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Idaho
Central Rockies
California/Nevada
Southeast
Alaska
Pacific-Northwest
Northeast
Northern Rockies


IDAHO
More than 900,000 acres burned in Idaho in 2006. Ecological benefits in fire-prone forests include nutrient cycling in soils and streams from burned vegetation, as well as thinning small trees and brush that can become “fuel” that turns a fire unnaturally severe. Under a U.S. Forest Service program, some natural fires are monitored and managed to provide these ecological benefits while protecting nearby homes and residents. This approach, called Wildland Fire Use, also reduces firefighting expenses and risks to firefighters and was used last year on 165,000 acres nationwide. Almost 25 percent of that acreage was in Idaho’s remote forests, which include four million acres of the National Wilderness Preservation System and another nine million roadless acres. Our staff toured fires, met often with fire managers, and prepared an educational program for universities and communities on the ecological benefits of fire.

Craig Gehrke
208-343-8153
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CENTRAL ROCKIES
At Vermillion Basin in northwestern Colorado's canyon country, visitors can gaze across panoramic vistas of glowing red rock, view a superb collection of petrogylphs, and observe elk, antelope, sage grouse, and peregrine falcons. Unfortunately, gas wells marching across southwestern Wyoming are on Vermillion Basin’s doorstep, and even the most modest proposal on the drawing boards would put 125 wells into this special place, along with a network of roads, waste ponds, and pipelines. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is working on a 20-year plan for the Little Snake Resource Area, which includes Vermillion Basin. Our long-term solution is passage of a bill, championed by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), that would prevent development by turning the 81,000-acre basin and another 1.6 million acres of canyon country into wilderness areas. In the short term, we are working with our partners in the Colorado Environmental Coalition to urge the BLM not to allow drilling at Vermillion.
 
Suzanne Jones
303-650-5818
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CALIFORNIA/NEVADA
Carrizo Plain National Monument in southern California is known for its dizzying array of wildflowers. As the largest remaining portion of the San Joaquin Valley ecosystem, it is also home to pronghorn and elk, 13 endangered species including the California condor, a playa that teems with thousands of birds each winter, and Painted Rock’s famous pictographs. Last year we helped block a proposal to drill for oil. Now, we are partnering with Los Padres Forest Watch, the Sierra Club, and others to make sure citizens have a say in shaping the long-term management plan for Carrizo, a special part of the 26 million-acre National Landscape Conservation System. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s original 2005 draft plan fell flat because of its controversial management proposals and insufficient environmental analysis. We led a coalition that convinced the BLM to complete a full environmental impact statement (EIS), and that process has begun. Stay tuned for opportunities to help protect Carrizo Plain.

Sara Barth
415-561-6641
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SOUTHEAST
Congress is considering legislation that would protect up to 55,000 acres of southwestern Virginia’s Jefferson National Forest. Nearly 40,000 acres would be permanently protected through addition to the National Wilderness Preservation System, and 3,226 acres at Lynn Camp Creek would be managed as wilderness while the U.S. Forest Service studies the area to determine if it, too, deserves to become part of the system. The list of proposed wilderness areas includes Brush Mountain, Brush Mountain East, Raccoon Branch, and Garden Mountain. The bill also would safeguard 12,000 acres at Bear Creek and Seng Mountain by creating two national scenic areas. The Appalachian Trail runs through a number of these places, which feature high-quality watersheds and old-growth stands in a part of the state that is growing rapidly. We are working with the Virginia Wilderness Committee and other partners to build support for this bipartisan legislation, which was introduced by Sen. John Warner (R) and Rep. Rick Boucher (D). Please urge your representatives in Congress to become cosponsors.

Frank Peterman
404-272-9453
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ALASKA
The Tongass is our largest national forest and one of the planet’s only remaining intact temperate rainforests. Its old-growth stands provide habitat for many species that have disappeared elsewhere. The U.S. Forest Service has released its latest draft long-term plan for the Tongass, but it contains some of the same flaws as the version rejected by a federal court in 2005. There are seven alternatives in the plan. Unfortunately, the one recommended by the agency relies on an unrealistically high estimate of demand for Tongass timber and thus would increase logging levels by a factor of six. Due to high logging costs in this area and meager receipts, U.S. taxpayers have lost $900 million since 1982 on such logging. Please urge the Forest Service, by April 10, to adopt a plan that protects all roadless areas. Address: Tongass National Forest, Attn: Forest Plan Adjustment, 648 Mission St., Ketchikan, AK 99901 or

Eleanor Huffines
907-272-9453
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PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Steens Mountain towers one vertical mile above southeastern Oregon’s high desert. Some 425,000 acres on and around the mountain are part of the National Landscape Conservation System, and 170,000 of those acres were made a wilderness area to provide them maximum protection. Unfortunately, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is drafting a travel plan that could threaten Steens’ natural qualities by allowing too much off-road vehicle traffic. We have teamed up with the Oregon Natural Desert Association and other partners to urge the BLM to close routes that might harm bighorn sheep, golden eagles, and other wildlife; cause erosion; or lead to the spread of invasive weeds. We want the agency to maximize opportunities for quiet, non-motorized recreation such as fishing, hunting, horseback riding, and camping.

Michelle Ackermann
206-624-6430
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NORTHEAST
Over the past several years we have been working in this region to shape management plans for the White Mountain and Green Mountain National Forests. With those plans now complete, we will devote more time to national wildlife refuges. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required to prepare comprehensive conservation plans for each refuge, including recommendations on which lands deserve to become wilderness areas. Lake Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge, along the northern New Hampshire-Maine border, is vital to bald eagles, osprey, and loons but is threatened by lakeshore development. The Silvio O. Conte Refuge encompasses Connecticut River lands in four states and faces its own development problems. Planning is underway at both sanctuaries, and we will be engaging citizens to help make these plans as protective as possible. Meanwhile, we will continue to press Congress to appropriate money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to acquire lands for sale inside and alongside these refuges.

Leanne Klyza Linck
802-482-2171
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NORTHERN ROCKIES
Last year concluded with a major victory: enactment of a law that forever bans oil and gas leasing of 400,000 acres of national forest and BLM lands along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. This spectacular landscape, where the Rockies meet the Great Plains in a 100-mile string of limestone reefs, is vital to elk, grizzlies, bighorn sheep, and other wildlife. The new law also provides tax incentives to existing leaseholders who voluntarily sell. We played a leadership role, working with an array of Montanans, including ranchers, outfitters, business owners, sportsmen, tribal members, and conservationists. Our long-term goal is to protect the natural and agricultural qualities of the Front’s roadless lands, adding some to the National Wilderness Preservation System and safeguarding the rest with other designations. Our next focus is Forest Service adoption of a travel management plan that protects the Front’s roadless areas and wildlife from motorized recreation.

Bob Ekey
406-586-1600
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