VerticalResponse

July 2009 • Volume 7, Number 7

“Wilderness, above all its definitions and uses, is sacred space,
with sacred powers, the heart of a moral world.”
-- Michael Frome

In this issue of The Guardian:

UPDATE—Park Service Ends North Cascades Fish Stocking
Embracing Traditional Skills in Wilderness
Forest Service Allowing Fire to Burn
Wildfires in Wilderness Should Burn
A Rare Wilderness to be Commercialized and Motorized
Favoring Commercial Profits over Wilderness
Wilderness Intrusion in the Badlands
We Need Your Help To Keep Wilderness Wild!
Just for fun

End of fish stocking in Stephen Mather Wilderness UPDATE–Park Service Ends North Cascades Fish Stocking: The Senate failed to take action following House approval of a bill introduced by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), directing the National Park Service to continue stocking fish in lakes in North Cascades National Park (see June 2009 Guardian) in Washington. The Park Service proposed to end the practice on July 1, 2009, barring Congressional authority to do so, in the Stephen Mather Wilderness within the park because the practice runs counter to agency policy and its mission of preserving the park's natural conditions.
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

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Using traditional skills in Wilderness Embracing Traditional Skills in Wilderness: The Charleston Gazette published an excellent article on how the Forest Service is embracing the use of hand tools and other traditional skills in newly-designated Wilderness in West Virginia. According to Eric Sandeno, recreation and wilderness program coordinator for the Monongahela National Forest, "I'd rather carry a crosscut saw than a chain saw and fuel...It's a wonderful tool." Following the intent of the Wilderness Act, Sandeno also states, "...Traveling in the wilderness should be kind of a challenge...you won't see us building things like footbridges just for user convenience."
Photo by Lawrence Pierce, Charleston Gazette

Forest Service allowing Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness fire to burn Forest Service Allowing Fire to Burn: A wildfire burning in extremely rugged terrain in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness (SBW) in Montana is being allowed to burn, and may burn for awhile. Click here to read a Ravalli Republic article indicative of the more enlightened fire policy adopted by the Forest Service in the SBW, where many, if not most, natural ignitions are not suppressed. You can also get the latest information on the fire by clicking here.
Photo courtesy of inciweb.org

Wildfires in Wilderness Should Burn: Allowing wildfires to burn in Wilderness is ecologically necessary (giving fire-dependent species such as lodgepole pines the chance to regenerate), economically sound (saving taxpayer dollars), and in the best interest of firefighters' safety (for obvious reasons). Click here to read an article on helicopter crashes this year and in 2008 (which caused nine deaths), related to fighting fires in the Trinity Alps Wilderness in California. Click here to read an article on why fire ecologists are not cheering recent Forest Service fire suppression success in the Trinity Alps Wilderness.
Photo by Patricia Grantham

Commercializing and Motorizing Cumberland Island Wilderness A Rare Wilderness to be Commercialized and Motorized: Cumberland Island, Georgia, is a special place on the heavily-populated East Coast—an undeveloped barrier island with white sand beaches and dunes, freshwater lakes, hardwood forest, and saltwater marshes. A significant part of the island is designated Wilderness. However, the Wilderness character of this place will be degraded by legislation that not only allows, but mandates a set amount of daily motorized commercial tours. Click here to read an excellent opinion piece on this issue.
Wilderness Watch photo file

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Favoring Commercial Profits over Wilderness: Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) is trying to force the National Park Service to extend a commercial oyster farm lease in the Philip Burton Wilderness at Point Reyes National Seashore in California by inserting legislation into the 2010 Senate Interior Appropriations Bill. The provision extends the farm's lease for ten more years against the wishes of the National Park Service, which intends to follow through on a provision in the Act that designated the area as Wilderness by adding the 1,100-acre estuary to the Philip Burton Wilderness. Sen. Feinstein's claim that this is a family-run business in operation for 70 years is very misleading. The current owners purchased the farm in 2005 with full knowledge that the permit would expire in 2012 and would not be renewed. Click here to read an opinion piece about Sen. Feinstein's earmark.
Photo by Peter Druschke

Wilderness Intrusion in the Badlands: The National Park Service is planning to spray herbicides in the Badlands Wilderness in South Dakota to control Canada thistle. About 5,000-6,000 acres will be sprayed using a helicopter. Click here to read the Park Service's press release on the spraying.
Photo courtesy of wilderness.net

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WE NEED YOUR HELP TO KEEP WILDERNESS WILD! If you value our efforts to protect Wilderness and produce publications like this, please consider an online donation to support our work. Thank you!

Marmot hitchikes Just for fun: Marmot hitchhikes from Dinkey Lakes Wilderness

Wilderness Watch is the only national conservation organization dedicated solely to the protection and proper stewardship of lands and rivers included in the National Wilderness Preservation System and National Wild & Scenic Rivers System.

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