Water or wilderness - Why not both?

Battles over water in the west continue. This time it involves the Arkansas River in Colorado. This past week, The Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy Board voted 13-1 in opposition of federal expansion of wilderness areas in the Arkansas River basin. The Board has no current plans but is concerned that wilderness designation will prohibit future water development. What does this mean for wilderness?

Read full article here: http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/5370177/conservancy-boards-wary-of-wilderness-laws

Using fire as a management tool in wilderness

A fire in the Washakie Wilderness southwest of Meeteetse, WY has burned 15,000 acres since it was started by lightning on July 22. It's been a slow moving fire that agency personnel have let burn as a "resource benefit" to help thin out stands of beetle killed trees. It's good to see this kind of wilderness management in action. The wilderness gets what it needs and it continues to reinforce to the public that not all wildfire is a bad thing.

From an article in the Billings Gazette:

CODY, Wyo. — After a lengthy period of inactivity, the Norton Point fire heated up again last week, sending smoke and ash into the Bighorn Basin. Burning in the Washakie Wilderness southwest of Meeteetse, the fire has burned 15,000 acres since it was started by lightning on July 22. The blaze had seen little growth since the beginning of August. But late last week, winds drove the fire back into heavy timber, allowing for additional growth.

“It was inactive for quite a while,” said public information officer Carl Jungck. “But just last Thursday, the conditions lined back up with the wind.” On its most active day last week, the fire made another run up Caldwell Creek, burning around 1,700 acres. Since then, the blaze has slowed, with cooler temperatures in the forecast.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_29d49b6b-db1d-5d3f-8d84-549bf3423258.html#ixzz1VCSjvSMS

The Wilderness Act and the pine beetle battle

To save trees or to honor the intent of the Wilderness Act? This is the question.



Linda Merigliano, with the U.S. Forest Service, removes old verbenone patches on trees near Goodwin Lake in the Gros Ventre Wilderness on July 30. The patches, which were placed by TreeFight volunteers last year, have to be removed from trees each year. TreeFight is working with Merigliano and the Forest Service on balancing the issue of saving the trees while still honoring wilderness areas.

BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST — Nestled in the Gros Ventre Wilderness, only a few miles from a trail head, Goodwin Lake attracts hikers on their way to Jackson Peak, families on overnight backpacking trips and fishermen staking out their favorite spots. It is an escape from Teton County’s more popular destinations.

The shore winds large enough for visitors to claim their own space. Prime real estate, though, is on a rocky peninsula with a landmark whitebark pine tree.

On July 28, David Gonzales cut into the bark and read the tree’s death sentence in the form of signs of pine beetle chambers. Then the founder of TreeFight sat with other volunteer members to discuss joint efforts with the U.S. Forest Service to save trees like this one in wilderness areas.

TreeFight is a volunteer organization that staples pheromone pouches onto whitebark pines to deter beetles that otherwise might burrow in and kill trees. Last year, in the group’s first summer, they placed the patches on trees near Goodwin Lake without thinking of the area’s wilderness status.

The federal Wilderness Act, established in 1964, includes the language “untrammeled.” It means wilderness is meant to remain as free as possible of human influence, said Linda Merigliano with the Forest Service. The act calls for allowing insect and plant diseases to run their course, to even avoid fire suppression unless it is human-caused.


Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_80409a5e-25e3-5802-ab0a-91f6db65e5d4.html#ixzz1UZ4kEN7h

Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_80409a5e-25e3-5802-ab0a-91f6db65e5d4.html

Trappers Lake - Cradle of Wilderness

Trappers Lake - Cradle of Wilderness

In the summer of 1919, the Forest Service dispatched its first landscape architect to Trappers Lake with instructions to survey 100 planned summer home sites and a road around the lake. The 27 year old surveyor, Arthur H. Carhart, completed his plan and returned to Denver. But he closed his report with a strongly-worded recommendation that the area remain roadless and undeveloped:

"There are a number of places with scenic values of such great worth that they are rightfully the property of all people. They should be preserved for all time for the people of the Nation and the world. Trappers Lake is unquestionably a candidate for that classification."

In an unprecedented move, the Forest Service set the plans aside for further study and the proposed road was never built. Mr. Carhart went on to work with conservationist Aldo Leopold. The memorandum detailing their shared approach to preservation became the foundation and heart of the Wilderness concept.

In 1964, the Wilderness Act was signed into law. It set aside nine million acres of National Forest lands for the use and enjoyment of future generations. Since then, the system has grown to encompass lands in National Parks, Forests and Wildlife Refuges, as well as properties managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The Flat Tops Wilderness, home to Trappers Lake, was designated in 1975.