As the
population in Colorado continues to grow, so grows our concern for our natural
resources. Recreational impacts to our public lands tops the list of issues
that we must address in 1997.
Colorado Mountain Club
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Nineteen ninety-six was a year of changes for the CMC and 1997 promises to be every bit as dynamic and challenging. Our conservation program continues to evolve and issues for us to pursue are never lacking.
As the
population in Colorado continues to grow, so grows our concern for our natural
resources. Recreational impacts to our public lands tops the list of issues
that we must address in 1997.
Once thought to be a benign and passive activity, recreation is now
considered as damaging to public lands as traditional, extractive activities
such as logging and mining. The CMC is in a unique position in that we have the
dual mission of providing recreational opportunities and protecting the land
upon which those activities take place. This presents our greatest challenge.
In the coming year, we must address this duality of purpose and tailor our
conservation priorities accordingly.
Last spring, Forest Supervisor, Jerry Schmidt, of the Medicine Bow/Routt National Forest, made the decision to change the travel management policy on the Parks and Yampa Districts. This decision was remanded by the Regional Forester because portions of the analysis were thought to be inadequate. Rather than waiting to deal with this issue until the Routt Forest Plan Revision, Mr. Schmidt has decided to reanalyze his policy revision at this time.
Schmidt commented that he believes it to be in the best public's interest to deal with this issue now because of increasing use of motorized vehicles has led to increasing concerns about impacts to soil, water, and wildlife resources.
Approximately 221, 800 acres of National Forest System Lands on the Yampa
and Parks Districts are classified as open, to motorized travel off of
designated routes. Schmidt proposes to revise the travel management policy to
restrict all forms of motorized vehicles
(except
snowmobiles) to designated routes.
Schmidt issued a letter to all interested parties outlining preliminary
issues to be addressed in the reanalysis. CMC responded by congratulating him
on this bold maneuver and suggested including the impacts of fragmentation. The
issue of habitat fragmentation by all trails and roads, both motorized and
non-motorized had not been previously identified by Schmidt as a critical
issue.
In its continuing support of the Front Range Mountain Backdrop Project, CMC formally expressed support for the Project's proposal for Legacy Grant funding from the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund.
The Front Range Mountain Backdrop Project is an inter-jurisdictional
effort of Front Range Counties to identify and develop opportunities for the
preservation of sensitive natural areas and viewsheds along the Front Range
corridor.
The Leave No Trace organization now has LNT plastic tags available for children. These tags are just like the previous adult tags but they outline the LNT principles in language that is child-friendly.
CMC incorporated these principles into their first contribution to the Coors Credit Union children's newsletter. To find out how you can become involved in future environmental education projects, please contact CMC's Conservation Director.
To obtain these new tags, please contact Leave No Trace, Inc. P.O. Box
997, Boulder, CO 80306. (303) 442-8222.
On October 10, 1996 The Dillon Ranger District of the Forest Service issued a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the section of the Continental Divide Scenic Trail from Wheeler Junction to Rollins Pass. The comment period ended November 25, 1996.
CMC issued its comments for this section of the trail. CMC did not support the Forest Service's preferred alternative. CMC, along with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and several other conservation organizations choose to support alternative #2.
We felt that the preferred alternative had several problems including entrance into a wilderness area, crossing into bighorn sheep and mountain goat critical areas, a large amount of construction above timberline, and intrusion into the only existing land bridge that connects the northern and southern Rockies.
We felt that it was important to minimize new trail construction in alpine areas because of the fragile nature of the alpine ecosystem and the need to retain large tracts of unfragmented alpine habitat. Additionally, we were concerned about fragmenting the land bridge that crosses over the Eisenhower tunnel. This land bridge may be critical as a movement corridor for many wildlife species.
On January 10, the Forest Service held a round-table discussion for all
those interested parties that commented on the EA. The Forest Service is
reviewing all comments and will make a decision by the end of February. If you
would like more information on this issue, please contact CMC's Conservation
Director, Patti Biddle at (303) 279-3080.
On a Labor Day weekend trip to the Como Lake area last year, several CMC members were surprised to find 4WD vehicles making their way along the end of the Como Lake Road. They were surprised because on January 30, 1996 a Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact were issued for the Como Lake Environmental Assessment. In this Decision Notice, the Conejos Peak District Ranger called for access denial to all 4WD vehicles in the boggy area around the lake and to the end of the Como Lake Road, one half mile above the Lake.
CMC's Conservation Director was alerted to this situation and a letter was
sent to the Forest Service requesting that this problem be remedied. To date
the Forest Service has not responded.
CMC has provided support in the form of a request for funding from GOCO for the Rockies Historic Corridor. This proposal aims to turn the current Tennessee Pass rail line into a multi-purpose recreational trail if the line is abandoned by Union Pacific.
CMC chose to support this project because of the increasing number of recreationists in our state. Patti Biddle, CMC's Conservation Director states, "we feel the rails-to-trails concept is an appropriate method to provide more trail access to an increasing population without actually creating new trail corridors that may further fragment and negatively impact fragile ecosystems."
Could this be the wave of the future? As more rail lines are abandoned,
could more rails-to-trails projects be an environmentally sound solution to the
unabated increase in trail use in Colorado?
(Adapted from the Associated Press)
Regional Forest Service officials say Vail's big expansion into new north-facing bowls can proceed without more public hearings or major research.
Last month, it appeared the expansion had hit a roadblock when deputy regional forester, Tom Thompson, said the social impacts of the expansion had to be considered before it could proceed.
But after talks with local forestry staffers, Thompson says it appears enough study was done on potential impacts on housing, roads, and other social issues. He said material on these problems needs to be better organized in the final decision on the expansion, but no new hearings are needed.
Bill Wood, the White River National Forest official who will supervise the revision of the report, said, "I believe we're talking in terms of one to two months to finish the off-site review."
Vail Associates' spokesman Paul Witt said, "We support the Forest Service's latest statements. We still anticipate being able to start work this summer."
Thompson told White River National Forest Service Supervisor, Sonny LaSalle, the expansion can proceed without additional public hearings. "Public involvement associated with preparation of the environmental impact statement has been extensive, spanning nearly three years," he said.
Environmental groups have appealed the approval (CMC did not join the appeal), saying the Forest Service has given carte blanche to ski expansions and exacerbated growth problems along the Interstate 70 corridor.
"Does this make sense, given everything that is happening along the Vail corridor?" asked Ted Zukowski of the Land and Water Fund, which appealed the decision to expand Vail.
"It's going to be one more straw on the camel's back. To say you have no off-site effect is wildly incorrect."
LaSalle said, "We haven't given carte blanche to the ski industry. Vail's
original proposal had significantly more trails, lifts, and grading. We
modified things considerably."
In last November's elections, CMC supported Amendment 16 which was to change the operations of the State Land Board making way for the protection of natural areas and critical wildlife habitat. The Amendment was passed. However, a federal court order to stop Amendment 16 from taking effect has left the State Land Board in limbo.
Attorneys for three rural Colorado school districts persuaded a federal judge to temporarily stop the state from adopting Amendment 16.
The court order came less than three hours after Gov. Romer signed the amendment into law, implementing changes in how the State Land Board manages 3 million acres of school trust lands.
The school districts argued that the amendment, approved in a statewide
election November 5, will harm public schools, which receive $25 million a year
from leases and sales of school trust lands.
A new wilderness information website using a model called "Wilderness Information Network," (WIN) is being developed as part of a cooperative agreement between the University of Montana Wilderness Institute, the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Institute, the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center and the U.S. Forest Service's Forests of Florida group. The website will provide access to state-of-the-art information about wilderness, including access to shared databases, such as Geographic Information Systems. Resources should come on-line throughout 1997 and the project will include developing and maintaining a series of links to other similar websites.
Recognizing that no single facility can provide an exhaustive archive of
wilderness information, early efforts will focus on identifying what types of
information the wilderness community desires the most. The project includes a
needs assessment of people interested in the scientific, educational, or
managerial aspects of wilderness use and management.
A questionnaire is available to those interested in accessing or using the site. The questionnaire is available by mail, or on a series of web pages on the WIN.
To access the WIN or to fill out the questionnaire that is included there, visit www.wilderness.net. An existing website that was created to provide a central place where scientific, managerial, political, or philosophical perspectives on wilderness can be presented can be found at http://150.131.101.6:80/people/borrie/wilderness/.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife is hanging "Wanted" posters for a scarce toad of great interest to biologists. Although the toads will be hibernating until spring, CDOW researchers want to make sure outdoor recreationists get a good idea of what the toads look like and are familiar with the effort to find more. The boreal toad is on the state endangered species list, and the CDOW is asking people who observe one to report the sighting to the agency.
Posters will be hung at trailheads, particularly in areas where the status of the toad is unknown, but it is likely to exist in such places as North Park and the Conejos River. Many stores where outdoor recreation equipment is sold will also have the posters, which are part of an overall effort to find new breeding sites, identify present distributions, and monitor breeding sites.
Any toad found above 8,000 feet is probably a boreal toad, the only toad indigenous to high elevations in the Rockies. The toads are easiest to find as tadpoles. They're jet black and optimize growth by lingering in the warmest spots of ponds (normally the northeast corner) in less than an inch of water. Toad tadpoles are easy to tell from frog tadpoles, which have eyes protruding from the margin of their heads. Adult toads are more terrestrial, more warty, and have drier skin than frogs.
If you spot a boreal toad during your outdoor adventures, report the
location to the CDOW office nearest you.
As promised in the last edition of Conservation Update, we continue our series on the principles of conservation biology with a discussion of "biodiversity."
So, just what is "biodiversity" anyway? Admittedly, it is a vague term. Even some of the world's top scientists agree that it is a difficult concept to explain. Generally speaking, biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth - the full array of living things and the natural processes with which they interact. Ok, so what does that mean?
Let's start with the concept of genes, the basic building blocks that make up every living thing. Different genes make up different species. And different groups of species make up populations, while different populations compose natural communities, which make up ecosystems. This is the assembly of life that took billions of years to evolve.
Unfortunately, we are loosing the elements of biological diversity at an alarming rate. From fossil records, scientists conclude that the natural rate of extinction is the loss of one species per millennium. Today however, the extinction rate is between one species per day to one species per hour!
Obviously, this loss of biodiversity is devastating to all life on our planet. Its continued loss will inevitably result in the loss in the collapse of the natural processes which sustain us humans - after all, we are also a part of the biological diversity of life. That is why so much of current conservation science is directed at preserving biodiversity. And from that need, the entire science of Conservation Biology has sprung.
For more general reading on this topic, we suggest The Diversity of Life, authored by E. O. Wilson. For a more technical review, we suggest Biodiversity, edited also by E.O. Wilson. In the next issue of Conservation Update we will explore habitat fragmentation: what is it and what are its effects?
(Thanks to the Nature Conservancy for part of this text.)
Why not make buying recycled products part of your New Year's resolution
for 1997. Recycled paper products such as toilet and facial tissue, napkins,
and paper towels are readily available at your local supermarket. And recycled
office paper for your photocopier, laser printer, or plain paper fax machine
can be purchased at almost any office warehouse store. Currently, the prices
for these items are slightly higher than for their non-recycled content
counterparts. However, if the demand for these products were greater, the
prices should go down.
February 8 - 10:00am - 3:00pm
Winter Trails Day at
Rocky Mountain National Park. Sponsored by the Continental Divide Trail
Alliance. Kawuneeche Visitor Center, Grand Lake, CO. For more info, contact
CDTA at (303) 838-3760.
February 28 - Deadline for comments on the Environmental
Assessment of Effect of the Fall River Gateway Visitor Center - Rocky Mountain
National Park.
Return to the Conservation page.
Last Modified April 20, 1997 by Keith Jensen .