The Rev. Paul Danielson, recently retired from All Saints School in Carmel Valley, is now coordinating VWA public outreach to gather support for expanding wilderness in Central California. Paul has been presenting slide shows in both the Monterey Peninsula and in Santa Cruz that feature the potential wilderness areas and the potential wild and scenic rivers of the Central Coast. The response to these slide shows has been enthusiastic.
In addition, Paul will be leading "show-me" tours of these potential wilderness areas that are open to both the public and VWA members. VWA member Boon Hughey will also be conducting these outings in the south coast region of Big Sur. Ilysia Shattuck, Regional Organizer for the California Wild Heritage Campaign, and VWA member Gordon Johnson, who is Proposal Coordinator for the Campaign, are providing support for these efforts. Members who would like to have the wilderness slide show presented to a group or organization, should contact Paul at pauldanielson@hotmail.com.
In March of this year, the Navy capitulated and announced that it would do a full Environmental Impact Statement on its proposal to use the Stony Valley area of Fort Hunter Liggett (FHL) as a practice bombing range, rather than the more limited Environmental Assessment that was originally planned. No date has been set for release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This should be considered an interim victory for the opponents of the proposal, but the battle is still far from over.
Some opponents of the Navy proposal are organizing as the Big Sur Sanctuary Coalition to fight the Navy proposal and pursue other initiatives at FHL. The VWA has been invited to join this Coalition, and the Board is currently in the process of evaluating the long-term mission of the Coalition beyond its initial objective of defeating the bombing proposal. More info: Tom Hopkins at tomhopkins@cruzio.com
On April 12, 2001, the VWA Grazing Committee submitted review comments to the Forest Service in response to the long-awaited issuance of the Environmental Analyses for the eight Big Sur Coastal Grazing allotments: Alder Creek, Buckeye, Cozy Cove, Gorda, Salmon Creek, San Carpoforo, Torre, and Twitchell. Our comments applauded the Forest Service's proposal to discontinue commercial livestock grazing on the Twitchell allotment and to not authorize grazing on the Torre allotment. The remaining six allotments are being proposed for further grazing by the Forest Service, but the VWA made a strong case for reconsideration and possible discontinuation of commercial livestock grazing on these sensitive lands. Our comments were based upon the harmful impacts of current and proposed grazing practices to Threatened and Endangered species, wildlife, water quality, heritage resources and riparian areas, as well as recreational conflicts.
District Ranger Will Metz is currently poring over all the review comments received, and we eagerly await his final decision regarding the reauthorization of these allotments. For more information on this project or to get involved, contact Boon Hughey at boon@fix.net.
The Los Padres, along with the Angeles, Cleveland, and San Bernardino, National Forests, have begun a province-wide process of revising and updating their Land and Resource Management Plans. These plans, also known as Forest Plans, have not been updated since the 1980s and will provide the Forest Service with management direction for these National Forests for the next 10 to 15 years. Unlike previous Forest Plan revisions, the Forest Service asserts that the public will have the opportunity to become much more involved in the planning process. The VWA is participating in the revision with an emphasis on the wilderness, fire and grazing aspects of the plan. More information concerning the revision process is available on the web at: http://www.r5.fs.fed.us/sccs/. VWA contact: Gordon Johnson at gjohnson@c-zone.net.
The Los Padres National Forest Site Steward Program was begun by Forest Service archaeologists Janine McFarland and Steve Horne to train citizens in the monitoring and preservation of archaeological, cultural and heritage sites within the LPNF. There are currently 30 trained site stewards from VWA and the Salinan Nation. Most are not assigned to a specific site, nor does the VWA possess yet an accurate list of names and addresses of certified stewards. Therefore, a notice has gone out to the VWA list-serve to procure the information from the stewards that will give us the information we need. The result will be fuller coverage of unprotected and unmonitored sites as well as of actively involved stewards. There also is a growing list of those who wish to receive the training. A site steward webpage is currently being constructed under the guidance of VWA member Phil Williamson. More info: Paul Danielson at pauldanielson@hotmail.com.
Although the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program (RFDP) was extended by the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee another year last fall, it will be coming up for extension once again this year. Some legislators are attempting to make RFDP permanent, meaning that the public will be charged forever a fee, currently $5/day or $30/year, to enter National Forests. The VWA is opposed to this fee, called the "Adventure Pass" in California, as is Rep. Lois Capps, who has proposed a bill that would end the fee demo program and provide an alternate form of funding for the maintenance of National Forest property. Oregon Senator Atkinson recently led the passage of House Joint Memorial 15 which urges Congress to eliminate the RFDP. For further information about fee demo, the address of House Resources Committee Chairman James Hansen who is sponsoring public hearings on fee demo, lists of both House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee members and/or a sample letter detailing the reasons for the need to end fee demo, please contact Joy Greenberg at greenshadow@fix.net.
The VWA was the recent recipient of a $1000 grant from the Rotary Club of Carmel Valley, administered through Impact and the Boys and Girls Club of Monterey. The result was to set up a special fund to promote youth outreach and wilderness projects through the VWA. On Tuesday, May 29th, a meeting of young adult advisors from the above organizations was held to brainstorm possible uses of the grant. The consensus was to fund educational projects that would result in field trips to the wilderness and thus gradually gain the interest and involvement of local, especially minority, youth. More info: Paul Danielson at pauldanielson@hotmail.com.
Last fall (2000) the VWA asked for letters of support to fund fire management guidelines and/or strategies for the Monterey District, Los Padres National Forest. This was after the $100 million dollar Kirk Complex Fires of 1999 and other huge and costly conflagrations of recent decades.
The Monterey District, LPNF, has recently received funds ($70,000) to begin a Monterey DFPZ (Defensible Fuel Profile Zones) project which will involve areas in the Forest around the Ventana Wilderness. Three VWA board members, Tom, Boon and Steve, were recently invited on a day-long field trip in late April to discuss and help with forming this project. Funding for Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness fire management guidelines (additional $50,000) will also be acquired soon by the District, and that study will begin this year. Steve Chambers received a draft of these two projects, reviewed it and submitted comments.
These projects have the potential to reduce the size, cost, amount of firefighter injuries, resource damage and property damage from future fires within the Monterey District, LPNF. The VWA board thanks all who wrote letters to the Regional Forester regarding these issues. More info: Steve Chambers at kestrel@cruzio.com.
This spring the CBD and two other conservation organizations filed suit against the LPNF for not completing required management plans for rivers designated "Wild and Scenic" in 1992. The Big Sur River is one of the rivers listed in the suit. More info: Steve Chambers at kestrel@cruzio.com.
Last summer the VWA and Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) sued the LPNF over their attempt to reopen the above road without completing required consultations with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and other agencies. Immediately after we filed our suit the FS withdrew their decision to reopen the road. Subsequently NMFS has issued a formal consultation (Dec. 2000), with terms and conditions which require the FS to reduce impacts to listed steelhead from the road and associated recreational activities. The road presently remains closed and we will monitor the FS's compliance with the terms and conditions of the NMFS consultation. More info: Steve Chambers at kestrel@cruzio.com.
This year will be the third year of this water quality sampling project. A decision hasn't been reached, as yet, to continue or not. If we do continue, and you are interested in participating, please contact Steve Chambers at kestrel@cruzio.com.
Last year, the Ventana Wilderness Alliance initiated a campaign to re-establish the Black Cone Trail (BCT) in the heart of the Ventana Wilderness by seizing the opportunity created when the 1999 Kirk complex Fire burned most of the chaparral that had blocked the trail corridor. The Sierra Club, Robert Louis Stevenson School, the Ventana Mounted Assistance Group and the Forest Service joined the VWA in undertaking this effort.
Over the past four months, several work parties from the partner groups have cleared most of the remaining burnt chaparral and much of the post fire growth along the BCT. The trail is now passable by backpacker and equestrian. VWA member Boon Hughey has mapped the BCT using the TOPO! software. The map shows the trail, suitable campsites and available water sources. The BCT map is available through the VWA web site.
While the Black Cone Trail is now clear enough to allow backpackers and equestrians to travel its length without fighting brush the entire way, the tread is still very rough along most of the trail. Decades of little use and no maintenance have resulted in the tread filling in with detritus from upslope erosion. This has resulted in a side sloping tread with lots of loose rocks. These conditions are difficult at best and usually result in sore feet, blisters, and aching leg joints.
To get this trail in good condition, the VWA is pursuing funding to hire a contractor who would use a trail plow and pack animal to re-grade the majority of the trail that runs through decomposed granite or other erosive material. Other sections that are too rocky or have more severe side slope would be re-graded by volunteer crews. We are also working with the Forest Service to complete botanical and archeological surveys that are prerequisites to re-grading the trail tread.
VWA members have also relocated the Mosquito Springs and Black Cone camps that were abandoned by the Forest Service when the BCT was officially removed from the trail system. The VWA will pursue restoration of these two camps in partnership with the Forest Service.
The common response among those who have traveled the BCT since the Kirk Fire is that the BCT is nothing less than stunning. With the chaparral burned away, the northern 7+ miles afford continuous sweeping views of the Big Sur River watershed with the Coast Ridge and Pacific Ocean beyond. At several locations where the trail follows ridge top saddles, views down Tassajara Creek to the Arroyo Seco watershed with Pinyon and Junipero Serra Peaks beyond, are equally spectacular. Bird and reptile life are surprisingly abundant as are the many diverse stands of wildflowers. The Black Cone Trail is surely an asset to the Ventana Wilderness and well worth this cooperative effort. More info: Tom Hopkins at tomhopkins@cruzio.com.
With the initial success of the Black Cone Trail project, the VWA Trail Crew is considering other trails in need of restoration or maintenance. Present plans include a mid-summer work crew to open the Willow Creek Trail below the Kinder Mine, an autumn work crew to the Ventana Trail between Pat Spring and Puerto Suello and a return trip to the Black Cone Trail. Dates for these outings will be determined shortly and members will be notified via the server list. More info: Tom Hopkins at tomhopkins@cruzio.com.
The Pimkolam Trail Crew completed their fourteenth annual trail work around the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center during the last part of April this year. Work done included the northern half of the Horse Pasture Trail, Tassajara Cut-off, and the return to the ZMC. We also cleared the northern half of Tony's Trail, and the southern section of the Church Creek Trail from the Tassajara Road to the Church Ranch Road. Future projects this year will be focused on trails in or around the Silver Peak Wilderness: Prewitt Loop, Salmon Creek, Buckeye, and Cruikshank Trails. More info: Steve Chambers at kestrel@cruzio.com
Santa Cruz-based fine artist (and VWA member) Tom Killion has donated a traditional Japanese style woodcut he made of the Ventana Double Cone, for use as part of a new VWA logo. VWA member and graphic artist Debi Lorenc will be taking Tom's Double Cone image and developing it into a complete logo for use by the VWA. Recently received was a $3,880 grant from Patagonia, Inc., to be used to develop and produce a brochure about the VWA. Debi Lorenc has volunteered to design the new brochure. More info: Tom Hopkins at tomhopkins@cruzio.com.
The VWA Reserve Fund (formerly the Operating Reserve) stands at $19,442 in the bank. To date, $9,442 was raised from contributions, and, because we were so close, we received the entire $10,000 matching grant. So we are $558 shy of our goal of establishing a $20,000 emergency Reserve Fund to defend the wilderness. If you have previously made a pledge, please send your check in. Or, if you are in a position to help fund this important resource, please mail your check payable to Ventana Wilderness Alliance, PO Box 506, Santa Cruz, CA 95061. Contributions are deductible from taxable income to the extent allowed by law. If you have questions call Tom Hopkins, VWA Treasurer, at 831-429-9010. Thanks to all for your generous contributions that show VWA members really do care about the wilderness. More info: Tom Hopkins at tomhopkins@cruzio.com.
At the quarterly Big Sur Multi-Agency Advisory Council meeting held on May 18, 2000, William Metz, District Ranger of the Monterey Ranger District of the LPNF, surprised the meeting by announcing that he has been appointed Forest Supervisor for the Osceola National Forest in Florida. Will begins his new job July 15th. VWA members in attendance congratulated Will on being appointed to his first Forest Supervisor job and thanked him for his service in the Monterey District. No replacement or acting District Ranger has been appointed. More info: Tom Hopkins at tomhopkins@cruzio.com
As of June 1, 2001, the VWA has 160 members.
The VWA held its annual member gathering in Santa Cruz on January 27
with about 40 members in attendance. The day-long event was capped
with the first presentation of the Wilderness Expansion slide show by
Gordon Johnson and a barbecue dinner hosted by the Libby-Cunninghams.
The VWA Board of Directors continues to hold quarterly meetings and
frequent conference calls to conduct VWA business. The Board members
for 2001 are:
Jon Libby, President
Steve Chambers, Vice President
Tom Hopkins, Treasurer
Boon Hughey, Secretary
Gordon Johnson
Paul Danielson
