Wilderness News

A federal judge in San Francisco Tuesday struck down national forest management rules devised by the Bush administration that environmentalists had denounced as a thinly veiled sop for timber companies.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilkin ruled in favor of a group of 14 environmental organizations that sued the U.S. Forest Service for essentially relaxing regulations in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act.

As the fifth-largest state and with incredible biodiversity, it should come as no surprise that New Mexico attracts birders from around the world who come to enjoy some of our favorite birding spots. This summer is a perfect time to visit - or revisit - an area renowned for its impressive bird habitat: the Upper Rio Grande Gorge in Taos County.

Beginning at the Colorado border, the Upper Rio Grande Gorge extends to below Taos and includes approximately 25 miles of the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River.

SUMMIT COUNTY - A plan to add up to 30,000 acres of new and expanded wilderness areas in Summit County will require local support, and this week, backers of the "Hidden Gems" proposal will meet with the county commissioners to provide a few details.

"It's a good opportunity to get everybody on the same page," said Lisa Smith, who has been coordinating the wilderness plan for the past few years.

Glacier National Park will be a century old next year, and park Superintendent Chas Cartwright wants one special present.

"With the upcoming centennial, I can't think of any better birthday present than to formally designate these lands as wilderness," Cartwright said.

"President (Richard) Nixon forwarded that recommendation to Congress 35 years ago," he said. "So it's truly a matter of unfinished business that has been sitting in the lap of Congress since then."

I own Jim Bryce Outfitting in Delta. My business guides sportsmen from across the nation on elk and deer hunts on the south side of the Grand Mesa in the Currant Creek roadless area. Your editorial voiced support of the Colorado roadless rule that currently is being finalized. The Post mentioned that exceptions in the draft rule would allow for oil and gas development and coal exploration in certain areas. What it failed to address is that the Currant Creek roadless area would be opened to coal mining under that draft.

The 70-square-mile Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness has a lot going for it: a short driving time from Portland, spectacular views and a good workout for hikers.

The wilderness derives its name from the marriage of the Salmon River and Huckleberry Mountain --and the mountain is a grand objective for a summer hike. Save it for a clear day, though, to take advantage of the panoramas from the open areas on the summit. The top has a sub-alpine look, with phlox and other low-lying wildflowers splashing the rocky areas with purples, reds and yellows.

COWEN, W.Va. -- When a tree fell across Little Fork Trail in the Monongahela National Forest in February, Diane Artale and Nathan Welch could have cleared it away with chain saws.

But as of March 30, when an act granting wilderness protection to 37,000 acres of remote Monongahela National Forest land was signed into law by President Obama, hand tools must be used to do maintenance work along the deep-woods footpath. Little Fork Trail passes through part of a new 11,951-acre expansion of the Cranberry Wilderness Area.

As a guide/outfitter, sportsman, recreationalist, land-grant heir, and "norte-o," I depend on the near-by wild and undeveloped public lands for the welfare of my business and my family's well-being here in Northern New Mexico. Having public land available to hunt, fish and hike on is the foundation of my livelihood. That's one reason I feel strongly about the need to protect the El Rio Grande del Norte National Conservation Area and Ute Mountain in Taos County.

Sen.

Tom Vilsack deems them to be in the interest of forest stewardship. But proposals for new roads would be reviewed at the highest level of the Forest Service.

In Summit County, about 60,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas are currently managed under direction of the 2002 White River National Forest plan. District Ranger Jan Cutts said the plan's roadless direction comes from the original 2001 national roadless rule established under President Clinton.

There was much evidence last week that the infamous era of "Timber Wars" in northwest Montana seems to have gone out with, not so much a bang, as a whimper. That isn't to say that disputes over land use, timber, recreation and wilderness won't continue as long as there is public land. But the interests involved in such disputes seem to be looking toward processes that might get them some of what they want, if not everything, while avoiding some of the deep acrimony that arises from such disagreements.