Recreation News

New Management plan for Shoshone N.F.

Shoshone plans resurface after lengthy pause
By RUFFIN PREVOST
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
CODY - Managers of the Shoshone National Forest shared the latest draft of a revised management plan Wednesday at a public meeting in Cody, one of several being held this month in communities around the forest.

The management plan for the Shoshone Forest was last updated in 1986.

The process to revise the plan - which governs every aspect of forest management, from mineral and timber operations to recreational activities to trail and road oversight - had been suspended last spring in response to a court ruling.

Nearly two years of preliminary planning, including extensive public comment, was interrupted when a federal court in California ruled in April 2007 that U.S. Forest Service planning regulations were not in compliance with the law

That issue has been resolved, and the planning process is moving forward again, said Bryan Armel, planning officer.

"Everything we've done over the last two to three years, we were able to pull forward. All the public comments, we were essentially able to pick up right where we were. We've just been through a pause," Armel said.

"The biggest theme we heard last year was that the public was having trouble seeing how their input was being used" in making revisions to draft plans, he said.

County officials had also said they were unclear on how their land management plans were being addressed by the forest plan.

Armel said Forest Service staffers created two detailed documents that specifically show how public comments and county plans are incorporated into the overall plan revision.

The latest draft plan will have more detailed information on plant ecosystems and what the Forest Service calls "provision of goods and services," which includes timber harvests, mineral extraction, grazing allotments and recreation activities.

An additional document covering beetle infestations will be released soon, he said.

"It's kind of a big deal and it's definitely changing the landscape," Armel said of the bug epidemics. "This will look at how we got to this point and make some projections on where things are likely to go."

Grizzly bears and gray wolves have also been recategorized from threatened or endangered species to "species of concern," he said.

Armel estimated the annual cost of plan revision efforts at roughly $400,000.

The total annual budget for the Shoshone Forest is about $13 million, said Supervisor Becky Aus.

Armel said he hopes to release a revised draft plan for a 90-day public comment period around the end of August.

The Forest Service is not soliciting comments on the current draft, he said, adding that staff members are always available to hear and discuss specific concerns.

He said that public meetings on the revised draft plan could be scheduled as soon as January, with a final decision anticipated by September 2009.

Contact Ruffin Prevost at

rprevost@billingsgazette.com or 307-527-7250.

Contact Ruffin Prevost at

Bob

bobcoe@pahaska.com

White-tailed prairie dog - Endangered?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has begun accepting public comment on whether the white-tailed prairie dog, a squirrel-like rodent found in four states including Wyoming, should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The agency is reconsidering its denial of that protection and will accept comment until July 7, according to a notice published Tuesday in the Federal Register.

Last year, the agency announced it was reconsidering its decision after an investigation found a former Interior Department administrator had inappropriately influenced the denial. The Interior Department oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service.

When the agency did not specify a timeline for reconsideration, conservation groups sued. In settling the lawsuit in February, the agency agreed to begin a status review this spring and make a decision by mid-2010.

The white-tailed prairie dog's range includes the western two-thirds of Wyoming, a small slice of Montana, and parts of Colorado and Utah. Wyoming accounts for 75 percent of the range, and wildlife officials estimate the state's population to be in the hundreds of thousands.

But across all of the animal's range, populations have declined by 92 percent, conservation groups say. "White-tailed prairie dogs are so important to other imperiled Western wildlife," said Josh Pollock of the Center for Native Ecosystems. "The least the (Fish and Wildlife) Service can do is provide a fair assessment of the prairie dog's status based on the data it collects over the next two years."

The white-tailed prairie dog, weighing 1 to 3 pounds, is a food source for various species, including the endangered black-footed ferret.

There are four other kinds of prairie dogs.

The federal government classifies the Mexican prairie dog as endangered and the Utahprairie dog as threatened. The Gunnison's prairie dog is a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Activists are challenging the 2004 removal of the black-tailed prairie dog found in eastern Wyoming

from a candidate list.

Last month, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission agreed to allow Montana to trap up to 100 white-tailed prairie dogs and relocate them to open country south of Billings, Mont., where they would supplement an existing prairie dog colony.

Biologists say the prairie dogs occupy hundreds of thousands of acres in Wyoming. In Montana, the animals reside on about 250 acres in Carbon County.

The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

Casper

Star Tribune

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 2:06 AM MDT

SALT

LAKE

CITY

-- The Wasatch-Cache National Forest just got more complicated.

Now it's the

Uinta-Wasatch-Cache

National Forest

.

The mouthful of a name is worth $2 million a year in administrative savings for U.S. Forest Service's Intermountain Region.

Budgets are the biggest thing driving the consolidation. Funding has languished while demands for firefighting and recreation are rising.

Some ranger districts are losing a recreation planner in the consolidation.

A similar consolidation took place in 1973 when the Wasatch and Cache forests were combined.

The latest consolidation adds the Uinta forest around

Provo

region to the much larger

Wasatch-Cache

National Forest

, which includes parts of extreme southwest

Wyoming

.

The Uinta forest always was

Utah's most confusing national forest -- it covers three disconnected sections along or near the Wasatch Range and no part of the prominent

Uinta Mountains

topping out at 13,528 feet.

The Wasatch-Cache forest covers almost all of the Wasatch Range from the

Idaho

border south. It also takes in part of the

Uinta Mountains

.

Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Jo Pollock emphasized that the consolidation doesn't shrink any forests -- only Congress can change the boundaries.

Forest Supervisor Dave Myers said the change will eliminate or combine 20 management positions, but that maintenance and service should improve.

Ogden District Ranger Chip Sibbernsen said the consolidation "is just entirely driven by budget. It's static to slightly declining, and our fixed costs are going up, and we can't let those two lines cross. That's what's driving this whole thing."

His district has seen funds for recreation and forest trails programs go down at the expense of firefighting.

Uinta forest supervisor Brian Ferebee was appointed acting supervisor of the combined forests.

Ferebee said he plans to reduce the vehicle fleet and consolidate office space for district rangers.

USFS Mt. Lemmon Entry Fee Questioned

From the Arizona Republic on May 6, 2006:

A lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Forest Service that claims the fee charged to drive up Mt. Lemmon Highway is a violation of civil rights and federal law.

Four Tucsonans, all active in the Arizona No Fee Coalition, filed the lawsuit against the federal government Monday, said Mary Ellen Barilotti, the group's Oregon lawyer.

The coalition has long opposed the $5 Mt. Lemmon fees and was suing on behalf of themselves and for thousands of others who have paid the fee since 1996, Barilotti said.

"We don't believe the law authorizes the fee," said Barilotti, who defended Christine M. Wallace during her two-year court battle over not paying the Mt. Lemmon fee. Wallace, a member of the coalition, was charged in 2005 and convicted and fined $100 in September.

The USFS has a numaber of pass programs around the country (e.g. the Red Rocks pass in the Sedona area) which are required for parking and use of certain USFS lands.  However, the Mt. Lemmon fee looks to the user more like an entry fee (of the type allowed to the National Park Service but not the USFS) than most of these other pass programs.  It has certainly been a source of confusion for our customers at Rose Canyon Lake, since they are not required to pay the fee but that is not always made very clear to them at the USFS fee booth. 

CLM Hosts 11th Annual Bass Lake Clean Up Day!

On April 26, 2008, California Land Management hosted its 11th annual "Spring Clean" at Bass Lake on the Sierra National Forest.  This community based program involves many local volunteers in picking up litter from around Bass Lake - a popular recreation site east of Fresno, CA.  This year well over 80 citizens participated.

Prizes were awarded to those people who picked up the most trash.  Awards were donated by over two dozen local businesses - as well as California Land Management.

California Land Management provided lunch for all who came.  Sierra National Forest staff also participated with the local District Ranger, Dave Martin, and Forest Supervisor Ed Cole  (pictured at right) both in attendance.  Other sponsors included the national Take Pride in America organization, the National Forest Recreation Association, and tNational Get Outdoors Day.

This year, California Land Management is also planning on launching a new event - patterned after the Bass Lake Spring Clean - at Huntington Lake (also on the Sierra National Forest).  This event is scheduled for June 14, 2008 - National Get Outdoors Day.

snotel

I have just viewed a nifty site that tells how much snow in inches is covering an area on the average.  Google Snotel (I did a Google search for Snotel, Wyoming) and locate a map for your area.  The dots are weather station locations that are updated hourly.  At 7800' in the Bighorn National Forest, the snow level is averaging about 21" today with two or three inches of melting for the day.  At 9300', the average snowpack in the locations I checked was near 6'.  With this information, I decided to delay the arrival of several hosts and managers until a few days later than planned, saving both of us a lot of frustration.

CLM Services Annual Training Program

CLM Services - which does business as California Land Management and Northwest Land Management - recently held its annual training program for all of its management staff.  Pictured at right are the members of the senior staff.

The training session was held at the Montecito Lake Resort on the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California.  In addition to those pictured - another thirty field managers also attended.

www.clm-services.com

Zebra Muscles

As boating season begins, government recreation authorities are implementing new procedures to protect western lakes form spread of the zebra muscle.  At our marinas in the Curecanti National Recreation Area on Blue Mesa Lake in Colorado, the Park Service has invested in wash and decontamination stations at both Elk Creek and Lake Fork.  Here is the page explaining what it takes to ensure one's boat is muscle-free.

ForestCamping.com

Fred and Suze Dow's site on Forest Service Camping was mentioned in the LA Times two days ago.  They say they've visited 168 forests in their research.  The article gave them mixed reviews but I'd give them a B+.  They were at the last Reno NFRA Convention and are fun to talk with.

Forest Service Study on drilling under fire

Study on drilling under fire

By The Associated Press

CHEYENNE - The U.S. Forest Service has allowed an energy company too much influence over proposed oil and gas leasing in a scenic mountain range in western Wyoming, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said.

In a letter dated Monday to the Forest Service's regional forester, Freudenthal said the agency has allowed Stanley Energy Inc. of Denver to "guide and fund" planning and studies on whether leasing should be authorized in the Wyoming Range, a popular hunting and recreation area within the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Saying the matter raised concern about "good governance," Freudenthal asked that the Forest Service stop the environmental study and either start over or take another approach.

Officials with the Forest Service and Stanley Energy did not immediately return phone messages Tuesday seeking comment.

Freudenthal said Stanley was paying for an environmental study of leases that Stanley and other companies were seeking to bid on and was given authority to help select a consultant for the study.

Freudenthal also noted that he had heard that the federal agency recently rescinded an arrangement allowing Stanley and its attorneys to participate in bimonthly meetings and phone calls on the Wyoming Range leases.

"This gesture implicitly acknowledges the Stanley's participation to date has been suspect," the governor wrote. "... Stanley and its attorneys may have gone below decks, but this still looks like a ship built with their timber."

The Forest Service is conducting an environmental study on whether to allow oil and gas leasing on 44,720 acres in and around the Wyoming Range. The agency had earlier identified the acreage for leasing but was forced to study how oil and gas drilling might impact the environment after conservation groups protested.

Freudenthal, some local residents and other elected officials say the range should be off limits to energy development because of its significant recreational and scenic value. Oil and gas companies maintain that they can drill on the outer edges of the mountain range with minimal disturbance.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., has introduced a bill in Congress that would prevent oil and gas drilling on 1.2 million acres of land in the Wyoming Range.

The Bush administration estimates that the area covered by the bill contains 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 331 million barrels of oil.