Wilderness News

During a recent six-hour run traversing the Gallatin Crest, I reflected on the resurgent debate about how this pristine high-alpine environment should be managed. The Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area (WSA), commonly referred to as the Gallatin Crest, is a unique wilderness corridor extending north of Yellowstone Park. Bordered to the east and west by Paradise Valley and Gallatin Canyon, the Crest provides vital habitat and passage to grizzly and black bears, wolves, lynx, elk, deer and moose.

Dear Editor:

Avid hikers are invited to test their mettle by joining the Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign on Sunday, Aug. 15, as they ascend the 13,500-foot Treasure Mountain above Marble.

The Treasure Mountain massif, near the headwaters of the Crystal River, is one of the lushest areas in the state. The rock spires of The Chimneys hide basins containing head-high fields of flowers and numerous waterfalls and waterslides.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis sent a 14-page draft of legislation Friday evening to supporters and opponents of the Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign, along with elected and safety officials. Titled "The Eagle and Summit County Wilderness Preservation Act," it includes about 170,000 acres of new protections in those counties, including additions to the Holy Cross and Eagles Nest wilderness areas.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - An expert with border security in his blood recently made a visit to New Mexico to share his views on a bill now in Congress that would add new wilderness and conservation designations to some areas along the border, including the Organ Mountains. Some opponents of the proposal now working its way through the Senate say they're concerned it could impact national security by limiting the border patrol's access to the area.

When I was a stu­dent at Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­sity in the '60s, I used to visit Rad­nor Lake - a lake cre­ated by the Louisville and Nashville Rail­road to sup­ply water for their steam loco­mo­tives. After it had out­lived that pur­pose, it had grown quite wild. L&N sold an option to build town­houses around the lake in 1971.

SOLEDAD, Calif.-California's Pinnacles National Monument could become a national park and expand its wilderness from 16,000 acres to 19,000 acres.

Sen. Barbara Boxer has written legislation to elevate the status of Pinnacles, a 26,000-acre expanse of dramatic volcanic rock formations east of the Salinas Valley near the community of Soledad. It is also a nesting spot for endangered California condors.

Local politicians and statewide environmental groups today hailed a draft wilderness proposal being circulated by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis called the Eagle and Summit County Wilderness Preservation Act.

With Congress currently in recess, the proposal has not yet been formally submitted as a bill, but it reportedly is only focused on creating new wilderness and expanding existing wilderness in Eagle and Summit counties.

ASPEN, Colorado - U.S. Rep. Jared Polis will introduce a wilderness bill that provides some level of protection to roughly 70 percent of the lands targeted by environmentalists in Eagle and Summit counties as part of the Hidden Gems campaign.

But draft legislation released by the congressman shows that some high-profile jewels within the Hidden Gems will be left out of the bill, including Lower Piney north of Avon. In other cases, Polis is proposing a lesser protection than the wilderness designation.

Pinnacles National Monument in the Gabilan Mountains above Soledad is one step closer to becoming a National Park.

On Thursday, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, D-San Francisco, introduced companion legislation to that of U.S. Rep. Sam Farr's, D-Carmel, of a year ago, a bill that would change the site's designation and add nearly 3,000 acres of the monument to the National Wilderness Preservation System.

LAS CRUCES - A balance has been reached on wilderness legislation that will enable U.S. Border Patrol agents the necessary operational controls needed for border protection while preserving several areas in southern New Mexico, a former Border Patrol official said Thursday.

Ron Colburn, a former national deputy chief of the Border Patrol, said Thursday the legislation, Senate Bill 1689, is encouraging.