Blue Canyons                                                                                  (Patrick Dengate, oil on canvas, 18″ x 30″)

August 16, 2012

IN CALIFORNIA
1.   Sen. Boxer Introduces Berryessa-Snow Mountain Bill
          (ACTION ITEM)
2.    Forest Service Planning for Lake Tahoe Basin
          DEADLINE: August 30
          (ACTION ITEM)
3.   Death Valley National Park Wilderness Planning
          Open Houses in Lone Pine and Beatty
          Aug. 21 & 23
          (ACTION ITEM)
4.   State Parks Update: Hidden Funds Found

IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
7.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

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IN CALIFORNIA
1.   Sen. Boxer Introduces Berryessa-Snow Mountain Bill
          (ACTION ITEM)

In July, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) introduced legislation to designate a national conservation area in the Coast Range of Northern California. The legislation, S. 3375, is a companion bill to the bill introduced in May by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-1), Lynne Woolsey (D-6), and John Garamendi (D-10), the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Conservation Area Act (H.R. 5545). See the June Update for legislative details.

Please thank Sen. Boxer for sponsoring the bill. Please remember that because all written correspondence and envelopes, addressed to Washington, DC is irradiated and delayed, it’s better to write to local offices. Complete contact information for the senator may be found here. Click here for a webform to submit comments online.

2.   Forest Service Planning for Lake Tahoe Basin
          DEADLINE: August 30
          (ACTION ITEM)

As we reported last month, the National Forest Service has issued a draft plan for the future management of Lake Tahoe Basin. Talking points for public comments are now available. When writing, please use the following information from the California Wilderness Coalition. If you have additional thoughts and personal experiences, be sure to include them as well.

Background
The Forest Service is the largest land manager in the Lake Tahoe Basin. How much of this public land is allocated to uses that allow new road building, logging, and ski area development, and how much is protected as wilderness or wild and scenic rivers will be determined in the new revised forest plan.

John Muir thought Lake Tahoe should have been a National Park. Instead, much of the Basin was logged over in the 1800s to provide timber for Nevada’s mines. In more modern times, Lake Tahoe has suffered from helter-skelter development of casinos, ski areas, strip malls, and commercial resorts. With the release of the draft forest plan, the public now has the opportunity to ensure that at least the public lands surrounding this nationally-iconic lake are protected for the enjoyment of present and future generations and to protect the lake’s outstanding clarity.

Speak out in favor of protecting more public land around Lake Tahoe as wilderness and wild and scenic rivers. Thank you!

• Support the California Wilderness Coalition’s wilderness proposals for Meiss Meadows and Trimmer-Hell Hole areas of the Dardanelles and Freel Peak roadless areas, and for Granite Chief addition in the North Blackwood Creek Canyon. These proposals have been crafted to reduce conflicts with existing mountain bike and OHV trails.

• Urge the Forest Service to consider at least one alternative that proposes wilderness protection for all roadless areas in the Basin, including Dardanelles, Freel Peak, Lincoln, and roadless additions to the Desolation, Granite Chief, and Mt. Rose Wilderness areas, as well as Wild & Scenic protection for all eligible rivers and streams.

• Urge the Forest Service to recommend Wild & Scenic River protection for all 32 miles of the Upper Truckee River and its tributaries that support and provide crucial habitat for threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout.

• Urge the Forest Service to reconsider Wild & Scenic protection for the 24 miles of eligible segments of the Lower Truckee River downstream of Lake Tahoe.

You may review the draft plan here.

E-mail comments to: comments-pacificsouthwest-ltbmu@fs.fed.us
Subject: “Draft Land Management Plan”

Or submit written comments to:

The Forest Service will be accepting comments until August 30.

3.   Death Valley National Park Wilderness Planning
          Open Houses in Lone Pine and Beatty
          Aug. 21 & 23
          (ACTION ITEM)

Death Valley National Park has announced the preparation of a Wilderness & Backcountry Stewardship Plan for the Park, most of which is designated wilderness. We’ve received no information on the draft document, but will try to include talking points in the next Update. In the meantime, the Park Service is holding two open houses next week in Lone Pine, CA and Beatty, NV. If you’re in the area, you might consider dropping in for information.

Information on the draft plan may be found online here.

The deadline for comments is October 9, 2012, and they may be submitted online here or by email.

Written comments may be submitted to:

4.   State Parks Update: Hidden Funds Found

The California State Park System was in the news again last month when $54 million was found stashed away in two previously unreported accounts—$20 million in the general parks fund, and $33.5 million in the Off Highway Vehicle Fund. State Parks Director Ruth Coleman resigned immediately, though she apparently had no knowledge of the funds, and a deputy director was fired. No evidence of illegality has surfaced, but the announcement dealt a serious blow to the credibility of the department.

The latest word from Sacramento is that the Legislature will allow the Parks Department to keep the funds and is also considering a moratorium on parks closures for two years. A permanent funding solution has yet to be found.

NEVADA
5.   BLM Grants Rights of Way for Water Transfers to Las Vegas

In our March 2012 Update we wrote that the Nevada State Engineer had granted Las Vegas the rights to pump groundwater from remote valleys in the state to supply the city with more water. This month, the BLM granted rights-of-way for a 300-mile-long pipeline to carry the water from White Pine County, heading south. The BLM decision does not include Snake Valley, east of Great Basin National Park, because Utah has not signed an agreement for the division of the water in that valley, astride the Utah-Nevada border. Nevada has threatened to go to the U.S. Supreme Court with a lawsuit over the matter.

If the pipeline goes through, according to the Center for Biological Diversity “14 desert fishes such as the Moapa dace and least chubs and 25 species of rare Great Basin springsnails would most likely go extinct. The imperiled greater sage grouse, southwestern willow-flycatcher, Columbia spotted frog, northern leopard frog and Bonneville cutthroat trout — along with iconic species such as mule deer, pronghorn and elk — would also face widespread harm.”

Though Las Vegas promises all sorts of monitoring programs, the problem is that by the time any adverse effects are noted, it may be too late to do anything about them.

We’ll keep you posted as developments occur.

IN WASHINGTON STATE
6.   Bill Introduced in Congress to Bypass Ruling
          Ordering Removal of Fire Lookout in Wilderness Area
          (ACTION ITEM)

We also wrote in the March Update about a federal court in Washington State ordering the removal of the Green Mountain fire lookout reconstructed in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, near Darrington, Washington. Wilderness Watch, a national group with the goal of preserving and protecting existing wilderness, brought the successful suit and has just sent out information regarding a bill that would circumvent the ruling, allowing the lookout to remain in place. The following information, somewhat edited, comes from them:

In late June, responding to pressure from a small, vocal group, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, who represents the Darrington area in Congress, introduced H.R. 6039 to amend the 1984 Washington State Wilderness Act to authorize the Green Mountain Lookout and effectively overturn the court’s ruling. So far, the bill has not received a hearing and we are actively working to forestall any companion bill in the Senate.

Rep. Larsen generally supports Wilderness, yet this bill would be a damaging blow to the Glacier Peak Wilderness and the entire National Wilderness Preservation System. If enacted into law it would allow the illegally constructed building to remain in designated Wilderness, where buildings and structures are banned. The bill would reward Forest Service officials who deliberately violated laws intended to protect Wilderness and allow for public participation in public lands’ management. And Rep. Larsen’s bill would set a damaging national precedent for exempting unlawful uses in existing Wilderness. Today, with the most anti-wilderness U.S. House since 1964, wilderness opponents would love to set this precedent by passing Larsen’s bill. For more information, see the excellent commentary that appeared recently in the Everett Herald.

WHAT YOU CAN DO Please contact Representative Larsen, even if you don’t live in his Congressional District, urging him to withdraw his bill. If you do not live in Rep. Larsen’s district you’ll need to send your letter via U.S. Mail [rather than using an online webform]. Write in your own words, but consider including the following points:

1.   H.R. 6039 would set a terrible national precedent that could open the door for other bad bills authorizing illegal uses or structures elsewhere in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

2.   H.R. 6039 would degrade the wilderness character of the Glacier Peak Wilderness with this building highly visible atop a wilderness peak.

3.   H.R. 6039 would overturn a well-reasoned ruling from U.S. District Court and reward officials who knowingly broke the law.

4.   The delegation should support a plan to move the new lookout to a location in nearby Darrington or to a non-wilderness summit where it can be accessible to many more citizens. This has been done at the popular Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center near Entiat, WA .

5.   Glacier Peak Wilderness is a national treasure belonging to all citizens across the country. It deserves the strongest possible protection for current and future generations.

You can read more about the issue on the Wilderness Watch website.

IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
7.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest