the travel plan for the Ogden Ranger District on hold pending further assessment. The plan was criticized by environmental groups for its increased emphasis on off-road vehicle access.
Released in March, the travel plan was the first new guide in 18 years to designate trail use in the forest, whether for hiking, biking, or riding. The new rules were an attempt to accommodate the ever-increasing demand for motorized recreation in the area.
Four appeals to the plan were filed by the Sierra Club, Wild Utah Project, Western Wildlife Conservancy, and the Citizens' Committee to Save Our Canyons. The groups argued that legally-required research had not been performed to predict the ecological impact of the hundreds of miles of proposed new roads. The appeals also pointed to past “insufficient management” in the forest which allowed illegal roads to exist.
Forest Supervisor Faye Kreuger decided that the plan requires further analysis of the effects that opening and closing roads will have on the Forest. Dan Schroeder of the Ogden Sierra Club said he's happy that the plan was put on hold, and hopes it will result in a new plan that better recognizes the value of non-motorized recreation.
Officials said the reworking process will continue until the end of the year to allow for public comment on the travel plan.
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7. COLORADO CONSERVATIONISTS PETITION TO PROTECT PLANT HABITAT
Three environmental and citizens' groups have filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking better habitat protection for the endangered wild buckwheat, which is known to exist only in the hills of Colorado's Delta and Montrose counties.
The Center for Native Ecosystems, the Colorado Native Plant Society, and the Uncompahgre Valley Association point to wild buckwheat threats in the form of suburban sprawl, a proposed beltway around Montrose, and the increasing use of off-road vehicles on public lands. Adding designated habitat would increase the consideration federal agencies must give to the species in their management decisions, but would have little impact on private landowners.
The petition claims that growing off-road vehicle use poses the gravest threat to wild buckwheat habitat on public land, especially on illegal roads.
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8. RESIDENTIAL OFF-ROAD VEHICLE USE BANNED IN NEW YORK COUNTY
New York's Ulster County Supreme Court has issued a permanent injunction, making off-road vehicle use illegal in residential zoning districts.
The decision marks the end of a 16-year struggle between two local residents, Valerie Smith and Mike Lembo. Smith has long opposed the rampant off-road vehicle use in her rural area, while Lembo, her neighbor, is an off-road vehicle advocate and owner of ATV-New York. Over the years, various injunctions have been issued against off-road vehicle use in local residential areas, but have not been enforced until now.
The current Town Board fully supports the latest decision of the County Court, and police have begun issuing warnings to illegal off-road users. Repeat offenders will be arrested.
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