Road RIPorter 2.2

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Few com pletely road less, large watersh eds exist inthe Pacific North west, but tho se that r em ain relatively

un disturbed play critical roles in sustaining sen sitive

native species and important ecosystem processes.Dr. Chris Fr issell,A New Strategy for Watershed

Restoration and Recovery of Pacific Salmon in the Pa-

cific Northwest, 1993.

The 1 79,000-acre Kalmiop sis Wildern ess and itsadjacent roadless area s in south west Oregons

Siskiyou Mountains ho ld the largest rema ining blockof wild coun try on th e Lower 48 States Pacific Coast. There

are th ree Nationa l Wild an d Scenic Riversthe Chetco,

Illino is, an d N. Fork Smithrun ning thr ough the Kalmiopsis.Unlike typical h igh elevation Wildern ess Areas, th e

Kalmiopsis contains ma ny miles of high qu ality spawnin g

and rearing habitat for wild salmon, steelhead, and an adro-mo us cutthroat trout. Southwest Oregons steelhead trout

and coho salmon , which inh abit the Kalmiopsis rivers, havebeen proposed for listing under the federal Endangered

Species Act.Despite their rem otene ss and so litude, the Kalmiopsis

Wilderness and adjacent roadless lands are now embroiled

in controversy over old bulldozed min ing roads and th eimpacts of their use on ancient cedar, endangered salmon,

and wildern ess values in general. Two roads in particular

strike to the core of the de bateand, as it so hap pen s,threaten to pierce the h eart of the Kalmiopsis itself.

The Kalmiopsis was d esignated a Wild Area in 1946 bythe U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and gained Congressional

protection with th e passage of the 1 964 Wilderness Act.

Although th ere is no r ecord of authorization for its constr uc-tion, the first bulldozed m ining road, from On ion Camp to

the Little Chetco River, appea red in th e 194 0s. The original

own ers of m ining claims o n th e Little Chetco were grantedmotorized ingress and egress in 1963 and m ade two or three

trips per year. The second road emerged in 1961, when theclaima nt of 2,100 acres of placer m ines on the Chetco River

took two bulldozers, a grader, a dump truck, and asso rted 4-whe el drive vehicles to blaze fifteen miles of road across

som e of the most rugged coun try on the West Coast. He

neithe r gave no tice to nor received autho rization from theForest Service. Despite the Wild Area designa tion , the

agencys on ly action was to ask the mine r, after the illegalconstr uction, to sign a Special Use Perm it which req uired

him to m aintain the Wilderness road.

IThe Road-R PorterBimonthly Newsletter of the Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads. March/April 1997. Volume 2 # 2

see Kalmiopsis on page 3

After the 1964 Wildern ess Act, the Kalmiopsis roa ds

were given trail numbers and made to serve wilderness

hikers as the p rimary access to the Chetco River from th eeast side of the Wildern ess. But desp ite the areas Wilder-

ness designation , the mining thr eat in the Kalmiopsisremained an d the roads were often m aintained by bulldozers

and driven by miners and anyone else who could get a key.

Others vandalized or drove around the agency-placedWildern ess gates.

There is a long history of vandalism and d estruction ofthe two gates on these roads. Often they wou ld remain open

for weeks on end. Mining claim owners h ave also abused

their privileged access and passe d their gate keys arou nd to

other s. In one case, two Forest Service emp loyees observed

a large party of individuals in 4-whee l drive vehicles openthe Onion Camp gate with a key and drive into the Wilder-

ness. The Forest Service has ne ver prose cuted know n

violators o f the Wilderne ss mo torized vehicle proh ibition.For on e of the claims accessed by the second road, the

Forest Service has received plans for a large placer m ine an dpro cessing plant on th e ban ks of the Chetco River. The plan

calls for two ceme nted crossings of the Wild Chetco Riverand reconstruction of the fifteen-mile route throu gh theKalmiopsis. Now th e pub lic is faced with either spen ding

million s of dollars to pu rchase the m ining claims or risklarge-scale min ing deep in th e Wildern ess.

The own er of sixty acres of mining claims p atented in

1988 and 100 acres of unpatented claims on the LittleChetco River, after years o f being allowed by the Forest

Service to access the patented land without the requiredspecial use perm it or an approved plan of operation, is now

by Barbara Ullian

Kalmiopsis Wild LandThreatened by Roads

Road crossing the Chetco River. Barbara Ullian photo.


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The Road-RIPorter March/April 19972

From the Wildlands CPR Office...

Wildlands Center for PreventingRoads is a nat ional coalition of

grassroots groups and individualsworking to reverse the severe

ecological impacts of wildland roads.

We seek to protect native ecosystemsand biodiversity by r ecreating aninterconnected network of roadless

public wildlands.

P.O. Box 7516Missoula, MT 59807

(406) [email protected]/ROADRIP

DirectorBethanie Walder

Office Ass istantAaron Jones

Interns & Volunteer sChuck Cottr ellScott Bagley

Newsletter

Dave Havlick, Jim Coefield

Steering CommitteeKatie Alvord

Kraig KlungnessSidney Maddock

Rod MondtCara Nelson

Mary O'BrienTom Skeele

Advisory Commit teeJasper Carlton

Libby EllisDave Forem anKeith Hamm er

Timothy Hermach

Marion HourdequinLorin Lindne rAndy Mahler

Robert McConnellStephan ie Mills

Reed NossMichael Soul

Dan StotterSteve Trom bulakLouisa Willcox

Bill WillersHowie Wolke

President Clinton cuts funding for forest road construction...The Grand Canyon

proposes banning all private autos by the year 2000...Yosemite National Park closes

because of flooding and road failures...Yellowstone bison are threatened by groomed

snowmobile trails...Congress targets road construction in a campaign to cut corporate

welfare.

These are just a few of the ways roads mad e it into the n ational news in the pa st

few mon ths, and we look at them a ll in further d etail in this issue of the Road-RIPorter. Weve comb ined th e legal and b ibliograph y notes in th is issue by comp il-

ing a detailed report on the bison in Yellowstone. We kno w the issue is quitespecific, but also think th at this highlights th e incredible scope of imp acts motor ized

recreation can cau se. Bibliography n otes in the next issue will be mo re gene ral,

with a focus on th e spread of non -native species via roads.

Muchas Gracia sThanks to both the Turner Foundation

and th e Konsgaard -Goldman Foun dation

for generously supp orting our work for thenex t year. And th anks to o, to all of you

who have sent in don ations in th e past fewmon thsthey are much appreciated. Weare also grateful to auth ors of articles and

essays for this newslette r. Your words andwork are worth their weight in road-

ripping machinery!

WelkommenWildlands CPR welcomes John Dillon

and Scott Bagley for two sp ecial projects.John will be pre senting a slide show tou r in

April in the South ern Rockies, Utah an dWyom ing. Check the outreach section on

page 10 for more information.

Scott is working on ou r newRoad-Rippers Guide to Road Removal and Restora-

tion, due out in December 19 97. We know lots of you are trying to gain a betterun derstan ding of effective and ine ffective meth ods of road rem oval and th is guide

will help you do just that. It will include inform ation on prioritizing roa ds, assessing

road removal/decommissioning proposals, understanding different techniques, andimplem enting road rem oval in different ecological regions, includin g tundra, deser t,

mou ntain and wetland. If you h ave any information you want to pass on to Scott,please give us a call or sen d it to the office.

Beaux Art sThanks to office assistant an d le bon artiste Aaron Jone s for his drawing in th is

issue of th e Road -RIPorter. Than ks, too, to Elizabe th OLeary and John Jon ik for

their line drawings. We are looking for additional drawings and graphics to use in

our newsletter. Please contact us if you would like to sha re your ar tistic talents.

Say It Aint So!We m ade two m istakes in th e last issue of th eRIPorter. The quote by Aldo

Leopo ld on th e back cover an d in th e essay Driven Wild shou ld read, recreationaldevelopmen t is a job n ot of building roads into lovely countr y, but of building

receptivity into th e still unlovely hu man mind .

We also n eglected one citation from Bibliograph y Notes:Burkey, T.V. 1993. Edge effect in seed an d egg preda tion at two neotro pical rainfore st

sites. Ecological Conservation, 66:139-143 .

WildlandsWildlandsWildlandsWildlandsWildlands CCCCCenter for

PPPPPreventing RRRRRoads

In this Issue

Kalmiopsis Threatened, p. 1Barbara Ullian

Odes to Roads, p. 4Kraig Klungness

Legislative Upd ate, p. 5

Legal/Bibliography Notes,p . 6

James Barnes

Regional Reports, pp. 8-9

Outre ach & Work shops, p. 10

Video Review, p. 11


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The Road-RIPorter March/April 1997 3

Kalmiopsis, cont.

demanding motorized access on a twelve-mile long miningroad kn own as trails 1124 an d 1129. Ostensibly the access is

for a planned wilderness resort and for hauling logs from the

patented claims.The owner of the p atented Little Chetco claims p etitione d

the Curry County Comm issione rs to declare Wilderness trails1124 an d 1129 pu blic rights-of-way unde r RS 2477 (RIPorter

vol.1, no. 1). After the du st settled, the Comm issioner s

withdrew the original resolution and replaced it with onestating that the road has no t been abando ned or term inated

by Curry Coun ty and it is a necessar y-right-of-way acquiredand p rotected un der federal and Oregon laws and th at the

owners of the p atented and u npatented claims have the right

of mo torized access o ver the road to carry o ut th eir activities.The final resolution does n ot reference RS 2477, but it is

un clear what implications the n ew language will have onmo torized u se of th e Kalmiop sis Wilderness trails.

Ultimately, the claiman ts efforts m ay p rove to be a land

speculation ploy reminiscent of other mining law scams inColorados West Elk Wilderness, or the highly-publicized on-

going New World Mine bu yout n ear Yellowstone National Park.In 1994, the owner of the patented claims wrote the Forest

Service offering to sell the claims ba ck to th e pu blic for

$850 ,000. He paid $150 for the claims in 1988.

Planted firmly in th e m idst of the Kalmiop sis controversyis a water-loving conifer endem ic to southwest Oregon

and nor ther n California called th e Port Orford cedar.

Port Orford cedar grows principally in ripa rian areas an dwetlands where it shades streams, stabilizes streambanks and

floodplains, and provides significant hab itat for aq uatic,

terrestrial, and avian species. In 1995, researchers confirmedthat a virulent n on-n ative root disease, Phytophthora lateralis,

had b een intr oduced to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness (RIPortervol. I, no. 4 ).

For a ppro ximately eight m iles of th e Little Chetco, the PortOrford cedar is the dom inan t vegetation. Cedars here, and onthe m ainstem Chetco below, are infected with root disease.

Loss of streamside cedar from th e disease is expected toincrease water tem peratures and accelerate erosion.

Once introd uced into a watershed, there is no effective

mea ns to eradicate the roo t disease, which is spread prima rilyby the transport of its spores trapped in the mud on the

bottom of vehicles and equipmen t. The disease can spreadrapidly downstream and kill entire stands of Port Orford cedar.

According to th e Siskiyou National Forest, the introdu ction of

this non -native path ogen into th e Kalmiopsis Wilderness wasnot likely the resu lt of roads or vehicles, is not significant, at

the m ost on ly 1,000 acres of the Wilderness will be affected,

and th e presence of the root disease in the Wilderness is not ofconcer n becau se it surfaced in a remo te area. In fact, the root

disease is foun d all along the Little Chetco River an d th e areaof the m ining claims. Not coincidentally, these are accessed b y

a roada road that h as been subject to increasing and unau -thorized 4-wheel drive motorized travel, and heavy equipment

oper ation; a road which can facilitate mining, resort d evelop-

ment, and logging.As irreparable as the loss of ancient riparian cedar a nd

the introd uction of th is root disease into the Wildern ess is, itwould be even m ore tragic if continue d mo torized traffic

spread th e disease into the up per watershe d of the Kalmiopsis.

Mention road closures in southwest Oregon an d nor thern

Californ ia and the foul stench of fear and loath ing chokes any

rational debate. While road-ind uced threats to Port Orfordcedar an d the w ild land, rivers and species of the Kalmiop sis

would dictate th at the USFS deny m otorized access in theWilderness and adjacent roadless areas, and p erman ently

close eroding mining roads, the agency instead points to the

term s of the 1872 Mining Law an d prom otes 4-wheel driverecreational opportun ities in the press and on the Internet.

The road s in the Kalmiopsis wild lands were and are theconstru ct of those wh o claim the 18 72 Mining Law gives them

rank an d privilege over the rest of the p ublic and the n ations

laws including th e Wilderness, Clean Water, and End angeredSpecies Acts. These mine rs and land sp eculators have taken

and don e what they want to these precious public lands andrivers, often on on ly their own autho rity. These supp osed

icons of rugged individualism and western independence,

further dem and that the public subsidize their pursu it ofmo netar y wealth, wheth er it be for gold or real estate specu la-

tion on prim e riverfront Nationa l Forest Wilderness land s.

Barbara Ullian is t he Conservat ion Director for t he Siskiy ou

Regional Educational Project, (541) 474-2265.

What You Can Do

The Kalmiopsis needs you r help. The Siskiyou Nationa lForest is prepa ring an en vironm ental imp act statemen t (EIS)

for the Alleman Special Use Permit (Little Chetco mining

claims). The Draft EIS is due for relea se in late Apr il, 199 7.Contact Mary Zusch lag, Illinois Valley RD, 2656 8 Redwoo d

Highw ay, Cave Jun ction , OR 975 23; (541)-592-216 6; andrequ est a copy of th e DEIS. Insist on full protection of the Port

Orford cedar, Chetco and Little Chetco Rivers, and strictly-

enforced closures for all motorized use on trails # 1102, 1124,1129, and road #087.

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B a r b a r a U l l i a n


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Odes to Roads

The Two-Track and theBeer CanWhat Ripping a Road Affirms

By Kraig Klungness

Iclearly remem ber m y first anger at a road. It was a crisp

November m orn ing in 19 67, not far from my grandfath ers

cabin n ear th e Michigamm e River in Michigans UpperPenin sula. I was fourteen an d ecstatic over the newfoun d

indep end ence of finally being allowed to ventu re into thewoods alon e to hun t whitetail deer.

After sitting p erfectly still for th ree ea rly-morn ing hou rs

by an old wh ite pine overlooking a deer run , I got antsy anddecided to stalk eastward on to adjacent state land s and

unfamiliar ground. I wanted deeper woods an d greaterdistance from the other hun ters I knew were around, to

experience a more wild hunt.I meandered through m ixed hardwoods, teetered atop the

springy sphagnum moss of a spruce bog, and traversed a r ise

of birch. Emer ging from a d ense group ing of spruce an d fir, Ipulled some dry bracken fern from m y boot laces, and foun d

myself on the ed ge of a two-track logging road. Startled, I

heard an en gine just around th e bend, coming my way. Iwanted to duck behind a spruce an d hide as the vehicle

passed, bu t it was too late for that. So I stood ther e, awk-wardly, as a large four-whe el-drive wagon w ith three h un ters

pulled up and stopped.

The driver asked if Id seen any d eer an d I gave what fromthen on became my standard answer for such qu estions: NO.

He grunted a response an d threw an empty Hamms beer can

you know, the land o f sky blue watersinto th e woods. Inperfect mim icry, his red-capped bud dy in the back seat did the

same. I stood there, angry and disma yed, as I watched thevehicle move on, waddling from side to side throu gh pud dles

and p ot holes.Though only fourteen, I had been coming to my

grandfather s cabin an d joyfully imm ersing myself in th e

surrou ndin g woods for ten years. The older I got, the m ore Iexplored on m y own . By the time of this incident, I felt a

bud ding knowledge and love of the ways and b eings of thisplacethe o ld-growth we called the p ines, the tag alder

swamp and a chunk of upland in its middle we called the

island, the gray jays we called whiskey jacks, the river, thered squirrels, the weasels, the woo dchu ck, the bobcat, the

black bear, the Canada lynx that h eld my grandfather and mespellbound as it passed through fresh snow within one-

hu ndred feet of us on o ne years trek to get a Christm as tree.

It was always exciting to ex pan d my ran ge of travel, to gofarther out an d discover mor e. But that one incident, those

beer cans, their ill-mannered tossing, the power wagon, thegoddamn road, changed my wh ole world right there. The

place seem ed sm aller, less ench anted , less wild, more th reat-

ened.It wasn' t just the two-track and th e littering, but the

attitude they symbolized. It was the sam e attitude thatresulted in the clearcuts I later found down that same road, the

stagnated water where the road bed dam med a m arshs natural

drainage, and th e nearby gun nysack of rotting meat han ging

from a tree limb over steel-jawed traps set for coyotes.At fourteen I could n ot clearly articulate all the n uan ces

and implication s of what I felt that day. But I knew in m y gutthat what had h appened was part of a much larger form of

disregard that was no t good for m e, those woods, or any other

wild place. Now, after thirty mo re years ma rked with similarexperiences, much thou ght about them, and mu ch reading, I

have m ore to say.Just as tha t two-track was part of a m uch larger m onster,

working for the preven tion, removal, and revegetation o f

roadsroad-rippin g for sh ortis part of a mu ch largerconfiguration o f ecological acts and values. It symbolizes their

enlivenm ent just as those boorishly tossed beer cans symbol-ized their defacement. The strength I feel in oppo sition to this

defacemen t lies not in th e opp osition itself, but in wh at it

affirms.First, the wo rk of road -ripping affirm s the in violate

identity of a wild place you kn ow an d love. Most of us havehad ex perien ces similar to mine with similar feelings. Those

feelings tell you som ething, that som ething is wrong, and you

can use th e ener gy they give to respond . Its person al sweat-and-tears work to remedy an injury to a p lace that, when it

hurts, you hurt.

Second, road-ripping affirms tolerance: tolerance fornatu ral diversity in all its varied form s. It helps create th e

space for m anifold wild beings, including hu man s, to thriveand evolve and celebrate their own call of the wild. At the

same time we learn wh at cannot be tolerated in order to

conserve a collective good that includes the non hum an.Third, road-ripping affirm s quietude. A place without

roads an d mo tors is a mu ch softer, quieter, more welcom ingplace, for people and w ild things. Engine n oise clutters the air

with mechanical uncleanliness, shrinking spaciousness down

to the bar k of intern al combu stion. Getting engines off theland takes us a long way toward hearing na ture, toward

solitude and silence, toward a p ractice of quietude.Fourth , road-ripping affirms the intrinsic value of wild

natu rewilderness for its own sake and n ot for what it can

become to the h uman enterprise. By preventing the intrusionsthat accompan y roads we allow the land com mun ity to

flourish independent of commercial, recreational, and scenicvalues.

Natur es intrinsic worth is so imp ortan t. Its fundam ental.

Its not just intellectu al. Breath e it, feel it, walk it. Its inhe ren tin the dom ain of the mor e-than-human , of goshawk, river

A.

Jones


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otter, butterwo rt, pinyon p ine, wood turtle, panthe r, bull trout,

mo un tain and river. Road-ripping works to prevent their

desecration in a spirit of good ecological mann ers.Fifth, road-ripping affirm s and a ccepts limits, one th ing

that industr ial growth society abh ors. By prom oting unlimitedaccess, ind ustrial society strives for u ncon ditional power over

wild nature, the u ltima te violation of its intrinsic value. By

thwarting th is power, road-ripp ing goes a long way towardmakin g wildland access ecologically accoun table.

Road-ripping stops access for machinery and the churlishrom ping of ORVs, the trails of which a re roads, an d th e self-

mad e routes of which are a form of road-building. Limiting

their access to con serve a greater good is a form o f respectthat goes far deepe r than supe rficial matters of lifestyle or

taste. Accepting limits is part of the wor k of matu ring; whenwe understand this, we see that road-ripping is a mature act.

Sixth, allowing vast areas of roadless cou ntry affirm s wild

natu res self-order. We allow the land to b e, withou t subject-

ing it to hu man ma nipu lations. The larger the area of wildland, th e greater its self-will, which is the essen ce of wilder-

ness. Every road obliterated, every roadless acre added to anywild area e nh ances that lands self-order, its sovereignty, its

wildness.

This, too, is fund am ental, and it ties in with all of theprevious p rinciples discussed: with love of p lace, with

tolerance for n atural diversity, with qu ietude, with intrinsicvalue, with limits. If you love a wild place, have tolera nce for

its natural diversity, respect its quietude, feel its intrinsic

worth an d therefore respect the limits that arise from th is,

then you don t attempt to exert control, you do n ot dom inate,you do n ot man ipulate. You just rip the damn roads as far outas you can and allow the land its auton omy. Managerialism

has no p lace her e. Wildern ess should truly be a big blank spot

on the map.

Since that crisp Novemb er day in 1 967, Ive had myfavorite route u p Lookout Mountain severed by a forty-

foot-wide roa d corr idor. Ditto for East Bluff. The wood s

surrounding a favorite trout stream were roaded and clearcutto within twen ty feet of the streams ban ks. Now theres a

movem ent to op en th e Boun dary Waters Cano e Area Wilder-ness to trucks an d jeeps. Last week, I read th at large portions

of Alaskas wildlands, ou r last great wilderness, a re spo tted

with yellow metal pipes signifying road easem ents.In The Practice of the Wild, Gary Snyder lame nts th e

slow-motion explosion of expanding world economies andpleads:

If the lad or lass is among us who knows where the

secret hea rt of this Growth-Monster is hidden , let themplease tell us wh ere to sh oot the a rrow that will slow it

down . And if the secret heart stays secret and our workis made no easier, I for o ne will keep wo rking for wil-

dern ess day by day.

Its an ap t metap hor for the situation with roads, the m on sterstentacles.

Remember each day what road-ripping affirms, how this

plays into your own char acter and defends what you love.

Then p ractice, day by day. Even little successes help. Theyare acts of mind ful regard for th e wildness of place, the

natu ral world, and yo ur own w ild self.That two-track road near the Michigamm e River is still

there. Its not legally amena ble to closure. I now own th e

hu nting cabin, a gift from m y departed grandfather. The roadto it has grown in with alders and spr uce. I helped th is to

hap pen . You can t drive there anym ore an d I like it that way.It is a sm all victory, but it loom s big in m y he art.

Kraig Klungness is a Northwoods wilderness activist and co-

founder of Wildlands CPR (fka ROAD-RIP).

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Legis lat ive NewsFrom co rpo rate welfare to bud get cutting, roads are all

over the 105th Congress. In Janu ary, House Appropr iations

Com mittee Chairm an Joh n Kasich (R-OH) held a pressconference an nou ncing an effort to fight corpo rate welfare.

This effort is com ing from a bipartisan coa lition including

taxpayer group s and environm entalists. Road constru ctionon federal lands h as been targeted by this group, the Green

Scissors Campa ign, an d even Presiden t Clinton s bu dget.Clintons budget pro poses eliminating road p urch aser

credits by October 1997 . These credits are the main sub sidy

by which the US government trades road construction costsfor trees with the timb er industr y. If a logging comp any

builds roads, they can then use the m oney spent on the roadto reduce the cost of the trees they are buying. With the

logging com pleted, the Forest Service is left with roads to

main tain an d a gouged forest to restore. Its a bad dea l allaround (but swe et living for the timb er corp orations), so

eliminating road purchaser credits is an important steptoward better man agement and reduced subsidies to the

timber industryWe consider th e following points to be imp ortan t:1) Wildland roads damage habitat, for humans and

wildlife. The road blowou ts and landslides in the Interm oun -tain a nd Pacific North west in th e past two years have de-

stroyed hum an lives, water sup plies, prop erty, and lan d.

Roads also fragment wildlife habitat and du mp se dimen t intostreams.

2) Wildland roads are an e cono mic drain on the Amer i-can taxpayerin 1996, $95 million was appropriated to the

Forest Service for the con struction an d recon struction of

wildland roads. An additional $81 million was app rop riatedfor road m ainten ance - a critical fun ding source to continu e.

3) The Presiden ts prop osed bu dget cuts for road pur -

chaser credits and redu cing timbe r sales in ro adless areas area good first step toward better road policies. Funding sho uld

continue for road maintenance an d decomm isioning.

What You Can Do

Write President Clinton, Secretary of AgricultureGlickman and your Congressional represen tatives:

Presiden t Clinton , The Wh ite House, 1600 Penn sylvania

Ave., Wash ington, D.C. 20050. Secretary Glickman , USDA, 200 A Whitten Bldg., 1400

Indep en den ce Ave. SW, Wash inton , D.C. 20250 . U.S. Senate /House, Wash ington, D.C. 20515.

Accept ing limits is part of the

work of maturing; when we

understand this, we see that road-

ripping is a mature act.


6/12


L e g a l/Bibliography N o t e s

The Legal Status of Snowmobiles andtheir Effects on Bison in YellowstoneNational Parkedited by James Barnes.

Taken From: Adverse Effects of Trail Grooming and Snow mobile

Use on Winter Use Management in the Greater Yellowstone Area

wit h a Special Emphasis on Yellowstone National Park, by D.J.

Schubert, Wildlife Biologist, Meyer and Glitzenstein, on behalf of

the Fund for Anim als, Inc.; Wildlands CPR; Predator Project , BLF,

Bison Advocacy Project, and Defenders of W ildlife.

Although this report focuses on th e impacts of motor-ized winter use o n bison , not just big animals are

affected by snowmachine use (RIPortervol. I, no. 4).

Activists can an d shou ld incor pora te many of the imp actsdescribed here, since they are pertinent to contexts extending

well beyon d th e bou nda ries of Yellowstone National Park or

the American bison.Snowm obiles and sn ow coaches impact many types of

subnivean anim al lifethat is, creatures w hich live belowthe sn ow. In on e study, for exam ple, researcher s reported a

marked increase in mam mal mortality beneath com pactedsnow. They con cluded th at, Mortality of subnivean mam mals

in the area packed by snowm obiles was probably due to a

combination of factors that increased winter stress to the pointwhe re survival was imp ossible. Mechan ical comp action of

snowfields will: destroy subnivean air spaces

reduce snow depth

increase den sity, therm al conductivity, therm aldiffusivity and shear strength of snow.

These effects would in tur n b e inhibitory to m amm almovement ben eath the snow and at the same time subject

subnivean organisms to greater temperature stress. There is

also the possibility that air beneath packed snow m ay become

toxic because of abn ormal carbon dioxide accumu lation

(Jarvinen and Schm id 1971).

Plants are also damaged by snowmobiles. Neuman n andMerriam (1972) reported that 34 5 of 440 saplings on asnowm obile trail received severe (118) to mino r (227) dama ge

as the resu lt of a single passage by one snowm obile. The

authors predicted that those saplings which suffered severedam age would probably die. In anoth er study, seventy percen t

of the trees in the area were damaged by snowmobiles.Snowmob ile u se in Yellowstone National Park be gan in the

early 1960s. By 1968, when num bers had climbed to 5,000

winter visitors, the business comm unity surrounding the parkrecognized the econ omic boon an d dem anded recognized

winter a ccess, which was granted. Today, nearly all the roads

in th e p ark ar e groom ed for w inter o ff-road vehicle (ORV) use.

Last winter, 1995-1996, the num ber of sn owmachines using

the Park was recorded at 74,859.Preliminary results of 1995 an d 1996 stu dies of air quality

at Yellowston e indicate th at carb on m on oxide (CO) levels inthe Park ex ceeded federal Clean Air Act and state ambien t air

quality standards at times. Results from both years dem on-

strate a positive correlation between snowmobile density andhigh CO levels.

A 54.21 hor sepower sn owmob ile (the indu stry average)runn ing at 75 percent capacity spews 360 pou nds of pollution

in five ho urs, abou t the time for a roun d-trip from West

Yellowston e to Old Faithful an d back (McMillion , 199 4). For

comp arison, accord ing to EPA statistics, a m odern 150-

horsepower automobile engine em its about one p ound of thesame em issions. Yellowston e endured 26 million pou nd s of

pollution in the 1995-96 season . It seems clear that thisamount of pollution results in detrimental impacts to Park

flora, wildlife, and users. The Park Service, however, has largely

skirted the issue. For examp le, after complaints from park

emp loyees at the West Yellowston e entran ce of head aches,nausea, and throat and eye irritation, the parks response wasto ren ovate the tollbooths to perm it clean oxygen to be p iped

into th e toll booth s.

Legal Basis for Snow mobi le UseExecutive Order (EO) 11644, issued by President Nixon in

1972 , was inten ded t o p rovide a unified Feder al policy forthe u se of off-road re creation al vehicles on pub lic lands.

(Executive Order 11644, 37 Fed. Reg. 2877 (1972) reprinted in42 U.S.C. 4321). Its purpose was to establish policies and

provide for pro cedure s that w ill ensure th at the u se of ORVs on

pub lic lands will be controlled and directed so as to protect theresour ces of those lands ... and to min imize conflicts amon g

the variou s uses o f those lan ds. (Id. at 1). As defined in th eEO, an ORV means any motorized vehicle designed for or

capable of cross-country travel on or immediately over land,

water, sand, snow, ice, marsh, swampland, or other naturalterrain... (Id. at 2(3)) [emphasis added].

Those areas wh ere ORV use can b e perm itted should bebased on, am ong other things, the protection of the resources

of the public lands, (Id. at 3(a)), and shall be located to

minim ize har assme nt of wildlife or significant disruption o fwildlife hab itats. (Id. at 3(a)(2)). Within National Parks, such

trails shall only be designated if the respective agency h eaddeterm ines tha t ORV use in su ch locations w ill not adversely

Last winter, 1995-1996, the number of

snowmachines us ing the Park w as

recorded at 74,859.

SouthernRockiesEcosystemProject


7/12


affect their natural, aesthetic, or scenic values. (Id. at (4)).

In Yellowston e Nation al Park, th e sno wm obile trails were

designated to be nearly all of the unp lowed roadways. In1977 , an amen dm ent by President Carter, EO 11989 , autho-

rized agen cies to close areas to ORVs wh ich m ay be causingconsiderab le adverse effects on the soil, vegetation, wildlife,

wildlife h abitat ...until ... such adverse effects have been

eliminated an d ... measures have been implemented to p reventfuture recurren ce. (Executive Ord er 11989, 42 Fed. Reg. 26959

(1977 ) reprinted in 42 U.S.C. 4 321)In an abru pt and co mp lete reversal of its previous re liance

on EO 11644 in d esignating snowm obile routes, the Park

Service reacted by declaring that th e restrictions of EO 11644do no t apply to the vast ma jority of snowm obile use in

National Parks. The Park Service simp ly re-defined m ostsnowmobile use as not entailing ORV use. Specifically, the

revised regulation states th at: ORV use is not regarded as an

app ropr iate use in the National Park System. Thereforesnowmobiles will generally be permitted to operate on those

established r oads and on frozen water ways where other motorpowered veh icles are allowed at other tim es. In th ose very

limited places wh ere off-road use o f snowmo biles is permitted

throu gh Special Regulation, the provisions of Executive Order11644 and 11989 will be enforced.

Clearly, this new in terpr etation was de signed to avoidcompliance with

the mo nitoring

and mandatoryclosure provisions

of EO 1164 4, asamen ded, by

arbitrarily

determining thatsnowmobiles are

no t ORVs wh enused on estab-

lished road ways

covered with

snow. This is aninaccurateinterpretation of

the definition of

an ORV in the EO(above, in bo ld)

which is based onvehicle design, n ot

type of path

traveled.In addition,

park regulationsonly allow snowm obile use on un plowed roadw ays. Not a

single regulation au thor izes the gro om ing of trails for sn ow-

mo bile use.

Effect s on BisonSince th e early 198 0s, Yellowstone b ison th at wand ered

outside th e Park h ave been killed in a p olitically-charged effort

to m aintain the Montana cattle indu strys bru cellosis-freestatus. This year ha s proven exceptionally lethal to

Yellowston e bisonmore th an 1000 h ave already bee n killed.

Dr. Mary Meagher, the lea ding au tho rity on Yellowstonebison, has concluded that the existence of snow-packed

roads... was the largest factor in co ntributin g to po pulationincrease, major distributional chan ges, and u ltima tely habitat

impacts (Meagher 1993 ). Groom ed trails provide bison with

ener gy-efficient travel corridors r esulting in en ergy savings

within trad ition al foraging areas while prom oting rangeexpansion, major shifts among previously semi-isolated

subpopu lations, reduction of winterkill, and enhan cement ofcalf survival.

The Park Service used to claim that p eople on

snowm achines chasing animals made up for the energysavings, but the y have given up th at tack: bison d ont run. Even

bison wh o are initially skittish aroun d snow mo biles quicklybecom e habituated to the m achine s (Meagher 19 93, Aun e

1981), thereby negating ener gy loss associated with avoiding

sno wm obiles. For oth er un gulates, such evasive ma neu vers inresponse to snowmobiles may occur, though h abituation has

also been observed in m ule deer and elk in Yellowston e (Aun e1981).

Accordin g to Meagh er, Yellowstones bison popu lation

may be n early double the size that would n aturally exist ifgroomed trails were not present. The functional winter range

is quickly declining, but the p ark is not exp eriencing over-grazing in the range management sense...mechanical impact is

occurr ing from in creased nu mb ers of bu ffalo wallows, trails,

tree-rubb ing, and so forth , especially in Hayden Valley(Meagh er et a l., In Pr ess).

With harsh w inter con dition s this year, Meagher h asconcluded that the snow den sity coupled with the declining

winter ran ge in the pa rk dictates that at be st ther e will likely

be considerable boundary area removal [a eup hem ism forkilling all the bison outside th e par k bou nda ries]. This will be

additive with a likely high m ortality within th e park , such h asnot occurred since 1981-82 wh en th e bison also really began

to use th e winter road system. A population crash appears

likely, and th e system itself that supp orts bison m ay becollapsing. Yellowstone National Park supp osedly is com mit-

ted to m aintaining a truly wild, free-ranging [bison] p opu la-tion subject only to the influences of natu ral regulatory

pro cesses (1983 Managem ent Plan). And yet, instead of

eliminating the groome d trails, the park h as agreed to partici-

pate in an Interim Bison Managem ent Plan wh ich calls for thecapture and slaughter of nearly all bison who ap proach orcross the north ern an d western borders of the park. Such

activities are a far cr y from natu ral regulation .

Clearly the situation for bison wo uld be mu ch am elioratedby closing the park to sn owm obiles or at least ceasing to

groom tra ils. While such a p rohibition m ay not stop all bisonfrom exiting the p ark, this is not the goal of most bison

conser vation ists anyway. The expected increase in winter kill,

decrease in produ ctivity, and d ecrease in calf survival wouldresult in a natural decline in the size of the bison p opu lation .

This would reduce Montana stockgrowers percep tion thatbison ar e a th reat to th eir way of life.

ConclusionConsiderin g the grievous imp acts of snowm obiles on

bison, other cr eatures an d the en vironm ent of Yellowston e, the

Park Service m ust either mitigate the impacts or eliminatethe activity (Policies, Page 8:1). To da te th e pa rk h as do ne

neither. On the other h and, when unn atural concentrations ofnative species are the r esult of hum an activities, the Park

Service is authorized to contr ol the con centration s if the

activities causing the concentrations cannot be controlled.(Id.) But in this ca se, the activitiestrail groom ing an d

Slaught ered bison. Cold Mts./Cold Rivers, photo.

see Bison on p age 9


8/12


Regional Reports and Alerts

ARIZONA

Gran d Canyon National

ParkWith five million visitors per year,

mo st of whom tr avel in private

vehicles, the sou th rim of the GrandCanyo n is awash in a sea of traffic. TheGran d Canyon Master Plan, adopted in

1995, authorizes a reduction in cars on

the South Rim. Now, the Park Serviceis primed to release an environm ental

assessmen t to determine whether

buses or light rail would be the bestalternative mode of public transporta-

tion. The EA is due out th e first weekin March, with a 30-day commen t

period.

To receive you r very own cop y ofthe EA and chip in y our views, contact

Brad Travers, GCNP, 3100 N. Fort ValleyRd., Bldg. 12, Flagstaff, AZ 86001;

(520) 774-1239 .

For m ore information on thealternatives, contact Lara Schm idt at

Gran d Canyon Trust, (520) 774-7488 .

IDAHO

Study Finds Too Many

Roads for Idaho ElkAs a resu lt of road inven tories

cond ucted by Payette Forest Watch an d

Predator Projects Road Scholar Project,western Idahos Payette National Forest(PNF) has acknowledged excessive road

densities on at least one elk manage-ment unit (EMU 8) and agreed to

develop a road closur e plan th at could

lead to the elimination of more than onehun dred miles of open roads.

Using the Forest Services own data,Payette Forest Watch determ ined th at

elk habitat effectiveness w as no t being

met on twelve of tw enty-three EMUs.Although the PNFs op en road den sity

standard se ts a limit of 3.1 miles/square

mile to m aintain elk hab itat effective-ness, when Payette Forest Watch

researchers compiled the results fromtheir field inventory, they foun d an o pen

road de nsity of 4.2 miles/square m ile,which translates to more than on e

hu ndre d miles of illegitimate road.

Although Payette Forest SupervisorDave Alexander h as pro mised to

develop a plan by this summ er to bringEMU 8 into Forest Plan compliance,

Payette Fore st Watchs Erik Ryberg

cautions th at the Forest has shown atende ncy to falter with similar promises

in the past.Many studies (Lyon 1983 ;

Christen sen et a l. 1993; see vol. 1, n. 5)

show that road densities higher than 2miles/squar e mile reduce elk ha bitat

effectiveness to below 50%. Even if thePayette drops road den sities to m eet its

Forest Plan stan dards, therefore, elk may

rem ain in serious peril on Payette lands.Ryberg and Predator Pro ject plan to

cond uct further field inventories todocument conditions on other EMUs on

the west side of the Payette.

What You Can DoPlease write Payette Forest Supervi-

sor Dave Alexander, Payette NF, PO Box1026, McCall, ID 836 38 an d insist that

he com ply with his Forest Plan by

closing an d obliterating roads to meetopen road den sity requiremen ts in EMU

8. Payette Forest Watch wou ld appr eci-ate copies of any letters you send ; you

can also talk to them for more informa-

tion on th eir study at (208) 634-5275,PO Box 414, McCall, ID 83638.

MAINE

Bill Proposed to Regulate

RoadsThe Maine Legislature is consider-

ing a bill that wo uld regulate road-

building and u se on the States vastLand Use Regulation Com mission

(LURC) land s. There are already 25 ,000miles of roads on LURC lands, and

approximately 1000 m ore miles are

built every year.The timber ind ustry testified

against regulating roads at a Febru ary18 hear ing for the bill, A comm ittee

vote on th e bill shou ld take place in

early March .Contact th e Natural Resour ces

Council of Maine at (207) 622-3101 formor e information.

-

Grand Canyon rail. J. Craig Thorpe, drawing.

ALASKA

Roads t o NowhereTwo different ro ad p roposals h ave

brou ght Alaskans to court and to th estate Legislature, as small ecotour

comp anies fight to stop a road fromPortage to Whittier, and an Alaskan

Repre sentative hopes to see a road built

to conn ect Jun eau with Skagway.If completed, th e Wh ittier Road (see

vol. 1, no. 3) could open remo te reachesof Prince William Soun d to m ore than

1.4 m illion mo torized visitors by th e

year 2015. While the roa d project istouted as an economic boon by the

Alaska Visito rs Asso cia tion (AVA), theAlaskan Wilderness Recreation and

Tou rism Association (AWRTA) ha s joine d

the Alaska Center for th e Environm ent(ACE) in a lawsuit to stop the first ph ase

of the $60 million road p roject. Bothsides agree the road wou ld lead to a

boom in cruise boat traffic, but wh ere

the AVA sees e con om ic opp ortu nity,wildern ess-ba sed ou tfitters, AWRTA and

ACE see los t solitud e in the are as fjordsand a degraded envrionm ent.

Meanwhile, in Juneau, State

Repre sentative Bill Hudson has intro-duced a resolution asking legislative

support to build a $232 million roadalon g the Lynn Canal to Skagway. The

two cities currently rely upon ferry

service for com merce an d travel.The state Departm ent of Transp orta-

tion an d Pub lic Facilities h as stated th atthey will wait to hear p ublic opinion

before making a decision.

What You Can DoContact the Alaska Center for th e

Environment for m ore on the WhittierRoad lawsuit: (907) 274 -3621.

To h elp squ elch th e Jun eau-Skagway

road, send your comm ents to Comm is-sioner Joseph L. Perkins, Alaska Depart-

men t of Traspor tation and Pub licFacilities, 3132 Cha nn el Dr., Jun eau , AK

99801.

-

Gary

Steele


9/12


CALIFORNIAHigh W ate r Could Douse

Yosemite Traff icThe inten t of the National Park Serv ice is to

remove all autom obiles from Yosemit e Valley

and Mariposa Grove and to redirect

development to the periphery of the park and

beyond.

Yose m ite Nation al Park , 1980

General Management Plan.

Yosem ite National Park o fficials had

the foresight in 19 80 to state that theywanted to remove pr ivate vehicles from

the Park. Seventeen years later, the

transp ortation initiatives have yet to beimplemented.

But, call it fate, New Year s floodswrea ked havoc in the Yosem ite Valley,

dam aging roads and buildings. The Park

has b een closed ever since, and is likelyto stay closed un til at least Memo rial

Day for clean-up and reconstruction.The Park should regard this as a golden

opportun ity to implemen t the 1980

Gener al Mana gemen t Plan, to removepark facilities from inside th e valley, an d

to install a pub lic transpo rtation system.With m ore than 4.1 million people

visiting the Park in 1996, the gen eral

man agement plan presciently notedthat, The Valley m ust be freed from the

noise, the sm ell, the glare, and theenvironm ental degradation caused by

thou sand s of vehicles.

As th e Park Service seeks fundin gfrom Congress to rebuild and restore

Yosem ite, removing pr ivate autom obilesand com ing into compliance with th e

1980 General Management Plan shouldbe its first pr iority.

What You Can Do

Please write letters to Secretary ofInterior Bruce Babbitt, DOI, 184 9 C St.

NW, Washin gton, D.C. 20 240 ;Bru ce_Babb [email protected], an d ask

him to fund public transportation within

the Park. Keep th e following points inmind for your letters:

1) Public tran sportation system s

conn ect the Park with its gatewaycommunities, which boosts local

economies.2) Public transit will make bicycle

and other non-motorized visits to the

Yosem ite Valley safer an d more e njoy-able, and will improve air qua lity within

the Park.3) Funding pu blic transp ortation

within the Park complies with the 1980

Gener al Managem ent Plan an d willreduce lon g-term visitor impa cts to

Yose mite.

What You Can Do

To get in volved, wr ite Yellowston ePark Superinten den t Mike Finley

(Sup erin ten den ts Office, YellowstoneNation al Park, WY 8219 0), voice youropposition to motorized winter use in

YNP, and demand an EIS to assess theimpacts of winter recreation al use.

For m ore inform ation con tact D.J.

Schu bert at (202) 588-5206, or BisonAdvocacy Project, 1519 Cooper St.

Missoula, MT 59802 (406)728-5733 ,

[email protected].

ReferencesAune, K.E. 1981. Impacts of Winter

Recreationists on Wildlife in a Portion o f

Yellowstone Nationa l Park, Wyomin g.

M.S. Thesis, MT State Univ., Bozeman.

111 pp.

Bennett, L.E. 1995. A Review of Potential

Effects of Winter Recreation on Wildlife

in Grand Teton a nd Yellowstone

National Parks: A Bibliographic Data

Base. Final Report. U.S. Departm ent o f

the Interior National Park Service,

University of Wyoming Cooperative Fish

and Wildlife Resear ch Unit.

Daboll, D. 1995. Environmental Impact

Assessm en t Snowm obiling Activity at

Yellowstone Nationa l Park; With an

Evaluation of Multi-Criteria Decision

Making Methods. Masters Report MSCE

with Program Concentration in

Environmental Engineering.

Green , G.I., an d D.J. Mattson. 19 88. Dynam ics

of ungulate carca ss availability and use

by bears on the northern winter range:

1987 Progress Report. Pages 32-50 in

Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Investigat ions:

Annual Report of the Interagency Study

Team 1987. U.S.D.I. Natl. Park Service.

see Bison on page 10

Flooded Yosemite campground. Linda Wallace, photo.

Bison Cont.

snowm obile useclearly can becontrolled, and th e Park Service should

take immediate steps to prohibit these

activities.Yellowstone National Park sh ou ld

immediately prohibit snowmobile useun til such a time as the ab ove violations

of law and p olicy con tinue. And,

whether or not snowm obiles remainpermitted, all grooming and other

maintenance activities that accomodatesnowmobile use should cease.

-

The Park Service is exp loring

closing Yellowston e to mo torized

recreation this winter. In a Febru ary 7letter to Montana Governor Marc

Racicot, the Park Service indicated th attheir option s to solve the bison p roblem

may require closing portions of

groome d ro ads leading from Yellowston eNation al Park to West Yellowstone an d

the area between Norris and Mamm oth.Other alternatives involve closing

groome d road s to recreation al use.

Unfortunately, the Park Service isalso considering building barricades to

halt bison, again making their comm it-ment to natural regulation questionable.

James Barnes is a founder of the Bison

Advocacy Project in Missoula, MT.

-


10/12


Outreach

Slide ShowsIn early to mid-April, John Dillon will be heading to

Colorado, Utah an d Wyoming to present ou r slide show a boutthe ecological impacts of roads. The slide show tou r is

supp orted by a grant from th e Maki Foun dation an d will

highlight n ot only the p roblems with roa ds, but h ow to getinvolved in preventing and rem oving roads. See the ba ck cover

of thisRiporterfor dates and locations. If you can help withlocal publicity or de tails, or if you wan t John to come to your

town and we havent listed it, get in touch with us ASAPfinal

details are in th e works.

WorkshopsBethan ie held a sh ort, inten sive worksh op for a ctivists,

focused on road inventory and obliteration at the Headwaters

Western Ancient Forest Activists Conference in Ashland,Oregon, in Febru ary. She also is speaking on a pa nel at the

Environm ental Law Conferen ce in Eugene in March an d

presen ting a slide show and p resen tation at Western Washing-

ton University on Apr il 15. A Seattle slide show m ay follow thepresentation in Bellingham.We are p lann ing worksho ps for Burlington , Verm on t;

Minn eap olis, Minn esota; and Tucso n, Arizona. If you are

interested in an y of these, please contact our o ffice for moredetails.

Glossy PR!Check o ut the May 1997 issue ofBackpacker Magazine for

a brief repo rt on Wildlands CPR and th e T-12 Campaign.

Roads Sym pos ium at SCB Confer enceWildlands CPR is sponsorin g a symposium on th e

Ecological Impacts of Roads, Sunday, June 8 at the Society for

Conser vation Biologys Annu al Meeting in Victoria, BritishColum bia, Canad a. Panelists for the symp osium include Dr.Chris Frissell, an aqua tic ecologist from the University of

Montan a; Terry Spreiter, from Redwo od Nationa l Parks roadremoval program; Dr. Graham Forbes, University of New

Brun swick large carnivore researcher; an d Dr. Steph en

Trom bulak, Wildlands CPR Advisory Com mittee m emb er an dprofessor at Middlebury College in Verm on t. Forme r ROAD-

RIP co-director Marion Hourdequ in will serve as mod erator forthe symp osium. For more information , ema il Marion at

mar ionh @selway.umt.edu or call Wildlands CPR.

Restoration Ecology Course OfferedWild Rockies Field Institute, a n on -profit education al

organization, is offering an 18 -day field-based course onRestoration Ecology an d Road Obliteration in Greater

Yellowstone. Students will study ecology and b ackpack fortwelve days in roadless lands west of Yellowstone. For the

rem ainder o f the course, participan ts will work coop eratively

with th e Gallatin National Forest to obliterate a road, installmonitoring devices, and assess the condition of managed lands

including closed and decom missioned road s. Participants canearn th ree semester cred its from th e University of Montan a.

Cour se dates are Jun e 20-July 8, cost is $1050, an d enr ollment

is limited to eight. Contact WRFI at 406-549-4336, PO Box7071, Missoula, MT 598 07; [email protected].

Bison Cont.

Road Obliter at ionVolunte ers SoughtWildlands CPR is workin g to coordinate a roa d ob litera-

tion e ffort in Montan as Elkho rns Wildlife Managem ent Area

with the Helena National Forest and Predator Pr oject.Subsequent to their recently-completed travel plan

revision , the Helena NF plans to close and ob literate mo re than

100 miles of roads in th e Elkhorn s durin g the nex t five years.Wildlands CPR plans to h elp launch the ob literation efforts by

working with a local Union of heavy equipm ent op erators, andproviding some volunteer labor and expertise to the inaugural

year of road decomm issioning.

Agencies commonly complain of budgetary constraintsand lack of hum anpo wer for road closure programs, so this

should be a good dem onstration project for both the agencyand activists to demonstrate their commitment to restoring the

landscape to a less-roaded condition.

Work is likely to take place in late May and early June.Please give Wildlands CPR a holler if youre interested in

participating in th is historic and w orthy joint effort. Startbreaking in tho se workgloves!

Greer, T. 19 79. Environme ntal Impa ct on Snowmob iles: A Review of

the Literature, Masters Project. University of Oregon. 6 0 p p.

Jarvinen, J.A., an d W.D. Schmid. 1971 . Snowm obile use a nd winter

mo rtality of small ma mm als. In Chubb, M. (ed.) Proceedings of

the Snowm obile and Off the Road Vehicle Research Symposium .

College of Agriculture a nd Natural Resources, Departm ent of

Park and Recreation Resources, Recreation Resources and

Planning Unit, Tech. Rep. 8, Michigan State University, East

Lansing, MI. 196 pp.

Mattson , D.J., an d J. Henry. 1987. Spring grizzly bea r use of un gulate

carcas ses in th e Firehole River dra inage: Second Year Progress

Report. Pages 63-72 in Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Investigations:

Annual Report of t he Interagency Study Team 1986. U.S.D.I. Natl.

Park Service.

McMillion, S. 1994, Industry Acknowledges Snowmobile pollution,

Bozeman Chronicle, Bozeman , MT, January 9 , 199 4.

Meagher, M. 1993, Winter Recreation-Induced Changes in Bison

Numbers and Distribution in Yellowstone National Park.

Unpub lishe d Repo rt. Yellowstone Nation al Park files. 48 pp .

Meagher et al., In Press; see also Meaghe r, Unpublished Research Data,

Bison Distribution Flight Report. May 17, 1995 .

Neuman n, P.W., an d H. G. Merriam . 19 72. Ecological effects of

snowmobiles. The Canadian Field Naturalist. 86:207-212.

USDI 1983 YNP Natural Resource Management Plan and EA.

USDI 1988 YNP Management Policies.

USDI 1990 YNP Winter Use Plan and Environmental Assessment.

USDI 1995 YNP Natural Resource Management Plan.

USDA/USDI 1995 Interagency Bison Management Plan.


11/12


Join Wildlands CPR Today!

Memb ersh ip benefits both you and Wildlands CPR. You

lend you r sup port to ou r efforts, giving us more leverage in sub-

mitting comm ents, filing lawsuits, and creating pressure to p re-vent and close roads on public land s. In addition, your finan cial

support helps us to continue providing information and re-sources to activists thro ughou t North Amer ica.

As a Wildlands CPR member, you'll have better access tothese resource s, because youll receive:

f Our bimonthly newsletter, The Road-RIPorter.

f 10 free bibliography searches p er year.

f National supp ort for your campaign through our newsletterand alerts.

f Access to activist tools and pu blic education m aterials.f Con nections with group s working on similar issues, and n et-

works w ith exper ienced ro ad-fighting activists, lawyers and

scientists.f Discoun ts on Wildlands CPR pub lications.

____$30 Standard____$15 Low Incom e____$50 Friend____$200 Supporter____$500 Sponsor____Other: $____________

____$15 ($25 non-me mbers)Handbook (includes all 4 guides)

____$4/Guide ($7 non-members)- circle your choices BLM, ORV, NF, NP

____Total enclosed $______________

Name:__________________________________________________

Organization:____________________________________________

Address:________________________________________________

City/State/Zip:___________________________________________

Phone/Fax/e-mail:________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Join Wildlands CPR Today!

Wildlands CPR Publi cations: Road-Ripper's Handbook ($15.00, $25 non-members)) A

comp rehen sive activist man ual that includes the four Guideslisted below, plus The Ecological Effects of Roads , Gather-ing Information wit h t he Freedom of Informat ion Act, andmore!

Road-Ripper's Guide t o the National Fores ts ($4, $7 non-mem-bers) By Keith Hamm er. How-to pro cedu res for gettingroads closed and revegetated, descriptions of environmen-tal laws, road den sity standards & Forest Service road poli-cies.

Road-Ripper's Guide to the National Parks ($4, $7 non-mem-bers) By David Bah r & Aron Yarm o. Provides ba ckgroun don the National Park System and its use of roads, and out-

lines how activists can get involved in NPS plann ing.Road-Ripper's Guide to Off-Road Vehicles ($4, $7 non-mem-bers) By Dan Wright. A comp rehen sive guide to redu cingthe use an d abuse of ORVs on pu blic lands. Includes an ex-tensive bibliography.

Road-Ripper's Guide to the BLM ($4, $7 non-members) ByDan Stotter. Provides an overview of road-related land an dresource laws, and detailed discussions for participating inBLM decision-making processes.

Video ReviewTorren ts of Chan ge, a n ew video by the Association of

Fore st Service Employees for Environm en tal Ethics (AFSEEE),highlights th e impact of flooding on th e Central Oregon Coast

and the efforts of th e Siuslaw National Forest to redu ce theseimpacts by removing roads and red ucing logging. Though the

Siuslaw is on e of th e m ost prod uctive tree-growing forests in

the nation , the Siuslaws rivers also provide critical salmo n

habitat.After last years floods and road blowouts, Siuslaw ForestSupervisor Jim Furnish began hydrologically closing two-

thirds of the roads on the forest. He had already cut timb er

production by 90% , and closing the roads was the n ext logicalstep. The roads are not being comp letely obliterated, but

rathe r stored for future use by leaving the m ajority of theroad p rism intact, adding water bars and cross ditch drains,

and co mp letely removing culverts to reduce th e hydrologic

impacts.The video offers excellent explanations of deb ris torrents

and a comp arison of the floods impacts on m anaged versusun man aged lands. It also includes great footage of culvert

excavation in pro gress. But the video does not explain the

differen ce between h ydrologic closure an d com plete oblitera-tion. The Siuslaw is the on ly Forest in the cou ntry rem oving a

majority of its road s.Torren ts of Change offers a basic introdu ction to the

relationship between road s, clearcuts and flooding. The

presen tation is clear, graph ic, and app rop riate to a wideaudien ce, thou gh the video fails to recom me nd or fully explain

the co mp lexities of road rem oval. It is available from AFSEEE(PO Box 11615, Eugen e. OR 974 40; (541) 484-2692) for

$15.00, and even cheap er if you sh ow the video to oth ers.

ElizabethOLeary


12/12


BULK RATE

US POSTAGE

PAID

MISSOULA, MT 59801

PERMIT NO. 569

Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads

P.O. Box 7516Missoula, MT 59807

.. .beyond the asphalt belting of the

superhighways. . .there is another w orld

waiti ng for you.. . Go there. Be ther e.

Walk gently and quiet ly w i thin i t .

Edward Abbey

The Toad Hit s t he Road: Wildlands CPR Slide ShowGrand Junct ion, CO Mesa St at e College, 7 pm Sunday, Apr i l 6t h

Mont rose, CO Hillcres t Church, 7 pm Monday, Apr i l 7t h

Cres t ed But t e, CO The Alpineer, 7 pm Tuesday, Apr i l 8t h

Aspen, CO Aspen Cent er for Environ. St udies, 7 pm Thursday, Apr il 10t h

Boulder, CO CU cam pus, 5 pm Monday, Apr il 14t h

Denver, CO Hadley Br anch Librar y, 7:30 pm Tuesday, Apr i l 15t h

For t Collins, CO Tent at ive Wednesday, Apr i l 16t hLar am ie, WY Tent at ive Thursday, Apr i l 17t h

Lander, W Y Frem ont Count y Libr ary, 7 pm Fr iday, Apr i l 18t h

Call Wildlands CPR at (406) 543-9551 for more inform ationdates and tim es may change

MarkAlanWilson

Date post:	30-May-2018
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