Great Old Broads for Wilderness

The Broader Wilderness Movement

We are excited to bring you so much good news on the wilderness front. Remember however, that none of these battles are yet won. Please contact your Congressional representatives and make sure they know these issues are important to you.

Wild Sky Wilderness Bill Finally Wins House Approval
There may finally be a light at the end of the tunnel for the supporters of the Wild Sky Wilderness Act. Wilderness advocates unwavering dedication has finally paid off with the passage of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would protect 106,00 acres of wild lands in Washington State.

In past Congresses, the bill remained stymied in the House, where it was mired in the House Natural Resources Committee, then chaired by anti-wilderness Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA), despite terrifically broad-based, bipartisan and local support. The bill also received nearly unanimous approval in the Senate, where it passed in three consecutive sessions, but still needed House support.

Designation of this rich wilderness area would be Washington’s first in two decades. All that remains to insure the integrity of the Wild Sky region for perpetuity is one, last favorable vote by the Senate and, given their history of support for this legislation, the future of Wild Sky looks very promising indeed.
Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Bill
Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Bill
In an exemplary show of bipartisan cooperation, members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation from both sides of the aisle have hammered out an agreement that paves the way for legislative action to permanently protect nearly all of Rocky Mountain National Park’s (RMNP) backcountry.

Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo by wwwnps.gov

Wilderness in RMNP is not a new idea. For almost thirty years, RMNP has essentially been managed as a wilderness area. But without formal designation the park could still be vulnerable to the whims of changing administrations and development pressures. Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) stepped up as the wilderness advocate for the park when he took office eight years ago, and recently, with Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar, sat down with their Republican counterparts, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and Sen. Wayne Allard, to try to come up with a workable solution—no small task given the many existing mitigating factors peculiar to RMNP and concerns over water rights and public access.

A major sticking point in the debate was jurisdiction over a privately-owned water ditch running through the park. In the final proposal, which would give wilderness status to 249,339 acres and add about 1,000 more to the adjacent Indian Peaks Wilderness, existing roads and development would be exempted and a bike path could be added, outside the wilderness boundary, along Grand Lake. The National Park Service will also continue to control fire, insects and disease in wilderness areas.

Given the bipartisan support, it is expected that the legislation will gain Congressional approval and a presidential signature in this Congress.

America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act Re-Introduced
With over nine million acres of some of our country’s most spectacular and iconic public lands at stake—the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Canyonlands National Monument and lands adjacent to Zion National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area—America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act seems incontrovertible. Yet despite having been introduced in several successive Congresses, it has yet to receive a hearing. Prospects are better in the 110th Congress.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) have recently reintroduced the legislation. The Act, which would reduce the threat of oil and gas development, questionable road claims and exploding off-road vehicle abuse, sounds a counterpoint to the controversial 2003 “no more wilderness” agreement between the State of Utah and the BLM. This agreement released 2.6 million wilderness acres from Wilderness Study Area status, opening them to the possibility of oil and gas leasing. The Act would be an economic/ecological win-win, protecting an incredible diversity of wildlife and prehistory as well as access to a host of sustainable recreational opportunities.

Roan Plateau—Action Needed
Recently, the BLM approved leasing of up to 1,570 natural gas wells on top of the Plateau. Rep. John Salazar and Rep. Mark Udall successfully stopped—albeit temporarily—the BLM from this action for one fiscal year, through a funding limitation request. The Roan Plateau, site of a Broadwalk several years ago, is one of the top four biological hotspots in Western Colorado.

There is an army of grassroots supporters nationwide in favor of preserving what’s left of the Roan Plateau, but while this stop-gap measure imposes a brief time-out on the BLM, they remain under heavy pressure to hand over this gem to industry. Your voice is still desperately needed in the chorus advocating permanent protection!

Oil and Water don’t mix in New Mexico—Otero Mesa Update
In a state in which 90 percent of the population relies on groundwater for its drinking water supply, the congressional delegation has stepped in to halt the march towards increasing oil and gas leases on lands harboring what may be the last, untapped fresh water supply in New Mexico.

Otero Mesa, one of the last undisturbed areas of Chihuahuan desert in southeastern New Mexico, is one of five basins identified for further study in a senate bill introduced by Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) entitled the New Mexico Aquifer Assessment Act. The bill would authorize study of the impact of drilling on the Salt Basin Aquifer, which lies beneath Otero Mesa and is estimated to contain as much as 57 million acre-feet of water, of which 15 million acre-feet may be potable. An acre-foot, about 326,000 gallons, can meet the annual water needs of the average family of four.

Representative Heather Wilson (R-NM) sponsored a similar bill in the House, and Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM), joined his colleagues in calling for a moratorium on leasing until a thorough study can be done, claiming that “the potential for an additional safe water supply is of utmost concern.”

Bingaman and Domenici sent letters urging protection of the aquifer to the Department of the Interior and to the BLM, respectively. Under the BLM plan, 1,589 of the 2 million acres would be disturbed by drilling practices such as additional roads, well pads and pipelines. In addition, no more than 5 percent of grasslands at a time could be disturbed. While this may seem like a small amount, the disturbed acres will be scattered across the entire 2 million acres.

Park Service Recommends Roadlessness in the Smokies
Broadwalkers, rejoice! The largest unroaded mountain tract in the Eastern U.S., threatened by a resurrected Congressional promise made during World War II, looks as though it will, once and for all, have its cloud lifted. The National Park Service has announced that the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) concerning the long-disputed North Shore Road in the southwest quadrant of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As currently drafted, the FEIS will call for a monetary settlement to Swain County, North Carolina, as an alternative to building a road along the northern boundary of Fontana Lake, the site of a 2005 Broadwalk.

In a 1943 agreement, the Department of the Interior, the State of North Carolina, Swain County and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) pledged to build a new road to replace NC 288, which was flooded by TVA’s construction of a dam on the Little Tennessee River.

By 1972, however, only seven miles of the proposed 40 had been built before the project was abandoned due to fiscal and environmental concerns, and it has remained in stasis ever since. Fast forward to 2000: Congressman Charles Taylor (R-NC), in whose district the area in question lies, manages to secure $16 million in appropriations to finish the road, despite a coalition of local residents, all the regional and local conservation organizations and major national conservation organizations—as well as the Governor of North Carolina—all calling for a cash settlement to the county in lieu of the expensive, hugely invasive and damaging prospects posed by any possible road construction that might satisfy this debt.

With this fiscal jump-start, the North Shore Road reared its ugly head again, and prompted both renewed controversy and the NPS study. The choice of a monetary settlement is, according to GSMNP Superintendent Dale A. Ditmanson, “based upon an extensive review of the nearly 76,000 public comments received in response to the DEIS and analysis of the impacts of each alternative on the Park’s natural, cultural and recreational resources.” Kudos to those Broads who participated in the resistance!

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