Wilderness/Roadless
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Alert on Idaho roadless areas- On December 26, 2007, the Forest Service released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that seeks to weaken protections for much of Idaho’s 9.3 million acres of roadless lands. Nearly 6 million acres of those lands would be opened to potential logging and mineral development. An additional 600,000 acres in…
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Idaho’s roadless plan is good but it needs tweaking, Risch says. He says it needs to further restrict logging, but conservationists say that revision is not enough. Idaho Statesman. By Erika Bolstad. This roadless area plan was developed by Risch in 2006 while he was briefly governor. He was one of just a few governors…
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Nelson Guda has developed and deployed an incredible new resource for the location, description, and maps of the roadless areas. His website http://roadlessland.org allows users to look at photos and comments about individual roadless areas and to upload their own comments and photos. Because this was just announced, so far there are not a lot…
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The Salt Lake Tribune features an article about a letter that a couple of Utah legislators wrote associating wilderness designation in the state with aiding terrorists. Letter links wilderness, threats of terror. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance takes the brunt of these bumbling assaults on preserving wild places, wilderness that when properly protected actualizes the…
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Rocky Baker at the Idaho Statesman makes some predictions about 2008. Salmon, roadless and wolves will come to a head in 2008 While I don’t cover the salmon issue a great deal, there is potential for real economic cost and benefit here (unlike wolves which are cultural issue).
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Some good news for the vast, but increasingly threatened boreal region of Canada. Canada creates huge protected forest reserves. Area as big as 11 Yellowstones offers buffer from oil, mining. AP in MSNBC.
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Off-road activist [Huck] says he’s tossed in the towel. He declares, after ruling, he’ll no longer fight wilderness designations. By Patty Henetz. (link expired) The Salt Lake Tribune. Note the SLT link died, but a found an active link at an off-road activist site. “It’s like battling the Borg: Resistance is futile,” Huck said during…
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The House Natural Resources committee gave NREPA, the Northern Rockies ecoystem protection act it’s first hearing yesterday. You will read objections of people like Idaho governor Butch Otter, and Montana’s lone U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg. These people have opposed much smaller efforts too, even those with lots of local backing. On the other hand, objections…