This project is a local expression of the California Wild Heritage Campaign with its 200-member support groups and numerous professional staffers and volunteers. Paul Danielson has been presenting slide/talk shows in the Monterey Peninsula, Salinas and Santa Cruz to church groups, service clubs and Sierra Club members. These shows highlight the 14 potential wilderness areas and the four potential wild and scenic rivers in and around the Ventana Wilderness.
Paul and VWA members Boon Hughey, Kelsey Jordahl and Meade Fischer have been leading "show-me" hiking tours of these potential wilderness areas with nearly a dozen scheduled through September and continuing through the fall. The hikes are open both to the public and VWA members.
In addition, there have been monthly meetings of Monterey/Salinas area volunteer activists to promote the above efforts and to reach out to community and environmental organizations. The main focus so far has been education and awareness about the wilderness in general and the local proposed wilderness additions in particular. Of prime concern is a letter-writing campaign to alert sympathetic legislators about the need to protect local and statewide wilderness.
Ilysia Shattuck, Regional Organizer for the California Wild Heritage Campaign, and Gordon Johnson, VWA Proposal Coordinator for the Campaign, are providing support for these efforts. A Public Radio talk show in Santa Cruz was recently conducted by Ilysia and Paul about the Heritage Campaign. Gordon has generated detailed maps of the proposed additions for public awareness efforts. For more info or to schedule a wilderness slide show: Paul Danielson at paul@ventanawild.org.
At the September 7, 2001 Big Sur Multi-Agency Advisory Council meeting, Congressman Sam Farr stated that he has been advised in writing by the Chief of Naval Operations that a decision has not been made to move ahead with the Environmental Impact Statement for the Navy bombing proposal at FHL and that a Notice of Intent would be published in the Federal Register before the Navy begins work on the EIS. While this news sounds favorable and no Notice of Intent has been published, we should not let our guard down until the Navy proposal is withdrawn or defeated. More info: Tom Hopkins at tomhopkins@ventanawild.org.
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.
At this point in time the Forest Service is still involved in formal consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the impacts that the proposals would have on federally listed Threatened and Endangered species. These consultations must be completed before any formal decisions are made regarding the EAs. For more information on this project or to get involved, contact Boon Hughey at boon@ventanawild.org.
Presently, the Forest Service is concentrating its efforts on Wilderness, Wild & Scenic Rivers, and Unroaded areas in its revision of the Forest Plan. The VWA is doing likewise, focusing our energies on developing Wilderness Management elements for the Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness Areas which will detail what changes we would like to see made in the management of these areas, what activities we would encourage, and what activities we consider to be inappropriate. A forest plan process workshop is scheduled for early October. More information concerning the revision process is available on the web at: http://www.r5.fs.fed.us/sccs/. VWA contact: Gordon Johnson at gordon@ventanawild.org.
The Los Padres National Forest Site Steward Program is currently threatened due to the less supportive atmosphere within the Forest Service since the Bush Administration took control. LPNF Forest Service archaeologist Steve Horne has left the Program he created with Janine McFarland, who has been reassigned to survey grazing allotments. A letter-writing campaign in support of Janine and the Partners in Preservation Program, of which the Site Steward Program is a part, is currently being conducted. More info: Paul Danielson at paul@ventanawild.org.
Good news: the Senate passed its version of the Interior Appropriations bill on July 12 with NO extension to fee demo. On the other hand, the House version that would extend the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program (RFDP) another four years has passed, so a Conference Committee on Interior Appropriations has been set up to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions of this bill.
For the first time since February of 1998, Congress is holding hearings on fee demo. The House Subcommittee on Forests & Forest Health (part of the Resources Committee) has just scheduled an oversight hearing on fee demo for Tuesday, September 25th. The subcommittee chair, Rep. Scott McInnis (R-CO), has likely called this public hearing because of the controversy raised by western Colorado constituents in response to new fee demo projects both near Aspen and across southwestern Colorado. A few months ago, a protest organized by the Western Slope No Fee Coalition resulted in numerous newpaper editorials, letters to the editor and county resolutions opposing RFDP, as well as letters to Colorado's Representatives and Senators. The public record will be held open for ten days after the hearing (until Friday, October 5th) to allow for written comments. Letters must be mailed by Monday, October 1, to arrive in time from the West Coast.
Meanwhile, judges are continuing to dismiss charges brought against those who refuse to pay fees (called the "Adventure Pass" in California). In Arizona, forest rangers are being told they cannot simply leave citations on parked cars -- they must find the vehicles' owners. Because a basic tenet of fee demo is the voluntary payment of forest fees, the widespread failure to demonstrate public support for RFDP is indicated, despite what some legislators and the American Recreation Coalition (ARC), a group of industrial tourism promoters, believe.
Even if Congress decides to end fee demo, new legislation is on the table designed to make permanent forest recreation fees for entering public lands managed by the Forest Service, BLM, Fish and Wildlife Service and NPS. On June 11, Sens. Bob Graham (R-FL) and Daniel Akaka (D-HA) introduced the National Parks Stewardship Act (S 1011). One of the architects of S 1011 is the ARC (which claims credit for inventing fee demo), whose president Derrick Crandall used to take family camping trips with George Bush senior.
For further information about fee demo, a list of House Subcommittee on Forests & Forest Health members with their addresses and/or a sample letter detailing the reasons for the need to end fee demo, please contact Joy Greenberg at greenshadow@fix.net.
Plans are afoot to take small groups of minority preteens to the nature center at Garland Park in Carmel Valley to educate them about the flora and fauna of our local environment. This will be followed by short hikes along the nearby trails to view native wildlife and plants. Our long-range goal is to create a growing cadre of environmentally knowledgeable adults in the minority communities of our area. Our strategy is to begin with the younger groups first. More info: Paul Danielson at paul@ventanawild.org.
The VWA submitted scoping comments to the Defensible Fuels Profile Zone (DFPZ) proposal. Both the DFPZ and the Ventana/Silver Peak Wilderness Fire Management Strategy proposals are currently being developed by the USFS and are being monitored. More info: Steve Chambers at steve@ventanawild.org.
This spring the Center for Biological Diversity 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. The last word was that settlement talks were continuing. More info: Steve Chambers at steve@ventanawild.org.
According to a staff person from the LPNF Supervisor's Office, the LPNF will honor its commitment to conduct an Environmental Assessment (EA) on management of the I-AS Road. The EA is scheduled to be conducted during fiscal year 2002. This staff person also stated that the road would not be re-opened until that determination was made in the EA. More info: Steve Chambers at steve@ventanawild.org.
The Coastal Watershed Council supported, trained and assisted the water quality monitoring on the Arroyo Seco River during the past two summers. They will not be supporting the monitoring this year, due to lack of funding. They hope to restart in 2002. More info: Steve Chambers at steve@ventanawild.org.
The Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club has given the VWA a $2000 grant to fund an archeological survey of the BCT. This is a Forest Service requirement and must be completed prior to any major tread work. Gary S. Breschini has been retained to do the survey. Gary is a leading archeologist in the Central Coast region and has written several books about local Native Americans based on his field work. The survey will be conducted this Autumn.
We are currently talking with two trail-building groups about regrading the existing tread during the Spring of 2002. One of the groups is an internal Forest Service team based in the Sierras and the other is a private contractor. Both use draft animals to do trail construction and other wilderness support activities. The VWA has received a $3,000 grant from Power Bar for this portion of the project. We will work with our selected contractor to determine how much of the trail we can regrade with current funds available. We may need to do additional fund raising to complete this portion of the project.
The volunteer members of the VWA Trail Crew will be returning to the BCT in the later part of October to do more brush clearing. This may coincide with the archeological survey and field meetings with the trail contractors. Anyone interested in joining this outing should contact Tom Hopkins at tomhopkins@ventanawild.org.
In August several members of the VWA Trail Crew spent time clearing the Willow Creek Trail from Willow Creek Camp up toward the Kinder Mine. While now passable, the route is still a little rough in places and in need of further work. For a description of the trail, please steer your web browser to http://www.ventananwild.org/trails/willowcr.html
On Saturday, September 29, 2001, the VWA Trail Crew will be taking part in the upcoming National Public Lands Day trail event that the Forest Service is organizing, and everyone who values public land and would like to spend a day repairing bulldozer-damaged trail on Skinner Ridge with like-minded folks is welcome to participate. For more information about this outing or other VWA Trail Crew events, contact Boon Hughey at boon@ventanawild.org.
Projects this year will be directed towards non-focused trails in or around the Silver Peak Wilderness: Prewitt Loop, Salmon Creek, Buckeye and Cruickshank Trails. Non-focused trails are a local USFS designation for those trails that they are not going to maintain. About two-thirds of the trails in the Monterey District have been classified as non-focused. More info: Steve Chambers at steve@ventanawild.org
This newly created position has been graciously filled by VWA member Vince Manning. His duties will include:
The VWA still needs volunteers to monitor San Francisco papers, Salinas papers, and the Los Angeles Times and to submit relevant information to Vince at: VTManning@sycamore.com
The vacancy left in the Monterey Ranger District by departing District Ranger Will Metz has been filled on an interim basis by Acting District Ranger John Bradford. Ranger Bradford previously held the position of Assistant Environmental Impact Statement Interdisciplinary Team Leader for the Sierra Nevada Framework Project. The VWA welcomes Ranger Bradford and looks forward to a productive and mutually beneficial relationship. More info: Boon Hughey at boon@ventanawild.org.
The VWA was recently invited to attend a dinner meeting at the Monterey Aquarium with the board of directors of The Aspenwood Foundation from Sand Point, Idaho. VWA President Jon Libby and VWA member Nikki Nedeff attended. Other groups in attendance included such local organizations as the Ventana Chapter of The Sierra Club and Save the Sea Otter, as well as national representatives from The Wilderness Society, Greenpeace and Earth Justice. The Aspenwood Foundation has subsequently made a generous contribution to the VWA. More info: Jon Libby at jon@ventanawild.org.
The VWA Board Members for 2001 are:
Jon Libby, President
Steve Chambers, Vice President
Tom Hopkins, Treasurer
Boon Hughey, Secretary
Gordon Johnson
Paul Danielson
