From the Canyons

Joseph Canyon Potential Wilderness Area

2012-01-20T14:54:00.001-08:00

The Joseph Canyon Potential Wilderness Area, located in north Wallowa County on the Wallowa Whitman National Forest, includes approximately 40,221 acres of steep, remote canyon country. The "Potential Wilderness Area" boundary includes the Forest Service's official "Inventoried Roadless Area" boundary, plus the additional roadless lands that are contiguous with this boundary. While somewhat technical, the important point is that the Potential Wilderness Area best represents the total extent of the contiguous unroaded lands centered around Joseph Canyon that retain Wilderness quality. Joseph Canyon exemplifies the rugged topography of northeast Oregon's incredible canyon county, characterized by very steep canyons and grass-covered slopes interspersed with numerous exposed basalt layers.

Photo looking north into Swamp Creek toward its confluence with Joseph Creek. Note the fire scar from a 2010 grass fire. Large core habitat areas such as Joseph Canyon are the best remaining natural laboratories to observe the role of natural disturbance processes on unmanaged landscapes. Recent research indicates that large disturbances are a critical factor for ecosystems to adjust to changing climatic conditions.

The map below shows the Joseph Canyon Potential Wilderness Area mapped in orange. The area is fairly well-known, largely because of the Joseph Canyon Viewpoint, a highway pullout 30 miles north of Enterprise that overlooks the 2,000-foot depths of Joseph Canyon and is one of 38 sites that form the Nez Perce National Historical Park (http://www.nps.gov/nepe/index.htm). Joseph Creek drainage was an important travel route for the Nez Perce as they made their seasonal treks between their winter villages along the Grande Ronde and Snake Rivers and summer encampments throughout the Wallowa Valley. The name, "Joseph Canyon" is thought to be derived from the fact that the younger Chief Joseph was born in a cave in the Washington side of Joseph Canyon in Asotin County.

The Joseph Canyon Potential Wilderness Area is comprised of three main drainages: Swamp, Davis and Joseph Creeks. Joseph and Swamp Creeks are designated Wild and Scenic Rivers within the roadless area and the Joseph Canyon Creek system is home to a large population of native Snake River steelhead, listed as threatened under ESA in August 1998. Not shown on the map above is a large piece of BLM land that contains an additional 2 miles of Joseph Creek. This stretch of Joseph Creek on BLM land has been proposed for addition to the existing Wild and Scenic River Designation.

Joseph Canyon is renowned for wildlife and harbors old growth Ponderosa Pine woodlands. It includes the historic Chico Trail and has significant historical value that embraces all of the major peoples that have shaped the region; the Nez Perce Indians; pioneers and settlers, the Forest Service, and backcountry hunters and hikers. The trails have been used since time immemorial.
A recent group of hikers on the Chico Trail observing an old derelict phone line that extended between historic Forest Service Guard Stations, one at Sled Springs, and the other in Swamp Creek. Familes that lived in these remote guard stations hiked the same trails that the Nez Perce hiked to come and go into this remarkable country.

The Joseph Canyon Roadless Area adjoins the Nez Perce Precious Lands Wildlife Area to the north (see figure above and http://www.nezperce.org/Wolf/Exec_Summary.pdf). The Precious Lands are 15,000 acres of contiguous “roadless” lands including portions of Joseph Canyon and also adjoin to BLM and State lands to the north. Their protection significantly heightens the conservation value of the Joseph Canyon Roadless Area.

Efforts to gain the interest of U.S. Congressmen were successful in 1983 when the area was included as a part of HB 1149, a wilderness bill sponsored by Congressmen Weaver, Wyden, and AuCoin. It was not, however, included in the Senate version of the 1984 Oregon wilderness bill sponsored by Senator Hatfield.

Natural, ecological and scenic value: Joseph Canyon is a key travel corridor for many wildlife species between the remote Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness. This area provides escapement for elk, deer and bear during hunting seasons. Over half of this roadless area is within elk winter range and the northern part within Joseph Creek is used by a herd of bighorn sheep. The many rock cliffs provide nesting for avian species such as peregrine falcon, roosting sites for bats, and unique habitats for other wildlife species (e.g. cougars). Condor historically used Joseph Canyon and one of the historical Nez Perce names for the area was “Condor Canyon.” In addition to the breathtaking views from Joseph Canyon Viewpoint, numerous ridges offer both stunning views of the deep canyons and expansive vistas.

Solitude and recreation: Backcountry hunting, horse-back riding, hiking, scenic viewing and camping have long been popular in Joseph Canyon. The rugged country provides challenging opportunities in deep, remote canyons, separated by secluded ridge tops.

After climbing Starvation Ridge, hikers relax and enjoy the view into Swamp Creek.

Threats: Motorized recreation is the greatest threat to Joseph Canyon. It is imperative that the entire Potential Wilderness Area be safeguarded from motorized recreation. However, some alternatives have proposed designating the historic Chico Trail as a motorized route under the Wallowa-Whitman Travel Management Plan.

Solutions: Joseph Canyon is one of the most special landscapes on the entire Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and should be given Wilderness protection. The ongoing Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revisions requires evaluation of the Wilderness quality of all Potential Wilderness Areas and the opportunity for the Forest Service to recommend that Joseph Canyon be protected through Wilderness designation.

For more information about this awesome landscape please contact David Mildrexler at david@hellscanyon.org. Hells Canyon Preservation Council.

Boardman Coal Plant is Oregon's Largest Greenhouse Gas Emitter

2012-01-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

By Brian Kelly, Restoration Coordinator
Photo courtesy of Columbia Riverkeeper

I’ve been following the news about the Boardman coal plant ever since I found out that it pollutes the air over Hells Canyon. And the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the Strawberry Mountains as well, not to mention Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. The coal plant is Oregon’s largest stationary source of sulfur dioxide (acid rain) and nitrogen oxides (haze). It is the state’s second largest source of mercury pollution.

So it was not too surprising when the US Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that the Boardman coal-fired electric plant is also Oregon’s largest stationary source of greenhouse gasses.

In 2010, the plant released nearly 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the EPA. That’s about equal to the carbon emissions from 800,000 passenger vehicles during a year.

The good news is that the plant will stop burning coal by the end of the decade. Hells Canyon Preservation Council was a member of the coalition that brought about this important victory. Last summer, HCPC and our allies settled a lawsuit whereby the plant will stop burning coal by 2020, reduce pollution in the interim period, and fund environmental projects including restoration work in the Eagle Caps and Hells Canyon.

There are many other sources of carbon emissions. There is much work yet to be done to protect our planet from ourselves. But for today, I am grateful to read a new report about pollution and to know that we have begun to take care of a local part of the problem.

Reflections on No Snow

2012-01-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

It doesn't quite seem like January, with the lower hills all free of snow. Temperatures have been warm for this time of year, and I worry about summer drought. Promised snow showers have turned into brief rains. I'm not complaining about the sunshine - I love every minute of it in the dark of winter. The deer and elk have an easier time grazing, but I worry about ticks and other parasites being more of a problem for them this summer if we don't have our usual weeks of freezing cold.
Climate change may seem theoretical, but climate disruption is already taking a toll on wildlife here and around the world. In such a time of change, the concept of wildlife corridors and links becomes very vivid and real. Over and over scientists are warning of the importance of connected habitat for wildlife to be able to survive and thrive.

Looking at the Big Picture in 2012, HCPC will be bringing up the topic of connectivity in the national Forest Travel Management Plans and the Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision. Paying attention to the smaller details in 2012, HCPC will be bringing wildlife habitat and connectivity issues to bear on timber sales, energy development, and other projects.

It's gonna be a busy year. Or rather, another busy year (for a quick list of some of HCPC's accomplishments in 2011, click here).

With a new Executive Director (read about Darilyn here), the generous response from our members to our fall/winter drive, and the continued support of funders, HCPC is poised now to make a real impact in 2012 on the protection and restoration of these wild lands in this unique and special place that I am so lucky to call home.

- Danae Yurgel

Thoughts on Winter Solstice

2011-12-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

American Bison in Yellowstone National Park
Story and photo by Brian Kelly, Restoration Coordinator

Thousands of years ago, Celtic people built Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. Incredibly, they were able to orient these structures of massive stones to capture the rays of the rising sun on the Winter Solstice morning. Observance of the Winter Solstice must have captured the imagination of these people and held great importance to them.

Here in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21, 2011 at about 9:30 PM. During the Solstice, the northern part of the earth tilts farther away from the sun than at any other time of the year. So the days grow longer and the nights grow shorter as we head into spring and summer.

Thinking about the earth as a planet that tilts, rotates and revolves around the sun is a reminder that we are all travelling on one planet together. From that perspective, it's apparent we should all be working together to take care of our planet. Protecting and restoring this earth is like taking care of your home and your family and friends. It makes good sense and you feel good by doing it.

During the Winter Solstice, I like to reflect on the seasons that have past and look forward to the seasons yet to come. The natural cycles in the Blue Mountain region are spectacular in their diversity as the seasons unfold. Skiing the powder snow of the Elkhorn Range in winter, gazing at the velvet-green slopes of Hells Canyon in the spring, sitting in the cool shade of a ponderosa pine in the summer heat, and hiking in the red and gold leaves of autumn are all vivid in my memory. We take these seasonal changes for granted. But when you stop to think about it, the intricate web of life that is expressed in each of these seasons is truly incredible.

The Winter Solstice marks an important point during the cycle of seasons. As we travel through the seasons and as we travel through space on our planet, it’s wise for us to keep in touch with the natural rhythms of life on earth. And it’s a graceful life that moves to the rhythm of nature.

I wish you the best of all of the seasons to come.

HCPC attends AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco

2011-12-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

Over 21,000 scientists from all over the world gathered at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco Dec. 4 – 9th. I was fortunate to be able to attend and present my work on satellite based detection of large-scale ecological disturbances and studies of global skin temperature, or land surface temperature. Attendees of the 2011 Fall AGU meeting traverse between three buildings making up the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. Coming from La Grande Oregon, where the sidewalks are generally close to empty, it was exhilarating moving with a massive wave of people into the city for dinner at the end of the day.

I listened to presentations on global bioenergy capacity, treeline migration, global die-offs of trees, improving communication on climate change, the impact of drought and floods on the Amazon, challenges for feeding the world, and much more. I also got away from all the technical talk and listed to Simon Winchester tell stories about his own life, and heard presentations about the life’s work of prominent historic scientists, such as John Tyndall. John Tyndall was the first person to demonstrate that greenhouse gases absorb radiant heat in the laboratory in 1850, and then even recognized the implications of this discovery for effecting global climate. It makes one reflect on why we have come so far down this global warming path when we have had this fundamental information for so long.

While on the topic of troubling Earth system indicators, I listened to a prominent scientist describe his work with many others quantifying our exceeding of three of nine planetary systems considered in the study; Biodiversity, the Nitrogen Cycle, and Climate Change. We are now well outside the range of anything humans have ever experienced for these factors and rapidly changing most of the other factors, such as ocean chemistry.

On the lighter side, I dug an unwanted plant from an area of Golden Gate Park that is being managed to feel like an ancient forest. It was fun to get outside and do some physical work. It's worth noting that almost the entire park is exotic species because it was originally established on the beach sand dune environment. There were some native oak trees however, which can still be found growing there today.
Helping restore an ancient forest feel in the tree fern forest of Golden Gate Park during one of the AGU Fall Meeting events. I couldn't beleive how easy it was too dig in the soil compared to the rocky soil at my Eagle Cap cabin!

As I sat listening to the big changes that are already underway on Earth due to climate change and the unbelievably large-scale shifts in biomes that are expected because of impending climate change, I couldn’t help think of our conservation work. I for one, am very attached to the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, and even to little things such as the smell of a Douglas-fir plant community type in mid-summer, or the way light penetrates through the canopy at different times of the day. It is not easy to picture such big changes in our local Wilderness area. But I think it’s important that we get ahead of the curve and highlight the value of our current reserve system such as Wilderness areas, Roadless Areas, National Parks, National Recreation Areas, etc., as the best places we have to accommodate large shifts in the biotic community, mainly facilitated through natural disturbance processes. These are the only landscapes where these big changes can occur in a relatively natural way and I think there is real value in that from a conservation perspective. And through it all, large protected areas will still be areas where future generations can get into big open country, where solitude can be found, and a natural world can be observed, be it including novel ecosystems for which we have no historical counterpart. The entire National Forest System and Public Lands base is pretty well connected in many parts of the western U.S. and will serve as a corridor to the extent that our management allows for. I think this should be a key objective of the entire Public Lands base, as protecting connectivity of the landscape is the single most important thing we can do to aid plants and animals in adapting to climate change.

Other interesting factoids on our food production system:
1. Our food production system is responsible for 35% of total carbon dioxide pollution! In fact the rapid increases in global land use change (agricultural expansion), population growth and the increase in fossil fuel consumption are all very tightly coupled.
2. 40% of the Earth’s population is switching to a meat centered diet, creating a huge shift toward greater demand on global resources as the caloric benefit received from the meat is far less than the calories used to grow the meat. Particularly problematic is beef due to its water consumption and the massive amount of land allocated to grow corn for cows that isn't even edible.
3. Soybeans and cattle production continue to result in a one-two punch of destruction to the Amazon rainforest.

post by David Mildrexler, Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator

Settlement Agreement is a Victory for Threatened Fish and the Walla Walla Roadless Area

2011-12-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

Press Release, December 5, 2011

Contact: Jennifer Schwartz, Staff Attorney, 541-963-3950x23 or jennifer@hellscanyon.org

Hells Canyon Preservation Council and the U.S. Forest Service reached an agreement, approved in federal court today, that commits the government to determining whether motorized vehicle use along the upper reaches of the Walla Walla River is impairing the recovery of steelhead and bull trout populations, both of which are listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

For decades the Forest Service has allowed off-highway vehicles "OHVs" (motorcycles and in some areas all-terrain vehicles like quads) to use trails adjacent to the North and South Forks of the Walla Walla River. "The Forest Service has expanded the motorized trail network, which now spans over 100 miles, in some of the best, un-roaded fish and wildlife habitat in the region without carefully examining the environmental consequences, including the unauthorized use happening off of established trails" said Jennifer Schwartz, Staff Attorney for the Council. "The Walla Walla River watershed is an ecological stronghold, encompassing crucial winter range for big game, old-growth forest stands, and deeply incised canyons that provide critical aquatic habitat for bull trout and Mid-Columbia River steelhead." Under the agreement, the Forest Service will thoroughly assess the impacts of motorized use in the area and refrain from constructing any additional motorized trails until it complies with the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

The Walla Walla River Roadless Area is surrounded by other large tracts of roadless habitat and the congressionally designated Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness—offering rare opportunities for wide-ranging animals like elk, black bear, cougar, lynx, wolves, and wolverine to travel within a well-connected natural landscape.

The government has recognized since 1972 that OHV use on public lands is “in frequent conflict with wise land and resource management practices, environmental values, and other types of recreational activity.” Executive Order 11644. Today's high-powered motorized vehicles can penetrate deeper into backcountry areas that were previously inaccessible due to technological limitations. OHVs can negatively affect natural resources, from disturbing and displacing wildlife, to trampling native plants, to destroying wet meadows and spreading noxious weeds. This lawsuit focused on OHV impacts to water quality and aquatic habitat through soil rutting, erosion and compaction, the removal of streamside vegetation, and the loss of streambank stability, all of which can lead to increased surface runoff, sedimentation, elevated water temperatures, and the introduction of oil, grease, and other pollutants into public waterbodies.

"Today's agreement marks a critical step toward ensuring the health of our waters, native fish populations, and the biological integrity and quiet enjoyment of our remaining roadless, wild lands," said Schwartz.

###

Hells Canyon Preservation Council is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the Hells Canyon-Wallowa and Blue Mountain ecosystems.

Top photo courtesy of David Mildrexler: depicting damage to wet meadow from unauthorized OHV use emanating from the Walla Walla River motorized trail network.

Bottom photo courtesy of Jennifer Schwartz: depicting unauthorized use by full-size ATVs (quads) alongside South Fork Walla Walla River and within river's floodplain.

Buying Bewilderment

2011-12-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

Outside the wind is sharp, snowcold. The last of the deciduous leaves are blowing, swirling, dancing in the wind. Fall is turning now to winter. Watching the wind sculpt leaves into whirlwind shapes, I am thinking of Mystery.

Mystery was the first of the Big Three Essentials Gary Ferguson talked about in his keynote speech at the Fall Gala, and in many ways the hardest, at least for me, to talk about. Somehow it is easier for me to talk about words like Community and Beauty. With all the emphasis HCPC has on bringing the latest and best science to public lands management, Mystery may seem foreign, out of place, belonging to a different world. From my perspective, though, Mystery is at the heart of science.

Mystery is about what we don’t know, what we yet don’t understand. It’s the questions we don’t have the answers to. And it is in questions where science begins. Science doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, and certainly not immutable ones. Science tests hypothesis after hypothesis; gathers information, shakes it all up, and then looks for patterns.

At its best, science does not confuse the descriptions of the patterns we see with the actual reality. Science is content to say “this is our best understanding at this time”. Science lives side by side with the unknown and the unknowable, comfortable within its own limits. Humble even.

Humility seems to be required by both Mystery and Science, along with wonder, amazement, and delight.

I am still amazed that trees breathe in the carbon dioxide that would poison us, and breathe out the oxygen we need. I am still delighted that the chlorophyll in leaves is so similar to the hemoglobin in my blood, one centered around copper, the other centered around iron. I am still struck with wonder that a gigantic tree can grow from such a tiny seed.

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” – Rumi

This quote is what Gary Ferguson chose to wrap up his keynote speech. I think of cleverness not only as the antithesis of bewilderment but also of humility, of that open place where journeys begin.

There’s no need to pretend we have all the answers. We start with where we are, do the best we can with what we know, seek to learn more as science makes available more knowledge, and move forward with this vital work to protect, defend, restore, and love these wild places we call home.

Begin with Mystery, and bewilderment. Be wilder.

- Danae Yurgel

Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Legislation Introduced in Congress

2011-11-28T15:53:00.000-08:00

Hells Canyon Preservation Council is pleased to endorse the Rural Economic Vitalization Act of 2011 (HR 3432), a bill that promotes recovery of native ecosystems, saves taxpayer funds, and provides financial assistance to federal grazing permittees and lessees for voluntarily retiring public lands livestock grazing permits.

Help reclaim our public wild lands from livestock grazing by telling your representatives to support the Rural Economic Vitalization Act (H.R. 3432)!

Press release follows:

November 16, 2011

Bill would Provide Cash Option for Grazing Permittees

Conservationists hailed the introduction of the Rural Economic Vitalization Act (H.R. 3432) in Congress today, a bill that would allow federal grazing permittees to voluntarily relinquish their grazing permits back to the managing federal agency in exchange for compensation paid by a third party. The bill was introduced by Representative Adam Smith (D-WA-9th) and six original cosponsors.

“When enacted, this legislation will help resolve endless conflict on public lands, while providing ranchers with opportunities to restructure their operations, start new businesses, or retire with security,” said Mike Hudak, author of Western Turf Wars: The Politics of Public Lands Ranching and leader of the Sierra Club Grazing Team.

Domestic livestock grazing is the most pervasive and damaging use of federal public lands. On public land across the West, millions of non-native livestock remove and trample vegetation, damage soil, spread invasive weeds, despoil water, deprive native wildlife of forage and shelter, accelerate desertification and even contribute to global warming.

Unfortunately, antiquated federal law generally prohibits closing grazing allotments to benefit fish, wildlife and watersheds. The Rural Economic Vitalization Act would authorize federal agencies to permanently retire grazing permits if requested by ranchers.

“Grazing permit retirement has been implemented in a few places around the West with marked success, but there is much greater need—and demand from ranchers—to retire grazing permits,” said Mark Salvo of WildEarth Guardians.

One landscape that has benefited from grazing permit retirement is the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem where grazing allotments have been closed to reduce conflicts with wolves, grizzly bears and bighorn sheep, and to expand winter range for bison outside Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone bison, the last remaining genetically pure wild herd in the U.S., are subject to intensive management and control based on the irrational fear that they will transmit disease to domestic livestock.

“Bison are hazed, captured, shot and slaughtered to protect grazing interests on public land in Yellowstone country,” said Josh Osher of the Buffalo Field Campaign. “REVA is the tool we need to finally, permanently address these conflicts.”

In addition to being the source of immeasurable environmental harm, the federal grazing program is a fiscal boondoggle for federal taxpayers. The Government Accountability Office reported that the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service annually spend $132.5 million on grazing management, but collect only $17.5 million in grazing fees for a net loss to taxpayers of $115 million.

“We want to save public lands and do our part to solve the deficit,” said Brian Ertz of Western Watersheds Project. “We just need Congressional approval to buy out willing ranchers and retire their grazing permits.”

Grazing permit retirement is a voluntary, non-regulatory, market-based solution to public lands grazing conflicts. Permittees determine if and when they want to retire their grazing permits. Permittees and third parties separately agree how much a permittee will be paid for relinquishing their permit. And federal agencies facilitate the transaction by immediately retiring grazing permits received from a permittee. The Rural Economic Vitalization Act caps the total number of grazing permits that may be retired each year at 100.

“This is a win-win-win for ranchers, the environment, and taxpayers,” said Rose Chilcoat of Great Old Broads for Wilderness. “Let’s pass this bill so that we can finally take some common sense steps to ensure healthy public lands.

# # #

See also the press release from the office of Rep. Adam Smith:
http://adamsmith.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=269150

Antelope Ridge Wind Power Project Update

2011-11-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

Wind turbines near the proposed Antelope Ridge Wind Power Project

Story & photo by Brian Kelly, Restoration Coordinator for HCPC

It’s been a very interesting week in the world of Pacific Northwest wind power proposals. Here in northeast Oregon, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) and the developer EDP Renewables jointly announced that they had resolved most of the wildlife objections previously raised by ODFW over the Antelope Ridge Wind Power Project. This agreement likely moves the application one step further down review process. However, Hells Canyon Preservation Council will continue to advocate for the strongest possible wildlife protections during the review of the project application.

The agreement between ODFW and EDP Renewables is the product of months of mediated negotiations set up by Governor Kitzhaber. It’s now up to the Oregon Department of Energy to create a “Draft Proposed Order” for the Antelope Ridge Project. At that point, members of the public may raise issues or objections during the “Public Hearings” phase of the process. So while the accord between ODFW and EDP is a significant development in the application process to permit the construction of Antelope Ridge, it is still a long ways from being completed.

I have begun to read through the eight new documents about Antelope Ridge that were released this week. It’s complicated. It will take some time to adequately research this new information. However, here are some of my initial impressions of these agreements.

· Overall, wildlife protections are significantly weaker than those in ODFW’s earlier comments on Antelope Ridge.

· The project would be built in two phases. Up to 100 turbines would be built in phase 1. Unfortunately, phase 1 turbines include those closest to the crest of Craig Mountain and flyways for eagles, hawks and other birds.

· Phase 2 would only be constructed after completion of a multiple year big game monitoring study.

· ODFW and EDP Renewables were unable to come to consensus regarding property to be acquired for mitigation of wildlife impacts from the wind project.

· An “Incidental Take Permit” for the killing of bald eagles by turbines would recommended rather than required.

· Golden eagle issues will be addressed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and not by ODFW.

· An Avian and Bat Protection Plan will be developed between USFWS and EDP Renewables and not by ODFW.

USFWS will play an important role as protections for golden eagles and the Avian and Bat Protection Plan are developed.

Hells Canyon Preservation Council will continue to play an important role in advocating for wildlife protections as public review of the Antelope Ridge project develops. HCPC led a coalition of conservation groups in submitting comments to Oregon Department of Energy advocating for strong wildlife protections in December 2010. I also spoke about these concerns when I addressed the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council at a public meeting in early 2011. We will keep you informed about the Antelope Ridge project and future opportunities for you to comment during the “Public Hearings” phase of the process.

Renewable energy is a very good thing. The earth’s future hangs in the balance over how well we are able to conserve energy and develop clean energy production. However, renewable energy projects must be located on appropriate sites, and wildlife and their habitat must be protected in the process. We will continue to advocate for appropriate renewable energy but we will continue to insist that wildlife are not sacrificed in the process.

There is ample cause for concern about impacts to wildlife from the Antelope Ridge Wind Energy Project. EDP Renewables has applied to install 164 turbines over 47,000 acres of private land in the hills just south of the Grande Ronde Valley. (Horizon Wind Energy was the subsidiary of EDP Renewables that filed the application).

According to ODFW’s earlier comments, “The Project is one of the first wind power projects in Oregon proposed to be sited in critical big game winter range and very productive wildlife habitat, resulting in the construction of a large industrial structure that negatively affects Oregon’s wildlife.”

Antelope Ridge would be built immediately north of EDP’s existing Elkhorn Valley wind facility where four golden eagles have been found dead since May 2009, presumably killed by wind turbines. Since Antelope Ridge would be larger and located closer to eagle nesting areas, the likelihood of more golden eagle deaths is high, according to US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Burrowing owls, Swainson’s hawk, and red-tailed hawks nest within the project area. Four species of bats have been identified as well. The sensitive plant species Doulas clover and Oregon semaphore grass grow in the project area.

Antelope Ridge would be constructed just south of Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area, northeast Oregon’s largest remaining wetland. It would be about a dozen miles west of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Forests, sagebrush /grasslands and wetlands provide key wildlife habitat in the project area. Wildlife travel through the project area, and it’s an important wildlife connectivity corridor. In fact, the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group has identified the area as an important habitat link between the essential habitats of the Wallowa Mountains and the Blue Mountains.

There was also news about other Pacific Northwest wind power projects this week. In western Washington, the Radar Ridge project was cancelled over concerns about the marbled murrelet, a threatened seabird. Also this week, in southeast Oregon two wind projects were withdrawn from the unique and important Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area. A third project and a transmission line proposal for the Steens Mountain area still pose threats to eagles and sage-grouse of that region, however. Nevertheless, it is promising to say goodbye to these projects that harm wildlife. When faced with harmful energy development projects, HCPC will continue to provide a voice for wildlife. It's a privilege to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

HCPC Brings Balance to Cove Fuels Reduction: Protects Old Growth, and Roadless Forests

2011-11-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

HCPC has been engaged in efforts to bring balance to a fuels reduction proposal on National Forest Lands near Cove, Oregon for two years. These remarkable public lands consist of towering multi-canopied old growth forests, extensive roadless forests that harbor salmon bearing streams, mountain hemlock stands rare to Eastern Oregon, and two Research Natural Areas where the natural processes of forest ecosystems are studied for the benefit of current and future generations (see photos below). However, other parts of the project area have been heavily logged and roaded- there was even a historic logging project up Indian Creek called "Nightmare!" That's why we think it is so important that the next management step we take in this area is positive for the forests, streams, wildlife, wildlands, and people that love these wonderful treasures.

When it comes to fuels reduction, HCPC supports work that protects communities and firefighters and also protects the areas outstanding natural values. To this end we are thrilled that HCPC reached an agreement with the Forest Service resulting in the following modifications to the proposal.
1. Eliminates 413 acres of commercial logging in old growth forests.
2. Drops or changes to non-commercial all commercial harvest (618 acres) from designated “Backcountry” areas.
3. Reduces temporary road building from 2 miles to less than .5 miles.
4. Buffers the Eagle Cap Wilderness from commercial logging and road building.
5. Protects the integrity of Castle Ridge Potential Wilderness Area.
6. With the exception of work needed for resource protection, drops the proposed road reconstruction on the 6220 road north of Moss Springs and the associated rock quarry expansion.
7. Drops proposed boundary change to the Point Prominence Research Natural Area.
8. A monitoring plan will be developed to better understand effects of the remaining treatments in old growth forests.
With these changes, the proposal now protects the incredible natural resources on National Forest lands near Cove, Oregon, while moving forward with important fuels reduction work that will improve community and firefighter safety. Here are a some pictures of this incredible area.
This view is from the Dunns Bluff Inventoried Roadless area looking into the heart of the Castle Ridge Inventoried Roadless Area. HCPC has asked that the special rock outcroppings known as monadnocks be considered for designation as a Geological Area in the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision Process. While much more subtle from the Grande Ronde Valley, these formations can be seen from several vantage points.

This photo of Indian Creek within the Castle Ridge Roadless Area shows the features that allow this beautiful stream to support salmon; large downed wood, gravelly stream bottom, and shading from the riparian vegetation that cools water temperatures.

A mystical waterfall on Indian Creek within the Castle Ridge Roadless area and near the Indian Creek Research Natural Area. Finding treasures like this when your exploring the backcountry is absolutely priceless and helps us to connect to the beauty of world that we are part of.

It's not all a pretty picture in the Castle Ridge Roadless area though, as the Breshears OHV trail cuts through the heart of the roadless area (next photo), diminishing habitat security for wildlife, and degrading the aquatic integrity of the area (second photo below).

The Indian Creek Research Natural Area includes climax lodgepole pine forests, unique rock outrcoppings, the headwaters of Indian Creek and much more. The role these Research Natural Areas play in wildlife connectivity needs to be better considered in future planning of this area. While political boundaries might distinguish the Research Natural Area from the directly adjacent Eagle Cap Wilderness, try telling that to a marten, lynx, or wolverine, that need all of this habitat, together, to survive.
The Point Prominence Research Natural Area protects these high elevation mountain hemlock forests that only exist in eastern Oregon in scattered pockets. Some high elevation plant communties are predicted to be casualties of global warming because they cannot shift their range to higher elevations in order to adjust to the rising temperature. Will these Mountain Hemlock forests be lost from the Wallowas? These are the types of questions that should be studied in Research Natural Areas.

Thank you for everything you did to help us protect this part of our National Forest right here in our backyard!!

Post by David Mildrexler, Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator Hells Canyon Preservation Council

Celebrating

2011-11-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

It's November now, and the snow is falling outside my window. Two weeks ago, the hawthorne and serviceberry were blazing red, the aspens and maple were glittering gold, and the members, friends and supporters of Hells Canyon Preservation Council gathered together to celebrate another year.

For the 2011 Gala, the celebration included presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award to long time local activist Loren Hughes, and adding Greg Dyson, HCPC Executive Director 2006-2011, to the HCPC Hall of Fame.

This year, with the transitions of HCPC staff (Greg Dyson and Renee Tkach) leaving, increased challenges on forestry and wildlife issues, unsettled political climate, and an unsettled climate, I found the Gala Keynote speech by Gary Ferguson a much need reminder of why I work at HCPC.

He spoke of wilderness as expressing the basic concept of democracy.

He encouraged us to develop "the ability to live with questions".

He talked about the importance of stories of relationship - not stories of conquering - not stories of fear.

He said that throughout the world, over and over again, what shows up in every culture and tradition as what we need to live, is Mystery, Community, and Beauty.

He asked us to give a chance for beauty, community with all life, and mystery, to the young who are growing up now and in the future, in a world with increasingly less of all three.

Quotes from Gary's speech:

"Keep an active relationship with beauty"

"Celebrate the mysterious"
"Let the beauty find us and pull us where we need to go"

"Let the beauty flow through us"

"Maintain your love of life in difficult times"

The practice of hope, I think, is not an indulgence, nor a luxury, but a discipline. It is work, and hard work at that. I read once that hope is not the wish that things will get better, but the certainty that working to make it so is the only path that makes sense.

So forward into the fray, dear friends, together, in Community, with Beauty, and celebrating Mystery.

- Danae Yurgel

HCPC Files Opening Argument in Livestock Grazing "Categorical Exclusion" Case

2011-10-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

As previously reported, HCPC filed suit last winter to protect close to a half-million acres spanning three of eastern Oregon's National Forests--the Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla, and Malheur--from the negative effects of livestock grazing. This past week, we filed our opening argument in the federal District Court of Oregon challenging the Forest Service's abuse of its authority under a 2005 Appropriations Rider by exempting the renewal of 10-year grazing permits for large, contiguous blocks of land from full environmental review and the public participation process.

These public lands contain a variety of special resource conditions that demand a thorough effects analysis. Some are located within areas Congress set aside for heightened protection such as the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, and the corridors of the Imnaha and North Fork John Day Wild & Scenic Rivers, and all contain a multitude of federally threatened or sensitive fish, wildlife, and native plant species, unique habitats and already water-quality impaired streams.

In fact the agency's abuse was so widespread in regards to the Umatilla National Forest that it categorically excluded from environmental review livestock grazing on close to one-quarter of this 1.4 million-acre National Forest (comprising nearly all of the Heppner Ranger District on the Forest's west end, See Heppner District map below). The lands and sensitive waterbodies at issue in this case have been grazed by livestock for over a century, but in most cases the Forest Service has never conducted a thorough review of the negative, and potentially significant, environmental effects to the many special resources that inhabit these areas.

The Forest Service's response to our arguments is due mid-December. Several of the livestock producers that hold grazing permits for these public lands have also hired attorneys to intervene in the case and argue against the government's need to conduct a full and public environmental analysis.

We hope to resolve this case by early next year to ensure these special areas and resources get the overdue protection they deserve. Stay tuned for future updates!

Staff Attorney, Jennifer Schwartz

"The Last Mountain" in La Grande

2011-10-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

By Brian Kelly, HCPC Restoration Coordinator

Photo of Oregon's only coal-fired electric plant at Boardman (photo courtesy of Columbia Riverkeeper).

Coming soon to a theatre near HCPC is fascinating film about coal in America. The Last Mountain tells the story of people in rural Appalachia fighting back against a large energy corporation bent on destroying a mountain to feed the hunger for coal.

“Mountain Top Removal” is a process where mountains are literally blown apart with dynamite to expose seams of coal. Forests are destroyed forever. Creeks are obliterated and the valleys downstream flooded. Wildlife habitat is gone. Local people suffer from high rates of cancer and autism. The explosives used each week equal the force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. And all of this goes on today right here in the United States of America.

People outraged over environmental and social destruction in Appalachia organized at the grassroots level and began non-violent resistance against the Massey Energy Corporation. The corporation seems to buy politicians and ignore the law with impunity. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got involved and has helped the local activists in their fight against the corporate giant. The Last Mountain http://thelastmountainmovie.com/film/ tells this story cinematically and in a compelling way.

I am pleased to be a member of a panel discussion that will follow the screening of The Last Mountain on Friday, October 21 at 5:30 PM at the Granada Theatre, 1311 Adams Avenue in La Grande.

I will be proud to speak about HCPC’s success in stopping the burning of coal at Oregon’s only coal-fired electric plant near Boardman. The Boardman coal plant has been shown to pollute the air over the Eagle Cap and Hells Canyon Wilderness Areas. The plant is Oregon’s largest stationary source of acid rain causing sulfur dioxide and haze producing nitrogen oxides. It is the state’s second largest source of mercury pollution. HCPC and our allies recently settled a lawsuit whereby the plant will stop burning coal by 2020, reduce pollution in the interim period, and fund environmental projects including restoration work in the Eagle Caps and Hells Canyon.

The panel discussion will focus on energy production and use as well as what people can do at the local level to conserve energy and promote renewable energy.

The Last Mountain will be shown as part of The Eastern Oregon Film Festival http://eofilmfest.com

The film is sponsored by Oregon Rural Action http://oregonrural.org/ .

Objection period open on Cove II WUI Project

2011-10-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Cove II Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Project Environmental Assessment has been released for public comment beginning the “Objection Period.” This project is a little different than others because it’s a Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) project, which is executed under a streamlined process. These projects are supposed to follow the Forest Plan while reducing fuels in ecologically appropriate areas in order to protect at-risk communities. Unfortunately, the Forest Service has taken a rogue approach with the Cove II WUI project, which proposes no less than four amendments to the Forest Plan for 1) logging in Late Old Structure (old growth) that is below historic range of variability, 2) logging in allocated old growth, 3) Relocation of Research Natural Area Boundary, 4) Logging in Management Area 6, Backcountry. In addition to these well-known extremely controversial aspects of the Cove II WUI proposal, the proposal would log in more roadless forests than any proposal I have seen over the past 3 years of monitoring timber sales across Northeast Oregon.

HCPC has gone above and beyond our duty to communicate with the Forest Service about these concerns, sending numerous correspondences to the Agency based on sophisticated GIS analysis, field work, and extensive review of the proposal in light of the peer-reviewed literature, in addition to our official comments. So far these comments have resulted in very little changes to the proposed action. In addition HCPC has hosted two public presentations on this project, one in La Grande and one in Cove. Local concerns are very high regarding logging in old growth and roadless forests for the purpose of extending backcountry fire suppression tactics further across the landscape than they have ever been, in contradiction to the best available science in numerous ways.

Presentation on Cove II WUI, Sept. 2011, Cove Oregon.

Whereas the original Cove WUI project was focused in the lower to mid-elevation forests of Mill Creek, near the community of Cove, the Cove II WUI proposal extends across a much larger landscape threatening National Forest resources at an alarming scale. Allen et al. (2002) states that restoration should be aimed at resetting ecosystem trends toward an envelope of “natural variability.” They caution that “impatience, overreaction to crown fire risks, extractive economics, or hubris could lead to widespread application of highly intrusive treatments that may further damage forest ecosystems.” This is exactly what the Cove II WUI proposed action threatens to do.

On a recent field trip to the Cove II WUI project area, we visited two timber sale units. One was a moist old growth forest with a closed canopy providing unique wildlife habitat for species such as marten, goshawk, and pileated woodpecker. This forest type is below its historic range of variability in the project area due to previous logging. The old growth unit is contiguous with the Castle Ridge Roadless Area and within potential Wilderness. The proposed action would commercially thin this unit, and also log heavily in patches, punching holes into the this multi-layered closed forest canopy. In these areas the Forest Service will plant their "desired species."

Cool moist old growth grand fir forest that is contiguous with the Castle Ridge Inventoried Roadless Area and designated as potential wilderness by the Forest Service slated for commercial thinning, and patch cut openings under Cove II WUI.

Tractors will be used to log in some of these rare old growth stands causing long-term soil damage, risking spread of invasive weeds, and the feeling of primeval forest, lost. Commercial logging will ruin potential wilderness quality. The Forest Service uses arm-waving regarding fire suppression tactics to attempt to justify these actions. Meanwhile the peer-reviewed science has pounded nails so tight into the coffin of these outdated ideas of commercially logging our last remaining old growth that these actions must be viewed as an excuse to log. Next we visited another moist forest unit that was previously heavily logged. HCPC did not have issues with the proposed logging in this previously logged area, which comprises the majority of the Cove II WUI project area units.

The Cove WUI II Project should protect the community and firefighters and also protect the areas outstanding natural values, especially the moist old growth forests that are rare due to extensive previous logging, the roadless forests that provide high quality wildlife habitat, and the Eagle Cap Wilderness that should be buffered from any logging activities. The proposed action does not achieve this balance and threatens old growth moist forests and roadless forests with tractors and logging, and road building directly adjacent to Oregon's largest Wilderness area. The Forest Service should respect the key conservation issue shared by the vast majority of Oregonians, to protect our last remaining old growth and roadless forests, while moving forward with the fuels reduction in previously logged forested areas.

by David Mildrexler

Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator

Hells Canyon Preservation Council

Where The Wild Things Are, and Are Not

2011-09-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

"There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot." - Aldo Leopold

Two mornings ago I saw a live porcupine ambling along the side of a backroad. It was the first live porcupine I had seen in years. I worry that we will turn around one day and the porcupines will be gone. I used to see them several times in the fall and spring, twenty years ago. You'd see at least 4 or 5 porcupine carcasses in the road back then pretty much every year. Then there were 1 or 2 carcasses a year, and then maybe 1 every couple years, and no sign of live porcupines. I am inordinately glad to see a live porcupine again, and wished it well.

That same morning I saw a mature bald eagle on the Grande Ronde River just south of Elgin. Seemed early in the year to see one there - usually they show up mid to late winter on that stretch of the river, at least for the last few years. Before that, it was more unusual to see one, and in my lifetime, bald eagles were on the verge of extinction. I love seeing them return again to these rivers.

The ospreys are off the nest now on the boxes I check on my way towards La Grande. Every summer now I watch the young, so grateful for the nest boxes put up for the ospreys to use. Watching the return of ospreys to the Grande Ronde and Indian Valleys celebrates a genuine success story for the return of another native species back from the edge of oblivion.

Wildlife asks so little to survive and thrive - putting up a nest box, stopping use of DDT, slowing down when we drive through a wildlife corridor, leaving some snags when we log, planting some native shrubs and wildflowers - often no more than a small margin of tolerance and forbearance.

Since I was little, I have been one of those Aldo Leopold talked about, when he wrote there are some who cannot live without wild things. In the 7th grade I read Sand County Almanac for the first time, and fell in love with his words. It seemed he spoke for me.

Today, I mourn for wild things.

I was glad when wolves first returned to Oregon, and delighted when the first pups were born to the Imnaha pack. I listened at night, hopeful of hearing the howl I have never heard in this county.

Today, I mourn three times over.

I mourn the loss of two individual wolves of the Imnaha pack. Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, late last Friday, announced they were going to kill two of the remaining four wolves of the Imnaha pack.

I mourn the loss of the pack - one of the wolves they will kill is the collared alpha male, and the other is the sole remaining sub-adult. Killing the alpha male and the other hunting adult of what is now such a small pack is killing the pack as an entity. The Imnaha pack, the first wolf pack in Oregon since wolves were hunted out in the 1900's, will be no more.

I mourn the loss of the pup, who in all probability will not survive the winter without a pack to hunt for it. And especially I mourn for B-300, the collared alpha female who swam the Snake River from Idaho to reach Oregon, and started the successful return of wolves to Oregon. Wolves mate for life - and seldom if ever accept lone wolves into their pack. It will be just her and the pup, and then just her - and it breaks my heart.

Wolves, like all wildlife, require that margin of human tolerance and forbearance to survive. There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. For those of us who cannot, that margin is one we embrace. Unfortunately, those who can live without wild things are determining that all of us will live without them as well.

"Wilderness is not the wide open spaces, but the wild things that fill it." - Chris Morgan

I mourn the loss of wilderness in this corner of the wild that I love so very much.

- Emily Denio

2011-09-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

It is the dry season right now - between summer and fall, a door hinge, a time between. Undergrowth crackles and crunches, making a field mouse sound like a herd of elk. The birds are mostly silent in the mornings - a very occasional call from a flicker, once in a while the last lone meadowlark. Swallows and bluebirds flocked and left almost a month ago now. The tiny spring peeper frogs are living in my flower pots (which mostly have chives and mint instead of flowers but do get regular water). Yellowjackets and hornets are terribly aggressive in this too dry too hot September, and swarm anything with sugar, salt, or a drop of moisture. Smoke hazes the morning and colors the setting sun an unsettling shade of orange as wildfires small and large burn here and across Oregon and Idaho.
It is a time of change, of transformation. I wait for rain, think of rain, dream of rain. I wait.

- Danae Yurgel
writing from the breaks between the Minam and Grande Ronde Rivers

Ways of Change

2011-08-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

When there's enough momentum behind it, change can be swift. But this is rare the world over. So I, and others like me, accept that the change we bring about is often slow-coming and incremental. We celebrate small victories for the resources we care about: old growth units dropped from a timber sale; a pristine, backcountry meadow spared from the introduction of livestock; the conversion of a 40,000-acre chunk of forest into a play area for off-highway vehicles halted; and a couple wolves live to roam free another day.

Appreciating the value of these small victories doesn't mean we're not also searching for opportunities to effect change on a bigger scale and seizing those opportunities when they arise. We advocate for permanent protection, of the highest order afforded under our system of laws, for our last remaining roadless country. We demand land management plans, like our regional Blue Mountain Forest Plan revision (which will govern what happens on over 5.5 million acres of public land for the next 20 years), provide connectivity corridors for wide-ranging species to travel between core habitats and adapt to climate change. And sometimes we use aggressive litigation to send a message—loud and clear—that when resource management fails to ensure the protection of our lands, waters, fish and wildlife—whomever's responsible for it, is gonna get a "swift kick in the pants" (to quote my grandma).

We hope that the lawsuit we filed this winter, aimed at requiring the Forest Service to take the requisite hard look at the potentially far-reaching negative impacts of cattle grazing on resources that span over hundreds of thousands of acres of varied terrains and ecosystems, is a wake-up call; a reminder that sometimes slow, incremental change isn't good enough.

At least not when maintaining status quo management practices results in our public lands looking like private feedlots:

And not when our streams that support declining fisheries dependent upon clean, cold water are trampled, eroded, and loaded with sediment:

That's when it's time to answer the call for serious change.

Jennifer Schwartz, Staff Attorney

Forests help to keep our world cool

2011-08-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

Forests provide a wide array of important services to society such as clean drinking water, recreational opportunities, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, cultural values, and much more. A new study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society highlights the unique role that forests play in maintaining relatively cool land surface temperatures relative to surrounding native plant communities during hot summer months. This effect is particularly important in areas like the Blue Mountains where the summer dry period is very pronounced and non-forest plant communities “brown-down” during the summer and commensurately exhibit very high surface temperatures. The image below shows satellite based land surface temperature on the left and land cover type on the right and illustrates the much cooler land surface temperatures of the forested areas of the Blue Mountains compared to the surrounding grasslands, shrublands, and barren areas. The map graphically displays that with land surface temperature alone you can outline the location of forest ecosystems relative to drier shrublands and grasslands during the hot, dry, mid- and late summer months, particularly in the semi-arid climate of eastern Oregon and Washington. If you are interested in learning why the land surface temperatures measured by satellite are so much higher than the air temperature everyone is so accustomed to hearing reported by the local TV station, radio, or newspaper, follow the link below to the BAMS paper for a detailed explanation of this interesting temperature distinction.

Figure altered from Mildrexler et al. 2011.

Large portions of the Blue Mountains including the Wallowa and the Elkhorn Mountains have maximum land surface temperatures similar to that of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains and Coastal Ranges. While this might seem surprising, with the exception of deciduous broadleaf forests that shed their leaves to avoid drought stress, all forests ecosystems converge to a similar upper temperature limit of about 100 F. The reason for this has to due with the characteristics that forest ecosystems share such as deep roots to access groundwater, and deep complex canopies that are efficient at shedding heat through interactions with the atmosphere.

Despite the numerous benefits that forests provide to society such as regulating the most extreme maximum temperatures that we experience all year, much of our current forest policies, such as the US National Fire Plan, focus almost exclusively on fuels. Its time we move beyond this overly simplistic approach and explicitly consider the numerous valuable ecosystem services we derive from forests in our overarching policies to managing these incredible ecosystems.

The BAMS study may be accessed here: http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1

Mildrexler, David J., Maosheng Zhao, Steven W. Running, 2011: Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,92, 855–860.

Post by David Mildrexler, Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator, Hells Canyon Preservation Council and lead author of the study.

Don't "Smoke"

2011-07-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

I had wanted to write about the young ospreys trying out their wings on the nest box on Woodell Road. I had wanted to write about the incredible wildflower displays after this spring's heavy rains. Instead I am writing once again about wolves.

Last week I saw a bumpersticker I hadn't seen before - "Canadian wolves - smoke a pack a day".

Kind of hard to keep my mind on the bountiful display of mock orange scenting the river's edge. Actually it was kind of hard to keep breathing when faced with that kind of hatred and violence.

In this same week the journal Science came out with another article on the vital importance of top predators in ecological health. The article, by an international team of 24 scientists, points out that the destruction of large "apex consumers" has kicked off a series of consequences that rank as one of the most devastating impacts we have had on this planet. It's not the animals themselves, as terrible as their loss has been. It's the effect of tearing the web of connections which we are barely starting to understand. It's not the individuals, it's the relationships. It's not the death of an animal, it's the "trophic downgrades"from the absence of that animal - those linked consequences that rip apart the fabric of a place.

I think about what it means to "smoke a pack" - the loss not just of the individuals, but the relationships between them, and between the wolves and the land.

Research on wolves shows that increased hunting of wolves does not reduce livestock predation, as hunting has a dramatic effect on the cohesiveness of the pack. The worst predation that's happened in Oregon came from two loner "teen" wolves in 2010, on their own without a pack structure.

Aldo Leopold wrote that even as the deer fears the wolf, so the mountain fears the deer. Without the fear of the wolf, the deer becomes a force for destruction of the land. In his essay "Thinking Like A Mountain" he makes a case for the need for wolves and other "apex consumers" for the land itself to be whole and healthy. It's not about loving wolves, it's about loving the land.

It's all about relationships. We can choose to keep smashing the connections, or we can stop, think, and maybe, just maybe, preserve a chance for this place we love to thrive.

- Danae Yurgel
Monday July 25th, 2011

Wildlife Watchers Detect Marten and More

2011-07-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

Since starting my internship with HCPC this June, I’ve spent most of my days in the field less than an hour from the office here in downtown La Grande. Wednesday’s Wildlife Watchers camera check on Mt. Emily revealed the vitality of my new backyard.

The Wildlife Watchers program uses motion- and heat-activated cameras to photograph wildlife drawn to our lures. The program specifically targets the American marten, an elusive member of the weasel family that lives in closed-canopy, mixed-conifer forests. Marten need the canopy cover of mature trees, the cavities found in large diameter snags, and the ground structure created by downed trees. Their presence, or lack thereof, helps land managers determine the health of a forest.

The Wildlife Watchers program relies on volunteers to set up cameras and collect photographs and other data. Spearheading the project this summer is Jesse Peacock, a biology student at Eastern Oregon University. After a briefing by Mark Penninger, the lead wildlife biologist for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, and tour of the Mt. Emily area with Ecosystem Protection Coordinator David Mildrexler (see the prior blog post), Jesse and I set our sights, and our cameras, on the area.

Setting up the trail cameras is half art, half science. We mapped our study area and headed into the field looking for proper habitat: nearby riparian areas, dense canopy cover, and large dead trees. Once we found a promising zone, we tried to visualize the forest as a marten would: open sky through the canopy became the menacing territory of owls, fallen trees became our walkways, and squirrel middens became likely spots for a meal. We framed our shots, applied a pungent marten lure, and hoped for the best.

On Wednesday, two weeks after setting up our cameras, we headed back into the field with Brian Kelly and volunteers Allen Gorthy and Bob Peacock to check the cameras. Our results were fantastic: we successfully photographed a marten (a hard animal to lure in during the summer months) as well as a number of other non-target species, including black bear, bobcat, coyote, mule deer, and elk. Dead batteries wiped out a week of photographs at our most promising site, but that didn’t stop us from documenting a number of exciting species just a short drive from the HCPC office.

In addition to marten lure, we doused our sites in perfume. Apparently the felines love the stuff, and it may have brought in this bobcat.

A coyote trots away from the camera.

An elk passes through.

Two black bears checking out the lure.

Tree climbing for a sniff.

A buck in velvet.

Two mulies.

What we were after: an American marten. Jesse and Bob estimated the length of this marten to be just over two feet--likely a large male. (Note: the timestamp here reset due to dead batteries. This photo was taken on 7/10/11 at about 4am)

For more photos, check out http://hellscanyon.smugmug.com/. Also, we'd love your help. Whether you want to take an active role in placing and checking cameras, or just want to tag along for a hike, contact Restoration Coordinator Brian Kelly at brian@hellscanyon.org or (541) 963-3950 ext. 24.

-Joe Bushyhead

HCPC in the Mount Emily country

2011-07-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

When an organization has been around as long as HCPC, the continual process of getting to know the landscape can seem to have a natural, organic flow. This summer HCPC is connecting in a big way to the Mount Emily country; Owsley Roadless Area, Hellhole Roadless Area, Spring Mountain, Green Mountain and more. It started when HCPC’s esteemed Board recently visited the Owsley Hogback for a hike. An old, unmaintained trail along Owsley Hogback Ridge accesses Owsley Creek and provides wonderful views overlooking the Owsley Creek and Roadless Area. Following closely on the heels of the Board hike, Restoration Coordinator Brian Kelly co-led a wildflower hike with Botanist Susan Geer along Owsley hogback (see next Blog post). Next, Executive Director Greg Dyson took some visitors up hiking along the Owsley Hogback. I recently had the opportunity to visit the area with HCPC summer intern, Joe, and Wildlife Watcher volunteer, Jesse. We found a beautiful old growth forest stand on the edge of the Owsley Roadless Area (pictured at right).

Next we headed to Spring Mountain which is surrounded on three sides by the Owsley Roadless Area. A hiking trail leads through very nice forest to incredible cliffs that are popular with rock climbers (pictured below). From these rocky talus slopes are great views across to the directly adjacent Sugarloaf Mountain. The old growth pines grow right out of the massive boulders at the base of the cliff.

Spring mountain offers outstanding views of the Owsley Roadless area from the Whitman Overlook (pictured below). From this vantage point one can gaze over the steep slopes and deeply incised canyons that drop into Meacham, Owsley, and East Meacham creeks. The overlook area contains signs describing the historic journey of the Whitman family over this perilous terrain.

Rounding off our trip we explored the moist forests of Green Mountain. Green Mountain is surrounded by the Hellhole Roadless Area and the Mount Emily Roadless Area. While incredible old growth moist stands remain on Green Mountain, many of these rare old growth moist forests have fallen to the chainsaw. Note the dense understory of Pacific Yew, and the live and dead old growth standing trees pictured at right. It was a hot day, and as someone that studies land surface temperature, I was impressed by the large temperature difference between the old moist forest stands and the areas where the canopy was removed by heavy logging. The Pacific yew was gone from the areas that were previously logged because opening the canopy up in such an unnatural way dries out the understory of moist forests.

I'm looking forward to many more adventures in this incredible area!!

Posted by David Mildrexler, Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator.

Hiking Owsley Hogback

2011-06-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

Owsley Hogback with canyons of Meacham Creek in the distance.

Story and photos by Brian Kelly, HCPC Restoration Coordinator

We've been having especially cool and wet weather this year in the Blue Mountains. Although people may complain about the weather, Mother Nature seems to be enjoying herself. She showed us a brilliant display of wildflowers as we hiked out to Owsley Hogback on the first HCPC hike of the season. The grasses were lush and gave the canyons a special soft green cover as we looked out towards Meacham Creek on June 19. Botanist Susan Geer shared her knowledge and passion for the local flora as she identified wildflowers and native plants for the group. The flowers were abundant and they showed themselves brightly against a background of green foliage. It was a wonderful day!

Our hike was scheduled about a month later than usual to accommodate the season, and our timing worked out perfectly to find a diverse and beautiful selection of flowers in bloom. Camas, bitterroot, lupine, paintbrush, grass widows, arrowleaf balsamroot, prairie stars and biscuitroot were among the native flowers in bloom. Questions from the hikers were as abundant as the wildflowers and Susan shared a wealth of knowledge about the local native plants. (Thank you Susan!)

Do you want to know about upcoming hikes and events? Check out the events link on the HCPC website: http://www.hellscanyon.org/events/. Also, I recommend that you sign-up to receive our periodic email updates by contacting Danae Yurgel at danae@hellscanyon.org . (We do not bombard our members with email and we do not share email addresses either).

Scroll down below to see more photos of wildflowers and scenery from the Owsley Hogback hike.

Yellow lupines and arrowleaf balsamroot in bloom on Owsley Hogback

It was a special treat to see bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) in bloom. Native Americans value its roots.

Happy hikers on Fox Prairie with camas flowers blooming in the grass.

Happy trails!

HCPC welcomes summer intern Kellen Holgate

2011-06-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

I grew up in central California, then moved to Utah where I attended the University of Utah and received my BS in Communication. While there, I was very involved in the local and regional music scene. I’ve played as a musician on some major national tours, and I have also worked as a producer, studio engineer, and live sound engineer. I am married with two little girls, and we are all excited to do some hiking in the Hell’s Canyon area this summer.
The outdoors have been a big part of my life since I was young; I’ve hiked all over California, Utah, and I’m beginning to find new places to explore in Oregon. I’m also an avid flyfisherman. I don’t always catch a lot of fish, but I love to experience the sensation of being in nature, away from all of the literal and metaphorical noise of modern life. My love for the outdoors is what led me to seek an internship with HCPC; these natural places bring me so much joy and I want to be sure that they are preserved for my children and future grandchildren.

When choosing law schools, I chose to come to Oregon for the opportunity to learn about and practice environmental law. I am very excited to be working for HCPC because it affords me the opportunity to affect some real change that I care about while learning about the operation of a small but active non-profit. Everyone involved in the organization seems extremely passionate about the cause, and I feel grateful to help and learn from this experience. I will be working as a law clerk, which so far has involved legal research, helping with drafting litigation materials, and some ground truthing. I have only been in 1 year of law school, so I feel a bit over my head, but I’m learning a lot and I am excited to help more!

HCPC Welcomes Summer Law Clerk Joe Bushyhead

2011-06-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Joe comes to La Grande from the University of Oregon, where he is studying environmental and tribal law. Originally from Seattle, Joe has lived in McCall, Idaho for the past five years, at the eastern edge of the Hells Canyon ecosystem. Most recently he worked for the Nez Perce Tribe, researching Chinook salmon, steelhead, and resident fish populations in the South Fork Salmon River and its tributaries.

Deeply in love with the western landscape, Joe came to HCPC to further involve himself in the science, policies, and laws that shape it. This summer Joe will assist staff attorney Jennifer Schwartz, restoration coordinator Brian Kelly, and ecosystem protection coordinator David Mildrexler, getting his hands on every project he can.

At the University of Oregon School of Law, Joe is an Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program fellow, co-director of the Native American Law Students Association, and a volunteer with the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.

An avid whitewater kayaker and mountain biker (as well as a hack fly-fisherman), Joe is excited to explore the mountains and rivers of northeast Oregon with his dog, Mackay, this summer. Check the blog for photos and updates on his work and adventures with HCPC!

Photo: Joe relaxes in Sunflower Hot Springs on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho, earlier this spring.

Congress has declared war on the environment

2011-06-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

By Bruce Babbit

Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt delivered the following speech at the National Press Club on June 8th, 2011.

It is now more than ten years since I left public office. I am returning to the public stage today because I believe that this Congress, in its assaults on our environment, has embarked on the most radical course in our history. Congress, led by the House of Representatives, has declared war on our land, water and natural resources. And it is time for those of us who support our conservation tradition to raise our voices on behalf of the American people.

It is clear to me that the House of Representatives will not only block progress, but will continue to sustain an assault on our public lands and water. Therefore, it is imperative that President Obama take up the mantle of land and water conservation – something that he has not yet done in a significant way. President Obama and the Executive Branch are the best, and likely only, hope for meaningful progress on this critical issue.

So I am here today to call on the president to lead us in standing up to the radical agenda of the House of Representatives, and to replace their draconian agenda with a bold conservation vision.
The opening salvos in this war were fired in April, when the new Congress enacted a budget measure, called a Continuing Resolution, to appropriate funding for the balance of this fiscal year. Beneath the cover of that budget process, however, the House leadership inserted unrelated “riders” to begin dismantling our environmental laws.

Here are three examples of these “riders.”

• In the April resolution, Congress removed the grey wolf from the Endangered Species list. The restoration of the grey wolf to Yellowstone and our northern forests was an historic achievement, now threatened by this Congress.

• In the April budget resolution, Congress terminated an administration program to rebuild our depleted ocean fisheries. The program, called “catch shares” was amazingly successful in restoring fish populations and providing fishing jobs and was on the way to becoming the most innovative environmental initiative of the Obama Administration.

• In the April budget resolution, Congress axed an initiative by the Secretary of the Interior to identify and maintain the natural character of our most important remaining undesignated public lands.

Viewed singly, in isolation from one another, these rider provisions might not appear to justify my characterization of this Congress as the most radical in history. Yet viewing them together, along with pending legislative proposals, a larger outline emerges. It is a pattern of a broad, sustained assault on nearly all our environmental laws.

The intent is to chip away, a blow at a time, at the edifice of environmental laws and regulations, avoiding a frontal assault that would call attention to the overall objective.

To illustrate, I would like today to single out for discussion, just one such area, and that is the public land laws that are so meaningful to me as a westerner and that are so much a part of our great American heritage.

The best place to observe what is happening is by reference with our two great public laws, the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Wilderness Act of 1964.

The Antiquities Act is a great American innovation. It was enacted into law in 1906 on June 8th, the very date on which I am making these remarks. It was sponsored by a Republican Congressman and signed by a Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt.

Way then, more than a hundred years ago, the sponsor, Rep. John Lacey (R-Iowa), made this observation: “The immensity of man’s power to destroy imposes a responsibility to preserve.”

Since then the Act has been used by nearly every president, laying the foundation for many of our best known National Parks and other protected areas.

President Clinton used the Antiquities Act to establish the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, a widely acclaimed decision.

President George W. Bush used the Act to protect the marine reefs and waters of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, the largest area ever set aside under the Act. The radical leaders of the House voiced few objections to that action by their President, perhaps because oil and gas companies have evinced little interest in the Islands.

This past April, a House rider to gut the Antiquities Act failed by a mere four votes. Now that the public has been awakened, I doubt that Congressional leaders will try another frontal attack.

However, what they are continuing to do is to chip away with piecemeal bills and amendments some of which will likely be transmuted into budget riders during the course of the summer in budget negotiations.

Here are a few examples. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) has introduced legislation to exempt Montana from the Antiquities Act and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) to exempt Idaho. Similar legislation was introduced in the Senate to exempt Nevada.

Perhaps the ultimate objective of these piecemeal attacks is best revealed by a bill introduced by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and others that would amend the United States Constitution to grant states the power to nullify Federal law.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 is the other great, generic public land law of our Nation. The National Wilderness Preservation System, with units established by Congress in virtually every state in the Union, is an enduring achievement of many successive Congresses.

The radical leaders of the House, however, are relentlessly attempting to chip away at this law as well. Not only are certain members of Congress prohibiting any new Wilderness designations, a bill recently introduced in both houses by Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) would eliminate our nation’s Wilderness Study Areas - millions of acres no longer protected for conservation. In addition it would remove protections for National Forest Roadless Areas - watersheds that provide our drinking water, and protect the best fish and game habitat in the West. In total, this extreme bill would undo protections for more than 40 million acres of public land.

As these attacks escalate the urgent question for those of us who support and advocate for our conservation tradition is how to respond.

One alternative is to lie low, hoping that this storm will soon pass by without too much lasting damage.

Failure to respond, however, is a form of appeasement that has not worked in the past and it will not work this time. Our adversaries prefer to operate in the shadows, outside the sunshine generated by public knowledge and participation. For our opponents know that when anti-environmentalism becomes a public issue they will lose. They know that American support for our environmental heritage is wide and deep.

We made the appeasement mistake when I was Secretary. Back in 1995, another Congress, in thrall to then House Speaker Gingrich, inserted a “salvage rider” to increase logging in our National Forests onto an appropriations bill. Pressured by the timber industry and the House leadership, we capitulated and President Clinton signed the bill with the rider intact.

It was a big mistake that set off a prolonged and destructive episode in the history of our National Forests.

We did learn from that experience however. President Clinton vowed to veto any additional anti-environmental riders. The Congress, aware that when the president commands the high ground, he will carry public opinion, backed off. We did not face another rider crisis.

I’m not here, however, to dwell on the past. I am here to look forward. To sound the alarm about the assault on our natural resources by the Republicans in Congress, and also to remind the president that he has the power, the responsibility and the public support to stand up to those who would destroy our natural and cultural heritage.

The current debt limit and budget negotiations will provide President Obama an opportunity to demonstrate that he has learned from the events of April. He should stand strong against environmental riders, in whatever guise, whether legislative amendments, funding moratoria, or limitations on agency initiatives.

Drawing a line against riders is a good beginning. However, we cannot measure conservation progress by the number of bad ideas that are blocked. We should measure progress in healthy rivers and streams, forests protected, species saved and restored, wilderness areas added and national monuments created.

The Antiquities Act is a good place for this Administration to begin building a conservation legacy. The Antiquities Act is a remarkable conservation tool that has been used to protect renowned areas including Grand Canyon, Zion, Olympic National Park and Joshua Tree National Park. The act has also played a critical role in protecting our nation’s cultural resources and safeguarding dozens of archeological sites. It was used extensively by President Obama’s immediate predecessors. President Clinton used the Act to establish the Grand Staircase and more than twenty other Monuments. President George W. Bush set aside a larger area than any of his predecessors – the marine reefs and waters of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

The Antiquities Act has, for more than a hundred years, granted the President authority to establish National Monuments. Monuments should be established through a process of public consultation both local and national, with a chance for all to be heard. But that process cannot begin until the Administration puts forth specific proposals for public consideration.

There are numerous proposals, and many important cultural, historical and environmental sites are awaiting protection. Many of these proposals have wide public support, including the endorsement of members of Congress from the areas in question.

The best way to defend the Antiquities Act is for the president to use it.

The Wilderness Act is also in need of more vigorous advocacy from its friends, including the Administration.

The critics who complain that we already have too much Wilderness have it all wrong. We have too little designated Wilderness.

Here are some facts; the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers more than 250 million acres of public land. More than 41 million acres of that land is leased for oil and gas. To date only 9 million acres of public land managed by the BLM has been designated as Wilderness. It is past time to bring some balance back to the public lands with the creation of more Wilderness Areas.

The designation of Wilderness is a Congressional prerogative. And every member of Congress, from whatever part of the country, has an equal voice and vote in designating Wilderness. For the public lands, wherever located, are the common patrimony of this nation, belonging to each and every citizen of this country.

President Obama should call upon the Congress to expand the National Wilderness Preservation System. A good place to begin is with the wilderness bills already introduced, most of them by members of Congress from the states where the lands are located.

And the president should remind the Congress that where wilderness legislation is being bottled up by an intransigent few, that he has the power to designate those areas as National Monuments, a designation which can carry protection comparable to a Wilderness designation.

By voicing his willingness to use the Antiquities Act as an alternative to Wilderness designation, the president can bring Congress to the table to work out conservation measures acceptable to reasonable stakeholders. President Clinton used the Antiquities Act in this fashion to work with the Congress, and it produced good results in such places as Steens Mountain in Oregon, the Colorado Canyons, the San Jacinto Mountains and Otay Mountain in California and Las Cienegas in Arizona, among others.

We also need to hear this administration in support of protection for our ocean resources. For too long the beauty and diversity and productivity of ocean life and fisheries has been taken for granted, as limitless and beyond destruction. That is no longer the case. Every day we are learning more of the impending destruction of coral reef systems and declining productivity of our oceans.

This administration has frequently spoken of the need for responsible expansion of offshore oil exploration and production.

Well and good, but we have not heard equally strong support for enhanced conservation and protection of the most important places in our offshore waters and along our coastlines.

The link between offshore oil and the imperative for conservation of our natural resources was recognized by the Congress more than fifty years ago by creating the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). LWCF is based on a simple idea: use revenues from the depletion of one natural resource - offshore oil and gas — to support the conservation of another precious resource: our land and water.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has made a strong and continuing effort to persuade Congress to fund the LWCF at the level originally intended by Congress. He needs the President’s firm support in budget negotiations to assure adequate permanent funding.

The most important place to demonstrate Administration leadership for mitigating the impacts of offshore drilling is in Alaska. Offshore drilling in Arctic waters poses high risks that must be mitigated with strong conservation measures.

Bristol Bay, the passageway for the myriad salmon runs that travel through the rivers system of Alaska is the greatest and most productive fishery on the planet. President Obama should use the Antiquities Act to designate the federal waters of Bristol Bay, as a National Monument, permanently off limits to oil and gas.

And as the administration opens the western Arctic slope lands to oil and gas leasing, there will be another opportunity to strike a balance between oil production and wildlife conservation. More leasing and drilling on the Arctic slope should await and be conditioned upon passage of legislation establishing protected shoreline areas and wetland regions in the far western Arctic frontier, including breeding and migration corridors for the fabled western Arctic caribou herds.

There is no issue as lasting or as worthy as the preservation of our natural and cultural heritage. Theodore Roosevelt, more than a hundred years ago, put it this way: “We have fallen heir to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.”

Mr. President, America’s great outdoors is under attack as never before. We need you to stand up to this assault as only the President can. You will have the lasting gratitude of the American people for generations to come.

Old Growth Forests: A Pacific Northwest Cultural Icon

2011-05-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

There is perhaps no greater defining resource issue in the Pacific Northwest than management of old growth forests. Old growth forests are not just incredible stores of carbon, key wildlife habitat, sensitive plant species refugia, biodiversity strongholds, etc., old growth forests are spiritual places for humans, they are ancient living beings, they are a defining and irreplaceable part of our natural heritage, they are very important for recreation and science, they bring mental peace and well being too many people, and our complex relationship with these forests might even represent the initiation of a modern form of traditional ecological knowledge. Certainly old growth forests give our region great cultural identity. A friend once returned from Europe and commented, “We don’t have ancient cities, but we do have ancient living beings.”

While HCPC works hard to find common ground on timber sales and does a first-class job in my opinion, we are staunch defenders of our old growth heritage. But this kind of cultural identity didn’t start for me when I accepted the job of Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator at HCPC. I have been defending the old growth forests, an irreplaceable part of my cultural heritage that I want protected for all present and future generations and all living beings, for many years. Here is a timber sale poem I wrote some years ago where the names of old growth logging projects I was involved with are embedded in nearly every line. Maybe you will recognize a few! I hope that someday soon, old growth logging will be forever banned as it is so controversial that is hampers all efforts to find common ground. You will note that Snow Basin, a project proposed for the southern Wallowas whereby the preferred alternative would cut down over 40,000 trees greater than 21” diameter has qualified for the poem!

I saw a Bear on the Knoll before they cut it down
Hi Lynx used to always be around.
They plan to clearcut the Creek and send it to the Mill
Turn our temperate rainforests into a tree farm, what a steal.
Cutting native forests and they call it Swell.
It’s like being dirt sick and saying your feeling well
Their not Solo, there’s even lower levels they can go.
Cut old growth trees until there aren’t any more.
Cut down a place called Lemolo.
That lives on the Earth like a place in our soul.
And where wolverines lived, will be an extirpated hole.
Sacrificing Spotted Owls in the name of Snow
That’s the kind of Ridge that Breaks one’s Back.
And into your face comes a Slap.
You see a huge problem when you take a Peak.
It’s a lie, we know that a Cougar’s not a Monster.
Old growth trees are not Junc in the Rock.
Time for us to speak with courage when we talk.
Places like Goose Egg, are already on their last leg.
Beta, Omega, Lock and Alpha.
Clearcutting fun in the shape of a Jigsaw.
And all this stuff leaves me in a stupor.
You’d think they’d know better than to cut Polallie-Cooper.
On a fast track to make the Warm Spings, cold.
Who the hell is Ferris Bugman, and what’s he got against the old….
Growth, or maybe like Kelsey he drinks too much Whisky.
This is public land, and they call it a Slinky.
They’ll take an old growth forest and cut it level.
It makes you look to the East and wonder about a Devil.
Eyes to the sky as you ask what causes it.
Things that shouldn’t happen like the one named Blodgett.
And just when you think reality we’re a'facin.
They propose to do it all again, in the name of Snow Basin.
And although all this adds up to impacts that are scary.
I know that in the North we can Win the Berry.

by David Mildrexler
Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator

Oregon Kills Imnaha Pack Wolf, Gunning for a Second

2011-05-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Kills Threaten Recovery of Wolves in Oregon

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced yesterday that it trapped and killed a wolf in eastern Oregon. The wolf was a member of the Imnaha Pack, one of only two confirmed packs in Oregon’s fledgling wolf population that, at most, consists of 25 wolves. State officials are proposing to kill another member of the pack after recent wolf-attributed livestock kills in Wallowa County.

“Oregon’s wolf population is too small to withstand killing of any of its members,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We support nonlethal measures to discourage livestock depredation and believe more can be done to reduce conflicts with livestock.”

Wolf killing is allowed under the state’s wolf management plan when nonlethal measures to discourage wolves from depredating livestock have failed and there is a chronic problem with depredation. Cascadia Wildlands and Hells Canyon Preservation Council recently requested information from the wildlife department that supports its determination that such conditions have been met, but, as of today, had not yet received it.

"We were told that this information would take several office days to gather. If ODFW is going to kill endangered wolves in response to livestock depredations, then we expect the agency to have already compiled what amounts to its legal justification for this action. It should be at its fingertips for its own internal review and also readily available to the public," said Jennifer Schwartz, Staff Attorney for Hells Canyon Preservation Council.

"We are not yet convinced that all necessary nonlethal deterrents to reduce recent wolf-livestock conflict have been utilized,” said Josh Laughlin, campaign director of Cascadia Wildlands. “Oregon's wolf population is just beginning to recover after a ruthless extermination campaign and therefor needs all the help it can get."

Wildlife officials planned to kill two Imnaha pack wolves in June 2010, but the killing was forestalled by a lawsuit from Hells Canyon Preservation Council, Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity and Oregon Wild. It was eventually stopped altogether when protection for wolves under the federal Endangered Species Act was restored by a separate lawsuit. Those protections were removed in April by federal legislation attached as a rider to the 2011 budget bill, marking the first time Endangered Species Act protections for a species were removed by Congress.

Billboard in Wallowa County, OR demonizing wolves.

Oregon’s Assumptions on Cougar Hunting Misplaced

2011-05-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

By George Wuerthner, 5-02-11

INTRODUCTION
Oregon, like many western states, allows cougar hunting. Part of the justification for hunting is the assumption that killing cougars will reduce livestock losses and increase public safety. There is, however, growing scientific evidence that suggests that sport hunting is more likely to INCREASE cougar predation on livestock and may even increase the likelihood of cougar attacks on humans.

BACKGROUND ON COUGAR ISSUE
The Oregon legislature’s wants to expand cougar hunting in the state. Under present law, Oregon allows cougars to be killed 365 days of the year. If you kill a cougar, you can get a second license to go kill another. Under these generous hunting seasons and bag limits, cougar kills increased fourfold between 1995 and 2010. For instance, in 2009 almost 500 cougars were killed in Oregon. (By comparison in California where there is no cougar hunting, only 102 cougar were killed in the same year, primarily under permit for livestock depredation).

Now the Oregon legislature is trying to pass legislation allowing hound hunting of cougars—which has been banned twice by public referendum. The Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) supports this change, and has been trying for years to increase cougar kills, arguing that the population has doubled since the original ban on hound hunting. Some cougar biologists question ODFW’s methods for calculating these population estimates. See Dr. Wielgus comments here www.predatordefense.org/docs/cougars_biologist_weighs_in_November_2010.pdf

Regardless of the actual number of cougars in Oregon, ODFW suggests that a growing cougar population is a threat to public safety (or is the real reason for cougar control to reduce cougar take of elk and deer while using public safety as a Trojan Horse to justify even greater cougar killings?).

Here’s what ODFW is not telling Oregon citizens.

HUNTING INCREASES CONFLICTS BETWEEN COUGARS AND HUMANS

First, a bevy of research shows that hunting skews cougar populations (as well as other predators) towards younger animals which are more likely to attack people and livestock. Hunting exacerbates the likelihood of human conflicts.

The reason is that in unhunted populations, dominant male cougar kill young males. Young males are less skillful hunters and are more “brazen” and bold. Thus the more young males in a population, the more likelihood you will have depredations on livestock and the rare attack on humans. One does not get to be an old male cougar by being an ineffective hunter and/or either brazen or bold. Cougar hunting is more likely to create social chaos by killing the dominant males that control cougar social structure, permitting a greater number of young males to survive.

California is a good control since it is the only state with any significant cougar population where hunting is banned. No sport hunting of cougars has effectively occurred since 1972. The human population of California is 38 million or approximately 10 times the population of Oregon (3.8 million) and California’s human population is more widely dispersed into cougar habitat than Oregon (due to Oregon’s strict land use laws). California also has 17% of the West’s suitable cougar habitat-- more than twice as much cougar habitat as Oregon. http://www.mountainlion.org/sport_hunting.asp

Thus one would expect-- all things being equal-- that California’s much higher human population and greater cougar habitat would lead to much higher number of human conflicts, and livestock depredations than Oregon. But in reality the opposite is true. California has the lowest per capita cougar attacks on human in the West, and a low level of livestock depredations as well.

Comparisons between California and Washington also show the same trends. For 2009, the last year for Washington data, there were 1528 cougar “incidents” in the state Incidents are defined as a livestock depredation, sighting in someone’s yard, etc. Washington has an aggressive hunting season. Washington has an estimated 2000-2,500 cougars.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/enforcement/cougar_reports/index.php

By comparison in California where there is no cougar hunting, there are an estimated 4000-6000 cougars (as much as three times as many as in Washington) and with six times the human population of Washington, and far more of the state covered with sprawl, yet there were less than 400 incidents a year in recent years--less than a third of the number reported in Washington where cougars are hunted. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/lion/trends.html

Oregon, which has year round cougar hunting, presently kills 3-4 times as many cougars a year as California, yet it has many, many more complaints and livestock depredations. Are Oregon cougars just craftier than their California cousins--and better able to attack livestock than in the Golden State? Or is something else going on here?

Even if cougar hunting were effective at reducing cougar populations that does not mean it will result in fewer conflicts. Dr. Robert Wielgus found that as the cougar population in his Washington study area was declining due to hunting, while complaints and documented conflicts were increasing.

SPORT HUNTING INEFFECTIVE AT TARGETING PROBLEM COUGAR

Part of the explanation for this is that sport hunting is ineffective at killing the very cougars most likely to be in conflict--i.e. those living on the fringes of human settlements. Most hunters hunt the larger blocks of public land. They do not hunt people’s backyards. Hound hunters aren’t going to chase cougars through rural neighborhoods or through subdivisions. So even if hunting did reduce cougar populations, it doesn’t necessarily mean it reduces the threat of cougar attacks or conflicts because the cougars living in closest proximity to humans are the ones least likely to be killed by hunting.

Plus good cougar habitat is always filled. If a dominant male cougar controls the territory, he will kill or at least intimidate other young male cougars and keep them away from his territory. If that dominant male territory overlaps with rural neighborhoods, he will reduce conflicts with humans. On the other hand, if that male is killed by hunters, it opens up the territory to young males. And if the young males continue to be killed by hunters, preventing that area from ever being occupied and controlled by older male, then hunting will continuously create conflict by assuring that young males are abundant in that area. The very opposite of what cougar hunting proponents suggest is their goal.

COUGAR ATTACKS ON PEOPLE EXTREMELY RARE

Finally, the public safety threat is greatly exaggerated. It’s much to do about nothing. The likelihood of a cougar attack is extremely small. There have only been 23 fatal cougar attacks in all of North America between 1890 and 2010. That is because cougars as a rule just don’t attack people. --that is even with the social disruption that hunting and predator control creates. That is because cougars as a rule just don’t attack people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America

HUNTERS BIGGER THREAT TO HUMAN SAFETY

Hunters are a bigger threat to human safety than cougars. Indeed, there are hundreds of people shot every year by hunters and there are more hunting fatalities in a single year than cougars have killed in a hundred years. It could be argued that the ODFW by increasing hunting for cougars has put Oregon citizens at greater risk of death from hunters than from cougars, For instance, in 2007 there were 19 fatalities in North America (NA) from hunting and zero from cougars. In 2006 there were 27 deaths in NA from hunters and zero from cougars. In 2005, there were 41 deaths from hunters, and zero from cougars.

http://6fbd21e64bc817fd097aa54148bd3dab37bc10ee.gripelements.com/documents/Incidents/HIC2007summary.pdf
19 fatalities 200 non-fatal

http://6fbd21e64bc817fd097aa54148bd3dab37bc10ee.gripelements.com/documents/Incidents/HIC2006summary.pdf
27 fatalities 219 non-fatal

http://6fbd21e64bc817fd097aa54148bd3dab37bc10ee.gripelements.com/documents/Incidents/HIC2005summary.pdf
41 fatal 364 non-fatal

If legislators in Oregon were genuinely concerned about public safety they would consider two things. One is that hunting increases the likelihood of cougar attacks on humans and increases livestock depredations since it skews cougar populations towards younger age classes which are more likely to attack people. But again keeping in mind that even with skewed cougar populations, the likelihood of anyone being attacked, much less killed by cougars is exceedingly small.

Statistically, hunters are in fact, a greater threat to public safety than cougars. Personally I am not worried about my personal safety due to hunting, because even the fatalities from hunting are exceedingly small and insignificant. But by comparison, cougar attacks and fatalities are even rarer.

Bio: George Wuerthner is a wildlife biologist, and predator ecologist. He is a former hunting guide and hunts elk and deer.

A Season For Trees

2011-04-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

By Brian Kelly Restoration Coordinator

Brian and a bristlecone pine, one of the world's oldest trees.
Photo by April Curtis

The month of April brings thoughts of spring, the passing of winter, and the warm summer months to come. Earth Day, Arbor Day, and Oregon's Arbor Week all arrive in April, and it's a great time to reflect about trees and how essential they are to this planet that we all share.

I'm not going to write about the many gifts that trees provide to the earth. Let me just suggest that life as we know it on this planet would not exist without trees. Since April seems to be the month that our thoughts are most likely to drift toward a sense of appreciation for trees, let me propose that you take a moment to reflect with gratitude for our arboreal benefactors.

It's easy. Just follow these three simple steps:

Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath and then exhale slowly.
Picture a tree in your mind (any tree will do) and think of the word "thanks".

There. That was easy, wasn't it? And maybe it even brought a smile to your face. It's just another one of those wonderful gifts that trees provide.

One of the world's youngest trees: a willow planted by HCPC volunteers sprouts to life as part of the restoration of Ladd Creek. Photo by Brian Kelly

Let's Protect ALL Remaining Old Growth for International Year of Forests

2011-04-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

The United Nations has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests. There is a very good video called “Forests” on the official website at http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/videos.shtml.

The truth is forests worldwide need our help. The greatest remaining wilderness in North America, the boreal forest with all of its incredible wildlife diversity, is being logged to make junk mail and sales catalogues. The tropical forests such as the Amazon continue to be logged for agricultural expansion, often for cows to produce more meat for Americans. It’s never been more important for all of us to think about how our lifestyle impacts forests as they are showing multiple signs of stress, globally. Many of these negative impacts start with the consumption patterns in our everyday lives.

Old growth Ponderosa Pine (marked for cut) next to an ancient Douglas fir in the Sugar timber sale. A tree core revealed the age of this Ponderosa Pine to be approximately 170 years, and HCPC saved it from logging.

Due to logging and clearing, the temperate forests are the most fragmented, degraded, and reduced from their original extent of Earth’s major forest types. At the local level I do think that management has improved in the past couple of decades. However there are too many projects on our National Forests that continue to propose logging of old growth forests. Take the Snow Basin project that is now open for public comment where the preferred approach would log tens of thousands of old growth trees in the southern Wallowas. That this massive loss of old growth trees would have serious ecological consequences is unassailable.

Old Growth trees saved from chainsaws by HCPC more than a decade ago. Now the Forest Service has proposed to log the same trees again in the Snow Basin timber sale to "help the small seedlings." How many times do we have to save the same trees? Why doesn't the Forest Service respect the public's wishes by leaving old growth protected?

Old growth forests are rare, they are “lifeboats” for many old growth dependent species, they are an irreplaceable part of our cultural heritage, they store huge amounts of carbon, and they provide numerous valuable services to our society. Proposing logging in these areas is like asking an artist to paint over a Van Gogh; or tearing down the historic district of your quaint downtown for “redevelopment.” Some of these old growth forests are remnant stands within heavily logged areas. Yet they enrich the forest landscape by providing a unique forest structure, higher quality wildlife habitat, and often harbor more sensitive plant species. Let’s commemorate the International Year of Forests by protecting the essential, protecting our old growth forests.

By David Mildrexler, Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator for the Hells Canyon Preservation Council

Spring

2011-04-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

I live on the breaks of the Grande Ronde and Minam-Wallowa rivers, and also in the town of La Grande. This dual citizenship offers me a chance to observe the pageant of spring from the high breaks to the valley floor and all the distance in between.

I watch ospreys return to the nest along Willow Creek and Woodell Lane, listen to the liquid gold of meadowlarks and the sighing of huge Pondersoa pine, and see the first yellow avalanche lilies budding out at Pleasant Grove Grange (even as I still search for the first buttercups up on Cricket Flats). "Feral" (I can't in all honesty call them wild) turkeys are strutting around Larson's cow pasture with fanned tails. Quail scoot under the tangle of wild roses, and I hope to encourage a covey to take up residence in our town orchard. Already we have chickadees, juncos, finches, flickers, towhees, and more. At our orchard edge we build brush piles for the ground nesters and are rewarded by seeing them take up residence there.

It seems that wildlife don't need much encouragement; ospreys nest above a road on a pole platform , mallards and teal paddle around in roadside ditches, and the small antelope herd in the open mint and grass seed fields by Imbler has grown to over 20 individuals. It seems all we have to do is be willing to share.

This spring I'm looking forward to planting more native shrubs out at the Ladd Marsh restoration project. We can start to rebuild what has been lost; curving creek channels and riparian zones, threatened plants and nesting habitat. It is so much easier to destroy, through ignorance, through a lack of care, and so so so much harder to rebuild - especially when we are just now starting to understand what it is we have lost. Aldo Leopold wrote that the first rule of tinkering is to save all the pieces. We have not done that, and now must try to recover and reinstate as much as we can.

Last night I listened to a lecture televised on OPB discussing recent research on the absolute need to bring into our daily lives as much 'nature' as we can - from protecting the wildest places to restoring the wild places to recreating the pocket-sized wildish places in urban and suburban areas. This author spoke of nature-deficit as a dis-ease, and the problems it brings to children, families, society. He eloquently pleaded for us to consider ourselves as inextricably linked with, and not separate from, "nature".

We are so fortunate here in living in among so many wild places that I worry we take too much for granted. So much can disappear so quickly - especially when we are not taking care, as Leopold urged, to save all the pieces.

Please join with HCPC in protecting and restoring our wild places and wildlife.

- Danae

Success! HCPC's Wildlife Watchers Program Captures Marten on Film

2011-03-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

Only a month after HCPC staff and our volunteer "wildlife watchers" placed remote-sensor cameras around the Anthony Lakes ski area in the Blue Mountains, was our target species--the American Marten--captured on film.

While confirming the presence of this rather elusive critter only took a month, kick-starting our volunteer-driven wildlife monitoring campaign was not without some trial and error. A couple weeks after the initial camera placement in late February, we returned to the monitoring sites only to find that we had over 2,000 pictures of falling snow and burned-up batteries because the camera setting was too sensitive for those high mountain low temperatures. So we fixed the settings, hoisted up some fresh bait (raw chicken and some old steelhead, yumm) and lathered on more marten lure (a potent bottle of various animal musks) and gave it another go. And voila, two weeks later we have one of the most adorable forest animals on film.

By confirming the presence of rare or rarely seen regional focal species like marten we can inform land management decisions that affect our public lands and threaten to disrupt wildlife habitat connectivity.

This is a collaborative endeavor--not only are we out to mobilize volunteers, but we've partnered with wildlife experts from the U.S. Forest Service and ODFW to follow the agency's monitoring protocols and select monitoring locations. All monitoring locations are established in areas identified through recent, cutting-edge habitat mapping and modeling as core habitat and key connectivity corridors (travel pathways) for regional focal species like marten.

Check out these great maps produced by the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group (WWHCWG) identifying regional marten core habitat and connectivity corridors (pages 118-123) on-line here.

Now that we know marten do indeed occupy this section of the Blue Mountains identified as their core habitat, we can move on to other parts of the forest. This is an on-going project, so if you're a student looking for field experience, or just a wildlife lover that wants another reason to get out in the forest and learn more about our native species while contributing to an important project, please contact HCPC's Volunteer Coordinator, Brian Kelly, 541-963-3950x24 or brian@hellscanyon.org.

Special thanks to the Burning and Charlotte Martin Foundations, Patagonia and the Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative for the funding to launch this program, our agency partners in the Forest Service, ODFW, and the WWHCWG, and of course our stellar volunteers!

Jennifer Schwartz, HCPC Staff Attorney & Connectivity Campaign Coordinator

Of Wolves, a Billboard, and the Constitution

2011-03-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

HCPC was recently part of an effort to erect a billboard on Highway 82, outside Island City, advertising the reward for information leading to conviction of the person who shot the Wenaha wolf last fall. That effort was spearheaded by local activist Wally Sykes, and other groups participating were Oregon Wild & Defenders of Wildlife. Here’s the image of the billboard:

The billboard was up for less than 24 hours when the billboard company took it down due to complaints from the property owner. Now, I respect the rights of a property owner to disapprove of a message on their own property, but what exactly is so offensive about a billboard advertising a reward to help catch the perpetrator of an illegal act? I’ve heard all types of comments about the billboard since then, most of which can be summarized as: “that money should go to ranchers.” But we’ve tried that approach without success: Defenders of Wildlife (a conservation group!) has been the sole provider of compensation for livestock killed by wolves in Oregon, and conservation groups—including HCPC—were the first supporters of a compensation bill in the Oregon legislature … way back in 2005!! The only reason a compensation program wasn’t approved was due to the obstinate actions of the cattlemen’s association.

After our billboard location was rejected, we tried to work with the billboard company to find another site with a willing property owner. But, the billboard company received lots of negative calls about the billboard and decided to saddle us with a hefty replacement addendum to our billboard contract because they were fearful of vandalism to the billboard (and rightfully so, too). At this point, we decided we could no longer pursue the billboard plan, at least not in NE Oregon.

So, what’s the real issue here? It’s that some folks don’t like wolves, apparently to the point of being willing to aid & abet the killer of the Wenaha wolf. And those folks who don’t like wolves don’t want anyone in this area advocating for wolves, either. Now, part of working at HCPC involves going to lots of public hearings, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people ranting about their constitutional rights to drive their ATV anywhere they damn well please, or mine in a fish-bearing creek, or graze their livestock on public land at give-away prices.

We all know, of course, that those so-called “rights” appear nowhere in the constitution. What does appear, however, is the right to free speech. That’s a right that some in this area would revoke for people who don’t think like them.

Why, just last Thursday a group of people gathered for an anti-wolf protest in La Grande. I considered organizing a counter-protest of pro-wolf supporters, and I also got as far as picking up the phone to call Bi-Mart, to ask them why they’re letting this protest start on their property. But I didn’t make that call or organize a counter-protest, because I recognize the right of the people who hate wolves to have their protest. I don’t like what they have to say, and I don’t like that they care not one iota about actual facts, but I still respect their right to protest.

I bet some of those protesters made the negative calls about our billboard. The intolerance for other people’s views is incredible. Heck, we had one official from the livestock industry recently compare HCPC to Al Qaeda—can you imagine the backwards thinking that went into that comment?!? And the funny thing is (if there is any “funny” side to such an incendiary comment), is that by using those words, that person was acting just like the group he claimed we were, because he was trying to stifle our advocacy on wolf and fish issues rather than face us in an open, democratic forum.

I expect more than this from our local community. Laws that are broken must be punished—after all, how many criminals would we be willing to let go if they committed their crimes because they didn’t think the law was worth following, or they stole that car because they needed to drive their sick mother to the hospital, or they embezzled to get money to buy groceries for their hungry kids?

If you don’t like a law, work to get it changed. But in the meantime, it does not reflect well upon our NE Oregon communities for folks to try to stifle the opposition. One thing that makes our communities so livable is that we are generally all law-abiding. We don’t get to pick and chose which laws we follow, we must follow them all unless and until they’re changed.

And as for the people out there who want to change the laws so there are no longer any wolves in Oregon … be sure you will have stiff opposition! The vast majority of Oregonians want wolves to return here, and the politicians know it. Be sure that HCPC is working diligently to ensure the Oregon Wolf Plan—which is a compromise plan drafted by a diverse group of stakeholders—remains in full force and effect.

Greg Dyson,
Executive Director

Wildlife Watcher Program Begins: Volunteers Look for American Martens

2011-03-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

By
Brian Kelly, Restoration Coordinator

Jennifer Schwartz of HCPC applies marten lure to attract American martens to a monitoring site high in the Blue Mountains. Photo by Greg Dyson.

On a recent Saturday, I found myself snowshoeing and skiing in a high-elevation forest in search of the elusive American marten. Over a foot of new snow had fallen during the previous few days, and tracks were scarce. But our main mission for the day was to install motion-activated cameras in habitat where martens were likely to be found.

The American marten (Martes americana) is related to the European pine marten (Martes martes) but they are two distinct species. Nonetheless, you will sometimes hear the American marten referred to as the pine marten as well.

American martens are small forest carnivores and members of the weasel family. They are found in mature and old-growth forests and are considered a management indicator species for our region. Confirming the presence of species like marten can inform land management decisions that affect our public lands. Martens and other wildlife depend upon quality habitat for their food and shelter and ultimately for their survival. Fragmentation of wildlife habitat is a serious problem. The data that we collect will be helpful toward insuring that marten habitat will be preserved throughout the region.

In February, we established three marten monitoring sites in the Elkhorn Range of the Blue Mountains. We scouted out areas in suitable habitat and selected sites that are dispersed across the landscape. We marked the GPS coordinates for each spot to help re-locate them. Last Saturday, volunteers and HCPC staff returned to the sites and installed a motion-activated camera at each location. We left some bait and applied attractant known as “marten lure” to increase the odds of catching a marten in a photo.

Volunteers will return to the marten monitoring sites to look for tracks, maintain the cameras, bait and lure, and take notes to document everything. Would you like to join us in the search for martens? If so, contact me at brian@hellscanyon.org or call 541-963-3950 extension 24. We will be re-visiting these sites regularly for several months.

Special thanks to the Burning and Charlotte Martin Foundations, Patagonia and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative for helping fund this project!

Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revisions recommends ZERO acres of new Wilderness for Washington

2011-03-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

What is a Forest Plan?

A Forest Plan is a document that guides the overall land management direction of a National Forest for a period of about 15 to 20 years. A Forest Plan can be likened to a zoning plan that establishes the various approaches to land use on private lands. Just as the zoning of private land is critical to protecting farmland and private forests from unchecked development, the zoning of our national forests is equally important for protecting the precious natural resources they provide, and biodiversity they support. The Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revisions (BMFPR) combines three National Forests; the Wallowa-Whitman, the Umatilla, and the Malheur, into one planning process. One of the issues the BMFPR addresses is potential Wilderness. Areas that meet the inventory criteria for potential Wilderness can be recommended for Wilderness designation. They cannot, however, be designated Wilderness. Only Congress can do that. But the Forest Service can make recommendations based on their expertise and knowledge of the areas they administer.

What about Washington?

The northern Blue Mountains extend into Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin Counties of southeastern Washington State. This portion of the Umatilla National Forest includes numerous large inventoried roadless areas that meet the inventory criteria for potential Wilderness.

Some of these roadless areas, such as Upper Tucannon and Meadow Creek, are contiguous with the existing Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, and Forest Service reviews indicate these areas are excellent candidates for recommended Wilderness. Other areas such as Asotin Creek, Wenatchee Creek, Mill Creek, and Willow Springs are large enough to manage as stand-alone Wilderness areas and offer challenging recreational opportunities and solitude. All of these areas were evaluated for Wilderness recommendation and the proposed action was released in March of 2010. The proposed action does not recommend a single acre for Wilderness protection in Washington State.

How was this determined?

The Forest Service released a “Wilderness Need Evaluation” in order to evaluate the need for additional Wilderness on the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests (http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/blue_mtn_planrevision/documents.shtml). Some of the factors considered in this analysis and listed on page 2 of the Wilderness Need Evaluation are:

1. The location, size, and type of other wilderness areas in the general vicinity and their distance from the proposed area. Considering accessibility of areas to population centers and user groups. Public demand for wilderness may increase with proximity to growing population centers.

2. Present visitor pressure on other wilderness areas, the trends in use, changing patterns of use, population expansion factors, and trends and changes in transportation.

While only a small portion of the BMFPR analysis area is within the State of Washington, the document shows that Walla Walla County alone has 20% of the entire analysis areas total population. When Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin Counties are added in, Washington is home to 29% of the entire population within the analysis area. It would follow that national forests close to large populations would receive more visitors. The Wilderness Need Evaluation supports this assumption on page 10:

“Within the Blue Mountains, the Umatilla National Forest is the most visited for all purposes and also contributes the highest wilderness use followed by the Wallowa-Whitman and the Malheur National Forests.”

Concerning population growth, the Wilderness Need Evaluation states that Washington State has the highest projected growth rate of any State in the project area (see page 15, Figure 8). Walla Walla and Tri-cities are growing at 3 times the national average (pg 15).

With regards to recreation demand the Wilderness Need Evaluation states on page 16 that backpacking, primitive camping, fishing, and horseback riding will increase. “Increases in wilderness visitation may be expected for relaxing, nature study, picnicking, viewing natural features, wildlife viewing, and visiting historic sites. Hiking and walking is projected to increase the most.”

In summary, not recommending any new Wilderness in Washington State runs counter to the analysis which suggests that this area should be at the top of the list for agency recommended Wilderness. Failure to recognize the clear need for recommended Wilderness in Washington could result in decades of lost time and increasing negative impacts to existing Wilderness as pressures continue to mount.

post by David Mildrexler, Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator, HCPC

Musing

2011-02-21T11:19:00.000-08:00

I live part-time now between the breaks of the Minam-Wallowa and Grande Ronde rivers, and part-time in town. I am now part of two communities - an upland dry pine forest with scattered scab-lands, and what was river bottom cottonwood and wet meadow area. I wonder how to welcome wildlife and encourage wild plants in my town locale, and how to care-take what is still wild on my upland locale.

I have also been thinking about the uproar over the return of wolves to this area. By the canyons, I live in a zone where all around me cattle and wildness intersect. It's a border country between the grazed foothills of the Blues, and the wilder more inaccessible canyon country stretching north towards the Wenaha-Tucannon wilderness.

For me the landscape is a wounded place without its wolves, a huge aching incompleteness. For my ancestors, the wolf was a holy icon. To see a wolf was fortunate, a blessing. My ancestors also were also cattle people, including my grandmother who called every cow on her farm by its personal name. The difference - my people loved and lived with wolves for millennia - and with cows for a mere couple thousand years. Somehow they managed to love both wolves and cows, and to have room for both.

I have read that when elk were first brought back to this area, they were equally disliked and similarly perceived as "the end of cattle ranching". We know now that the outcome included both cows and elk. Now it would seem ridiculous to demand the extirmination of all elk as necessary to save the family ranch. I expect that in the future the same will be true of wolves.

Science demonstrates that the land needs wolves, and my heart needs that promise of wolf-wildness beyond my fence.

- Danae

HCPC's Grazing Appeal Results in Protection for Pristine, Backcountry Meadows and Critical Fish Habitat

2011-02-11T15:14:00.000-08:00

Of course there is always a high degree of subjectivity when discussing our favorite backcountry spots. For anyone who's been though, I'd bet West Eagle Meadows, which funnels into a meandering trail that follows West Eagle Creek, into the Eagle Cap wilderness, and up to pristine, alpine lakes, ranks high among their picks for exploring the Wallowas.

It certainly lies atop HCPC's list of recommendations for enjoying this area. But even more important to our organizational mission, is the fact that this meadow system and stream provide critically important habitat for rare and declining native fish and wildlife. Streamside areas, typically referred to by scientists as "riparian zones" or "riparian communities" are among the most productive habitats in the American West. Of the wildlife species that occur in Oregon and Washington, 70% utilize riparian zones as habitat (Kauffman et al. 2001). Considering that riparian zones and wetlands only cover 1–2% of western forest and rangeland landscapes, their value associated with biological diversity cannot be understated (Kauffman and Krueger 1984).

Wet meadows and streams are also extremely vulnerable to the negative effects of livestock grazing. Several scientific reviews have summarized the detrimental effects of livestock grazing on riparian habitats and their wildlife. (Fleischner 2010, citing: Platts 1979, 1981; Kauffman & Krneger 1984; Fleischner 1994; Ohmart 1996; Belsky etat 1999). For instance, livestock grazing has been identified as a principal factor contributing to the decline of native fish species in the West. Cattle impair essential habitat features for sensitive fish like redband, steelhead and bull trout--cold, clean, complex and connected habitat--by removing vegetative cover, damaging overhanging streambanks and reducing streamside pools used for spawning and rearing. Loss of vegetative cover and trampled streambanks also in turn lead to increased water temperatures that further impair the ability of sensitive fish to carry out their life cycles.

HCPC's mission to protect these critical riparian zones and our interest in preserving pristine, backcountry recreational areas from being spoiled by signs of livestock grazing (such as all the massive piles of excrement cattle leave behind) is why we filed an administrative appeal challenging the Forest Service's Eastside Grazing Allotment Management Plans proposal. This proposal initially called for expanding 4 grazing allotment boundaries up to the Eagle Cap wilderness boundary. This proposed expansion would have resulted in the authorization of grazing within West Eagle Meadows, exposing approximately 2 more accessible stream miles that are now federally designated critical fish habitat to detrimental livestock impacts.

The filing of an administrative appeal—a prerequisite in most cases to pursuing a lawsuit in federal court—triggers the initiation of an appeal resolution process. In many situations, this informal negotiation process does not end with the agency agreeing to modify its proposal in a way that adequately protects the resources HCPC advocates on behalf of. When an appeal resolution can't be reached, the administrative appeal is submitted to an "Appeal Deciding Officer" within the Forest Service. On rare occasions the Appeal Deciding Officer may decide to withdraw a project, but in our experience that official generally approves the implementation of the project without any changes. It's this latter scenario that leaves HCPC with the option of taking its challenge before a federal court judge for resolution.

In regards to the Eastside Grazing proposal, HCPC was able to use the appeal resolution process to negotiate substantive changes to the project and avoid another Hells Canyon Preservation Council v. U.S. Forest Service lawsuit. As a result of our efforts, there will be:

NO grazing allowed in West Eagle Meadows!!! The entire meadow system will be officially excluded from the allotment boundary.

The grazing permits issued will also contain explicit language identifying the consequences of chronic unauthorized use (3 or more instances where cattle drift into areas closed to grazing during the grazing season). In response to chronic unauthorized use, the Forest Service has agreed to initiate remedial action (e.g. removal of problem livestock from the allotment, construct additional exclosure fencing, or close adjacent pasture areas to livestock grazing).

If you care as much about West Eagle Meadows and other crucial fish habitat and pristine, backcountry areas as HCPC, then contact us to find out how you can become a volunteer ground-truther and monitor these special places during late spring, summer, and early fall!

Photos: (top right) West Eagle Creek trail, Eagle Cap wilderness; (bottom left) West Eagle Meadows