Road RIPorter 2.3

8/14/2019 Road RIPorter 2.3

1/12

ORVs in southern Californias Mojave Desert . Howard Wilshire photo. In California, this has generated between

$24-26 million for each of the past 3 years.The money is used to fund recreational trail development, snowmobile trail

grooming, acquisition of land for trails, and more.

I T heR oad-R P orterBimonthly Newsletter of the Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads. May/June 1997. Volume 2 # 3

see Halls of Congress on page 3

by Bethanie Walder

Money for Motors fromthe Halls of CongressWhen President George Bush signed the $151 billion federal highwayreauthorization bill just before Christm as [1991], champagne corks could beheard popping from one end of the U.S. snowmobile community to theother. (From t he Newsline of the Internat ional Snowmobile Indus try

As sociat ion; V10, No3; Jan/Feb 1992.)

In November 1991 the Interm odal Surface Transport ation

Efficiency Act (ISTEA) was passed by Congress. In addition toauthorizing funding for motorized and non -motorized transpor-tation alternatives, ISTEA auth orized the Symms National Recre-ational Trails Act: an off-road vehicle users fantasy com e true.

ISTEA is curren tly up for reau thorization, and so too is theSymms Act. Though never fully funded, the Symms Act has led to anumber of devastating developments supporting off-road vehiclesand m otorized recreation. Up to $30 million per year was allowedfor funding the Symm s Act, but very little fund ing has beenappropriated in the past 6 years. Of this amount, 30% is allocatedto non-motorized uses, 30% motorized, and 40% multiple-use.

Considering that m otorized use rarely occurs without causingconflict for non-motorized users, multiple-use that includesmotorized use tends to ignore or overrun the needs of non-motorized users.

But the Symm s Fund is linked to a more insidious problemwith motorized trail funding: fuel taxes for motorized recreation. Inorder for a state to receive federal grants un der the Symms Act, it hasto reserve a reasonable amoun t of its non-highway recreationalfuels taxes for recreational trails. This amount ranges from 1% of total an nu al motorized fuels tax collected (TAMFTC) in Californiato .24% of TAMFTC in Montana. In California, th is has gen eratedbetween $24-26 m illion for each o f the past 3 years. The mon ey isused to fund recreational trail developm ent, snowmobile trailgroom ing, acquisition of land for trails, and more.

Though the Symms Act requires that states earmark money forrecreational trails, many states already had such funds in place. Even

the program, state departm ents of parks an d recreation, forexam ple, develop p lans for trails on federal land. State andfederal agencies p lay a game o f shifting re spon sibility withcitizens left to guess wh o h as auth ority over any givenproject.

Not on ly is the Symms Act redund ant, bu t it is a wasteof taxpayer money an d leads to the destruction of publiclands thro ugh mo torized recreation. Agencies already haverecreationa l trails budgets. In 1995, for example, the ForestService received more th an $3 2 million for tra il constru ctionand r econstr uction, as well as more th an $21 m illion for trailmaintenan ce. This money is spent on m otorized and non -mo torized trail projects, but becau se it is within the a gencyitself, it is subject to m ore effective oversight than Symms

mo ney. With this mon ey already available, it is unn ecessaryto mak e additional mon ey available thro ugh th e Symms Act.The Symms Act was the brainch ild of the Blue Ribbon

Coalition, the foremost ORV organ ization in the coun try. Theyhailed it as their largest victory when it was passed in 1991, and theyare working for its reauthorization th rough ISTEA now. They arealso working to provide the Symms Act with ann ual funding, whichwas no t guaranteed in the 1991 version. Current proposals forISTEA reauth orization include Symms money. The ISTEA worksbill, introduced by Senator Moynihan will reau thor ize

if the Symms Act were n ot reauth orized, individual stateswould continue to put mo ney towards these programs. TheState of California an nu ally raises nearly the same am oun tof mon ey that Symms would allocate for the en tire coun tryin the same time period.

The Symms Act completely duplicates existing pro-grams. The Forest Service an d Bureau of Land Managem entalready h ave mon ey for recreation al trail developm ent, bothmotorized and no n-motorized, so there is no need forSymms fun ding to pay for trails. Because of th e structure of


2/12

The Road-RIPorter May/June 19972

From the Wildlands CPR Office...

Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads is a nat ional coalition of

grassroots groups and individualsworking to reverse t he severe

ecological impacts of wildland roads.

We seek to protect native ecosystems and biodiversity by r ecreating aninterconnected networ k of roadless

public wildlands.

P.O. Box 7516Missoula, MT 59807

(406) [email protected]/WildCPR

DirectorBethanie Walder

Development DirectorTom Youn gblood -Pete rsen

Office Ass istantAaron Jon es

Int erns & Volunteer sChuck Cott re ll, Scott Bagley.

John Maste rson

NewsletterDave Havlick, Jim Coe field

Steering Commit teeKatie Alvord

Kraig Klun gne ssSidney Madd ock

Rod Mond tCara Nelson

Mary O' BrienTom Skeele

Advisory CommitteeJasp er Carlton

Libby EllisDave Forem anKeith Hamm erTimothy Hermach

Marion HourdequinLorin Lind ne rAnd y Mah ler

Robert McCon ne llSteph an ie Mills

Ree d NossMicha el Soul

Dan StotterSteve Trom bulak

Lou isa WillcoxBill Willers

Howie Wolke

T hings have been moving quickly in th e last few mon ths, with slide showpresentations in th e Northwest and central Rockies, workshop s and discussionsin Oregon and sta ffing chan ges in th e works. In addition to all of this, wefinally became an indepen dent n on-profit organization in March. Many than ks toHillary Oppm an n, Linda Wells and Barb Wolman of The Wildland s Project (an d therest of th e TWP folks) for all of the ir help over th e pa st few years w hile TWP acted asour fiscal spon sor. We are excited abou t our ind epend ence, and also look forward tocontinuing to work with TWP on pro jects and strategies for protecting and recon nect-ing wildlands th roughout North America and b eyond. TWPs help and suppo rt for thepast few years has been tremen dous.

Thanks, too, to the Foun dation for Deep Ecology for p roviding a gran t supp orting ourroad-fighting efforts nationwide. And to th ose of you who sen t donations in th e pastmon th, we appreciate your continuing support. Special thanks to the Environm ental Club atSouth side High School in Rockville Cen ter, NY,for a very generous donation from a fundraiserthey held.

Comin gs an d GoingsIn April, Tom Youn gblood-Petersen becam eour half-time organizational developm entdirector. He has been working with environmen -tal groups in North Carolina an d the Intermoun-tain West for nearly 15 years. Most recently, hewas developm ent director for the Wolf EducationRecovery Project out of Boise, Idah o. Tombrings a bundle of energy, new ideas, and abrilliant writing hand to Wildlands CPR and weare thrilled to have him with us.

Aaron Jones, who has been handling most of ourinformation requests for the past six months ismoving back to Portland, Oregon , in May. Inaddition to the obvious loss of h is fantasticartwork and dedication to helping all of youmeet your information n eeds, well miss finding him asleep beneath the computer first thing inthe morning.

Bethan ie will be on vacation from th e beginning of May through the first week in June. Tom andthe n ew office assistant (name withheld pending hiring) will work hard as beetles in her stead.

Equipment NeedsNow th at were official, your donations are tax d eductible (though they were deduct-ible before, too, through th e Wildlands Project), so hey! Why not don ate your slidepro jector? Ours keeled over du ring the slide show tour s last mo nth (it was a SearsContinen tal 55, which we think refers to its birthyear), so we tho ught som eone o utthere m ight h ave a youn ger one in th eir closet. If so, send it inwed app reciate it.With intern s moving through our o ffice these days, we are also in need of a laserprin ter and com pu ter, Mac or IBM. The faster the better, the nicer our letter. Than ks!

Field Note sAstute readers sh ould n otice a profoun d absen ce of Legal Notes in this issue of theRoad-RIPorter. Instead, weve included a n ew feature Field Noteswhich we hop ewill offer a reso urce for field-or iente d road a ctivists. Well alterna te Legal Noteswith Field Notes in subsequen t issues, so house-boun d road scholars neednt fret.

Visions...Were looking for back page Visions... photos that show insp iring examples of roads falling toruin, being actively obliterated or restored. Please send us you r slides or negatives!

Wildlands Wildlands Wildlands Wildlands Wildlands CCCCCenter for PPPPPreventing R R R R Roads

In this Issue Halls of Congress, p. 1

Betha nie Walder

Odes to Roads, p. 4 Marianne Moulton

Bibliograp hy Not es,p . 6

Gary Macfarlane

Regional Report s & Aler t s , pp. 7 & 8

Outreach & Resources, p . 9

Field Notes, p. 10


3/12

The Road-RIPorter May/June 1997 3

Halls of Congress, cont. Road Purchaser CreditsThe road pu rchaser credit

program is integrally linked with th etimber program on ou r nationalforests. Simp ly put, it is the system inwhich timber bu yers build roads onnational forest land and trade the costof those roads for trees. It is a subsidy

that saves the timbe r industr y a lot of money.

Heres how it works : The Fore stService designs a timb er sale an dincludes within th at sale the specifica-tions for constructing the necessaryroads. The Forest Service estimateshow mu ch the ro ad construction willcost, including a percen tage (12% ) foroverhead and 10% for profit. The salethen includes the road construction atthe cost stated by the Forest Service.The comp anies take this cost intoconsideration when making their bid on

the sale, and if they think they canconstruct the road for less than the statedcost, this will impact th eir overall bid, aswell as their inter est in th e sale.

Regardless of how m uch it coststhe comp any to build the r oad, theyreceive the am oun t stated in the sale.It is likely that m any fore st roads areconstructed below the cost estimatedby the federal government, and thesurp lus acts as a direct subsidy to theindustr y. But no mon ey ever chan geshan ds. The road credits are put intoan account for the compan y to use

whe n purchasin g federal timber. Themon ey from o ne road constructionproject can be u sed to purchase treesfrom entirely different sales. And th eFores t Service (or if you prefer,American Public) is left with a road toma intain, r egardless of availablemaintenan ce funds, and n o trees onthe land.

Symms at its current levels. This bill curren tly has the mo st cospon sors of all thetran spo rtation b ills. Preside nt Clinton s NEXTEA prop osal reau tho rizes Sym ms witha m aximu m of on ly $7 m illion per year. And Mon tana Senator Max Baucus STARS2000 reau thor izes Symm s with increased fundin g, while gutting fun ding for airquality improvements.

Key points:1. The Symm s Act duplicates agency p rograms and reduces agency authority over those

programs.2. The Symms Act wastes taxpayer mon ey.3. It is imp erative to reauth orize transpo rtation legislation th at provides fundin g

for air quality concerns, nonmotorizedand public transportation needs.

4. ISTEA allows fo r foo tpa thdevelopm ents as part of its enhance-men ts program s, allowing room for traildevelopm ents in urban areas regardlessof Symm s funding.

5. A host of bad bills are in circula-tion right n ow, includin g STARS 200 0,STEP 21, HOTEA an d ot he rs. ISTEAWorks and NEXTEA may be viableproposals for reauthorizing ISTEA, butbe wary of hidden subsidies for damag-ing projects such a s Corridor H.

As the battle over the ecological effects of roads rages on the grou nd , the battleover the econ om ic imp acts of roads rages in congress. In early April, SenateMinority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) publicly stated his opposition to PresidentClinton s prop osal to cut the road purch aser credit program .

Daschles statement cam e in respon se to a letter he received from a timber industry officialconcer ned abou t the following three things: 1) The a bility to fight fires on NationalForest land ; 2) Recreational access to forest land ; 3) Payme nts to coun ties fromtimber sales.

Echoin g the timber indu stry claims, Daschle was quo ted in the press as bein gconcer ned a bout all three of these issues, particularly that the Clinton a dmin istrationhadn t considered these issues wh en th ey drafted their budget proposal.

Below are clarifications of the relationsh ips between roads and the th ree issues in particular,as well as a brief description of the road purchaser credit program.

Myt hs and Reali t ies about na t ional forest roads Myth #1: Roads a re imp ortan t for fighting fires. Reality : Over 50 years of research (e.g. Wilson 1 976 an d Show 1941) have foun d

that at least 90percen t of wildfiresare human-caused,and more than 75%of these start alongroads. Roads m ayallow access forfighting wildfires, butthere will be fewerwildfires in th e firstplace if we stopconstructing n ewroads into wildlandecosystems. Justifying n ew road constru ction for timber sales because o f wildfiresuppression essentially creates a perpetual m otion machine: new roads lead to morefires, leading to calls for m ore r oads to fight fires.

Wildfire crews bulldoze roads as need ed du ring fire emergen cies. Building roads see Halls of Congres s page 5

Money allocated to motorized recreation from 1995 TotalAnnual Motorized Fuel Tax Collected (TAMFTC)

State Percent o f TAMFTC Am ountArizona .55% $1.9 millionCalifornia 1% $25.1 millionIdaho .58% $973,647Montana .268% $606,824Utah lesser of .5%or $600,000 $600,000Washington .75% $4.5 million

as a preparatory measure in the nam e of fire suppression is completely unwar-ranted . Fire respo nse efforts should beconcentrated on the u rban/wildlandinterface, rather than on roadless areas.

Myth #2 : New roads are need ed forrecreationa l access.

Reality : Purchaser roa d credits existonly in combination with timber sales,not for improving recreation, tho ugh th eroads may be u sed for recreation in thefuture. The National Forest Systemalready has recreational access through

H o w a r

d W i l s h i r e


4/12


Odes to Roads

Death by Stomping Recreat ional Access Hur t s Too

By Marianne Moulton

The Southern Rocky Mountains and many o ther wildplaces are being ad vertised to th e world as playgroun ds. These ads tell us that in order to explore thewilds, we mu st be able to access and con quer them byinvesting in a sp ort utility truck, a full suspe nsion m oun tainbike, a sn owm obile, a dirt bike, or even hiking boots.

Outdoor re creation is the fastest growin g use of ourpub lic lands. As mor e Ame ricans find their way into thebackcountry, the un known risks to the n atural world in-creases. The shocking truth is that trails have imp acts similarto roads. We tram ple vegetation , introdu ce invasive and exoticspecies, compa ct soils, ford stream s, and m ake noise.

Recreation, particularly mechanized recreation, has the

ability to extend h um an influence over a large area. Mecha-nized recreation is pervasive, preem ptive of other uses, can beirreversible, and appears to portend a shift in fundamentalassumptions about the relationship between man andnatu re, as well as about app rop riate uses of pub lic lands.

How many places left on earth h ave not had contact withhum ans? Upon studying a map of roads and trails in

Colorado, these incu rsions look like spaghe tti on the lan d-scapeleaving very few places in this region free of distur-bances. Those that are free of a consistent hum an presenceare typically protected top ographically by steep terrain. Areaswhich had only wildlife trails just twen ty or fifty years agohave now been discovered. Areas which had pr imitive hikingtrails have been upgrade d to accom odate m ore u sers or todiminsh co nflicts between different types of users. Landmanagers struggle with maintaining areas for many peoplewhere there once were few.

All backcountry usershikers, moun tain bikers, equestri-ans, m otorcyclists, all-terrain vehicle users, jeepers, cross-country skiers and snowmobilerssquabble over who gets touse what area. They are pitted against each other andclaiming one has more o f an impact than the oth er. Users areclaiming own ership of certain trails by partne ring with thecash-strapped land m anagers to maintain an d reconstructtrails.

The proliferation of new trails is intro ducing thou sands of recreationists into the last strongh olds of undeveloped ha bitat.In the Southern Rockies these road less land s are essentialhab itat for son gbirds and ca vity nesters, and for reclusive

species such as lynx and wolverine. They are the last placeslargely free of weeds an d big enough to pr ovide breedinggroun ds for large mam ma ls. The roadless wildland s of theSouthern Rockies are am ong the precious few in the countrywhere wh ole ecosystems and natural processes can bepreserved on a landscape scale.

In the past ten years, ORV (off-road vehicle) groups havesystem atically increased mo torized use in m any of Colora doslast roadless lands, potentially disqualifying them from futu rewilderness designation. The Forest Service does not considerthat m otorized use detracts from wilderne ss suitability andclaims th at mot orized use is reversible. While this may be truephy sically, the clout of the m otorized lobby ha s proven thatmo torized use is not politically reversible.

In the Rio Gran de Nation al Forest of sou thern Colorado,seven of th e eight largest remaining road less areas, totalingalmost 200 ,000 acres, are now laced with motor ized trails. Asa result, they were not recomm ended for Wilderness designa-tion in the recently-appr oved Forest Plan. One of thesethre atene d areas is the 45,000 -acre Pole Creek Mountainroadless area, north of the Weminuch e Wilderness and west of the town of Creede. A mo torcycle group illegally establishedmo torized use on the forme rly quiet trails in the Pole Creek roadless area.

During the Forest Plan revision, th e Forest Service ana-

lyzed and recomm ended for motorized use those trails whichdid not n egatively impact un stable soils, riparian areas andwetlan ds, or critical wildlife ha bitat. The Fores t Servicehapp ened to overlook the dam aging trails strewn throughou tPole Creek, and the n adm itted that they were scared of thepolitical backlash tha t they would occur if the trails wereclosed.

In a recent m eeting of conservationists, motorized users,and the Forest Service, the mo torized user groups accu sedconser vation ists of being greedy an d hypocritical. They said if a favorite hiking trail were slated for closure, hikers wo uld crybloody murder because access would be denied. Then we

The roadless wildlands of t he Southern Rockies are among t he precious few in the country w here whole ecosys tems

and natural processes can be preserved on a landscape scale.


5/12


would know h ow it feels to be shu t out.Honestly, I would app laud efforts to

close trails which were known to beecologically harm ful. But it may be toolate un til we know. Wildlife biologistshave developed th e following guidelinesfor ecologically soun d trail design:

Keep trails along existing human

corridors to avoid furthe r hab itatfragmentation. Concentrate u se along a few trails

rather than disperse use by developingnew trail netwo rks.

Plan trails away from riparianareas and other sensitive habitat.

Locate trails along the e dges of intact habitat rather than through th emiddle.

Educate trail users to stay on trailsand leash dogs.

As we refine our knowledge of theimpacts of trails and road s on eco logicalsystems, sticking to the above principlesis a cautious and sensible approach todecrease our impacts. With such a highdegree of access to wildland s already,will it be too late when we admit thatthe landscape is biologically impover-ished because we, as humans, haveloved the land to its death?

Marianne Moulton works with theSouth ern Rockies Ecosyst em Project t orestore the wildlands of sout hernWy om ing, Colorado and nort hern New

Mexico.

Halls of Congress, from page 3

J . J o

n i k

more th an 377,00 0 miles of existing roads. In addition , since road purch aser creditscannot be used to construct roads for recreational purposes, recreational roads willnot be affected by cutting this program.

Myth #3: Road p urch aser cred its are critical for pa ymen ts to coun ties. Reality : As long as the timb er industry con tinues to cut trees from nationa l

forest land , adjacent cou nties will continu e to receive payme nts from th ose sales. Inmost Forest Service regions, timb er sales from already-roaded areas su rpass timb ersales from ro adless areas. Even so, counties don t actually lose mo ney. Simp ly put,they can on ly make m oney if we choose to cut timber; if we choose not to, theydon t lose m one y, they just receive different revenues.

In addition, if the road p urch aser credit program is cut, the timbe r industry islikely to bid lower on timber sales in order to be ab le to pay for the r oads. Paymentsto coun ties are based on th e gross receipts from timber sales. If timber sales are notoffered, th en the cou nties r eceive Paym en ts in Lieu o f Taxes (PILTs). Either way, the yreceive mo ney from th e federal governm ent for h aving federal land in their coun ty.If timber companies were to start paying the true cost of the timber, then perhapscoun ties would find th at National Forest land is mo re valuable with th e treesstanding. The only entity that will suffer from a stop to the road pu rchaser cre ditprogram is the timb er industry. Falsely supporting the timber indu stry with mon eyfrom Ame rican taxpayers is corpora te welfare in its truest form.

What You Can DoWrite to your Congression al Delegation and President Clinton and tell them

your thou ghts abou t the Symm s Act and ISTEA reauth orization: Presiden t Clinton , The Wh ite House, 1600 Penn sylvan ia Ave., Wash ington , D.C.

20050. You r Senato rs an d Represen tatives nam es, US Senate /US House of Represen ta-

tives, Washington , D.C. 2051 5.

-


6/12


Bibliography Notes

Roads and Weeds: Partners in Crime

by Gary Macfarlane

My first introd uction to weeds cam e at a yo un g age, onour family farm, under the stern tutelage of my grandm other.Her iron w ill was almost m atched by the wee ds pern icioustenacity. She marveled at how th ey even thr ived on h arden edroadb eds and mu st have been put her e by the Lard to testour mettle(her pronunciation).

Years later, I he ard it wasn t the Lard, bu t wildern ess th atwas respon sible for the p roliferation of weeds. The them espou ted by the local developers, politicians, and ind ustryrepresen tatives at a pu blic hea ring on wildern ess legislationwas wilderness is the breeding ground for weeds and otherriff-raff.

Toward th e end o f the meeting a feisty gentleman aroseand scolded all those who espoused such a ridiculous view-point. He said it was roads, disturbed a reas, that providedpath ways for weeds and h e had research to prove it. Dr.Richard Shaw, a reno wne d botany p rofessor at Utah StateUniversity set the record straight. My Grand mo thers earlyobservation about roads and weeds proved prophetic.

What Dr. Shaw said made sen se. Dyers woad, the wee dtaking over the cou nty at the time, was most widesprea dalong roadways.

The road/weed link h as some important p oints: Disturbed areas, like roads, provide habitat for weeds. Roads alter the hydrology, exposu re an d soil profile of

an area. Thus they chan ge the microclimate directly sur-rounding them.

Roads are corridors for weed dispersal and o ur m achinesare mechanisms for rapid dispersal.

Roads provide access for weeds even into undisturbedareas.

Because of roads, weed contro l is deemed necessar y inman y areas. Weed con trol, as usually practiced, has its ownset of problems.

Weeds m ove along roads be cause they provide the righthab itat for colonization. Weeds are u sually early seral species,pione ers in the classic theory o f ecological succession(Cousen s an d Mortimer, 1995).

In South Amer ican temp erate forests, up to 33 per cent of

plant sp ecies in areas a long roads were ex otic invaderswhereas in pristine areas, away from trails, no invaders were found(Bicon, et al., 1987). In Australia, road verges had a greater diversity of exotic (invader) species than other areas (Cale and Hobbs).

Even in wh at we think are aquatic ecosystems, plants movingalong roads are importan t methods of invasion. In fact, the GreatLakes ecosystem h as had far more species of invader plants (59) thanfishes (25), algae (24) or mollusks (14). Movemen t along roads is amajor method for plan t dispersal in the Great Lakes (Mills et al.,1993).

But it is a question that goes well beyond th e grounddisturban ce associated with roads. A study in the North eastfound the m icroclimate arou nd roads to be different than the lands

surrou nding them (Brothers, 1992). In Australia, roads were found toconcen trate agricultural fertilizer run off along their verges. There wasan increase in exotic plant species and their vigorfactors such as seedproduction and growth ratesalong these edges (Cale and Hobbs).Thus, weeds not on ly survive but they thrive along roadsides.

Vehicles have been methods of weed dispersal since an cient times(Cousens and Mortimer, 1995). Wheels on trucks an d cars m ovefarther and faster than d id oxen-powered carts or horse driven chariots.Roads take us and weeds all across continents in a matter of a few days.

One of the major concerns of biologists is the loss of diversityfrom weed invasions, including invasions into natu ral areas (Hobbs andHumphries). Though weeds like disturbed areas, their presence is notconfined to roadsides, agricultural lands or oth er similar places. Evenwildlands are at risk.

Research in Central Europe has shown roads can becorridors for weeds to invade different ha bitats than theypr eviously occu pied (Kop ecky, 198 8). Previously weed-freeareas in Eire (Ireland) have been invaded by up to seventy-seven species in bogs (Curran and MacNaeidhe, 1987 ). Roadscreate habitat fragmentation by surrou nding un disturbed

ecosystem s with invading weeds (Timm ins an d Williams,1991).

The eviden ce is all aroun d us. Residen ts of the NorthernRockies have seen th e assault of spotted knapweed as it spreadfrom th e disturbed agricultural areas to wildlands. Loggingtrucks, horses, and hay are among those responsible for itsspread to th e nationa l forests.

One of the largest natu ral reserves in th e world, WoodBuffalo National Park in Canad a, has be en in fluen ced byinvading plant species. While the park is not man aged to be com-pletely pristine, it is quite remote. The invasions thus far seem to beconfined to d isturbed sites, especially roads (Wein et al., 1992).


7/12


see Bibliography on p age 11

Off-road vehicles (ORV) which create new tracks intoun developed areas are also problems. Weeds have ham peredthe recovery of a ra re n ative fern in Hawaii where ORVs h avetread. In pristine areas free of ORV use, reintroduction of thefern h as gone very well (Wester, 1994 )

If this werent enou gh, the same people who build roadsare zealously spraying herbicides along them to preventweeds. Even they recognize the road/weed link. though th eyare using a cure that may be worse than the disease. InEngland th ere is an effort by the governm ents river man age-men t autho rity to use less toxic, and according to roadauth orities, less effective, herbicides to protect water qu ality(Batty, 1 991).

It is sadly ironic that a solutionroad closures and a policy no tto bu ild more roadsisnt considered by the BLM or Forest Service intheir documen ts dealing with weeds. The Irish recognize this link (Curran and MacNaeidhe, 1984). The US land management agencies,especially the Forest Service, are roadbuilding entities. In n umerousweed EAs and EISs, the federal land man agemen t agencies on lygrudgingly recognize the road/weed link.

Roads have a tremen dous catalyzing effect on weeds. Nearlywithou t fail, where there are roads you will find weeds. The Lard m ayhave given us the weeds, but we build the roads ou rselves.

Gary Macfarlane has a degree in range and public land policy; hecurrently works on wildlands protection in the Northern

Rockies.

BibliographyBatty, J. 1991 . Safeguarding water sup plies. NTC Works hop

Repor t. No. 22, 28-33.Bicon , C.; Grigera, D.; Pun tieri, J.; Rapop ort , E. 19 88 . Exotic

plants in Nothofagus forests. Preliminary comparisonsbetween northern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.Simposio sobre Nothofagus, Neuquen, Argentina, 23-28de m arzo de 1987 [compiled by Gamun di, I.J.].

Monografias de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas,Fisicas y Naturales , Buen os Aires. No. 4, 37-48; 16 ref.

Brother s, T. S. 199 2. Postsettleme nt plant migrations innortheastern North Amer ica. American Midland Naturalist .128(1): 72-82.

Cale, Peter and Richard Hobbs. Nature Conservat ion 2: The Role of Corridors . Denis A. Saund ers and Richard J. Hobbs,editors.; WR 227 : pp. 353-362 .

Cousens, Roger and Martin Mortime r. 199 5. Dynamics of Weed Populations . Cambridge University Press.

Curran, P. L. and F.S. MacNaeidhe. 198 4. The wee d problemon cultivated bog. Irish Journal of Agricultural Research .23(1): 59-70.

Hobbs, Richard J. and Stella E. Hum phr ies. An integra ted

approach to the ecology and m anagm ent of plantinvasions. Conservation Biology . 9(4), 761-770.

Kopecky, K. 198 8. Influen ce of roads on thesynanthropization of the flora and vegetation according toobservations in Czechoslovakia. Folia Geobotanica et Phytotaxonomica . 23(2): 145-171; 36 ref.

Mills, E. L., J.H. Leach, J.T. Car lton an d C.L. Secor. 19 93 .Exotic species in the Great Lake s: A history of bioticcrises an d a nthropogenic introductions. Journal of Great

Lakes Research . 19(1): 1-54.

COLORADO Road Inventory Oppor t uni t ies

Road activists have a chance to h ead to westernColorado s Flat Top s Wildern ess Area to join th e Mt. Sop risGroup of the Sierra Club an d Patagonia for three d ifferentpro ject weekend s inventor ying roads. Last summ er the twogroups offered a similar project that m et with resoun dingsuccess. Volunteer Julie Brusky r ecalls some of th e highlights:

This pa st fall I participated in a fou r-day ou ting to helpwith an eco-mapp ing pr oject. We surveyed roads onour m ountain bikes, which was fun, and th e group or-ganizers brought in an expert to edu cate us on borealtoad hab itat. We learned how to read topograph ic map sand u se a compass, then set out for a long day hiking orriding bikes . When we came back to camp, there werehot appetizers and refreshments waiting for us.

Even thou gh I was only up th ere for a short time I felt Imad e a differen ce in the big picture. It also made m emor e conscious of the impact that hum ans have on ourenvironm ent. Im looking forward to doing it again th isyear.

While Julie and oth ers learn ed abou t public lands issues,end anger ed species, and th e ecological imp acts of roads, theyalso may help the Flat Tops.

The Mt. Sopris Group is in the process of iden tifyingharm ful roads and form ulating road closure proposals for thearea. They also plan to contribute information for the upcom -ing White River Forest Plan u pdate.

Last year th e Sopris Group surveyed a total of 150 m iles of road including 38.5 m iles of road that h ad n ot been invento-ried or map ped by the Forest Service. They also checked theeffectiveness of road closures, surveyed for invasive wee ds,and n oted stream crossings and erosion.

If youre interested in participating, this sum mer s pro jectweeken ds are sched uled for 7/24-27, 8/7-10, and 8 /21-24. CallKathr yn Crawford at Patagonia (303) 446-950 0, or th e Mt.Sopris Grou p at (970) 963-8684, or email at [email protected].

Thanks t o Kurt Kunk le for sending us t he map and info for t hisreport.

Regional Reports


8/12


Regional Reports and Alerts

UTAH RS 2477, Again

One hu ndred and th irty-one yearsafter it was in itially penn ed into law,Revised Statute 2477 (RS2477) contin-ues to rear its ugly head. The 1866 LodeMining Acts one-sentence statuteprovides for the con struction of highways over public lands (vol. 1#1).Although RS2477 was rep ealed in 1976 ,in 19 83 Reagan s Interior Secretaryrevived it w ith his Hode l Policy.

In southern Utah, counties havenow asserted m ore than 5,000 right-of-way claims. Although th e South ernUtah Wilderness Alliance and SierraClub have both taken th e matter tocourt, renegade counties continue todoze roads into lands proposed forWildern ess designation. In the winterof 1996 , Garfield County road crewseven bu lldozed th e side of a hill inCapitol Reef National Park withoutnotifying park officials.

In Janu ary 19 97, Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt revoked the HodelPolicy. Babb itts move shou ld have putthe aged statute to bed, but coun ties inWestern states have grown in creasinglyfond of punching roads into wildlands,then pointing to RS2477 as th eir raisondetre. In Utah an d Alaska, part icularly,counties have found a warm respon sefrom their Congressional representa-tives.

Senato r Stevens (R-AK) has a ttach eda rider to a flood-relief bill that w ould

OREGON Siuslaw NF Closing Roads

After eleven inches of rain falling infour days led to landslides on a m assivescale in February 1996, an d return ed

with fatal results in the fall, the SiuslawNational Forest has tu rne d to roadclosur es as a resto rative tool. Last year sstorms led Siuslaw Forest Supervisor JimFurnish to ackno wledge, Within forty-eight hours we recogn ized this as aonce-in-a-lifetime opportunity toevaluate how logging and road bu ildingeffects forests on a lan dscape leveldurin g times of great chan ge. Wed hadplenty o f clues, but th is was the firsttime we could say with some certainty

that bad things could happen from whatweve been doing.

What the Siuslaw had been doingwas build roads an d cut trees. By 1990,the Siuslaw h ad m ore than 2,600 milesof road accessing some 230,000 acres of clearcut forest. Following the storms of 1996 , the Forest Service conductedaerial surveys to determine wherelandslides occurred and why. Theyfound that 41 percent of the 1,786documen ted slides were caused byroads. Anoth er 36 percent of the slideswere associated with recen t clearcuts.

Though the effects of the roads hasclearly been devastating, the agencysand Furnishs response bears som e hop efor the future. The Siuslaw is nowpur suing a plan to close, store andstabilize two-thirds of the roa ds on the

Boycott American Automobile Association

As the cover story of this RIPorterdiscusses, the Inter mo dal SurfaceTransportation Efficiency Act is up forreauth orization this sum mer. It turn sout th at the big wigs at the AmericanAutom obile Association are lobbyingha rd to r estrict ISTEA fun ding tohighways only. Their argumen t:diversions like non-motorized transpor-tation an d air quality mitigation arecausing an "infrastructure maintenancecrisis. Unfortun ately, they igno re thefact that big $ continu es to be spent onroad expansion. They seem to haveforgotten th at everyone d oesn t travel inmo tor vehicles. Let your voice beheard , if you ar e a mem ber, contactAAA and tell them how you do or donot want them to spend your m oney.

rescind Babbitts revocation of th eHodel Policy. The measu re passed theSenate 51-49; it remains to b e seen atpress time h ow th e bill will fare in th eHouse or on the Presiden ts desk.

Thanks to SUWA for their articles on RS2477.

S c o t

t S t o u

d e r

Forest. With a timber ha rvest down 90percen t from its former level, theSiuslaw now ap pears to re alize that inorder to have natu ral resources to use,they must first ensure that what forestand soil still exists has a ch ance toremain.

Furnish is well aware of thecom mercial value of $20 billion instanding timber still on the Forest. Bystoring roadsremoving culverts,installing water bars, leaving r oadprisms in place w hile allowing vegeta-tion to fill in roadbedsthe Siuslawhopes to attend to the serious prob lemsof water quality, decreased wildlifehabitat, and risks to human life andprop erty that have plagued the regionin recent years.

Thanks to Scott Stouder for contributinginformation and photos for this report.

Inventory ing roads on t he W hite River NF,Colorado. See report p. 7. Kurt Kunkle, photo.


9/12


No More Roads in our Na t iona l Fores t s !Earth First! organizers and oth er activists throu ghout th e

coun try are spon soring a nationa l day of action against ForestService roads on May 29, 1997 . Participate in the nation al day

of action by organizing a talk or protest in yo ur r egion, settingup a m eeting with your district ranger to discuss roads, orholding a letter-writing party to get letters to your Congres-sional rep resentatives regarding th e legislative pro posals inCongress. Drop u s a line and let us know how successful youwere.

Outreach and Resources

M a r

k A l a n

W i l s o n

Slide ShowApril was an incredibly busy m onth for ou r slide show, with John

Dillon p resenting nearly a dozen slide shows in Colorado, Utah andWyoming. Bethan ie gave 3 presen tations in Seattle and Bellingham,Washington. Many than ks to all of the local groups who helpedcoordinate the publicity and logistics for those presentations.

Cascadia Forest Alliance is spon soring ou r slide sh ow at7:30 pm on July 17th at the Clinton St. Theater in Portland,Oregon. For m ore inform ation contact Wildlands CPR (406/ 543-9551) or Mark Des Merets at 503/241-4879.

WorkshopsBethan ie facilitated a 1/2 day wor ksho p at th e Oregon

Natural Desert Association Conference in April. The worksh opfocused on the imp acts of roads an d ORVs on de sert ecosys-tems and methods to inventory their impacts and challengethe Bureau of Land Managem ent.

Additional worksho ps are bein g plann ed for Burlington,VT, and Arizon a in the su m me r or fall. No dates yet, but wellkeep you posted.

Wildlands CPR on the WebMany th anks to John Masterson of Missoula for redesign-

ing our web site for us. The site now has a bunch more informationthan it used to, and it gives us room to pu t new info on th eweb every mon th. We will have the newsletter on line shor tly.Check it o ut a t h ttp://www.wildrockies.org/WildCPR.

Roadless Ar eas and Wildernes sBig Wild Advocates ha s just released an action rep ort th at

documen ts the h istory of the wilderness m ovement in th e US,presents a conservation biology-based appeal for protectingbiodiversity, includes a full-page map, Wildland Myths, and aspecial section devoted to Roads and The Destruction of Wilderness.

The report sh ould serve as a han dy reference for wilder-

ness and road issues, and concludes with eight com mon sensesuggestions for wh at you can do to support wildernessdesignations in Congress and in your comm unity.

Grab a cop y by con tacting Big Wild Advocates, PO Box 318,Conne r, MT 5982 7. Tell them Wildlands CPR sen t you.

ERFO fund fac t shee tWildlands CPR has a h and y fact sheet on th e oft-con-

founding Emergency Relief for Federally Owned (ERFO) fund.If you live in an area beset with mass wasting or landslides, orhave run into federalagencies that plan torebuild roads usingERFO mone y, this factsheet should proveespecially useful.

Although weveincluded a few h ighlightsfrom th e fact sheet, youcan get the full scoop bycontacting Wildlands

CPR and kind ly asking.Its free.

What is ERFO?The ERFO fun d

was au thorized by Title 23 USC, 125 for, the repair or recon structionof highways and roads which are found by the Secretary of Transporta-tion to have suffered serious damage as the result of a natural disasterover a wide area, or a catastroph ic failure.

Who is eligible for funding?ERFO is ma naged throu gh th e Federal Highway Adminis-

tration (FHWA) and applies to roads on National Forest, Bureauof Land Managem ent, Nationa l Park and Bureau o f Indian

Affairs lan ds.

What types of work are allowable under ERFO?The ERFO fun d is typically used to r eplace roads in-kind

rathe r than to imp rove them . Trail repair is not eligible forERFO fun ding.

What constitutes an emergency? Is ERFO bound byenvironmental laws? What is the ERFO timeline?

Ask for the fact sheet an d youll learn the answers to these andother tantalizing questions. Hooray!

A . J

o n e s

SCB Roads Sym pos iu mWildlands CPR is sponsoring a symposium at the Society for

Conser vation Biologys (SCB) Ann ual Meeting in Victoria,British Columb ia Jun e 8, 1997 . Call the office for mor einformation, or email to [email protected].

Road Obli ter a t ion: Rippers Wanted Wildlands CPR is plann ing an active restoration project on

na tiona l fores t lands th is July or Augu st. Well post details astheyre finalized; let us know if youre interested giving a h andand well help turn you into a road ripper!


10/12


MOTORIZED VEHICLE VANDALISM/TRESPASS INCIDENT REPORT WILDLANDS CPR

DATE & TIME OF OBSERVATION

LOCATION GENERAL AREA

NATIONAL FOREST / NATIONAL PARK / BLM / OTHER PUBLIC LANDS

TRAIL DESCRIPTION OR NUMBER

TOWNSHIP, RA NGE & SECTION

TYPE OF RESTRICTION IN PLACE

TY PE OF INCIDENT (CIRCLE ONE OR MORE) USER CONFLICT TRAIL DAMAGE VANDALISM ILLEGAL TRAIL MOTORIZED TRESPASS RESOURCE DAMAGE WILDLIFE HARA SSMENT OTHER _______________

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT

TYPE OF VEHICLES (CIRCLE ONE OR MORE) TRUCK/JEEP ALL TERRAIN VEH. (ATV) MOTORCYCLE

NUMBER OF VEHICLES __________ SNOWMOBILE JETSKI MOTORBOAT OTHER _______________

LICENSE PLATES, VEHICLE DESCRIPTIONS, PERSONS NAMES

PERSON REPORTING NAME PHONE

ADDRESS

WITNESSES NAME PHONE

ADDRESS

Please report any conflicts with traditional outdoor recreation, excessive noise, impacts to w ildlife and n atural characteristics, or damage to public property, trails, meadows, lakes & streams, soils, forests or ot her nat ural features.

HELP CONSERVE OUR W ILDLANDS1)MAKE OBSERVATIONS: Gather as much inform ation as you can, fill out t he incident report , fold and stap le or tape, and m ail toWCPR. We will see that your r eport is forwarded to t he appropriate law enforcement aut horities, wildlife and public land m anagers.2)AVOID CONFRONTATIONS: Under no circum stan ces should you confron t pot ent ial m otor ized violators or t ake the law into y our

own hands.3)TAKE PHOTOS OR VIDEOS: Please provide u s w ith ph oto or v ideo evidence if available. Wildlands CPR will mak e copies and retu rnoriginals upon request.4)VISIT AREAS OF CHRONIC ABUSE: Cons ider going to areas of chron ic trespassin g and van dalism on a regular basis an d repor t

findings.5)ASK FRIENDS TO HELP: Pass copies of th is report to your f riends and ask them to help in t his impor tant effort t o providedocumentation of motorized impacts to quiet trails and wilderness.

TO MAIL: SEND TO WILDLANDS CPR, P.O. BOX 7516, MISSOULA, MT 59807KEEP OUR WILDLANDS ROADLESS!

Field Notes


11/12


Join Wildlands CPR Today!Memb ersh ip benefits both you and Wildlands CPR. You

lend you r sup port to ou r efforts, giving us more leverage in sub-mitting comm ents, filing lawsuits, and creating pressure to p re-vent and close roads on public land s. In addition, your finan cialsupport helps us to continue providing information and re-sources to activists thro ughou t North Amer ica.

As a Wildlands CPR member, you'll have better access tothese resource s, because youll receive:

f Our bimonthly newsletter, The Road-RIPorter .f 10 free bibliography searches p er year.f National supp ort for your campaign through our newsletter

and alerts.f Access to activist tools and pu blic education m aterials.f Con nections with group s working on similar issues, and n et-

works w ith exper ienced ro ad-fighting activists, lawyers andscientists.

f Discoun ts on Wildlands CPR pub lications.

____$30 Standard____$15 Low Incom e____$50 Friend____$200 Supporter____$500 Sponsor____Other: $____________

____$15 ($25 non-me mbers)Handbook (includes all 4 guides)

____$4/Guide ($7 non-members)- circle your choices BLM, ORV, NF, NP

____Total enclosed $______________

Name: __________________________________________________Organization: ____________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________

City/State/Zip: ___________________________________________

Phone/Fax/e-mail: ________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Join Wildlands CPR Today!

Wildlands CPR Publi cati ons: Road-Ripper's Handbook ($15.00, $25 non-members)) A

comp rehen sive activist man ual that includes the four Guideslisted below, plus The Ecological Effects of Roads , Gather-ing Information wit h t he Freedom of Informat ion Act , andmore!

Road-Ripper's Guide t o the National Fores ts ($4, $7 non-members) By Keith Hamm er. How-to pro cedu res for gettingroads closed and revegetated, descriptions of environmen-tal laws, road den sity standards & Forest Service road poli-cies.

Road-Ripper's Guide to the National Parks ($4, $7 non-members) By David Bah r & Aron Yarm o. Provides ba ckgro un don the National Park System and its use of roads, and out-

lines how activists can get involved in NPS plann ing. Road-Ripper's Guide to Off-Road Vehicles ($4, $7 non-members) By Dan Wright. A comp rehen sive guide to redu cingthe use an d abuse of ORVs on pu blic lands. Includes an ex-tensive bibliography.

Road-Ripper's Guide to the BLM ($4, $7 non-members) ByDan Stotter. Provides an overview of road-related land an dresource laws, and detailed discussions for participating inBLM decision-making processes.

Field Note sIt seems fitting to start a new feature of th e Road-RIPorter

with a contribution from a new organization. A newgrassroots conservation group, Southwestern MontanaWildern ess Alliance (SMWA) created t he form at left in aneffort with the Montan a Wildern ess Association to fosterincreased citizen monitoring of off-road vehicle (ORV) use on

pub lic lands an d trails. We liked it so mu ch th at weve decidedto reproduce it here; we encourage you to ph otocopy andshare it with your groups m embers an d friends.

Its easysimp ly take a few of th e forms with youwhe never youre out h iking, mou ntain biking, birdwatching,hun ting, or passing through pu blic lands, and wher e you seeORV activity fill out the form and keep a r ecord of th e use, an ydam age thats occurring, or violations th at may b e takingplace. From there, you can create a database for ORV mo nitor-ing, or if you can send it to Wildlands CPR and h ave usinclude it in our nation al efforts to fight ORV violations a ndresource dam age.

If you wan t to distribute the form s widely, try printingyour groups return address on the back of the form, then

citizen activists can simply fold, staple and m ail the form toyou to collect and com pile.

Look for futu re editions of Field Notes for m ore h and s-ontools to help prevent or r emove roads. And, of course, well beinterested to h ear h ow youve used Field Notes an d wh atyouve foun d par ticularly useful.

Tim min s, S. M. and P.A. Williams. 1991 . Weed n um bers in NewZealands forest and scrub reserves. New Zealand Journal of

Ecology . 15(2): 153-162; 37 ref.Wein, R. W., G. Wein, S. Bahr et, a nd W.J. Cody. 19 92 .

Northward invading non-native vascular plant species inand adjacen t to Wood Buffalo National Park, Cana da. Can.Field Nat. 106(2), pp . 216-224.

Wester, L. 1994 . Weed ma nagem ent and the hab itat protectionof rare spe cies: A case study of the end em ic Hawaiian fernMarsilea villosa . Biol. Cons . vol. 68,(no. 1,): pp. 1-9.

Bibliography Cont.


12/12

Abandoned US Highway near Price, Utah. 1997.

BULK RATEUS POSTAGE

PAIDMISSOULA, MT 59801

PERMIT NO. 569

Wildlands C enter for P reventing R oads

P.O. Box 7516Missoula, MT 59807

What i s l e f t a f te r c learcu t t ing are s teep hi l lsides of churned-up mud, a few half- burned pi les of slash, and a high quali ty

asphalt road Kathleen D. Moore

Visions...

Documents

Road RIPorter 2.3