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How NEPAChangedMinds andManagement
By Mary OBrien
Inside
See article on page 3
The Imnaha River flows toward the Snake deep within Hells Canyon.
Photo by Marnie Criley.
The Quarterly Newsletter of Wildlands CPRWinter Solstice 2003. Volume 8 # 4
Hells Canyon 1993-2003
Check out our website at: www.wildlandscpr.org
Hells Canyon 1993-2003, by Mary
OBrien. Pages 3-5
A Non-Traditional Alliance, by Kiffin
Hope. Pages 6-7Odes to Roads: Circumventing
Paradise, by Aaron Drendel.
Pages 8-9
Depaving the Way, by BethanieWalder. Pages 10-11
Activi st Spotli ght: Andrew Harvey, by
Kiffin Hope. Pages 12-13
Field Notes, Road Decommissioning,
by Ryan Schaffer. Pages 14-15
Biblio Notes: Roads in Developing
Countries, by Carrie Brunger.Pages 16-18
Regional Reports & Updates. Page 19
Get with the Program: Restoration,
Transportation & ScienceProgram Updates. Pages 20-21
Around the Office, Membership info.
Pages 22-23
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 20032
This fall I had an o ppo rtunity to see how our European counter parts approach
road a nd wildlife issues. In a region where ro ad d ensities can reach 4.3 km/km2,
mitigating road impacts is critical in both wildland an d urb an sett ings. Most of
western Europe is so developed th at what n atural areas do exist are s mall, isolated in a
sea o f houses , farms , villages, and cities. I learned that while remo ving roads in Europe
is rare, efforts to add ress road impacts are greater than t hose in the United States.
I atten ded a con ferenc e ho sted by th e Infra Eco Network Europe (IENE), which has
been working with s ixteen cou ntries over five years to research transp ortation mitiga-
tion for wildlife. In thes e countries, more than 130 overpasses h ave been cons tructed t o
pro vide safe wildlife cross ings (sometimes com bined wildlife/h uman cro ssings). The
Netherland s alone has o ver 500 wildlife and am ph ibian tunnels, half a dozen o verp ass es
and n umer ous o the r mitigation pro jects. The goal is maintaining viable wildlife pop ula-
tions where much of the hab itat has been d estroyed. But many southwestern and
east ern Europ ean co untr ies still cont ain bear s, elk, wolves and o the r large fauna . With
many new cou ntr ies joining the Europe an Union, there will be a sur ge in road co nst ruc-
tion and development; it was encouraging to see many of these countr ies represented at
the me eting. And while Wildland s CPR has always advo cated r esto ration over m itiga-
tion, the con ference was an op port unity to share ideas abo ut integrating the two.
The biggest lesson I took away was h ow important it is to have agencies advocating
for road mitigation transportation ministries were well-represented at the meeting.
On a field tou r we learne d th at a recent ly comp leted wildlife overp ass in the Nether -
lands was developed and p romoted entirely by th e Ministry of Transp ortation, while the
Ministr y of Nature had little to d o with it. Its ha rd t o imagine th e U.S. Depa rtm ent o f
Transp or tation prom oting a wildlife cro ssing t hat wasnt initiated by t he local community.
Here at hom e, the U.S. Congres s is deb ating the n ext six-year h ighway spen ding bill
(nicknamed TEA-3), and Wildlands CPR is co ncer ned abo ut s everal asp ects of it. First,the Bush Administr ation is using it to und ermine th e National Environm ental Policy Act
(NEPA); TEA-3 would streamline NEPA such that it would be rendered meaningless.
Congress is also tr ying to cut enh ancem ents fund ing from th e bill: this is the funding
tha t pays for bike trails and wildlife mitigation. The forty-four p rop osed cros sing
str uctu res o n Highway 93 near Misso ula, Monta na for examp le, could get axed if the
enhancemen ts money d isappears; so could many bike/pedestr ian programs in cities and
towns throughout the countr y.
The transp ortation b ill also funds s everal programs that affect pu blic lands. One is
the Pu blic Land s Highways Program , which ch anne ls about $250 million per yea r into
upgr ading pub lic lands ro ads into highways. On national forest land s, for examp le, this
mon ey fund s th e Fores t Highways Progra m. On top of this, the Fores t Service is asking
the Feder al Highway Administr ation for severa l hund red million dollars pe r year to
upgr ade at least 60,000 miles of other h igh use fores t road s. Our final conc ern is thecontinued funding of the Recreational Trails Program, which su ppo rts both motorized
and n on-motorized trail developments on p ublic lands.
It is amazing how much we can learn from European tran spor tation activists,
researchers and even agency emp loyees in t erms of developing more eco logically
friend ly tran spo rta tion system s. Its even more ama zing how far beh ind we are in
designing roads with fewer impacts. In many cas es, western European nations mad e
changes becau se they h ad no other choice: natural areas are fragmented p ractically
beyond recognition, human population densities are extremely high (e.g. 450 people/km2
in the Netherlands), and th e wildlife have all but disappeared . Perhaps we can learn
some lessons from our European friends b efore we come t o the same b reaking point.
by Bethanie Walder
20 03 W ildlands CPR
Wildlands CPR works to protect and restorewildland ecosystems by preventing andremoving roads and limiting motorized
recreation. We are a national clearinghouse andnetwork, providing citizens with tools andstrategies to fight road construction, determotorized recreation, and promote road
removal and revegetation.
P.O. Box 7516Missoula, MT 59807
(406) 543-9551
Director
Bethanie Walder
Development DirectorTom Petersen
Restoration ProgramCoordinator
Marnie Criley
Science Coordinator
Adam Switalski
Tra nsportation PolicyOrganizer
Jason Kiely
N TW C Gra ssroots
CoordinatorLisa Philipps
Program Assistant
Kiffin Hope
N ew sletter
Dan Funsch & Jim Coefield
Interns & Volunteers
Carla Abrams, Ronni Flannery, Hank Green,Maureen Hartmann, Beth Peluso
Board of Directors
Karen Wood DiBari, Greg Fishbein, Dave Havlick,Greg Munther, Cara Nelson, Sonya Newenhouse,
Mary O'Brien, Matt Skroch, Ted Zukoski
Advisory Comm ittee
Jasper Carlton, Dave Foreman,Keith Hammer, Timothy Hermach,
Marion Hourdequin, Kraig Klungness, LorinLindner, Andy Mahler, Robert McConnell,
Stephanie Mills, Reed Noss,Michael Soul, Steve Trombulak, Louisa Willcox,
Bill Willers, Howie Wolke
WildlandsWildlandsWildlandsWildlandsWildlands CPRCPRCPRCPRCPR
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 2003 3
Hells Canyon 1993-2003How NEPA Changed Minds and Management
By Mary OBrien
It too k ten year s, but on July 22, 2003, the
manager s of the Wallowa-Whitman National
Fores t (W-WNF) sh owed t hey h old a de epe r
appreciation and understanding of Hells Canyon
than they d id in Septemb er 1993.
You wou ldn t think it would take a d ecade to
finally express protectiveness toward what may be
the deepes t river-cut canyon in North America
(Kings Canyon in California may be just as deep ).
Or to commit to preser vation of the sp ectacular
native bunch grass lands that survive on the
canyon s p lunging walls, when n early all native
grass lands in the West h ave been d estro yed. Youwouldnt think it would take a d ecade to acknowl-
edge tha t veh icles and livesto ck ru nning willy-nilly
on slopes, in meadows, and across s treams might
not be co mpatible with the canyon s salmon
streams and r are plants. But it did, and the steps it
took to bring about this change are worth rep eating
on pub lic lands throughout th e world.
A bit of background
Hells Canyon National Recreation Area
(HCNRA) s pra wls its 652,000 acres a cros s t hreenational forests in northeast ern Oregon and
wester n Idah o. Administered by t he W-WNF in
Oregon, the HCNRA sur roun ds a nd includes 67
miles o f Wild a nd Scenic-stat us Snake River a nd the
214,000-acre Hells Canyon Wilder nes s. It st art s low
with des ert -like cond itions at th e Snake River,
climbs up through grassy slopes and forested
crevices, levels out on ben ches and plateaus of
forest and mead ow, and finally rises into th e
rar ified alpine ecos ystems of Idah os Seven Devils
Mountains.
When, in Sept emb er 1993, W-WNF Sup er visor
Bob Richmon d grud gingly agreed to revise th eor iginal (1982) HCNRA Comp reh ens ive Mana ge-
ment Plan (CMP), he clearly inten ded to up ho ld
Good Old Boy Busines s As Usual: Road an d
moto rized d evelopmen ts, off-road trave l, logging,
and cattle and s heep grazing. But ten years later,
W-WNF Sup er visor Kar yn Woo d s Record of
Decision for th e new CMP included eliminating one-
third of the road s; closing three key canyon-edge
and r idge-top roads t hroughout the fall hunting
seas on, winter an d sp ring; des ignating all oth er
roads closed unless pos ted op en; withdrawing the h istoric permis-
sion t o d rive sto ck tru cks, RVs, pickups and ATVs 300 feet out from
either side of every op en road ; and limiting the canyons 55 roaded
subwaters heds to no more th an 1.35 road miles per s quare mile of
land (many have less). In add ition, her decision abolished one-
qu arte r million acre s of livestock allotme nts , transforming them into
protected native grasslands. (These livestock allotments did not
have current p ermitees, but earlier plans had been to expand adja-
cent allotments to include parts of these s o-called vacant allot-
ments.)
What led to this Record of Decision?
1. Legislation that requires human activities to be compatible withthe long-term health of HCN RA ecosystems.
The 1975 HCNRA Act 1 states th at human activities such as
logging, grazing, mining, and recreat ion are allowed in Hells Canyon
to th e degree th ey are comp atible with wildlife hab itat, rare and
end emic plants , free-flowing rivers, cultura l artifacts , and ou tst and ing
ecosystems and par ts of ecosystems.2 Anyth ing less tha n this comm it-
ment allows degradation and destru ction of pub lic ecosystems .
When perserverance pays off a ten year investme nt in public process by
conservationists resulted in a ne w Forest Service m anageme nt plan that
protects natural value s in Hells Canyo n. Photo by Marnie Criley.
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 20034
continued from page 3
How NEPA Changed Mindsand Management
2. The National Environmental Policy Acts (NEPAs) requirementthat a full range of reasonable alternatives be rigorouslyexplore[d] and objectively evaluate[d]3 in environmental impactstatements (EISs) for any federal decisions that may significantly
affect the environment.
There is no wiser law than one th at requires cons ideration of a
full range of alternat ives. The NEPA regulations sta te th at con sider-
ation of alternatives is the h eart of the environmental impact
statement . After all, the on ly way well stop destroying the earth is to
consider (and implement) alternatives to the way were b ehaving,
e.g., our p roliferat ion of roads and off-road vehicles.
3. Drafting by citizens and scientists of a reasonable alternative.
In Januar y 1994, ten p eop le represe nting two tribes ; eight
nationa l, regional, stat e, and local cons ervat ion organizations
(including Wildland s CPR); a stat e h unting organization; and two
individu al experts , joined togeth er as the Hells Canyon CMP Tracking
Group . We not ified th e Wallowa-Whitman NF th at we were going to
write an ecosystem-based alternative to be co nsidered in the up com-
ing Draft EIS for th e HCNRA CMP. The Tra cking Group met for a t hr ee-
day mar athon to b egin d rafting our alternative, and I agreed to
facilitate pulling together the disparate pieces into one comprehen -
sive alternative. We name d ou r alternat ive what it is: the Native
Ecosys tem Alter nat ive. (We figured th at calling it a Citizens Alterna-
tive (1) would mar ginalize th e alternat ive; and (2) didn t describe the
alternative.)
significance of each of the d ocum ents . We did th is
beca use NEPA requ ires agencies to insur e the
scientific integrity of their EIS discus sions a nd
ana lyses . NEPA regu lation 1502.24 req uires
agencies to identify any methodologies used
and ...make explicit reference b y foot note t o th e
scientific and ot her sources relied upon for
conc lusions in t he [EIS].
5. Having a responsive U.S. Forest Service and
a responsive public.
In Feb ru ar y 1996 th e first Dra ft EIS (DEIS) was
released , but with no Native Ecos ystem Alterna tive.
The W-WNF gave bo gus re ason s for n ot includ ing it;
but an appeal to th e Regional Forester b rought no
he lp. Kar yn Woo d b eca me W-WNFs Sup ervisor in
1997, bu t sh e didn t want to dump two years DEIS
work. Six days before th e Final EIS was to go t o th e
printe r, I met with a num ber of then -Chief Mike
Dombecks Fores t Service s taff in Wash ington DC
and a memb er of the Council on Environmental
Quality, the execu tive bran ch office that over sees
comp liance with NEPA. That afterno on th e Fores t
Service notified Kar yn Wood that the DEIS shou ld
have included the Native Ecos ystem Altern ative
because it was both reasonab le and different from
W-WNF altern atives. Sup ervisor Wood agreed to
sta rt all over with a new DEIS.
In Decemb er 1999, the s eco nd DEIS was
released. It included our alternative and a new one
by th e Wallowa County Commiss ioners , but W-
WNFs pre ferred alternat ive remained largely
unp rotec tive of Hells Canyon . Citizens sen t in over
2,000 pu blic comm ents , with most written c om-
ments expressing preference for the Native Ecosys-
tem Alternat ive. The Nez Perce Tribe prep ared an d
submitted a science-based p aper on th e impor-
tance o f road less ridges for elk, mule deer and
bighorn she ep. The W-WNF und erto ok fur the r
analysis of Hells Canyon co nditions in light o f
substantive comments.
4. Backing the alternative wi th scientific evidence.
When we s ubm itted th e Native Ecosys tem Altern ative to the W-
WNF, we also s ubm itted h ard c opies o f 116 scientific do cume nts t hat
pro vided evidenc e we believed the W-WNF need ed to use wh en
analyzing all altern atives in th e Draft EIS. In ad dition, we su pp lied a
60-page b ibliograp hy s umma rizing the main find ings, relevance , and
The canyon bottoms give rise to forested slopes.
Photo by Marnie Criley.
The ne w CMP favors primitive expe riences ov er roaded
recreation. Photo by Scott Stouder.
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 2003 5
On July 22, 2003, Sup ervisor Wood and her interdisciplinary tea m
released t he Final EIS and h er su rp rising Record of Decision. Roads
and off-road trave l and livesto ck were a ll finally recognized as e ntities
to b e circumscribed and limited, not simply defended , so th at Hells
Canyon could be afforde d a fighting chance to s ur vive moto rized
recreation, commodity extraction, and the invasive species they b ring
in their wake.
This account do esn t begin to des cribe the c ountless Tracking
Group dra fts, meet ings, and o ngoing commu nication with th e W-WNF
that were requ ired over t he years, but an yone who h as organized for
change can imagine. Some might say th at a ten-year proces s s hows
that NEPA doesn t work. I believe this accou nt s hows p recisely the
opp osite: that NEPA doe s wor k. NEPA sets the s tage th rough its
alternatives as sessmen t p rocess for the poss ibility of long-term,
fundamen tal changes. Such ch ange doesn t hap pen in a year, but its
what br ings real wins for the earth.
Mary OBrien ( Ph.D., Botany), is a me m ber of Wildlands CPRs Board
of Directors. She is currently workin g with a Utah coalition to write aSustainable Multiple Use Alternative for the upcoming Fishlake, Dixie,
and Manti-LaSal Forest Plans.
FOOTNOTES
1. Pub lic Law 94-199, Decembe r
31, 1975.
2. Sect ion 7, HCNRA Act .
3. Sect ion 1502.14 of NEPA
Regulations, 40 Code of
Feder al Regulations Par ts
1500-1508 (1992). If youve
never re ad th e crys tal-clear,
pla in-langu age NEPA
regulations, do so. And
defend them, because
theyre under attack by the
Bush Administra tion.
Some Positive Provisionsof the New
Hells Canyon CMP
The HCNRA will be managed as a
healthy ecosystem that is an integralcomponent of a larger biologicalregion... an area of high biologicaldiversity and endemism. Management
will...ensure that maintenance and/ orrestoration of ecological function and
sustainability of species, habitats, andecosystems ... contribute to its biologi-
cal uniqueness.
Over 245,000 acres of currently
vacant livestock allotments will be
closed to future livestock grazing andinstead managed for biodiversity and
native plant values, bringing the totallivestock-free area within the HCNRA to
around 365,000 acres.
Road density will be reduced to 1.35
miles per square mile, resulting in theclosure of approximately one third of
existing HCNRA roads (about 200miles). ATVs wi ll be limited todesig-
nated open roads and trails, with nocross-country use permitted.
Forests will be allowed to function in a
nearly natural manner through the useof natural fire, prescribed fire, and
vegetation projects aimed at restoringviable and healthy ecosystems.
Wildfire willresume a more naturalrole and is recognized as an essential
part of the health of Hells Canyon.
The CMP emphasizesmaintenance ofthe rustic and primitive character of the
HCNRA, andfavors primitive andsemi-primitive experiences over roaded
natural and rural experiences.
Prevention is recognized as a critical
part of invasive species (weed) man-agement, includingclosure or restric-
tions on use where appropriate.
The Hells Canyon NRA is home to the nations largest herd
of bighorn she ep. Photo by Marnie Criley.
About 200 miles of roads, or one -third
of the areas total, will be closed under
the new plan. Photo by Marnie Criley.
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 20036
During th e final days o f work on
the Watershed Property road
remo val project, Bob Clark of
the Sierra Clubs Miss ou la, MT office
and I set off to visit the site. Although
the weat her was o nly mildly cool when
we left Misso ula on Halloween mo rn-
ing, deep winter cold had set in at the
projects 8000-foot location and sever al
inches of snow were on the ground.
Consisting of ap pro ximately 32,500acres of land b ordered on t hree sides
by road less countr y, the Watersh ed
Property was acquired this past
summer through a co operative effort
bet ween th e Rocky Moun tain Elk
Foun dat ion, the U.S. Fores t Service,
and a private timber compan y. The
area is situated along the north s lope
of the Continental Divide within th e
Beaverhead -Deerlod ge National Forest,
jus t wes t of Anac on da , MT. Altho ugh
the pro perty is heavily roaded and
logged, the area remains an integral
avenu e in the b iological corr idorbet ween th e Anaco nda -Pintler Wilder -
ness and th e Flint Creek range to th e
nor th. An impress ive array of animals
are known, in fact, to frequent t he area ,
including moose, bighorn s heep,
mou ntain goat, lynx, mou ntain lion,
wolverine, and elk. The beautiful Twin
Lakes an d Twin Lakes Creek, less tha n
a quar ter mile hike from th e project
site, are home to th reatened westslope
cutthroat trou t and bull trout.
The pro ject itself consisted of
more tha n 13,000 feet o f road ob litera -
tion and th e removal of three culverts
within a 640 acre parce l of the t otal
Water she d Prop erty acre age. A new
foot tr ail was created along one side of
much of the obliterated road, replacing
a s ection of the original Twin Lakes
trail, which wash es out each s pring
dur ing meltoff. As we insp ected the
work that part icular d ay, we were
impressed with th e progress. Downed
trees, boulders (on e the s ize of a
Volkswagen), and plant deb ris that h ad
been pus hed aside to build the road
had now been dragged back onto the
decompacted road surface, effectively
preventing any illegal off-road vehicle
acces s while creating a foot hold for
native plant repop ulation.
This project was unique and ideal
in its bringing together of conservation
group s, local workers, a private timber
company, and a government agency.The Mont ana Chapt er of the Sierra
Club funded the much needed road
obliteration, while Wildland s CPR
acted as project consultant and
contracted a locally-based company,
Joh n Grosv old Logging & Excavating,
to com plete the actual work. Furth er,
the Forest Service provided t he on -site
pre senc e o f Joe Harper, a wildlife
biologist with t he Pintler Ranger
District. Joe, who monitore d the en tire
pro ject, said This project feels bett er
than any other Ive been associated
with in 26 years of agency work.
That th is other wise non-traditional
alliance worked is no s urpr ise to
Wildland s CPR. In o ur Summa ry Report
Investing in Communities, Investing in
the Land, pub lished earlier th is yearin assoc iation with The Center for
Environmen tal Econo mic Developme nt
(CEED), resea rch indicates tha t
concurren t with th e great need for
road remo val within U.S. national
forests, there exists an opp ortun ity to
invigorate local econ omies with road
remo val work. Road work requ iring
Editors Note: While the Forest Services recently proposed
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest management plan is surrounded
by controversy, Wildlands CPR reports on a success story from this same
forest in the face of the present policy storm.
A Non-Traditional Alliance & the Economicsof Obliteration
By Kiffin Hope
Bob Clark of the Sierra Club ( left), and Kiffin Hope o f Wildlands CPR
(center) discuss the project with Dan Stevenson of John Grosvold
Logging & Excav ating. Photo by Jolanta Glabek .
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 2003 7
heavy equipment tend s to b e locally-
based , and offers local contracting
companies such as John Grosvold
Logging & Excavating, its operators
and suppor t crews an opp ortunity
to generate income and pay bu siness
expenses. It also improves community
water sup plies and forest h ealth, and
enhances hunting, fishing, and o ther
backcountr y recreation opp ortunities.
While at the p roject site I spoke at
length with Dan Stevenson , a tract oroperato r for John Grosvold. Despite
the cold and sn owy conditions he was
happ y to b e working, particularly so
close to ho me. In add ition to discuss-
ing the pro ject at ha nd , I told Dan
abo ut Wildland s CPRs grassroots work
and its research regarding road
remova l and its be nefits to local
communities. Dan, whose career h as
mostly consisted of resource extrac-
tion work, was excited at the p rospect
of more road removal projects in the
Beaverhead-Deerlod ge. He said,
Theres more th an seventy miles of
road arou nd h ere that I know of that
the Forest Service wants to remove. Id
be hap py just to have a fraction of that
work. Dan s sentiment is not unusual.
In fact, numerous contractor s and
operators weve met with after years
of building roads and laying culverts innational forests would be happy to
do work that benefits th e local ecology
and econ omy.
The road obliteration and trail
work for th e Watershe d Proper ty
project was completed on November 4,
2003. Propo sed r evegetation effor ts are
sched uled to start and finish in 2004.
Bob Clark notes th at, The project
accomplishes a primary management
ob jective for th e Fores t Service bu t
perhap s more importantly, the process
itself helps illustrate how conser va-
tion groups, local economic interests,
and government agencies can work
together to accom plish sh ared goals.
Amen to that.
Kiffin Hope is Wildlands CPRs ne wProgram Assistant.
The Summary Report Investing in
Communities, Investing in the Land can
be downloaded from the Wildlands CPR
we bsite . Go to: www.wildlandscpr.org/
WCPRpdfs/ NEWECOSummary_Report.pdf
The obliterated road with new trail on right.
Photo by Kiffin Hope .
Removing an old culvert from the project
area. Photo by David Forestieri.
This pr oject feels bet ter tha n a ny
other Ive been a ss ociated w ith in
26 years of agency w ork.
Joe Ha rp er, Wildlife Biolo gist,
Bea verhea d-Deerlo dge Natio na l Fore st
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 20038
Circumventing ParadiseBy Aaron Drendel
Stand ing like a t iny figurine in an infinitely large Buddh ist land-
scape painting, I someho w am missing the wond er of nature s
magic. Gener al Sher man loom s over me in the Giant Forest,
prob ably weighing more than 3 million poun ds and standing taller
tha n the t wo largest b uildings from my hom e stat e, Wyoming, stacked
upon each ot her. I gaze up its gargantuan column and co ck my head
to stare at a bran ch bigger than most trees eas t of the Mississippi,
growing over 150 feet off the ground . This giant seq uoia sp run g from
the earth before Jesus, and it is still barely an old man.
In the two millennia or so th at General Sherman has been ro oted
in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada , many changes h ave taken p lace.
Hundred s of fires h ave crisped the d uff beneath t he tree, leaving
black wounds s treaking its red b ark. Various tribes have come and
gone from unde r its canop y, and some s pecies h ave left entirely, such
as t he grizzly. If given eyes th ough , Gener al Sher man m ight h ave see n
the m ost d rama tic change in 1903. It wasn t th e year a ferocious fire
cha rred the Giant Forest, it was the year t hat a ro ad finally laid th e
path to near by Round Meadow. Soon th ereafter, the h ustle and b ustle
of moder n tou rism followed: cabins, offices, stores , and more p ave-
ment .
Today a sign mounted in the asph alt beneath th e largest general
of them all, the largest creat ure of them a ll, outlines t he tr ivial details
of Gener al Sher man s life. The statistics su pp lement a ver y brief stopalong the highway, perhaps adding something concrete to peop les
memo ry an d reaffirming why th is giant s equ oia is wort hy for a
fragmen t o f our silver dus ted rolls of film. A little
girl strangles my crowd ed sp ace, perhaps exper i-
encing Sequoia National Park for h er first time. She
asks her father, Dadd y, can we go stan d b y it? But
the fence defers her dream, confining her to th e
paved walkway connected to th e paved parking lot
connected t o a network of pavement more vast
than an y other in the universe, extending from the
Arct ic to La Tierr a d el Fuego, from New Yor k to LA.
Inst ead of discovering laws of nature , laws of man
dictate h er. If only her father knew abou t the
sequoias beyond the pa vement, about the universe
beyond th e pavement. Giants that you can hug.
Many visitors at Sequo ia and Kings Canyon
National Parks do nt free themselves from the
asph alt and visit the other 90% of the parks, the
legislatively designated Sequoia-Kings Canyon
Wilder nes s. The trend a t mos t National Parks
involves more and more lazy drives in th e par k,
scenic byways circumventing hidden treasures, and
roma ntic excurs ions winding into irksom e traffic
jams. Mode rn vacat ions are getting shor ter, and
congested h ighways equal less time for mo re stop s.
When overheated car s and broken-down pass en-
gers finally roll into a jammed par king lot, they are
dismayed to find b ig city crowds an d sidewalksleading them through nature. Take th is little girl
stan ding next to me. She might grow up kno wing
natu re as a crowde d walkway with rust ic signs, a
pas sing view from th e window of her dad s ca r. But
the window will never ro ll down all the way
beca use of the child safety feature. Like viewing
animals at a zoo, she will never be p art o f the
exhibit. A pan e of glass s epa rates her from the
reality that we are all creatures in the s ame
biosphere.
Aaron and Krista Drende l, certified tree-huggers. Photo by Aaron Drendel.
An unname d beauty in the Giant
Forest. Photo by A aron Drendel.
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It is time that we br ing wilder ness bac k into th e National Parks.
Our nations drive-thru p arks mimic theme p arks rather th an an area
protected to leave the resou rce unimpaired for future generations, as
the Organic Act s pecifies. Our ch ildren aren t learning about th e
majestic nature th at we are a par t of, they are learning the natu re that
we are apart from, separated by fences and seatbelts, told b y signs
what to think, led b y railings when we walk, and con fined to o ut-
hous es when we piss. If one do esn t find s himmering stars and
flickering fires e no ugh for e venin g ente rt ainme nt in Yos emite Valley,
the y can re nt a movie at t he Village, inse rt it in th e RVs DVD p layer,
and ret urn to Hollywood.
Perhap s asp ects o f Sequ oia and Kings Canyon National Parks
could ser ve as a model for ot her p arks. Obviously, roads h ave
become ingrained in the p arks, but maybe we have gone overb oard
and s hould cons ider restoring some areas and looking to alternatives.
There is n o freedo m involved in idling beh ind a line of vehicles
stopp ed to watch a distant beaver in a pond silenced by the car s
radio. Light rail systems in our b usiest par ks would create more
opp ortun ities to get out of the car and hear the thwack of the
beaver s tail as it brings the po nd t o life. Transit time would be
reduced, and mo re time to immerse in the great outdoors would be a
benefit for all. People would no longer need to worr y about bears
breaking into cars, overheated r adiators on treacherous highways, or
even whe re they b egin or end a h ike. We could even r eplace RVspaces with Walden Pond style cabins, just large enough t o goad them
out side to d iscover why th ey left the city in the first p lace. The
greatest beneficiaries would b e th ose who live there of course, the
voiceless. By assaulting Mother Nature with our comforts rat her than
emb racing her wild h armo ny, we forget that we t oo are a nimals. We
might find tha t road closures will open new wor lds, put ou r feet in
contact with the ground, and put o ur souls in touch with our past,
present, and hop efully our future.
Today as I beat my way through the foot t raffic surround ing
General Sherman, my sn eakers squ eak on th e blacktop as I bob and
weave toward s th e par king lot. I begin to da ydream o f put ting my
arms aroun d th e Boole Tree, which stands o ff the b eaten path
bet ween General Sher man an d th e Kings Canyon . Noth ing divides us.My arms d o not even reach h is ankles. His bark is spongy and more
tha n 2 feet th ick. The Californ ia sun h as ra diated off the t ree s auburn
bar k for th e entire day, tran sferring ancient warmth into me. I ope n
my arm s to h is soft flesh, and he s tand s indifferent to my a ffection. I,
alone with Boole, am blus hing a rosy red ma tch ing his bark, blushing
because I am a b ona fide tree hugger having an
affair with a lone ly old sequoiadendron giganteum .
Boole has been in this fores t for s ome 2000 years .
His com mun ity was once t he largest grove o f giant
sequoias on t he earth , at least th e largest since we
have kep t trac k of time. He watch ed loggers ha ck
his friend s do wn early in the 20th centur y, but th e
pillagers left him stand ing, stan ding alone amon gthe largest stump s on earth . Then, they named the
forlorn giant after the man who sent th e trees
friends do wn to th e mill, Frank Boole. They
tacked a s ign up honor ing the biped Frank Boole, a
man who h elped turn the mos t awe striking trees
on ear th into millions of shingles and fence p osts.
Finally, they hosted square d ances on the su r-
rounding decap itated stump s, celebrating as Boole
the tree mourned . Accordingly the last centu ry h as
been tor ment for this ancient specimen, but at
least today, the Boole Tree has no pavement
smother ing his roots.
Aaron Drendel is currently working on a masters
degree in environmental writing at the University of
Montana. He has worked as a naturalist ranger at
Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada
and Glen Canyon NRA. Aaron spent two years
working on various grassroots en vironmental
projects in the Dominican Republic while serving as
a Peace Corps volunteer. Though a form er ranger, his
views should in no way be confused with current NPS
opinion.
Fire scars reve al a glimpse into the forests history.
Photo by Aaron Drendel.
A mule deer forages w ithin Redw ood Canyon, amon g the giants.
Photo by Aaron Drendel.
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 200310
Be Careful What You Ask For:
FS Revs Up for New ORV RulesBy Bethanie Walder
This prop osed change i s one of many tha t the
Bush Administra t ion has ini t ia ted w ith l it t le
pu blic comment or overs ight .
In December 1999, Wildland s CPR and more tha n
100 oth er grou ps as ked th e Fores t Ser vice (FS)
to r ewrite th eir regulations regard ing off-road
vehicles. At the t ime, the agency said they had too
much on th eir plate they were swamped tr ying
to finish th e road less rule, rewrite the National
Fores t Management Act regulations and finish
many other big projects. As they p ut it , their
wheelbar row was n ot on ly full, bu t overflowing.
This fall we learned t hat t hey ve finally light -
ened th eir load eno ugh to make room for this issue.
The FS recen tly anno unce d th at the y will overhau l
the ir regulations for off-road vehicles, most o f
which a re found in the FS Code of Federal Regula-
tion s (CFR) at 36CFR295 and 36CFR261. Thes e
regulations de rive from two execut ive ord ers (EO
11644, EO 11989) that control off-road vehicles on
all pu blic lands; each land man agement agen cy
developed regulations to implement these execu-
tive order s (or iginally enacte d by Pres ident Nixon
in 1972 and stren gthened by President Carter in
1977). The FS is the only agency that h as an-nounced a national regulatory change.
This prop osed ch ange is one of many that the
Bush Administr ation h as initiated with little pub lic
comment or overs ight. Rather th an attacking rules
hea d on , this administrat ion is fond of making rule
changes beh ind closed doors . For example, near
the s ame time that we learned about the off-road
vehicle r egulatory change, the administration
announced that it was changing the ru les for
defining streams and wetlands under the Clean
Water Act, effectively reducing p rotec tions for a
significant numb er of wetlands an d water ways. We
can only speculate what t he ad ministration mightdo with th e off-road vehicle regulations. Judging
from th eir treatmen t of sno wmob iles in
Yellowsto ne National Park, it is clear th at t hey a re
more fond of motorized recreation than no n-
motorized recreation.
Following in the trad ition of othe r recen t
agency rule changes, our un derst anding from the
FS is that th ey have little intent to co nd uct p ub lic
meetings o r co llect p ublic comm ent u ntil after theyhave figured out exactly what they want the new
rules to say. Our intent, on the oth er hand , is to
ensure th ey hear what the p ublic thinks about this
process before it is a done d eal, and th at the r ule
change pro vides a real opp ortun ity for m eaningful
reform.
A cou ple yea rs ago, FS Chief Dale Boswo rt h
pres ided over the largest o ff-road vehicle regula-
tory reform to date on twen ty-six national
forests and three Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) areas in Montan a, Nort h Dakota and Sout h
Dakota. This proces s resu lted in NO real cha nge on
the ground and the continued expans ion of ren-egade routes thro ughout the reform area. If this
exercise in futility is th e mod el for n ational reform,
the resu lt will only exacerb ate th e off-road vehicle
management prob lems that already exist.
But rath er than s peculate about what th e FS
might d o, it makes more sense to offer so me
solutions . When we sub mitted our 1999 rulemaking
petition, we scr utinized th e regulations and worked
with lawyers, conservation biologists and activists
to deter mine what language would make the mo st
sense from a regulatory persp ective. It comes
down to s everal basic issues:
Wildlands CPR
file photo.
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 2003 11
Off road veh icle us e sh all be a llowed only
on system roads and routes d esignated
and posted as open for such use. Cross-
coun tr y travel by off-road vehicles sha ll be
prohibited.
Route designation shall only occur where
the FS can demons trate (through an op en,
pub lic proces s), that us e of the route willnot cause ad verse environmental impacts.
All rout e des ignations , upgrade s, etc. shall
be fully analyzed und er th e National
Environmen tal Po licy Act.
Off-road vehicle use s hall be p rohibited
unless adeq uate monitoring and enforce-
ment of the u se and impacts are fully
funded and implemented. Resource
mana gement d ecisions regard ing off-road
vehicles mus t be directly tied to th e
agencys ability to manage thos e resourceseffectively.
Off-road vehicle use s hall be p rohibited in
areas such as roadless areas, designated
wilderness areas and ot her wildernes s
quality lands, and oth er areas with
roadless values.
These five basic rules wou ld enab le the FS to
mana ge off-road vehicle use m ore e ffectively and to
limit ecological impacts . But the se regulatory
app roach es will have no impact if the FS do es no t
have fund ing for effective o ff-road vehicle enforce-
ment and monitoring.
The FS and BLM have given off-roa d v eh icle
use rs free reign over pu blic lands. The agencies
have failed to regulate moto rized recreat ion
effectively, and have almost wholly failed to
enforce thos e regulations th at do exist. Until local
and federal lawmakers d evelop real consequences
for violating off-road vehicle regulations, the
curr ent att itude of lawlessnes s will cont inue
throughout the sport .
These conseq uences cou ld include expensive
fines and th e impoundm ent of vehicles th at are
driven in unauth orized places. They could alsoinclude such con sequen ces as permanent closure
of routes where users continuously violate closure
orders . (In other words, if the agencies grant the
pr ivilege to us e moto rized recreat ional vehicles on
pub lic land roads /routes, then that p rivilege comes
with a res po ns ibility to follow the law. If off-roa d
vehicle us ers cannot follow the laws, they shou ld
lose their privileges.) This hap pens in nearly every
other sector o f our s ociety, but for so me reason we
cont inue to tolerate illegal beh avior by o ff-road
vehicle u sers and th at beh avior only growswors e. Without real conse que nces , off-road veh icle
recreat ion will cont inue to be p lagued by lawless -
ness. With real conseq uences such as perma-
nent closures a nd loss o f recreational access, we
will see off-road vehicle user s s tart patro lling
themselves.
The FS announcem ent ab out their rule-change
process elicits mixed em otions for peop le con-
cern ed with off-road vehicle use. The agency is
claiming that they are taking on this proces s
because t hey must cont rol use before it is out of
control. We are trepidatious abo ut the outcome.
We recognize that we as ked th e Forest Service tounder take just such a process , and we can only
hop e th at th e safety, ecological and econ omic
impacts of off-road vehicle recreation on n ational
forest lands will be so profound as to offer no other
op tion but rea l regulator y reform . Well, at least we
can give them th e benefit of the doub t
Will the Forest Services new ORV regulations address the critical issues of
resource dam age and rider respo nsibility? Or will this process take us around
in circles? Photo by Mark Alan Wilson.
The use r-created route around this gate is an e xam ple of what has
becom e a comm on disregard for ORV rules. Photo by Dan Funsch.
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 200312
The Activist Spotlight shares the stories of some of
the awesom e activists we wo rk with, both as a
tribute to them and as a way of highlighting
successful strategies and lessons learned. Please
email your nomination for the Activist Spotlight to
k iffin@wildla ndscp r.org.
Spotlight on Andrew HarveyBy Kiffin Hope
Stretching for forty miles n orth -
ward into Californ ia from the
Mexico bord er, the Sonor an
Desert s Algod ones Dunes area is the
oldest d une s ystem in California and
the largest in th e U.S. Cons tantly
shifting sands and extreme dryness
and temper ature changes create a
fragile and u nique h abitat. The 160,000
acre area h arb ors a t least 160 different
animal and plant sp ecies, including
many rare, threatened, and endemic
species such as Peirsons milkvetch ,
sand food (an unu sual, edible plant),
Algodones Dunes sun flower, des ert
tortoise, and n ine known endemic
bee tle sp ecies. High inten sity off-road
vehicle use, h owever, is n egatively
impacting th e life within th is rare
ecos ystem, which t he California
Wilder ness Coalition ha s des ignate d as
on e of California s ten most endan-
gered wild places .
In recen t years , the Algodoneshave been waylaid upon b y as many as
one million o ff-road enth usiasts
annu ally. On any given weekend , one
can witness dun e bu ggies, jeeps, all-
terrain vehicles, motorcycles, and
monster trucks driving recklessly
across th e tenuous landscap e. Particu-
larly bus y holiday weekends in
November 1999, Octob er 2000, and
November 2001 saw large and un ru ly
crowd s of off-road vehicle user s hitting
the dunes . Much mayhem occurred ,
including widespread violence,
injuries, an d s everal fatalities.
While many conser vation groups
and individuals have gotten the word
out ab out th e Algodo nes o ff-road
abu se issu e, Los Angeles-based
pho tographer Andrew Harvey has b een
using images. And rew said, I got
exposed to t he dun es in an intimate
manner d uring a closure mon itoring
visit with Daniel Patters on an d
Brendan Cummings of the Center for
Biological Diversity. Given his com -
pan y, Andre w quickly learned t hat ,
upon closer inspection, a delicate and
unu sual mat rix of life st ruggles to e xist
in the harsh deser t conditions made
more h ost ile by off-road vehicle use.
With his field experience in th e du nes,
and th e knowledge that th e off-road
friendly Bush adm inistr ation cou ld
read ily overtu rn a November 2000
court d ecision that tem porar ily
pro tecte d 49,000 acres of the
Algodon es from moto rized use, the
time was ripe to te ll the s aga of the
dun es in a whole new way.
Teaming up with t he Center for
Biological Diversity, Natur al Trails &
Water Coalition, Deser t Protect ive
Council, and the San Diego Sierra Club,
in May 2003 Andre w emb arked on a
traveling photographic exhibition
showcasing images he captu red in the
du nes. To dat e, the Algodo nes Dunes
Traveling Exhibit has b een se en by an
estimate d 350,000 peop le in cities from
Los Angeles and San Diego to Tucson,
Phoe nix, and El Centro . The exhibit
engages visitors in a moving and
memorab le visual experience of the
dunes an d the plants and animals that
depen d on its delicate ecosystem. The
pho tos graphically documen t both the
exotic beaut y of the dunes and t he off-
road d amage inflicted up on th em.
Andr ew told me, The ob jective of this
exhibition is to us e art as a mechanism
for en vironmental educat ion and
positive change.
Even t hou gh it is difficult to
quantify the impact th e exhibit has had
Copyright Andrew M. Harvey 2003 www.visualjourneys.net
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 2003 13
Copyright Andrew M. Harvey 2003 www.visualjourneys.net
on its visitors, Andre w pers onally
mailed over 120 letter s t o Californ ias
sen ator s Diane Feinstein (D) and
Barbara Boxer (D) signed b y Los
Angeles atten dees alone. Inter views
with Andrew and ar ticles ab out th e
exhibition have b een featured in many
area newspap ers along the way,
creat ing interest in th e Algodo nes
Dunes and encouraging individuals to
come and view the ph otograph y. The
images cap tured in Andrews
Algodones pho tographs are so comp el-
ling that they are in demand from
newspaper s, national publications, and
environmental and lobbying groups ,
including the LA Time s, Yuma Sun,
Back Packer, Earth First! Journal, Sierra
Club , and The Wilderne ss Society. The
California Wilderness Coalition used
Andrews ph otos both within the
Algodones Dunes feature and on th e
bac k cover o f its 2003 California s 10
Most Threate ned Wild Places . Th e
images have also been used onnum erous web sites and in scientific
and legal documen ts.
Its obvious that th e images are
sp eaking for t hem selves. I asked
Andrew h ow he feels ab out th e
pop ularity of his Algod ones Dunes
images. He sa id, Ive always been an
environmentalist at hear t, so its
gratifying that my p hotos of the dunes
are influencing and educating so many
people.
In Octob er 2003 a cour t dec isionuph eld the temporary protection of the
49,000 acre tr act men tioned earlier.
Andrew has some misgivings about
this, however. Things are very
ten tat ive. The BLM (Bure au o f Land
Management) isnt neces sarily going to
make a dec ision in favor o f prot ecting
the dunes. In fact, BLM is p rop os ing
opening the protected area to motor-
ized use, even th ough n early 70,000
acres ( 106 squ are miles) of the
Algodones Dunes are already open to
off-road vehicle use. And rew never the -
less remains confident that groups liketh e Cente r for Biological Divers ity,
Sierra Club, and Public Employees for
Environmen tal Resp ons ibility will keep
the pres sure on BLM and th e courts.
For th e time being, Andre w and
the Algod ones Dunes Traveling
Exhibition are taking a well-des erved
break. With so much moving around,
the p hotos , frames, and p rotective
glass are in need of repair or rep lace-
ment . With som e luck, additional
fund ing, and political sup po rt, Andr ewhopes to take the exhibition to Wash-
ington, D.C. in the near futur e. He h as
provided Senators Feinstein and Boxer
and Congres sm an Bob Filner ( D-CA)
with pho tographs , information, and
news stories abo ut the Algodones
Dunes and has even sub mitted a formal
requ est to Filners office seeking
ass istance for a D.C. exhibition.
Recently, Andr ew has bee n
photographing areas in Tejon Ranch
and the Surpr ise Canyon Wilderness.
Hes also wor king on getting his own
non -pro fit or ganization, Visua l Jour -neys, up and run ning. Throu gh Visual
Journeys I hope to create visual and
educational exhibits that ignite pass ion
and ap preciation, and encour age the
pre ser vation of biological diversity.
We wish And rew much succ ess in
his endeavors.
To con tact Andrew or to view
images from the Algodo nes Dunes
Traveling Exhibition, visit
www.visualjourneys.net.
Copyright Andrew M. Harvey 2003 www.visualjourneys.net
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The Road-RIPorter, Winter Solstice 200314
IntroductionRoad d ecommissioning has b een d efined as th e
physical treatment of a roadb ed to res tore the integrity of
associated hillslopes, ch annels, and flood plains and their
related h ydrologic, geomorp hic, and ecological process es
and p ropert ies (Switalski et al. in press ). In pr actical terms,
deco mmissioning is a proc ess in which the Forest Service
(FS) determ ines that a road is no longer need ed or desirable
and t hen p hysically removes it from th e ground, the road
databas e, and/or pu blished maps . Road decommissioning
shou ld not be confused with road closure. Road closureimplies temp orar ily prohibiting acces s to a road . This is an
important d istinction because som e forests say they are
decommissioning road s while in reality they are closing
roads. For example, they may be placing a gate or barrier on
the road entrance, but are leaving culverts and th e road
prism in place.
The FS is decommissioning thous ands of miles of
roads for a variety of reasons. The most common are:
to eliminate environmental degradation;
to redu ce impacts associated with motorized
access;
to m eet s pecific management requ irements defined
in Forest plans or co urt ord ers; and, to avoid long-term road maintenance costs.
Decom missioning activities emp loyed b y the FS include
reestablishing natural drainage patterns and stream chan -
nels, out-sloping the road surface, scattering deb ris on t he
roadbed , ripping the s oil and p lanting vegetation on the road
bed, blocking the entran ce to a road , and posting closure
signs. One or more of these activities may be used . The
common denominator in FS road d ecommissioning is
removing the road from the road system databas e, but even
this is not cert ain. An on-the-ground inves tigation is
generally required to d eter mine exactly which ac tivitieswere used to d ecommission a particular road.
During th e su mmer of 2003, Wildland s CPR cond ucte d a
sur vey of all nationa l fores t road deco mmissioning. This
pro ject was prom pted , in pa rt, by FS claims th at from 1998-
2002 they decommissioned fourteen miles of road for every
one m ile bu ilt. While we confirmed tha t th e agency is
decommissioning roads, we also learned th at they have n o
cons istent d efinition for decommissioning.
In th is stud y, our goal was to collect data to illustrat e
what activities the FS employs to decommission roads and
in what pro por tions. Is the agency actually decommission-
ing roads or simply closing them? It is also important to
unders tand which kinds of roads (system o r non-system) are
being decommissioned. System roads were engineered,
constru cted, and inventoried b y the FS; non-system road s
were either created b y users or co nstruct ed for timber s ales,
grazing, and mining, but never placed on the inventory (and
are ther efore difficult to categor ize). It app ears th at in many
cases , the FS is taking credit for d ecomm issioning non-
syste m road s while not taking respo nsibility for th eir
development.
Based on our research , it appears that t he FS is invest-
ing in road removal and s tream chan nel restoration in
cert ain places, while investing very little in other p laces. In
all cases, ground truthing will be necessar y to determine
what level of work is being done in reported road d ecommis-
sioning pro grams.
MethodsWe contacted the road manager or lead engineer at each
regional office of the FS and requ este d th e Road Accom plish-
ment Report Summa ries (RARS) for 1997 2002. Each forest
in the National Forest System mus t su bmit this annu al
report , which tracks add itions to and d eletions from the
road system, maintenance, construction, reconstruction,
deco mmissioning miles and assoc iated costs . The RARS
also tracks whether activity occurred on s ystem or non -
syste m road s. We used a formal Freed om of Information Act
request to acq uire data from Regions 1 and 6.
National Forest Service Road DecommissioningAn attempt to read through the numbers
By Ryan Schaffer
Many types of activities meet the Forest Service definition of
decommissioning, from blocking a roads access (above), to
fully removing it and re-establishing vegetative cover (right).
Photos by Edgar va n de r Grift.
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Results and DiscussionAccord ing to th e RARS repo rt , the FS is deco mmission-
ing roads in near ly ever y national fores t in the United States .
Below we articulate the mo st impor tant an d significant
results of the data we gathered and des cribe noteworthy
regions for futu re investigation. The full repo rt is available
on ou r website and also identifies noteworthy forests.
National Results (All FS Regions)Nationwide, the FS is decom missioning an avera ge of
2,038 miles of road per year (system and non-system road s
comb ined) at a cost of $3,911 per mile. When b roken down ,
the FS is decom missioning 1,290 miles of syste m road per
year and 748 miles of non-system road per year at a c ost of
$3,521 per mile an d $4,591 per mile res pec tively (Figures 1,
2). It is worth noting that th e cost p er mile for non -system
road d ecommissioning is higher than that for system road
dec ommiss ioning; this is entirely due t o the inclusion of
Alaska in this dat a. Alaska spend s more th an $22,000 per
mile to de comm ission non-system ro ads , nearly 350% more
than th e rest of the country.
When Alaska is taken out o f the p icture th e cost -per -
mile da ta ch anges s ignificantly while th e miles-per -year d atais barely affected . In th e lower forty-eight, the FS is deco m-
missioning 2,019 miles (sys tem and non -syst em comb ined)
at a co st o f $2,803 per mile. This includes 1,281 miles o f
system road s p er year an d 737 miles of non-system road s
per year at a n avera ge cost per mile of $3,365 and $2,030
respectively.
Nationally, the numb er of road miles deco mmissioned
per year p eaked in 1999 and then dropp ed by near ly 65% by
2002. Expend itures on road decomm issioning rose stea dily
after 1999, peaking in 2001 and the n d ropp ing 55% in 2002.
Costs-per-mile were highes t in 1998, largely du e to the
inclusion of Alaska in our dat a samp le. However, besides
1998, costs-per-mile have not fluctuated much , rising
stea dily thro ugh 2002.
Noteworthy Regions Region 6 (Pacific Nort hwest ) deco mmissions t he
most miles of road (system and no n-system com-
bined) and th e most miles of system road in the
country.
Regions 1 (North ern) and 3 (Southwest) are also
decommissioning relatively high numbers of system
road s, averaging more than 300 miles p er year.
Regions 5 (Pac ific South west) and 10 (Alaska) are
deco mmissioning relatively few miles of road b ut
are making a considerable investment in the
decommissioning they do accomplish.
Regions 2 (Rocky Moun tains) an d 4 (Interm oun tain)
are decommissioning relatively high numbers of
road (genera lly non-system roa ds) for on ly limited
financial invest ment ( with the excep tion of the
Payette National Fores t).
Regions 8 (Souther n) and 9 (Eastern) are decom mis-
sioning relatively few miles o f road at a low cos t-
per -mile investment .
ConclusionsThis research has made it clear that the term decom-
missioning can mea n a variety of different th ings. There is
tremendou s variation in the number of miles being decom-
missioned, th e costs associated with deco mmissioning, and
the activities being employed to decommission roads acrossthe cou ntr y. Ultimately, all tha t can be ass ured is that a
decommissioned road likely has been removed from the FS
databas e. In this vein, the term decommissioning must be
qua lified if it is to r epres ent s ome s ort of on-the-ground
accom plishmen t for th e FS. The next logical step wou ld be
to docum ent what is being accomplished on the ground.
A full version o f this rep ort is available on line a t
www.wildlandsc pr.org. We recen tly sent th e full repor t along
with our road removal economics repor t to many forest
advoc ates . Using the two repo rt s togethe r, activists will be
able to gauge the po tent ial for eco nomic ben efits from road
deco mmissioning in the ir region. We hop e to work with
many of these organizations to conduct inspections and
determine what is actually happ ening on the ground . Please
contact u s if you re interested in condu cting a
groundtruth ing project on your forest.
Ryan Schaffer recently completed this report as an
internship with Wildlands CPR. He is currently pursuing a law
degree at Lewis & Clark College.
Figure 1. Forest Service annual average
system decommissioning mileage andannual average system cost comparison
(1995-2002).
Figure 2. Forest Service annual average non-system
decommissioning mileage and annual average non-system cost comparison (1995-2002).
annual average miles
annual average cost per mile
annual average miles
annual average cost per mile
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Bibliography Notes summarizes and highlights some of the
scientific literature in our 10,000 citation bibliography on the
physical and ecological effects of roads and off-road vehicles. We
offer bibliographic searches to help activists access im portant
biological research relevant to roads. We keep copies of most
articles cited in Bibliography Notes in our office library.
Indirect Impacts of Road-Building inDeveloping CountriesBy Carrie Brunger
OverviewRoads pose a par ticularly challenging problem to those
interested in forest con servation in d eveloping nations
(Wilkie et al. 2000). Scientists stu dy the effects of road
building from ma ny per sp ectives including ecological,
soc ial, econom ic, and cultura l. While the d irect ecological
impacts of roads h ave been well documented, indirecteffects are mo re d ifficult to qu antify and mo re ch allenging to
examine. This doesnt, however, diminish the ir impa ct on
local pop ulations, liveliho od, b iodiversity, and o verall
hum an vitality. This review examines som e of the major
indirect impacts of road bu ilding in developing countr ies in
order to under stand the factors involved and effects created
in this ever -growing business of road bu ilding.
MigrationRoad building can lead to th e resett lement of large
number s of people from rur al to urban areas, placing
pressu re on urban infrastru cture. Conversely, roads can
facilitate m igration o f peo ple to on ce isolated a reas, leading
to indirect impacts such as increased hunting and po aching,agricultural development , and eco nomic change. Next, I
review the impacts of this increased migration and examine
the integra l role that roa ds p lay in migration.
Hunting a nd Poa chingThe increase in access and h unting pressure enabled by
road building is on e of the major indirect impacts cur rently
add ress ed b y researc h (Bennet t et al. 2001; Fimbe l et al.
2001; Wilkie et al. 2000; Auze l et al. 2000; Wilkie e t a l. 2001;
Pere s et a l. 2003; Minn eme yer 2002). The h un ting of wildlife
in forests is a common practice associated with timber
extraction, mining, agricultural development and deforesta-
tion as a whole (Rumiz et al 2001). Many road s crea ted for
logging and mining become points of entry into other wise
isolated area s. As a resu lt of such road b uilding in th e
Republic of Congo, travel time for hun ters to reach an
access p oint declined from twelve hours to less than t wo,
turning what was once a four day journey into a one day
event (Wilkie 2000). Also, road netwo rks c reate d for logging
and m ining have been proven to subs tantially increase
acces s to game while also facilitating tran spo rt to ma rkets
(Fimbe l et al. 2001). Even road s in national reser ves ha ve
been found to as sist poach ing and hu nting in Bolivia
(Townsend 2000) and Sout h Africa ( Kotze 2002).
Agricultura l Developmen tRoad bu ilding can res ult in a significant loss o f prod uc-
tive agricultural lands as they are develop ed. Research also
reveals th at road s increase agricultural development inpreviously isolated areas as migrants p ursue economic gain
and st ab ility (Mahar 1989; Mahar et al. 1994; Ayres et al.
1991). For e xample, with t he ad vent of road building in th e
Amazon b asin, settlers, immigrants , colonization enter -
prises, cattle ranchers , and agricultural projects ar rived in
the region and created economic opp ortun ities (Ayres et
al.1991; Price 1989), while degrad ing native ecosyst ems. The
same d evelopmen t followed roa d bu ilding halfway around
the world in r ura l Africa (Mwase 1991), Sout heas t Asia
(Kumme r and Turner 1994), and in Central America
(Chomitz and Gray 1995).
Agricultural development increases primarily through
logging practices and government spons orsh ip. Whilelogging concessions add ro ads into untouch ed areas,
government co lonization programs also increase agricultural
development and cattle ranching by providing access and
econ omic incen tives to migrate to the frontier (Mahar 1989).
In Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s, mass ive government road
projects mad e large areas access ible for th e first time, and
agricultural colonization schemes attracted migrants (Mahar
1989). With the d evelopmen t of the governm ent-fund ed
Belem-Brasilia Highway, cattle ranching firms and millions of
migrants poured into the ru ral area. In add ition to cheap
land, the government o ffered t ax and credit incentives to
Road building in the Ivory Coast connected rural farmers with large
scale cotton compa nies. Photo by Carrie Brunger.
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enco ura ge agriculture. Official estimate s suggest t hat t he
total human popu lation in the zone of the highway increased
from 100,000 in 1960 to a bou t two million ten years later
(Mahar 1989).
Econom ic Grow th a nd DevelopmentNational economic growth and development h ave long
been seen as th e ultimate goals of road building in d evelop-
ing countries. Roads generate economic growth by creating
demand for new s ervices and labor. Employment comesfrom a va riety of so urces including farming, logging, selling
or maintaining goods, and service related bu sinesses. As
logging compan ies move into an are a, employment o f local
workers rises ( Fores t Monitor 2003; Bennett an d Gumal 2001;
Wilkie et al. 2000). But in many cas es su bs istence op por tu-
nities decrease, creating new depend ence on a mon etary
economy that req uires increased reso urce extraction.
Add itionally, socio-cultura l values may b e altered and
exposure to rapid social change or tourism may create
instab ility in th e com mun ity (USAID 2003). On the oth er
hand , economic development and long-term, sustainable
improvements in society are also indirect impacts of road
building in developing countries, measured primarily
through d evelopment s in healthcare, access to edu cation,infrastruct ure, commerce and com munication systems .
Without road s, commerce can b arely exist, let alone expan d.
Not s urpr isingly, reconstru ction of roads is a p rominent
compon ent of the governments plan to restore t he Demo-
crat ic Repu blic of Congo s ec on omy ( Wilkie et al. 2000).
While road bu ilding can improve Gross Domest ic Product
and facilitate inter national tra de, it also dra matically
reduces biodiversity, increases habitat fragmentation, and
increases economic costs caus ed b y environmental damage
like landslides. Add itionally, decreas es in scen ic quality and
tou rism following road b uilding can resu lt in furth er eco -
no mic los se s (USAID 2003).
Imp acts on Huma n Hea lth and SafetyThere are also a number of indirect impacts on hu manhea lth an d safety res ulting from road building (USAID 2003).
Unpaved road s generate du st and noise that can n egatively
affect road constr uction workers and local communities.
Roads increase connections b etween commun ities resulting
in increased potential for s exually transmitted diseases such
as HIV/AIDs and oth er com municab le diseases s uch as
tub erculosis. Add itionally, road s with poo r drainage create
standing water and increase the r isk of water b orn d isease
such as ch olera and malaria. Road improvements increase
vehicular speed, which results in increased collisions
between both h uman and animal populations.
ConclusionNot only do researchers agree that b oth d irect and
indirect impacts o f road b uilding in develop ing coun tries areimportant top ics to examine, but they also focus on solu-
tions to m itigate tho se impact s. The following suggestions
are only the t ip of the iceb erg in mitigating the impact s of
roads in developing countr ies:
Developing a strategic appro ach to ro ad recons truc-
tion (Wilkie e t a l. 2000);
Reviewing policies (Mason and Putz 2001, Maha r
1989, Mahar et a l. 1994);
Creating and expan ding wildlife reser ves in deve lop-
ing cou ntr ies (Switalski 2002; Smith et a l. 1998;
Peres 2003);
Regulating logging trans por t and re quiring road
de mo lition a fter logging (Auzel et al. 2000; Fimb el etal. 2001; Bennett et al. 2001; Wilkie et al. 2001);
Examining road cons truc tion, tree felling, and
extraction m ethod s (Mason and Putz 2001); and,
Training, educa ting, and involving local pop ulations
(Fimb el et al 2001; Forest Monitor 2003;
Buschb acher 1990).
Due to gaps and weaknesses in research meth odology,
the intr icacies of dyna mic societies, and evolving cultures,
unders tanding the indirect impacts of roads in developing
coun tries is a challenge. In man y cases , information is not
easily quant ifiable. Expand ing the focus of research from
ecological effects t o include so cial, cultura l and eco nom ic
effects will benefit sust ainable man agement , habitat vitality
and r ural livelihood . This shift in researc h, however, mus t
not o nly come from ind ividu als but also from th e organiza-
tions and governments that fund road building. Quantitative
resea rch is vital in under stan ding impa cts, but local knowl-
edge and app reciation is also of utmost import ance. Road
building projects can b e bo th b eneficial and d etrimental to
local cultures, and while environmental impacts su ch as
deforesta tion and loss o f biodivers ity may never b e elimi-
nated , they can b e diminished. To do s o, local involvemen t
and un derstan ding must be p rioritized. This proces s, along
with ap propr iate needs ass essment, will be key to ensur ing
that new transp ortation infrastructu res have the least
poss ible impacts.
Carrie Brunger is a Graduate Student in the Environmental
Studies Program at the Unive rsity of Montana.
Due to road building in developing countries, many regional markets
are now linke d to rem ote areas. Photo by Carrie Brunger.
References follow on nex t page
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ReferencesAuzel, P. and D.S. Wilkie. 2000. Wildlife use in North ern Con go:
hunting in a commercial logging concession. In: Hunting
for Sustainability in Tropical Forests. (J.G. Robinson and
E.L. Benn ett, ed itors ), Columb ia Univers ity Press , New
Yor k, 413-454.
Ayres , J.M, D.M Lima, E. S. Mart ins and J.L.K. Barre iros . 1991.
On the track of the road: changes in subsistence huntingin a Brazilian Amazonian village. In: Neotropical Wildlife
Use and Conservation (J.G. Robinson and K.H Redford,
ed itors ), The University of Chicago Press , Chicago, 82-92.
Bennet t, E.L. and M.T. Guma l. 2001. The interrelations hips of
com merc ial logging, hunt ing, and wildlife in Sarawak:
recomm enda tions for forest managemen t. In: The Cutting
Edge: Conser ving Wildlife in Logged Tropical Fores ts.
(editors: R.A. Fimbel, A. Grajal and J.G. Robinson).
Columb ia Univer sity Press, New Yor k, 359-374.
Buschbac her, R.J. 1990. Natura l forest managemen t in t he
hum id trop ics: ecological, social and econo mic
considerations.Ambio 19(5): 253-58.
Chomitz, K.M. and D.A. Gray. 1995. Road s, land use a nd
deforestation: A spatial mode l applied to Belize.Environment, Infrastructure and Agriculture Division.
Working Pape r 3, The Wor ld Bank, Wash ington, D.C. 50 pp .
Fimb el, R.A., A. Gra jal and J.G. Robinson. 2001. Logging a nd
wildlife in the trop ics: impacts a nd options for
con ser vation. In: The Cutting Edge: Conse rving Wildlife in
Logged Tropical Fores ts. (ed itors : R.A. Fimb el, A. Grajal
and J.G. Rob inson ). Columbia University Pres s, New York,
667-695.
Forests Monitor. 2003. Part III: Impacts of the logging indu str y.
[www.forestsmonitor.org/reports/highstakes/part3a.htm]
Access ed on 10/30/03.
Kotze, N.J. 2002. The con sequ ences of road d evelopment in the
Golden Gate Highland s Nationa l Park, Sou th Africa:
paradise lost? World Leisure 3: 54-60.Kumm er, D.M. and B.L.II Turner. 1994. The hu man causes of
deforestation in South east Asia.BioScience 44(5): 323-329.
Mahar, D.J. 1989. Government policies and deforestation in
Brazils Amazon region. Report 8910. International Bank
for Reconst ruction an d Developm ent an d The World
Bank, Wash ington, DC. 56 pp .
Mahar, D. and R. Schneide r. 1994. Ince ntives for tro pical
deforestation: some examples from Latin America. In: The
Causes of Tropical Deforestation. (editors K. Brown and
D.W. Pea rce ), UBC Press Limited , 159-171.
Mason, D.J. and F.E. Putz. 2001. Redu cing th e impacts of
tro pical forestr y on wildlife. In: The Cutting Edge:
Conse rving Wildlife in Logged Trop ical Fores ts. (ed itors :
R.A. Fimbel, A. Grajal and J.G. Robinson). ColumbiaUnivers ity Pre ss , New York, 473-502.
Minne meyer, S. 2002. An a nalysis o f acces s into cen tra l Africas
rainforest. World Forest Watch Report. World Resources
Institute. 26pp. [http://www.wri.org/pdf/
gfw_centr alafrica_full.pd f] Acces sed on 9/15/2003.
Mwase, N.R.L. 1991. Role of tra nsport in rural develop men t in
Africa. Impact of Science on Society 41(2): 137-48.
Peres , C.A. and I.R. Lake. 2003. Extent of non timbe r re sou rce
extraction in t ropical forest s: accessibility to game
vertebrates b y hunters in the Amazon basin. Conservation
Biology 17(2): 521-35.
Price, D. 1989. Before t he Bulldozer : the Nambiquar a Indians
and the World Bank. Seven Locks Press, Cabin John,
Maryland, 212 pp .
Rumiz, D.I., D. Guinar t, L. Solar, J.C. Herre ra . 2001. Logging and
hunting in commun ity forests and corporate concessions.
In: The Cutting Edge: Conserving Wildlife in Logged
Tropical Fores ts. ( ed itors : R.A. Fimbel, A. Grajal and J.G.
Robinso n). Columb ia University Pre ss , New York, 333-357.
Switalski, A. 2002. Bibliograp hy note s: the imp act o f road s on
large carnivores around the world. The Road-Riporter7(3):
14-16.
Smith, J.L.D., S.C. Ahearn and C. McDougal. 1998. Landscape
analysis of tiger distribu tion and hab itat quality in Nepal.
Conservation Biology 12(6): 1338-1346.
Towns end , W.R. 2000. The sust ainab ility of Subsist enc e hu nting
by t he Siriono Ind ians o f Boliva. In: Hunting for
Sus tainab ility in Tropical Forests . (J.G. Robinson and E.L.
Bennet t, editor s), Columbia Univers ity Press, New York,
267-281.
Verm ilye, K. Personal obser vation. Interviewed on 10/24/03.
Wilkie, D.E. Shaw, F. Rotberg, G. Morelli and P. Auzel. 2000.Roads, development and conservation in the con go basin.
Conservation Biology 14(6): 1614-22.
Wilkie, D.S., J.G. Sidle, G.C. Boundzanga, P.Auzel and S. Blake.
2001. Defaunation, not deforestation: commercial logging
and m arket hu nting in nor ther n Congo. In: The Cutting
Edge: Conser ving Wildlife in Logged Tropical Forest s.
(ed itors : R.A. Fimbel, A. Grajal and J.G. Robinson) .
Columb ia Univer sity Pres s, New Yor k, 375-399.
World Bank.1997. Roads and the Environment: A Handbook.
World Bank Techn ical Repor t TWU 13, and up dat e WB
Tech nical Pap er No. 376. Wor ld Bank, Wash ington, D.C.
(Part II details s pecific environmental, social, and o ther
impacts). Online: http://www.worldb ank.org/transp or t/
publicat/reh/toc.htm
Road building changes the migration
patterns and cultural dynamics of
deve loping nations. Photo by Adam
Slater.
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Rich Mountain RoadLawsuit
Adjacent to th e Rich Moun tain Wilder ness in
North Georgia, the re is a road called t he Rich
Mountain Road , or the Old Road by th e locals. It
cuts across countr y, through the Chattahooch ee
National Forest , and b orde rs th e Rich Moun tain
Wilder ness . The Old Road is barely pass able by
anyth ing othe r t han all-terr ain vehicles (ATVs) o r
high-clearance off-road vehicles (ORVs) (See TheRoad-RIPorter7:4: Odes to Roads ).
In tru th th e Old Road isn t officially a road .
There is no record th at it was ever a public county
road , nor did Gilmer County ever ma intain it,
tho ugh the y claimed it for years. Early this year,
the cou nty wrote a letter disavowing the road and
affirming the fact th at it is not a p ub lic coun ty road
and th at it never was. Ownersh ip fell to the Forest
Service, who, for years , had st ated th at the road
was substand ard and needed to be closed. Unfor-
tun ately, the y have yet to close it. The road
continues to pour sediment into Stanley Creek (a
trou t s tream) , Wolf Creek, and Briar Creek; it has
also sp rout ed n ew ATV trails into th e Wilder ness
area. Just th is Septe mbe r a woman lost her life in
an ATV acciden t on the Old Road .
In Septemb er o f this year, the Turne r Environ-
men tal Law Clinic and WildLaw filed s uit on be ha lf
of Georgia Fores twatch and Wilder ness Watch
against th e Fores t Service for violating the National
Fores t Managemen t Act (NFMA) an d the Wilder ness
Act. The prem ise is tha t by failing to close th e
road , monitor its effects, or enforce laws pro hibit-
ing ATVs off designa ted tr ails, the Fores t Service is
violating its own regulat ions a s well as NFMA and
the Wildernes s Act. The cas e is likely to be
controversial and one to watch. We hope th at avictory h ere will set a good precedent for th e rest
of the cou ntr y. For more inform ation please
cont act Kather ine Medlock, staff ecologist for
Georgia Forestwatch at (706) 635-8733.
Wilderness Study Area LawsuitWildland s CPR often joins with oth er grou ps in litigation to
protect natural areas from road constr uction and off-road veh icle
dam age. In 1999 we joined the South ern Utah Wilderne ss Alliance
(SUWA) and six othe r grou ps in a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) ove r o ff-road vehicle abu ses in four Wilder ness
Study Areas in Utah. The cas e was dismissed b y the d istrict court as
not being ripe for judicial review, but SUWA appealed to the 10th
Circu it Cou rt o f App eals. In 2002 th e 10th Circuit agree d with SUWA
and remand ed the cas e back to the district court for a decision on th e
merits. This sum mer, ho wever, th e Bush Administra tion appealed
that r uling to th e Supreme Court, and on November 3 the Supreme
Court ann ounced th at they would take the case.
While the facts of the case ap pear simple, the Bush Administra -
tion is tr ying to use th is case to open up new ground and invite
mismanagement. Theyve appealed the procedur al aspects o f the
case, arguing that th e case wasn t ripe for re view becaus e BLMs
failure to act to p rotec t Wilder ness Stud y Areas was not a final agency
action. If they win on these p roced ural ground s, the implications will
go far beyon d wilderness or environmental protection.
The Bush Administration argues that conser vationists sh ould not
be allowed to su e the land mana gement agen cy for failing to act, but
on ly for acting ineffect ively or illegally. However, we argue d th at th e
failure to act amo unt ed to a d ecision in and of itself.
There is a similar cas e in the 9th Circuit that is no w on ho ld
pend ing the outco me of this case. We expect them to h ear the case in
th e Spring of 2004.
Wildlands CPR file ph oto.
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Restoration Program Update
By Marnie Criley
From d eveloping and analyzing pu blic policy, to pu blishing
groundbreaking economics research, to making a difference on-the-
ground, our restoration/road rem oval program has been very active
th is fall.
Restor ation PrinciplesMarnie has been a key member of The Restoration Principles
Steer ing Committee for th ree years , helping to cra ft the miss ion and
pr inciples that will guide resto ration effort s for year s to com e. The
Committee just added 5 new members from the forest p ractitioner/
community forestr y arena, all of who are interested in prom oting on-
the-ground restoration projects. Were in the p rocess o f developinggoals and strategies for t he n ext year bas ed on th e following mission:
The mission of the res toration steering committee is to create a
restoration d ialogue and build a movement to ad vance ecologically
and socio-economically sustainable forest and watershed restoration.
The steer ing committee utilizes a co llaborative process to ad vance on-
the-ground restoration p rojects, employ the Restoration Principles as
a reference guide, promote their use in discuss ions and in pr actice,
and facilitate a general dialogue on issues critical to th e ach ievement
of ecologically and s ocio-econ omically desirab le restorat ion on
private and p ublic lands.
Economics ResearchThe Summar y Report from ou r econo mic study,Inve sting in
Communities, Investing in the Land, is finally pr inted an d was d istrib-uted to more than 500 activists, targeted coun ty commissioners, road
removal practitioners, trade associations, economists, etc. Weve
already b een gett ing quite a bit of interes t from agency folks and
others . The Summar y Repor t can be viewed on our website (the full
rep ort is com ing soon). If you d like a copy, or you re interested in
distributing hard cop ies to folks you work with, please contact
mar nie@wildlan ds cp r.org.
Model Road Removal ProgramBeth Peluso has put to gether a road removal flowchart titled Nine steps to a
successful road removal program, which can be viewed on o ur webs ite. Marnie
made a poster based on th is flowchart and t he Clearwater National Forest s road
remo val model, which Adam pres ente d at th e Yellowsto ne to Yukon an nual
gather ing in Misso ula in October. Beth is now in th e pr oces s of finalizing her full
repor t on the com ponent s of a model road removal program, and p utting together
a funding brochure on private/federal funding sources for road removal. Both
documen ts shou ld be completed by the end of the year we ll keep yo u in-
formed.
Finally, Wildlands CPR worked with the Sierra Club on a ro ad removal p roject
in south cent ral Monta na th is fall; see p ages 6-7 for a co mplete up date .
Wildlands CPRs road restoration projects are
educating citize ns and land ma nagers nationwide
while he aling the land directly. Photo by Bethan ie
Walder.
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Transportation ProgramUpdate
By Lisa Philipps
Science Program Update
By Adam Switalski
Our science program continues to d isseminate and
promote cutting edge research on the effects of roads and
off-road vehicles and th e bene fits of road rem oval. With the
help of Erich Zimmer man an d Hank Green, we have up dat ed
our roa d and off-road veh icle datab ase. We comp iled th is
bibliography to help people access relevant scientific
literature on erosion, fragmentation, sedimentation, pollu-
tion, effects on wildlife, aqu atic and hyd rologic effects , and
other topics relating to t he impacts of roads and off-road
vehicles. The datab ase now conta ins over 10,000 citations
doc umen ting the phys ical and ec ological effects o f road s
and off-road vehicles. Check it out at www.wildlandscp r.org.
In a c ollabo rative effort this fall bet ween th e Clear water
National Forest, Nez Perce Tribe, Montana Conser vation
Corp, and Wildland s CPR, we planted 1,700 shru bs on a
recontoured helipad and reestablished sprigged willows in a
restored stream crossing. Hopefully, these shru bs and
willows will jump start the resto ration proces s on another
piece of the Clear water National Fores t. Fund ing was
pro vided b y the Yellowsto ne to Yukon Conse rvat ion
Initiative s minigrant program.
We have s everal stud ents from th e University of
Montanas Environm enta l Stud ies Program investigating
road an d off-road veh icle issu es. The stud ents will developshor t paper s and s ummaries for pu blication in upcom ing
issues ofThe Road-RIPorter. This years top ics include the
impacts o f per son al watercr aft on water fowl, the indirect
impacts o f road s in the develop ing world (see Bibliograph y
Notes, this issu e, pages 16-18), and an an alysis of the
different t ypes o f linear bar riers.
Adam co ntinues to provide research findings from the
latest road , off-road ve hicle, and r oad r emoval stu dies to
activists, agency folks, and oth er researchers . He has b een
meeting with a wide var iety of scientists from Universities
and th e Forest Service, as well as independen t researcher s,
to promo te scientific advancement in our und erstand ing of
road remo val. Recently, Adam travelled to Austin, Texas and
presented a talk entitled Priorities for road removal
research at t he Society for Ecological Restora tions annual
meeting.
New StaffIn mid-November, Jaso n Kiely becam e our t rans po