• A New Plan for a Contentious Wilderness
• Wilderness Ranger Mauled by Lion
• Wilderness Dam Controversies Abound
• Road Building Moratorium Issued
• Canadian Supreme Court Sustains Native Land Claims
• Keeping Bears Wild
• Wilderness Plants and Rocks Deprecated
• New Electronic Journal Appears
• Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve Exploited
• Mother Nature Creates "A Mess"

A New Plan for a Contentious Wilderness
In 1984 the USDA Forest Service adopted its first management plan for the new (then four year old) Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness located in Idaho. The plan, which adopted most of the current thinking about wilderness management, was almost immediately appealed by commercial interests. The traditional outfitters felt it fatally constrained their business practices by requiring the dismantling of permanent structures and removal of equipment and supplies at the end of each field season. After law suits, a special study commission, and "endless wrangling," the plan has become official policy on the six national forests which administer various parts of this wilderness.

The existing plan does not address a wide variety of management issues, some of which have arisen since its adoption. These new issues, increasing use, and a changing political climate have exposed the age of the current plan. Now, after four years of work, hearings, focus groups, and much editorializing by the public, the USDA Forest Service has issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for public review and comment.

The 800-page document (also issued on CD-ROM) offers a range of alternative solutions to the wilderness issues identified by the public, land managers, and politicians. The agency will use comments received during the comment period to fine tune the alternatives. They have broadly solicited input, and judging from the opening salvos fired from all quarters, they'll have their wish fulfilled.

The proposed new plan will address such contentious issues as the amount of future use on the very popular Middle Fork and main Salmon Rivers. The currently unregulated (by the USDA Forest Service) commercial aviation use inside the wilderness is addressed formally for the first time. Past inconsistent administration by various managers is targeted for improvement. And the growing understanding of the threat of exotic species is recognized.

A 28 page executive summary of the draft plan is available on the Internet at: http://www.mccall.net/pnf/fcronrwpp.html. The summary, the entire draft plan, or more information may also be obtained by calling 208/756-5100 or by writing: Wilderness Coordinator, Rural Route 2, Box 600, Salmon, Idaho 83467 USA.

Wilderness Ranger Mauled by Lion
Many a backcountry ranger can relate the countless times wilderness visitors have exclaimed: "Wow, you get paid to be out here!?" There are days though, when the real world intrudes.

Last year, Ginneth Manganyi and his colleague Thomas Chauke were out for a run near the Vlakteplaas Ranger Post in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Ginneth spotted a lion in the veld and stopped running. The lion, who'd been staring at Ginneth, suddenly charged (an unusual occurrence).

Before either ranger could react in self defense (lions have been clocked at speeds over 16 meters/second) the lion reached Ginneth and attacked. Badly battered, Ginneth fell with the lion on top of him. Thomas charged the lion which looked up long enough for Thomas to fire a shot through its head.

Ginneth spent two weeks recovering in a hospital after being evacuated from the park. He survived the encounter with impaired hearing in his right ear and the right side of his face partially paralyzed. He's lucky to be alive.

The entire account can be found in the September, 1997 issue of Custos, The National Park Magazine. (Custos, PO Box 787, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa. Email : christas@parks-sa.co.za)

Wilderness Dam Controversies Abound
One of the last things most people would expect to find in a wilderness is a dam. Yet hundreds of dams were built in places which have since been designated as wilderness in the United States. Like most of the handiwork of humans, dams are not forever. Yet it's this fact which has begun to cause a lot of controversy amongst wilderness managers and advocates.

Most dams in wilderness are small affairs. They were built as long as 100 years ago for a variety of development reasons. Most were built to sustain late season agriculture. Some were constructed to support the production of hydro-electric power. And a few were raised on the tragic premise that "barren lakes" could be enhanced to create habitat for exotic fisheries (the classic "what God made, man can improve upon.")

After the spectacular failure of Idaho's Teton Dam in the early 1970s, close attention was paid to the status of all these little dams. Irrigation Districts who held permits for feeble dams were told to repair them quickly. And quickly in this modern world is translated "by motorized means."

In Montana and in Utah, dam operators have asked for permission to use helicopters, backhoes, bulldozers and assorted other motorized equipment, to maintain dams located inside wildernesses. In Montana, dams built by non-motorized means may have roads bulldozed into them. In Utah, the legislation adding the High Uintas to the wilderness system specifically allowed for such use.

In California, heated battles have been fought (and pending federal legislation introduced) over "improvement dams" built to create habitat for trout. Some advocate their removal to eliminate the impacts of the exotic predators on amphibian populations. Others say their retention is crucial for the continued enjoyment of the fishing experience.

To keep tabs on the dam wars, point your web browser to: http://www.wildernesswatch.org; check out http://rs9.loc.gov/home/thomas.html and look for information on HR 1663 (105th Congress); or contact the Forest Service by email at: mailroom/r1_bitterroot@fs.fed.us (for dams in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness); mailroom/r5_stanislas@fs.fed.us (for dams in the Emigrant Wilderness); or mailroom/r4_ashley@fs.fed.us (for dams in the High Uintas Wilderness)

Road Building Moratorium Issued
The USDA Forest Service announced in late January that it would temporarily cease building new roads into the remaining roadless areas of the National Forest System. Chief Mike Dombeck announced the policy and invited the public to comment on the agency's plans to formulate a permanent policy.

The policy came under fire for not applying to certain lands in the timber rich Pacific Northwest and Alaska. It also has drawn the wrath of the timber industry. Of interest to wilderness advocates, it potentially offers protection to lands proposed for wilderness classification and to lands adjacent to existing wildernesses.

The USDA Forest Service has posted the policy on its web site at: http://www.fs.fed.us/news/roads/ and invites comment via email at: roads/wo@fs.fed.us. A wide spectrum of reaction can be found by using search engines on the world wide web.

Canadian Supreme Court Sustains Native Land Claims
Last year an important decision by the Canadian Supreme Court found that the rights of the native inhabitants to lands were not removed by the occurrence of European settlement.

The practical effect of the ruling may be that native groups may seek payment for the loss of lands (or the resources on those lands) to non-natives. Although the ruling applied to nearly 57,000 square kilometers of British Columbian lands, it could extend to other Provinces as well.

(Excerpted from the Forestry Source, Society of American Foresters, 3400 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814 USA - Their website is: http://www.safnet.org)

Keeping Bears Wild
The June, 1997 issue of Backpacker magazine had a short article on the use of Karelian bear dogs which are being used in several US National Parks to "keep bears wild."

Yosemite National Park is notorious for its 'mooching backcountry bears.' These black bears have terrorized backpackers for years since learning how easy it is to separate campers from the food in their lightweight backpacks.

The problem is that bears which have become habituated to relieving humans of their food often end up being destroyed. The dogs are used to demonstrate to bears that humans are "the big bear" and shouldn't be approached for an easy meal.

Wilderness Plants and Rocks Deprecated
The New Age trend of replicating Native American medicine wheels has begun to affect the ecology of wilderness areas on the Sedona Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest. Adherents of the new religious practices collect rocks and plants to conduct their ceremonies - building hundreds of rock rings.

Backpacker magazine reported (June 1997) that "Sedona New Agers insist their actions and karma are good because when questioned, the stones have yet to offer objections."

For more information, contact the Coconino National Forest at: 2323 E. Greenlaw Lane, Flagstaff, AZ 86004 USA or by email at: mailroom/r3_coconino@fs.fed.us

New Electronic Journal Appears
Conservation Ecology, an electronic journal similar to IJW, has been launched by The Ecological Society of America. Available at: <http://www.consecol.org/Journal>, the journal attends to interdisciplinary communication and insight - in the words of editor C.S. Holling, "a new journal covering a new application of science, using a new medium. It requires novelty and experiment."

The journal is available free of charge at the web site or by email subscription. To subscribe, send an email message to: subscribe@consecol.org with "subscribe conservation-ecology" in the body of the email text.

Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve Exploited
The USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in the final stages of environmental study for the management of the 9.47 million hectare National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. This huge chunk of land was set aside as a strategic oil reserve decades ago. Although unsuccessfully proposed as a National Wildlife Refuge in 1980, it has remained mostly undeveloped.

The BLM now seeks to open up the area for oil drilling. According to The Wilderness Society, none of the proposed alternatives in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) adequately protect the wild values of the land in question.

The comment period for the DEIS closed in March of this year. The Final EIS should appear this summer or fall. For more information you can contact: NPRA Planning Team, BLM-Alaska State Office, 222 W. 7th Ave. Anchorage, AK 99513-7599 USA or by email to: jducker@ak.blm.gov. The Wilderness Society position can be seen at their website: http://www.wilderness.org/wildalaska/oil.htm

Mother Nature Creates "A Mess"
Or so it appeared to officials on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in Colorado USA when a large "wind event" blew down trees on over 8,000 hectares of land last fall.

The initial accounts of the results of the storm were filled with imagery of destruction and wasted resources. The swath the wind cut included some 3,200 hectares of land inside the Mount Zirkel Wilderness.

Since the storm, the USDA Forest Service has put together an interdisciplinary team to develop options for managing the ecology in the aftermath of this storm. An Environmental Impact Statement will be written which will propose to salvage timber from outside the wilderness. A timber sale, new and rebuilt roads, modified trail locations (including a temporarily relocated portion of the Continental Divide Trail) and other actions are being considered.

The study will also decide how to approach the management of the portion of wilderness where blowdown has blocked some popular access trails. Options will include a range of actions, from extensive use of chainsaws to restore the pre-storm access to perhaps leaving the trees in place and letting the wilderness become a bit wilder.

For more information, contact the Medicine Bow-Routt NF at: 925 Weiss Drive Steamboat Springs, CO 80487-9315 USA or at 970/870-2220.