SKIDMARKS #94, April 26, 2005 (USA)

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SKIDMARKS #94, April 26, 2005

Skid Marks, Wildlands CPR's triweekly e-mail newsletter, reports on
activist efforts to challenge road and motorized recreation nationwide.
Skid Marks shares instructive and precedent-setting successes and
failures in the campaign to halt motorized abuse of wildland ecosystems.


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1. STATES STRUGGLE TO REDUCE ROADKILL
2. NORTON RECEIVES LETTER, PICTURES OF ILLEGAL SNOWMOBILING
3. REP. REHBERG GETS INVOLVED IN GALLATIN PLANNING
4. ALASKA BILL WOULD OPEN DALTON HIGHWAY TO ORV USE
5. BLM RELEASES PLAN FOR MOJAVE, ALGODONES DUNES
6. COOL RESPONSE TO "NATIONAL OUTDOOR RECREATION POLICY ACT"

1. STATES STRUGGLE TO REDUCE ROADKILL

A highway reconstruction plan for the 38-mile stretch between Moran and
Dubois, Wyo., has drawn concern from conservationists who say that
changes to the plan could reduce the impacts on the wetlands wildlife in
the area. Wyoming Department of Transportation (WyDOT) officials say the
project, on one of the major paths to Grand Teton and Yellowstone
national parks, already accommodates wildlife concerns as much as
possible.

Abigail Dillen, attorney with Earthjustice, criticized WyDOT at a
mid-April public hearing for not taking wildlife needs into
consideration until late in the planning game. The public hearing came
as the Army Corps of Engineers is deciding whether to grant a wetlands
permit to WyDOT to fill 36 acres of wetlands for the highway project's
widened lanes and added shoulders. WyDOT released a study of wildlife
movement patterns in February, several months after the plan was
finalized. "Wetlands are a key piece of ecosystem, and to some extent
they've been ignored," she said. She also said that wildlife needs could
be helped by reducing speeds on the highway, and not creating a straight
road that encourages speeding.

Meanwhile, in Missoula, Mont., a university biology professor and a
local steel company have teamed up to invent a new device called a
"critter crawl," which allows small animals to safely cross from one
side of the road to the other. Professor Kerry Foresman and Roscoe Steel
and Culvert Co. employee Cory Claussen have tested their device along 14
miles of Montana's Highway 93 that cut through a wetland area. Foresman
and his class set up road counters and heat- and motion-sensor cameras
that recorded the movements of animals along the elevated shelf
installed in culverts. Foresman and Claussen teamed up five years ago in
response to a request from the Montana Department of Transportation, who
had heard concern from citizens groups about small animals' safety in
crossing widened roads. The critter crawl was recently patented and a
marketing plan is in the works-Steven Patrick, general manager of Roscoe
Steel, says he anticipates a lot of interest from neighboring states
that face the same challenge in reducing roadkill.

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2. NORTON RECEIVES LETTER, PICTURES OF ILLEGAL SNOWMOBILING

Retired national park ranger and private pilot Bob Peterson recently
sent photos and a letter detailing illegal snowmobile activity on the
western boundary of Yellowstone National Park to Interior Secretary Gale
Norton, asking for her personal involvement in stopping the illegal
activity.

Peterson, who served 34 years within the NPS, says his photos show
snowmobile tracks deep within the park in several areas, all in
locations where snowmobiling is prohibited.
"In my view it is very important to end this pattern of illegal
activity, and please accept my thanks in advance for whatever effort you
may personally give to this issue," Peterson wrote. A spokesman for the
Department of the Interior said Norton takes any rule violation
seriously and thanked Peterson for his reports.

According to park records, there have been dozens of violations
discovered in the past few years by Yellowstone's rangers, who log
thousands of miles patrolling the western boundary. The backcountry
trespassers have damaged park resources like young trees growing in the
burn areas from the 1988 forest fire.

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3. REP. REHBERG GETS INVOLVED IN GALLATIN PLANNING

Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg has asked Congress to get involved in a
controversial plan in the works for the Gallatin National Forest that
would cut the number of trail miles open to all-terrain vehicles from
281 to 166; trails open to motorcycles would drop from 457 miles to 238,
and snowmobile access would drop from 84 percent of non-wilderness acres
to 52 percent.

In an April 13 letter to the chairman of the House Committee on
Resources, Rehberg says, "Recent acts by Forest Service officials to
manage a majority of the Gallatin as de facto wilderness puts public
access in jeopardy." He asked the committee to hold an oversight hearing
on the issue and said he is concerned about "sharp restrictions on
motorized use" within the forest.

An editorial in the Bozeman Chronicle following Rehberg's letter was
supportive of a hearing on the issue, citing the high emotions
surrounding the change, but said a hearing should happen locally, not in
Washington, D.C.

Becki Heath, Gallatin Supervisor, says the goal in reducing the amount
open motorized usage is to protect resources and reduce conflicts with
non-motorized users. "I did not attempt to create an equal allocation of
motorized and non-motorized opportunities based on factors such as miles
of trail or volume of use," Heath wrote in January when the plan was
released. "The capability of the land...was a greater factor in
determining where opportunities could be provided."

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4. ALASKA BILL WOULD OPEN DALTON HIGHWAY TO ORV USE

Alaska's legislators are considering Senate Bill 85, which would repeal
all restrictions on off-road vehicle use within the Dalton Highway
corridor. Alaska Conservation Voters says that the bill would not only
result in the damage of tundra and its vegetation and drainage patterns,
but it would also increase vandalism, human-caused fires and hunting
pressure. Law enforcement is already strained, as only one Trooper
patrols the five miles along the Dalton Highway and the adjacent lands.

Dave Klein, an Alaskan hunter as well as former professor and Alaska
Department of Fish and Game employee, says that though SB 85 supporters
say they're trying to improve wildlife access for hunters, it would
actually cause more problems for hunters. "The available evidence
suggests that, if enacted, it will result in displacement of caribou and
other wildlife further and further from the Dalton Highway, resulting in
loss of usable habitat for the wildlife and therefore lowered productive
potential of the region for wildlife," he writes. "The consequences
would lead to decreasing success of all hunters, inclusive of those who
have appreciated the high quality of their hunts by accessing wildlife
without the aid of mechanized vehicles."

The bill has been held over for the summer so that public hearings in
Fairbanks, Coldfoot and Barrow can take place. Alaska legislators can be
contacted through this link:
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/ltgov/elections/distcom.htm.

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5. BLM RELEASES PLAN FOR MOJAVE, ALGODONES DUNES

The Bureau of Land Management released its plans on March 20 for
accommodating recreation, development and wildlife in western Mojave and
the Algodones Dunes. This is the largest habitat conservation plan in
the United States, setting guidelines for 9.3 million acres.

The plan, which has been in the works for 10 years, aims to encourage
tradeoffs by both developments and wildlife-the plan allows home
builders, miners, water and sewage companies and others to destroy
endangered and threatened species in exchange for setting aside wildlife
habitat in other places. In addition to the pressures of development,
the area plays host to thousands of off-road vehicle riders annually,
and the plan re-opens thousands of acres to all-terrain vehicles that
had previously been closed.

Conservationists were outraged by the plan, and say they will sue if
necessary to keep it from going through. Daniel Patterson of the Center
for Biological Diversity says the plan ignores its stated goals and
prior efforts to preserve habitat for rare plants and creatures like the
desert tortoise. "The plan's stated goal was to recover the desert
tortoise and this plan won't do that," he said.

The BLM plans to finalize the guidelines by May 1, after reviewing
public comments and securing support from state and federal wildlife
agencies. Details of the plan for the Imperial Sand Dunes can be found
at: www.ca.blm.gov .

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6. COOL RESPONSE TO "NATIONAL OUTDOOR RECREATION POLICY ACT"

A coalition of recreation industry and public access groups, in the form
of the American Recreation Council (ARC), has asked the Whitehouse and
Congress for support on legislation that would shift management
priorities on public lands, making outdoor recreation opportunities a
"primary management objective" for federal land managers. Drafts of the
ARC's "National Outdoor Recreation Policy Act" have been floating around
Capitol Hill the last few months, but the response so far has been
lukewarm and no legislator has announced plans to sponsor introduction
of the act. A House Resources Committee spokesman said that staffers
have discussed the proposal with ARC but said there are no current plans
for a hearing or any other action on the draft.

Conservation and other national groups have come out strongly against
the proposal, which is heavily supported by recreational vehicle,
snowmobile and watercraft industries.
The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees said on April 20 that
industry interests already have a strong say in how public lands across
the nation are managed. "This draft legislation should be called the
Motorized Recreation Supremacy Act, because it is a blueprint for
turning every road, trail, stream, lake and river into a place where you
can rip up the earth, destroy the silence and pollute the air with a
snowmobile, jet ski, RV, motorcycle or some other gasoline-powered
contraption...." says CNRSR member Rick Smith.

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"Skid Marks" comes to you compliments of Wildlands CPR. We're a
nonprofit conservation organization working to protect and restore
wildland ecosystems by promoting road removal, preventing new wildland
road construction, and limiting motorized recreation.

If you're not already a member, consider joining Wildlands CPR's growing
grassroots network. You'll find membership information and a wealth of
road and off-road vehicle resources at our web site,
www.wildlandscpr.org .

Please keep in touch with us about your roads and motorized recreation
work and send your e-mail action alerts to skidmarks@wildlandscpr.org.

Questions about Skid Marks should be directed to
skidmarks@wildlandscpr.org.

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[J-Bone]

According to park records, there have been dozens of violations
discovered in the past few years by Yellowstone's rangers, who log
thousands of miles patrolling the western boundary.


Doesn't this seem a little funny?!