Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Volume 10 # 2
Travel Management:
A Success Story in the Gold Belt
By Vera Smith
Inside…
Travel Management Success in the Gold
Belt, by Vera Smith. Pages 3-5
Odes to Roads: Caught in the
Headlights, by Eliza Murphy.
Pages 6-7
Policy Primer: Partnerships, by Marnie
Criley. Pages 8-9
Get with the Program: Restoration &
Transportation Program Updates.
Pages 10-11
Depaving the Way, by Bethanie
Walder. Pages 12-13
Biblio Notes: Effects of Roads and ORVs
on Reptiles, by Allison Clark.
Pages 14-16
Citizen Spotlight: Scott Stouder, by
Kiffin Hope. Page 17
Regional Reports. Pages 18-19
Field Notes: Guidelines for Citizen
Scientists, by Katherine Court.
Pages 20-21
Around the Office, Membership info.
Pages 22-23
Check out our website at: The Shelf Road winds amongst the cliffs and shrublands of the Gold Belt Planning Area.
www.wildlandscpr.org Photo by Dave Walker, Bureau of Land Management.
P.O. Box 7516
D
Missoula, MT 59807
uring the last quarter, roadless protection and the six-year transportation fund- (406) 543-9551
ing bill have both sprung back to life. While technically these two issues are www.wildlandscpr.org
completely separate, they both relate to public road management and have the
potential to impact our work. Please read our update on the latest changes to the road-
Wildlands CPR works to protect and restore
less rule, on page 19.
wildland ecosystems by preventing and
Congress is now finalizing plans for highway construction, maintenance, public trans-
removing roads and limiting motorized
portation funding, wildlife mitigation and many other things as they discuss final terms of
recreation. We are a national clearinghouse
a new federal highways bill. In early May, the Senate passed “SAFETEA,” the Senate ver-
and network, providing citizens with tools
sion of the six year authorizing bill for federal highway projects. The House had passed
and strategies to fight road construction,
TEA-LU a few months earlier, so now the two bills have gone to a conference committee,
where conferees will fight over which components of which bills will end up in the final
deter motorized recreation, and promote road
product. Much is on the chopping block that shouldn’t be, and many other things are not
removal and revegetation.
on the chopping block when they should be. The negotiations will certainly be difficult.
Wildlands CPR and our partners are particularly concerned about several provisions,
Director
while we support others. Here’s a brief list of the problematic items: Bethanie Walder
• The House bill doubles funding for the recreational trails program over the six
year life of the bill; Development Director
• Both bills allocate funding for Public Lands Highways, including $250 million per Tom Petersen
year for turning forest roads into forest highways;
• The Senate bill includes an additional $60 million per year for additional forest Restoration Program
road upgrades, targeting a subset of the 67,000 miles of level 4 and 5 roads on FS lands; Coordinator
• Both bills have language that could fundamentally change current protections Marnie Criley
provided by section 4f of the Transportation Act, which forces state or federal depart-
ments of transportation to limit impacts of road construction on local, state or federal Science Coordinator
parklands. Adam Switalski
On the bright side, the bill includes language that would allow the FHWA and state Transportation Policy
DOTs to spend more money on wildlife crossing structures and fish passage, critically Organizer
needed mitigation tools for restoring connectivity between habitat fragmented by high- Jason Kiely
ways.
In addition to these two critical federal issues related to roads, we expect that the Program Assistant
new National Outdoor Recreation Policy Act will be released sometime in June. Please Kiffin Hope
stay tuned to our website for more information about all of these federal actions and what
you can do to impact them. Newsletter
In the meantime, take a look at this issue of the RIPorter, where we raise questions Dan Funsch
and opportunities related to partnerships, discuss new field monitoring techniques, and
include an excerpt from an excellent essay about roadkill from Eliza Murphy. Happy Sum-
mer Solstice Reading! Interns & Volunteers
Allison Clark, Katherine Court, Noah Jackson,
Stephanie Naftal, Gordon Naranjo
Board of Directors
Amy Atwood, Karen DiBari, Greg Fishbein,
Jim Furnish, William Geer, Dave Havlick, Cara
Nelson, Sonya Newenhouse, Matt Skroch
Advisory Committee
Jasper Carlton, Dave Foreman,
Keith Hammer, Timothy Hermach,
Marion Hourdequin, Kraig Klungness, Lorin Lind-
ner, Andy Mahler, Robert McConnell, Stephanie
Mills, Reed Noss, Michael Soulé, Steve Trombulak,
Louisa Willcox, Bill Willers, Howie Wolke
Spring thunderstorm brewing on the Madison River, Montana. Photo by Dan Funsch. © 2005 Wildlands CPR
B
etween Canon City and Victor, Colorado is a
little-known region referred to locally as the
Gold Belt. Similar to many other BLM areas,
the Gold Belt’s 564,600 acres of shrublands, gulches,
cliffs, and high grassy balds are mixed into a com-
plicated mosaic of ranches, subdivisions, city parks,
and federal lands. The federal lands, totaling about
139,000 acres, provide some of the most rugged and
wildlife-rich country in the region, with mountain li-
ons, peregrines, Mexican spotted owls, leopard frogs,
and bighorn sheep.
Included within the Gold Belt planning area
is the Gold Belt Tour National Scenic and Historic
Byway, and the Garden Park Area of Critical Environ- The rugged lands of the Gold Belt area are rich in biological and cultural history.
Photo by Dave Walker, BLM.
mental Concern (ACEC), which is also designated
as a Research Natural Area and a National Natural
Landmark. The planning area also includes the
renowned Shelf Climbing area, the Beaver Creek Wilderness Study Area
and two additional ACECs. Garden Park contains world-class dinosaur Citizens Team Up
fossils as well as a buckwheat plant species that is listed as sensitive, Supported by 13 prisons, Canon City and
and in decline. As often seems the case in southern Colorado, off-road Fremont County have not traditionally been strong-
vehicles have adopted these paleontologically and botanically sensi- holds for the conservation community. However,
tive locales as play areas, resulting in an unfortunate confluence of over the years a handful of citizens have grouped
incompatible interests. together to fight for wilderness designation and
The majority of the lands in the Gold Belt Planning Area were oppose proposals that would damage important
zoned in 1996 to limit OHV use to existing routes. Since then, OHV use conservation lands. When we found out about
(including extreme jeeping) and target shooting have led to user-cre- BLM’s travel management planning in the Gold Belt,
ated routes which are damaging dinosaur fossils and river health, and, we contacted this core group and developed an ac-
in some places, creating dangerous conditions. In addition, the BLM tion plan. Our plan roughly consisted of early and
purchased some significant inholdings that required they develop a consistent interactions with BLM staff, developing
plan to guide visitor use, and so the BLM decided to initiate a travel a Citizens Management Alternative, and broadening
management planning process. our small group to incorporate other local land us-
ers such as equestrians and trail runners.
Our first step was to subdivide the planning
area into logical sub-areas, and then character-
ize the current condition of each by the types of
recreational experiences and condition of the land.
We did this by collating resource information with
expert local knowledge on specific routes, impacts,
and areas. We put together detailed GIS maps
showing riparian areas, perennial streams, Colorado
Natural Heritage Program element occurrences and
Potential Conservation Areas, and Colorado Division
of Wildlife big game and fish data. For the entire
planning area and for each sub-area, we crafted a
Desired Future Condition (DFC) that spelled out a vi-
sion for management, detailing desired recreational
A
s I drove home late one night, my headlights I knew when I saw the
illuminated a motionless lump in my lane. “Welcome to the Snake Pit” sign
It was a red fox. This was no place to end a on biologist Randy Babb’s office
life. I stopped, got out of my car and lifted the body. door that my hunch had been
It was a recent kill, warm and softer than anything I correct: There was a treasure at
had ever touched. No wonder people wear fur coats, the Arizona Department of Game
I thought. They ought to wear them outside in, with and Fish in Mesa.
nothing on underneath. Photo by Forest McMullin, At the Edge
As I walked into Babb’s of- collection.
It draped over my hands, its head as floppy as fice, a small rattlesnake shook its
a newborn’s. I carried it down the bank and placed tail at me from its glass house on the floor, and a turtle crawled around
it beneath a thicket. I left an aster on its breathless inside a nearby cardboard box. Mounted quail with their question-
body. mark headdresses adorned the wall. Stacks of paper and towers of
books hid his desktop.
A few years later, in graduate school in St. Paul,
Minn., my private devotional practice became an ob- Babb looked like the kind of person I’d trust to take me on a safari,
session. I could not get roadkill out of my thoughts. or a trek into the desert. Trim, clean-shaven and bespectacled, he wore
I had to know how many animals got hit each day. hiking boots, sensible long pants, and a white button-down shirt. As
Did cars put certain species at risk? Did anyone out the department’s Information and Education Program manager, Babb’s
there care enough to do something about it? innate inquisitiveness about all things that squirm, slither, hop, crawl
and fly — even after they’ve stopped moving around — serves him
I headed west in my aging Volvo with a shovel well.
in my trunk, a new notebook, pens, and a yearning
to find people who were doing something with or Over the course of several years, I’ve tagged along with Babb as
about roadkill. I stopped in all sorts of places — sa- he trapped bats, lifted the walls of caved-in buildings to chase lizards,
loons, flea markets, fish and wildlife offices, highway climbed into a dry cistern to retrieve a desert shrew – and caught a
department garages, diners, art galleries and natural myriad of insects to feed that shrew, whose fuel needs rivaled those of
history museums. I went by hunches. I positioned the most ridiculous status symbols clogging the roadways. But some of
myself on the fringe. the most interesting moments have come driving around in search of
what he calls “cool dead stuff.”
My brief encounters nudged me through a tiny
door and into something big: a growing network Only a trained eye can distinguish between a stick and a snake
of professionals devoted to exploring the complex from the driver’s seat. Babb, a herpetologist — someone who studies
relationship between human beings and animals reptiles and amphibians — has an uncanny ability to tell the difference,
that is created by roads. This work would consume even at 40 miles an hour.
much of the next decade of my life, as I drove tens
of thousands of miles and talked to hundreds of During the late-summer monsoon season, Babb checks the In-
people. I wrecked the front end of my Volvo twice, ternet frequently to watch for storms forming. With his truck packed
once hitting a buck and later, a fawn. I removed at with the tools of his trade — snake tongs, pillowcases, buckets, and
least a thousand dead animals from the road. boxes for both live and dead animals — he heads for the areas where
a few drops of rain could coax all sorts of creatures out of hiding. He
Along the way, I found not only tragedy, but also sustains his high energy with Dr. Pepper and the gooey orange candy
people who were devoted to preventing roadkill. called Circus Peanuts. All food is the same, he says, “microbially speak-
I also learned a new language, one made of sinew, ing.”
muscle, bone, feather, blood and gristle.
Babb’s hunts for roadkill have given him other insights as well. He
says that for wildlife, cities are like bombs: The closer you are to the
epicenter, the more destructive the impact. The farther out you go, the
richer and more abundant the animal life becomes.
Roads suck the life out of wild places, he says. When rural roads
are first paved, they become great places to find cool dead stuff.
But that’s only true for a while; then the animal populations sink. He
describes a road near Maricopa where sidewinders were once so com-
mon that he stopped pulling over for every one. Today, it’s rare for him
to see one.
His remedy for roadkill? “Build less roads, and pave less roads.
Leave rural roads dirt, y’know, the ones that are there. There’s a lot of Photo by Forest McMullin, At the Edge collection.
other things that live here other than us, but we never, ever, give them
any thought.”
To see more images from At the Edge
point your browser to:
Like any romance, our love of the road offers mixed blessings
www.mcmullinphoto.com/gallery/attheedge3.
— exhilaration, thrills, escape, excitement, danger. Auto mobility
seduces us all with an illusion of freedom, but it comes at great cost,
For information regarding exhibition contact
and not only at the gas pump: A lot of blood spills for this intoxicating
forest@mcmullinphoto.com.
object of affection.
T
he Clearwater National Forest (CNF) in north- tribal agency is one way to leverage additional fund-
central Idaho began a modest road removal ing — non-federal partners have access to funds
program in 1992, and due to limited funding that federal agencies do not (see RIPorter 8.1). Part-
decommissioned less than 10 miles per year over nerships are often the best, and sometimes the only,
the next three years. Then, after a winter of severe way to get road removal and restoration projects
flooding and landslides in 1996, an unexpected underway. Below are a few examples of successful
partner appeared: the Nez Perce Tribe had recently federal and non-federal entities partnering up to
received $350,000 from the Bonneville Power Admin- restore wildlands.
istration, in part for road removal projects on the
CNF. Ira Jones, the Nez Perce’s Watershed Coordi- Nez Perce Tribe/Clearwater
nator, approached the Forest Supervisor with “an
offer you can’t refuse.” The tribe and the forest had National Forest
taken on projects together in the past, so they al- The unique quality of the relationship between
ready had a good working relationship. Now, nearly the Nez Perce and the CNF is that it works in all
ten years later, the road removal partnership still aspects as a partnership, not simply for obtaining
thrives, removing about 40 miles of roads per year. funding. From project planning to completion the
tribe and the Forest Service are in constant commu-
One of the biggest obstacles to road removal is nication, and both sides work with the assumption
a lack of funding. Funding for road decommission- that nothing will go forward unless it is to the mu-
ing on Forest Service lands, for example, usually tual satisfaction of both. “That’s probably why it is
comes from watershed, fisheries and wildlife, or so successful, because we’re planning it, designing
road maintenance funds, all of which are scarce and it, and doing the monitoring and all of that together,
in high demand. For the Forest Service, forming a so every phase of the project is a true partnership”
partnership with a nonprofit group, or a state or says Ira Jones. Former CNF Forest Supervisor Jim
Caswell sums up the forest’s position by saying
that if the CNF had to cut programs because of
limited funding, the road-decommissioning program
would be the last to go. The Nez Perce tribe is now
expanding its partnerships and projects to other
national forests, such as the Umatilla and the Nez
Perce National Forests.
Green Diamond Resource Company (formerly Simpson timber to do restoration work, providing an expanded, skilled local
company) and others to decommission over 28% of the exist- workforce for restoration projects. Both sides benefit from
ing roads in the watershed assessment area. PCFWWRA has this partnership: the tribe has a hand in the management of
been able to bring in California fisheries restoration funds to ancestral lands, while the Forest Service receives funding as-
help leverage BLM funds — according to Mitch Farro of PCF- sistance from the tribe. The partnership has made the water-
WWRA, partnering is the only way to get this work done. shed restoration program successful by defraying expenses,
generating jobs, and creating local acceptance of the projects.
Karuk Tribe/Six Rivers National Forest
– Northern California Conclusion
The Karuk Tribe and the Six Rivers National Forest At this point in time, some of the most successful road
(SRNF) have an established road removal partnership that removal programs involve partnerships. Partnerships can
began in 1998 when the Tribe initiated its Tribal Restoration involve federal agencies, tribes, state wildlife or environmen-
Division. The Steinacher road on the SRNF seemed an ideal tal quality agencies, local watershed groups, water boards,
start-up project because it was a high priority road to remove conservation districts, conservation groups, and local job
for salmon restoration, an issue deeply important to the programs. The underlying benefits include increased funding,
tribe. The tribe secured funding and then approached the an expanded pool of skilled workers, and community benefits
Forest Service. The two entities already had a solid relation- (such as employment) that help generate a positive local at-
ship after working on fisheries projects together for a decade, titude toward road decommissioning.
and the Forest Service agreed to the project. (For more on
the Steinacher Road project, see Road RIPorter Volume 7, #4, The advice that the Nez Perce tribe gives for starting
2002.) partnerships is to start modestly, building relationships first.
Persistence and patience are essential. Also, stay positive:
The success of that initial project has led to many others, it takes a long time to develop strong partnerships, and you
including the Ishi Pishi Watershed Restoration Project, which have to ignore possible conflicts outside the project boundar-
also includes Redwood Community Action Agency (RCAA) as ies. That is why a trusting, personal relationship is neces-
a partner. The Karuk tribe and Forest Service collaboratively sary: to carry the project past the rough spots and not take
developed the project, which involved decommissioning an the glitches personally.
unnecessary and eroding road and training tribal equipment
operators and laborers. RCAA provided detailed training in For more information on forming partnerships to leverage
native revegetation techniques and helped leverage the fund- funding and create positive restoration projects, contact Marnie
ing for the project. This is one of the only training programs Criley at Wildlands CPR. Also see www.wildlandscpr.org/
of its kind — in which tribes are training their own members roads/RRtoolkit.htm.
T
he Transportation Program has been preparing for the surge of Promoting Citizen Monitoring
travel planning that is expected to follow the release of the Forest Wildlands CPR continues to support a
Service’s new off-road vehicle regulations. In addition to vying for promising coalition of groups in southern Utah.
additional resources to increase grassroots capacity, Wildlands CPR has The Three-Forest Coalition is engaged in forest
been developing organizing and policy strategies that play to conserva- and travel planning on the Manti-LaSal, Dixie,
tionists’ strengths and minimize our vulnerabilities. and Fishlake National Forests — they conducted
a citizen monitoring workshop June 18-19 in the
Forest Service Off-Road Vehicle Regulations wild Abajo Mountains outside of Monticello.
The Forest Service has been further delayed from releasing their final Contact Transportation Organizer Jason Kiely
off-road vehicle regulations. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (jason@wildlandscpr.org) if you’d like to learn
opted not to review the draft regulations, but after 81,000 public comments more.
they now believe the rule raises significant legal or policy issues and they
are taking a closer look. Also, at the invitation of the American Hik-
ing Society, Wildlands CPR conducted a citizen
In the meantime, the Forest Service is hurtling towards unsupported monitoring workshop at the Southeast Trails
public “collaborations” to designate roads, routes, and trails at the forest Conference held in April at Table Rock State
and ranger district levels. In April, Forest Service Chief Bosworth spoke at Park in South Carolina.
a “National OHV Collaboration Summit,” and although the agency only pre-
sented a couple of effective collaboration case studies, they are advancing
collaborative processes as the preferred decision-making model. When
Wildlands CPR asked the Chief if the agency will seek dedicated funds to
train staff and support collaborative efforts, he replied, “No.”
Clearinghouse
Science Coordinator Adam Switalski has re-
plied to numerous information requests recently
on topics as diverse as the impacts of roads
on wetlands, and comparing ATVs with dirt-
bikes. This information has been shared with
conservation groups such as Southeast Alaska
Conservation Council, Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility, Gifford Pinchot
Task Force, Center for Native Ecosystems, and
BARK; educational institutions such as Univer-
sity of Minnesota, the Yellowstone Institute, and
University of Washington; and from locations as
far away as Ireland and Pakistan.
W
ildlands CPR’s restoration program continues to pursue a suc-
cessful strategy that includes both national and local collab-
orative efforts, as well as promoting our road removal toolkit
to groups around the country.
Restoration Collaborative
This spring, the Restoration Steering Committee was reorganized as
the National Restoration Collaborative (NRC). We’ve been a part of this
group of environmental and community forestry representatives since its
inception in 2001. NRC’s mission is to create a restoration dialogue and
build a movement to advance ecologically and socio-economically sustain-
able forest and watershed restoration. The NRC works primarily to influ-
ence decision makers in the national policy arena, including key opinion
leaders in various interest groups, members of Congress, the administra-
tion, and officials in land management agencies. The collaborative’s new
incarnation will provide a more cohesive national voice for promoting
restoration.
A
t a speech in California in April, Forest Ser- To begin, there is no debating the fact that
vice Chief Dale Bosworth boasted that while multiple privatization efforts are coming together,
spending only $500 million of its own mon- and they have the potential to dramatically change
ey, the Forest Service completed $1 billion worth of the future of our “public” lands. For instance, the
work by partnering with private and non-profit enti- Bush Administration has been aggressively out-
ties. With declining budgets, especially for activities sourcing all sorts of federal tasks, while reducing
that are not based on resource extraction, public appropriated funds for good land management and
land management agencies have been forced to look stewardship. Also, Congress recently formalized
for alternate means of funding and public/private the recreation fee demonstration program for Forest
partnerships have become a key source. Service and BLM lands.
Partnerships: Pros and Cons These privatization efforts are fairly straightfor-
ward, as are land exchanges or proposals to divest
the public lands. Public/private partnerships, on
Pros the other hand, seem more innocuous on their
• Partnerships can bring funds to a public land management face, but are they? In mid-May, the Congressional
agency to complete important work Research Service released a report on “Quasi-Gov-
ernmental” organizations and their influence on
• Public interest partnerships can steer limited agency funds
public policy and democracy. The report raises a
into critical restoration or habitat protection by requiring the key philosophical issue: “Thus, the emergence and
agency to match the non-federal funds growth of the quasi government can be viewed as
• Partnerships help change the community perception of either a symptom of a decline in our democratic
needed work, by engaging local community members in efforts system of governance or as a harbinger of a new,
to restore or enhance public lands creative management era where the principles of
market behavior are harnessed for the general well-
being of the nation.” According to the CRS report,
Cons partnerships are particularly indicative of privatiza-
• Partnership funding enables the congress to continue defund- tion. “Critics believe that the historic wall between
ing public land management agencies, as private entities pick the governmental and private sectors is being
up the tab for public work breached not merely as a managerial convenience,
• Partnerships give private entities a certain amount of implicit but as a matter of policy; so rather than a wall,
and sometimes explicit management authority over public lands entrepreneurs are forging a web of public/private
• Partnerships can provide economic incentives to manage pub- partnerships.”
lic lands for private profit, leading to the privatization of nature
• Pertnerships transform the government’s role from looking Because they often involve cost-share agree-
ments, partnerships can be used by a private entity
after the interests of all Americans to promoting the interests of
to leverage scarce agency resources to support
its partners their management agenda. For example, if an off-
road vehicle group partners with the Forest Service
to develop or harden trails, they ensure that public
It then stands to reason — if, through partner- The bottom line is that there is no easy
ships, we bring money to federal agencies to benefit answer to this question.
public resources instead of projects that generate
private profit, would this slow the trend toward
privatization and help agencies reaffirm steward- Public/private partnerships
ship priorities? While conservationists have fought can be used for the public benefit,
some partnerships and their management implica-
tions, the battles have been challenging and we are for private profit, or both.
not winning — advancing a different type of partner-
ship might have the potential to shift the debate.
On the other hand, it also has the potential to create
“greenwashed” partnerships, a clear risk in such a
strategy. References
Moe, R.C. and K.R. Kosar. 2005. Quasi Govern-
What do good partnerships look like on the ment: Hybrid Organizations with Both Government
ground? The Nez Perce Tribe currently provides ap- and Private Sector Legal Characteristics. CRS report
proximately 50% of the funding for the road removal RL30533. Washington DC.
and watershed restoration program on the Clear-
water National Forest (CNF). While this is a unique
S
cott Stouder, one might think, is an unlikely champion of
wilderness and roadless areas. Born into a logging fam-
ily, Scott, among other things, spent a few years in the
logging industry and another few years as a motorbike racer
in the 60’s and 70’s. But from his childhood days near the
Oregon coast until today, there has been one observable con-
stant in Scott’s life: the outdoors. And as Trout Unlimited’s
western field coordinator for Idaho roadless lands protection,
it’s up to him to protect it – both in the courts and the field.
But what was Scott’s path from logger a few decades ago
to respected wilderness advocate and writer? He says it was Scott and his wife Holly cutting wood. Photo courtesy of Scott
through his experiences as a hunter. “One of the reasons we Stouder.
hunt is to experience the connection to wilderness and the
land. As a hunter, I have watched, over the years, the quali-
ties of the landscape and hunting deteriorate because of road
building and illegal off-road vehicle use. As wilderness prob- losing wild, motor free places is what’s bringing together
lems have increased I have evolved in how I view wilderness traditional hunters and anglers from across the social,
and how I approach it.” Scott’s approach to hunting is one of economic, and political spectrums. “Regardless of political
the most traditional in America – mule train. alignment, the common thing that the hook and bullet crowd
is looking for is a healthy and non-motorized wilderness
Scott and his wife will often spend two weeks on primi- where their sport can be enjoyed. That’s what my work with
tive outings in Idaho’s Frank Church-River of No Return Wil- Trout Unlimited has been about: creating a platform where
derness with their six mules and three horses. During such our constituency’s conservation values and concerns can be
outings they renew their spirits and stock up on their winter shared and voiced more loudly. This platform also allows us
meat supply. The wildness and quietness of non-motorized ar- to share our core value with other environmental groups: a
eas during a hunt, Scott says, gives one a tangible connection quiet backcountry experience.”
to life and death. “Here a person can experience the natural
predator-prey relationship that has always existed between Before working with Trout Unlimited, Scott wrote for
humans and animals. You come to truly respect the life you several publications including the Corvallis Gazette-Times,
have taken away and that will soon power your own. At these and Outdoor America. He also is former editor of Mule Deer
moments, all things fall aside, even religion, and you come to Magazine. With Trout Unlimited he is presently concentrating
fully know that life is sustained by death. My wife and I have a his efforts on the Clearwater and Nez Perce National Forests’
philosophy that we should take a few people new to hunting Comprehensive Management Plan Revision and looking into
out each year so that they can take part in or at least witness the implications for Idaho of the Bush administration’s recent
a hunt. Even though this may be inconvenient for us, we feel dismantling of the “roadless rule.”
that it is important in advocating wilderness and traditional
hunting. In fact, we’re scheduled to take Mike Dombeck with As always in closing an interview, I asked Scott what
us sometime next year on an elk hunt. It’s time that he expe- author or poet’s words have inspired him in his endeavors.
rienced firsthand what he’s worked so long to protect. For us, Scott thought for a moment, and through the phone I could
it’s about sharing the wilderness experience with others.” hear him thumbing through several books. He settled on Aldo
Leopold. Scott read, “I suppose some will wish to debate
The wild areas where these types of raw experiences can whether it is important to keep these primitive arts alive. I
occur are relentlessly under attack by industry and national shall not debate it. Either you know it in your bones, or you
and local political wrangling. The frustration, Scott says, at are very, very old.”
BLM Releases
Plan For Mojave,
Algodones Dunes
The Bureau of Land Management
released its plans on March 20 for ac-
commodating recreation, development
and wildlife in the western Mojave and
the Algodones Dunes. This is the largest
habitat conservation plan in the United
States, setting guidelines for 9.3 million
Ahh, springtime, when roads so often wash out, like this one in acres.
Montana’s Centennial Valley. Photo by Dan Funsch.
The plan, which has been in the
works for 10 years, encourages trade-
offs by developers: it allows home
Tongass Amendment Vote Blocked builders, miners, water and sewage
in House companies and others to destroy
endangered and threatened species
One year ago, a strong bi-partisan majority of the House of Representatives in exchange for setting aside wildlife
passed the Chabot/Andrews amendment to eliminate taxpayer subsidies for logging habitat in other places. In addition to
road construction in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. Unfortunately, the amend- the pressures of development, the area
ment was dropped from the appropriations bill that Congress ultimately accepted. plays host to thousands of off-road
vehicle riders annually, and the plan
This year, Representatives Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Robert Andrews (D-NJ) re-opens thousands of acres to all-ter-
took the lead again to end the fiscally irresponsible Tongass subsidies by re-offering rain vehicles that had previously been
their amendment to the annual Interior Appropriations bill. However, procedural closed.
maneuvering in the House of Representatives blocked a straight yes or no vote on
the amendment. “The House was denied a chance to vote on Congressman Steve Conservationists were outraged
Chabot’s amendment, which would both save taxpayers’ dollars and protect the by the plan, and say they will sue if
natural treasures in the Tongass, America’s largest national forest,” said Jim DiPeso, necessary to keep it from being imple-
REP (Republicans for Environmental Protection) America policy director. mented. Daniel Patterson of the Center
for Biological Diversity says the plan
Last year, the U.S. Forest Service spent $49 million preparing timber sales in ignores its stated goals and prior ef-
the Tongass, while the Forest Service earned $800,000 from those timber sales. The forts to preserve habitat for rare plants
Chabot/Andrews amendment received strong support from a broad range of con- and creatures like the desert tortoise.
stituencies, including taxpayer advocates, sport hunting and fishing organizations, Details of the plan for the Imperial Sand
religious leaders, and numerous Alaska businesses. Dunes can be found at: www.ca.blm.gov.
C
itizen science is a powerful way to monitor the long-term trends and
conditions of natural systems while also encouraging a steward-
ship ethic for natural resources. Citizen science is popular across
the United States: according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
there were more than 772 citizen monitoring projects across the country
in 1998, mostly focusing on stream ecosystems. Participants in these
projects become intimately acquainted with the systems they monitor, and
often become advocates for their protection and conservation.
The following guidelines are part of a continuing series, and were
developed to assist citizen scientists in monitoring changes in wildlife
activity after road removal.
Background
Many species of terrestrial wildlife are heavily influenced by roads.
Wisdom et al. (2000) reviewed the impacts of forest and range roads on
animals. They reported that roads and road-associated factors had a
negative effect on more than 70 percent of the species reviewed. Roads
directly or indirectly lead to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching,
over-trapping, snag reduction, negative edge effects (including increased
noxious weed infiltration), movement barriers, displacement or avoid-
ance, harassment or disturbance at specific use sites, and chronic negative
interactions with humans. Additionally, intact habitat has been proven
more valuable for various species of wildlife, so removing wildland roads
will likely benefit wildlife.
Measuring wildlife use on removed roads can be a powerful indica- Typical installation for a camera station. Photo by
tor of ecological health and well-being. By implementing these methods, Katherine Court.
citizen scientists can gain information on how road removal affects wildlife
species composition and abundance, changes in animal movement pat-
terns, and the rate of colonization of patches of suitable habitat by species
that were previously absent from those areas (Townsend and Switalski
2004). No studies have been published on the monitoring of wildlife use of geared toward capturing the sign of mammals
closed roads, though this method has been tested as part of a preliminary of different size-classes. Camera stations can
pilot study. That pilot study was used to create the techniques for these be adjusted to capture small, medium, or large
methods for citizen scientists. sized mammals, but are used primarily for me-
dium- and large-sized mammals. Track stations
work best for smaller and medium-sized mam-
Setting Up the Study mals, due to the fact that they are covered and
Wildlife should be monitored on both removed and open roads. A therefore limit the size of animals with access to
minimum of 4 to 5 replicate plots per treatment type make it more likely the tracking medium. Sand track plates can cap-
that differences between treatments can be detected statistically. Each ture mammals of various sizes, but work best for
group of plots on a removed road should be paired with a group of untreat- medium and large mammals because an animal
ed or “control” plots on an open or gated road in similar habitat (aspect, needs considerable weight to make an impres-
elevation, soils, etc.), and preferably nearby. sion in the sand. By using these three tracking
Three different techniques can be employed to monitor mammals techniques concurrently, a monitoring program
on removed roads, with the aim of capturing the widest variety of mam- will be more successful than if only one or two
mals possible. Camera stations, track stations, and track plates are each of the techniques are used.
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