Wilderness Campaigns

Restoring the Sierra: Seeing the forest for the trees

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 23:05:58 +0000

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For the vast Sierra Nevada, it’s more important than ever to see the forest for the trees.

And in one area of the Sierra National Forest that bigger picture includes preserving forest health, safeguarding communities from wildfire, improving wildlife habitat and creating local jobs.

All of those goals are part of a unique forest restoration project underway in the Dinkey area of the Sierra National Forest - a popular recreation destination just east of Fresno. It is hoped that the lessons learned here can serve as a blueprint to improve the health of other forests.

The science-based program, known as the Dinkey Collaborative Restoration Project, is focused on 154,000 acres of forests, meadows, lakes, rivers and chaparral.

The Wilderness Society is one of the project’s many diverse partners, which also includes a lumber mill, a utility company, a regional air pollution agency, California Native American tribes, local fire safe councils, the U.S. Forest Service, nonprofit organizations and several universities.

By working together, these partners are focused on the Dinkey’s dense stands of trees that threaten the health of the forest and its residents – both animal and human.

In a healthier forest ecosystem, a variety of trees co-exist in a landscape where periodic fire helps to naturally thin out the density. Instead, many areas of the Dinkey are currently packed with too many small trees that are elbowing out other species.

“Our goal is to retain and promote large tree and denning/nesting structures needed by the Pacific fisher and the California spotted owl and provide sufficient natural regeneration of shade-intolerant tree species for the creation of future fire-adapted forests” explains Stan Van Velsor, a California Wilderness Society forest expert who has been working on the Dinkey collaborative for two years.

When fire whips through these crowded stands of smaller trees, the fire grows more intense, with flames traveling upwards through the trees - even destroying species like Ponderosa pines which can typically survive smaller fires. The fire then becomes a devastating ‘crown fire’ where flames spread rapidly across the crowns of trees and threatens communities and rare species like the Pacific fisher, a shy, furry mammal that is becoming rare in old growth forests of the Sierra Nevada.

So far, the Dinkey project has hired local crews to help thin trees on nearly 5,000 acres, much of this near communities with high forest fire danger. This year, several other projects are in the works: reintroducing fire on approximately 2,000 acres through prescribed burning, thinning another 2,500 acres of forest and undertaking several watershed improvement projects like erosion control.

Re-introducing low and moderate intensity fire, Van Velsor explains, is also an important part of the Dinkey project and eventually controlled burns will be used on approximately 46,000 acres.

The Dinkey project, Van Velsor says, restores forest health and will help campers, boaters and fishermen to continue to enjoy this area. Local forest crews employ community residents. And rare species like the Pacific fisher will have better luck finding the black oak where they make their homes.

If forests grow unchecked with no small fires or thinning, smaller species like white fir and incense cedar will crowd out black oak and other tree species. “A multi-species forest is more resilient, more fire tolerant and healthier in the long term,” Van Velsor says.

A sneak attack on wilderness: Legislation that hurts backcountry sportsmen looms in the U.S. Senate

Tue, 22 May 2012 21:28:04 +0000

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So many of our memories are made when we spend time with our favorite people in our favorite wild places.

Now, a bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives threatens those memories. H.R. 4089 is a sneak attack on wilderness disguised as a pro-hunting bill. It would fundamentally undermine existing protections for some of our nation’s backcountry destinations, including wilderness areas:

Allowing motorized vehicles and other development in congressionally-protected wilderness areas
Eviscerating the president’s authority to designate national monuments under the Antiquities Act
Allowing development in hiking, hunting and fishing areas without public review or comment

A master of deception

Like all things in disguise, H.R. 4089 is not what it seems. The bill’s supporters claim that it supports and would even help hunting and fishing in wilderness — something that The Wilderness Society strongly supports. After all, sportsmen are some of America’s greatest conservationists, harking back to the “Wilderness Warrior,” President Theodore Roosevelt.
In reality, the bill would not help hunters or anglers. Instead, it would destroy the wilderness that defines the backcountry hunting and fishing experience. H.R. 4089 is Congress at its worst: trying to fix a problem that simply does not exist.

Unfortunately, H.R. 4089 deceived enough members of Congress to pass the U.S. House of Representatives. Now it is in the Senate, and we need to reveal its true identity: a gift to those who want to destroy these backcountry traditions that this country was built upon.

Sadly, H.R. 4089 is part of a wave of legislation that seeks to systematically dismantle decades of laws that protect America’s wilderness and public lands. To learn more about these dangerous bills, please see our report, Wilderness Under Siege. All together, these bills threaten nearly half a billion acres of public land.

Congress should protect our backcountry, not destroy it.

Protect Chimney Rock now!

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:11:49 +0000

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Up a winding road about 15 miles past Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado, rests within the San Juan National Forest a natural and archeological wonder: Chimney Rock. Chimney Rock is known for its twin rock spires that can be seen from miles away, but its true value lies in the 1,200-year-old Native American ruins visible only to those who visit.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently voted to protect Chimney Rock as a national monument. Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, in addition to Congressman Scott Tipton, support protecting Chimney Rock. While legislation passed the House today, it could be a while until the Senate votes. However, President Barack Obama could protect Chimney Rock today and ensure that this treasure is protected for future generations to enjoy.

The history of Chimney Rock can be traced back to 925 C.E. when the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians lived there until 1125. People from across the United States come here to view the remnants of a civilization, and national forest land surrounding the 4,700-acre archaeological area.

There is something for everyone in Chimney Rock. It attracts archeology enthusiasts for its still-intact structures. Hikers and nature lovers come to hike the ruins and surrounding San Juan National Forest. It remains a sacred place for today’s Pueblo tribes, due to its cultural significance. For whatever reason you come to Chimney Rock, you cannot ignore the Great House Pueblo. From the Great House, you can witness the Northern Lunar Standstill -- or the rising of the moon between the rock spires -- which only happens every 18.6 years.

It is for all these reasons that people on the ground, in Congress, and the Obama administration support protecting Chimney Rock. Less than a week before the House passed the Chimney Rock National Monument Establishment Act (H.R. 2621), more than 150 people attended a listening session in Pagosa Springs to ask President Obama to designate Chimney Rock as a national monument by using the Antiquities Act.

The Antiquities Act is a law established by Congress under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 to protect for future generations America’s cultural, historical and natural treasures. Nearly every president since Roosevelt’s time has used this Act to protect places like the Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty and the U.S. Virgin Islands Coral Reef national monument. President Obama has used the Antiquities Act to protect Fort Monroe in Virginia and Fort Ord in California.

There is no reason to wait. Chimney Rock is too important for too many people to risk not preserving it. President Obama has the ability to act today.

Say hello to Columbine Hondo

Fri, 04 May 2012 19:42:04 +0000

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Nestled deep within the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico lays the Columbine Hondo Wilderness Study Area. And thanks to Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, this gem is on its way to permanent protection with the introduction of the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness Act (S. 2468).

Columbine Hondo boasts roughly 45,000 acres of mountains that serve as the protector of precious drinking water for downstream cities and villages. The headwaters, or beginnings, of the Red and Rio Hondo rivers are located in Columbine Hondo and provide drinking water to the cities of Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces.

The Columbine Hondo Wilderness Study Area -- located in Taos County, NM -- was designated as part of the 1980 New Mexico Wilderness Act. Since that time, it has been managed as wilderness. Due to its lush and roadless forests, Columbine Hondo is the home to elk, mountain lion, deer, black bear and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. Protection of this area will provide a missing link of protected wildlife habitat, as is sits between the Wheeler Peak Wilderness and the Latir Peak Wilderness.

People come from all over the world to visit Taos and its surrounding lands and waters. Columbine Hondo’s world-class recreation attracts hunters, anglers, hikers, campers and horseback riders. So much of Taos County’s economy is based on tourism, with the draw being the beauty of its mountains and the opportunity to explore them. In fact, New Mexico’s outdoor recreation economy adds $3.8 billion annually to the state’s economy and supports 47,000 jobs. Permanently protecting Columbine Hondo as wilderness will also protect long-term sustainable jobs.

Local communities have come together to protect Columbine Hondo for its water, wildlife and recreation. We want to thank New Mexico Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall for introducing the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness Act so that future generations can experience all that it has to offer.