Natural Trails & Waters Coalition

Natural Trails & Waters Coalition

Natural Trails & Waters Coaliton Press Release
June 4 , 2002 CONSERVATIONISTS: WHITE RIVER PLAN RETREATS FROM KEY OPPORTUNITIES
Final plan undermines original compromise

Contact:

Jamey Fidel, Aspen Wilderness Workshop - 970-544-0733
Richard Compton, White River Conservation Project - 970-963-8684
Ted Zukoski, Land & Water Fund - 303-444-1188 x213

Local and regional conservation groups today said that the White River National Forest's revised management plan, 5 years in the making and finally released today, stepped back in key areas from the draft plan's solid first steps toward protecting the long-term health of some of Colorado's most important ecosystems.

"In critical areas, this plan retreats from the initial proposal," said Jamey Fidel, Conservation Director of Aspen Wilderness Workshop. "The Forest Service made important strides in the draft plan for resource protection, but several key conservation recommendations were eroded in the Final Plan. We realize the Forest Service was under extreme pressure from industry-backed politicians and interest groups, but we are disappointed the Forest Service veered from its original game plan. There is progress in the Final Plan, such as an increase in recommended Wilderness designation and steps toward managing travel. But major opportunities were also lost in the Final Plan, such as implementing broad protections for roadless areas and water resources."

The final plan grants numerous unnecessary and damaging ski resort expansions, fails to provide hard targets for stream protection, and punts the issue of recreation to a future process. In addition, the Forest Plan would permit logging on 400,000 of the Forest's 600,000 inventoried roadless acres, which would have been illegal under the roadless area conservation rule. These decisions undermined the most positive steps in the draft plan which were to (1) limit ski areas to existing permit boundaries, (2) protect streams with numeric targets, (3) and place modest limits motorized recreation. While supporting these measures, the conservation community also promoted its own popular alternative, which would have taken more aggressive steps to protect Forest ecosystems.

"The Forest Service had a chance to make the White River the greatest wild place south of Yellowstone," said Richard Compton of the Carbondale-based White River Conservation Project (WRCP). "They blew it."

"There was a great deal of criticism from motorized groups and industry-backed politicians that the Forest Service's draft was unbalanced," said the Aspen Wilderness Workshop's Fidel. "The truth is that the proposed plan was quite balanced. It was a compromise between resource protection, recreation and industrial uses on the Forest. With some exceptions, the final plan shifts away from that original compromise, and makes more concessions to the special interest groups such as the ski and timber industries."

Glenwood Springs resident and Sierra Club Regional Representative Steve Smith noted that a review of comments submitted on the Plan showed that the majority supported the Forest Service's draft or the more conservation-oriented Alternative I. Many local governments, including Pitkin and Summit counties, as well as Eagle County residents supported preserving the wildlands in their areas. "While the public wanted to ensure the long-term health of the streams, wild lands, and wildlife so they'd be here in good ecological condition generations from now, certain motorized and extractive special interests did not," Smith said.

Aided by Congressman Scott McInnis, dirt-bike, all-terrain vehicle, and other motorized industry groups joined forces with the ski and timber industries and large water users to oppose the draft Plan. The Bush Administration, which took office after the draft plan was issued, is viewed as friendly toward industrial uses of the land.

A preliminary analysis of key elements of the final plan shows the following:

Motorized Travel. While the final plan postponed making final decisions on motorized travel management, it increased the area open to winter motorized travel. "It looks like the snowmobilers got all the good snow," said Colorado Wild's Rocky Smith.

"The new Plan does restrict summer motorized travel to designated routes," said Jacob Smith of the Wildlands CPR. "As part of responsible recreation management, this is a good first step. But we won't know what this really means until the Forest Service completes the travel planning process."

Keeping Water in Streams. The draft Plan proposed that the Forest Service use its permitting authority (such as its by-pass flow authority) to protect 10% of Forest streams. The final Plan eliminated this goal.

"The Forest went from a firm goal of protecting 10% of forest streams with all legal means, including by-pass flow authority, to an unenforceable objective that sounds nice but is less protective than allowed under current Colorado or federal law," said Melinda Kassen, director of Trout Unlimited's Colorado Water Project. "There's now no specific goal for protecting or restoring streams. Rivers and streams are the life-blood of the White River National Forest. Eviscerating the modest measures in the draft Plan is bad news for fish, other wildlife, and anglers."

The Sierra Club's Smith noted that the final plan does a good job of making Wild and Scenic River recommendations and providing interim protection for popular segments of rivers such as the Colorado and the Crystal.

Logging. The Plan call for a 40% increase in expected logging levels over the draft plan, while conservationists had hoped to see a reduction in logging levels. They also had hoped to see a reduction in the acreage assigned to prescriptions allowing logging. In the final plan, 50 % of the forest-over a million acres-falls into logging and other extractive-use categories. This includes 148,000 roadless acres that the Forest Service has found qualified for wilderness. "It's hard to see who they're serving here, especially since the mill in Olathe has closed," said Rocky Smith of Colorado Wild. "The White River is much more valuable for beauty, scenery, wildlife and recreation than it ever could be for timber."

Ski Areas. The Final Plan gives the ski industry a green light to propose expansions into wildlife habitat without any real public purpose, but rather to steal skiers from other ski areas in a flat market, or worse, to abet real estate development on nearby private lands. Further, it promotes land exchanges adjacent to Vail ski area that may exacerbate second home sprawl coupled with expansion there as well. "Additional expansions aren't necessary since ski areas in the White River expanded by nearly 150% in the last 15 years, yet skier numbers rose far less dramatically (28%) in the same period," said Jeff Berman, also of Colorado Wild.

Roadless Areas/Recommended Wilderness. The final Plan recommends 82,000 acres for protection as wilderness, but leaves open for logging and roadbuilding an additional 400,000 acres of inventoried roadless lands. Perhaps most damaging, the White River ignored the roadless values of about a half a million acres on the Forest. All told, wilderness recommendations will protect just 8% of the forest's 1.1 million roadless acres.

"Red Table/Gypsum Creek and Assignation Ridge are beautiful, important places for wildlife and non-motorized recreation, so we're glad the Forest Service has decided to provide some protection for them," said WRCP's Richard Compton. "But the plan leaves key roadless areas such as Dome Peak, Grizzly Creek, and Basalt Mountain wide open for logging. If the roadless rule were in effect, this plan would be flat-out illegal."

Wildlife and Habitat. The Final Plan recommends only 5 new Research Natural Areas for studying and maintaining natural ecosystems. This is a drastic reduction from the 12 RNAs encompassing 94,100 acres recommended in the preferred draft plan. The Plan also fails to put in place road density standards to protect wildlife, a measure recommended by biologists at the state Division of Wildlife.

The Final Plan holds firm on the Draft plan's recommendation that old-growth forests not be logged commercially. "However, the biggest disappointment for wildlife management is that the Forest Service removed its requirement to monitor wildlife on an annual level," said Jamey Fidel of the Aspen Wilderness Workshop. "Under the previous Plan, the Forest Service ignored its requirement to monitor wildlife annually, and now it will be another five years until the Forest Service even reports on the status of wildlife on the Forest," Fidel said.

The White River Conservation Coalition will hold a press conference on its reaction to the final plan at 3PM today, June 4. The number to call is 202-454-4545. Maps and photos are available on the Coalition's website.

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