The Ventana Wilderness Alliance continues to grow and to accomplish our mission. This spring we were exhibitors at three Earth Day celebrations: San Luis Obispo, Carmel Valley and Santa Cruz. VWA members unveiled our new color brochure, spread the word about our current wilderness expansion efforts and met a lot of great people. As you read this newsletter you will note that the VWA continues to receive excellent support from our membership and from benefactors in many areas (see "Support" link on website). Your support of, and for, the VWA is greatly appreciated. It is absolutely necessary to the northern Santa Lucia Mountains for the protection of its biodiversity as well as its wilderness qualities both of which are important to all of us today and our future generations.
At our recent meeting a new director was elected to the VWA board. She is Nikki Nedeff, whom many of you may already know from her work with the Monterey Pine Forests, the Big Sur Land Trust and the California Native Plant Society. Welcome Nikki!
The VWA is still young and we are therefore growing and learning. Please share with us your thoughts and, most importantly, any time and energy you wish to offer to assist the VWA. Remember, we are an all-volunteer organization and we rely on our membership to accomplish what we do. We have done a heck of a lot in a very short time and continue to gain recognition and credibility in the circles in which we are active. I am proud to be part of this organization and I thank you for your continued support!
Have a great spring!
Jon Libby, President of the Board
2001 saw a significant increase in the total number of grants awarded to the VWA as well as an increase in the total grant money received. A total of $19,580 was granted to various VWA programs from a number of different sources:
More info: Tom Hopkins.
The goal of re-grading the tread of the Black Cone Trail received a temporary setback when we were informed by the Forest Service that the rare plant survey conducted by the Forest Service last year was inadequate. A new rare plant survey is in progress by a team of volunteer botanists, including BLM botanists Julie Anne and Bruce Delgado and VWA members Nikki Nedeff and Dave Nelson. The southern half of the trail was surveyed in April and the second will be surveyed in May. The actual re-grading of the trail tread will be delayed until spring of 2003.
Archeologist Gary Breschini has completed the archeological survey of the trail corridor and given the project a green light, having determined that no historic or archeological sites will be affected by re-grading the trail. The response to the BCT Challenge Grant was gratifying, to say the least. Having been presented with the opportunity to receive a $5,000 grant if we could raise $2,500 from our membership, we out did ourselves by exceeding the challenge and raising $3,096. With the $5,000 grant thus secured, our own contributions and the previously received grant from Power Bar, we now have over $11,000 to re-grade the trail tread. More Info: Tom Hopkins and Boon Hughey.
The Conservation Alliance, a coalition of outdoor industry businesses working to fund conservation and recreation causes, recently awarded a $10,000 grant to the VWA Wilderness Expansion Project. Funds will be used for public education and outreach to secure Wilderness Area protection for up to 55,000 acres of the Monterey Ranger District of the Los Padres National Forest and Wild and Scenic River status for up to 62 miles of unprotected rivers. More Info: Tom Hopkins and Paul Danielson.
Big Sur Grazing Allotment Decisions Withdrawn
On February 8, 2002, the VWA received a certified letter from Bernard Weingardt, Appeal Deciding Officer and Deputy Regional Forester of the Pacific Southwest Region of the USFS headquartered in Vallejo, California. The letter was in regard to the appeals brought by the VWA and the Center for Biological Diversity pertinent to the recent Forest Service decisions about the 8 Big Sur coastal grazing allotments, and informed us that our appeals had been dismissed and the record closed because the decisions for the allotments had all been withdrawn by the Forest Service personnel who made them. In our appeal we asked for a more in-depth study of the environmental effects of the proposals (a full EIS rather than separate EAs) for the ones slated to be grazed, and that the ones that were not slated to be grazed be fully retired for good rather than just put on the back burner. The upshot of this interesting gambit is that the higher-ups at Regional Headquarters in Vallejo reviewed our appeals and all the supporting documentation including scoping comments, the 8 EAs, our EA review comments, and the decision notices. They recognized that our concerns were indeed valid and that if it ended up in court we would have a good chance of winning. So instead of formally deciding the appeal in our favor they instructed the decision makers to simply withdraw their decisions, thereby nullifying our appeals and avoiding the black mark of a successful decision appeal on the record of the Forest. In other words, we won but they don't have to admit it.
What happens now is still somewhat unclear, even to local Forest Service personnel. In all likelihood the Forest Service will begin the allotment authorization process all over again from step one, but do a much more thorough job of safeguarding the environment this time around.
60 Day Notice to Sue under ESA Filed
On a related note, on March 11, 2002 the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) issued a 60 day notice to the US Dept. of Agriculture, with copies to USDA Forest Service, US Dept. of Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Los Padres National Forest, of their intent to sue the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service for violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In addition to the ESA, violations of the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are described in the notice.
These violations are occurring on the San Carpoforo grazing allotment and newly acquired properties adjacent to this allotment on the Monterey District. The Smith's blue butterfly and its habitat is the listed specie affected by these violations. This notice is a part of a continuing effort by the CBD to get the Forest Service to manage our public lands legally and for generations to come.
The VWA board of directors will discuss and vote on whether to join with the CBD as co-plaintiffs on this important suit at their next board meeting April 19, 2002. For more information on this project or to get involved, contact Steve Chambers or Boon Hughey.
In the previous Forest Plan, prepared in 1988, very little management direction was formulated for the Wilderness Areas of the Los Padres National Forest. As an element of our participation in the ongoing Forest Plan revision process, the VWA has prepared a wilderness management plan for inclusion as a Citizen's Alternative in the draft Forest Plan. Entitled Wilderness Stewardship Guidelines, Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness Areas: Citizens Alternative, it is available on the web at: http://www.ventanawild.org/projects/forplan/. VWA contact: Gordon Johnson.
The issue of Fee Demo has become increasingly controversial of late. The San Francisco Chronicle called it "one of the most contentious public land issues in America" (3-6-02). In Colorado, the efforts of the Western Slope No Fee Coalition have made Sen. Ben Nighthorse-Campbell (R-CO) change from a pro-fee position to an anti-fee position.
In California, the appeal of Terry Dahl's conviction for violating the Adventure Pass project of the Fee Demo program will soon come before a judge marking the first time a Fee Demo case has been brought before a circuit court. Mr. Dahl contends that he was protesting on the day in question, not recreating as the Forest Service claims. In conjunction with Mr. Dahl's case, Free Our Forests has set up a Fee Demo Legal Challenge Fund to help pay some of his court costs. His lawyer is working for him pro bono (for free), so all parties involved are working on this because they believe passionately in putting an end to Fee Demo. Additionally, a proactive legal challenge against Fee Demo is in the works. This Fund is desperately needed to pay various court fees necessary for fighting Fee Demo through the legal system. Those who wish to donate to the fund may send cash, checks, or money orders (payable to "Free Our Forests") to: Fee Demo Legal Challenge Fund / c/o Free Our Forests / PO Box 411 / Ojai, CA 93024.
June 15th, 2002, will be a National Day to Protest Forest Fees with local demonstrations being scheduled. Letters to the editor and Congress are urged. More info: Joy Greenberg.
The PTC has been working on and locating the Mill Creek Trail this winter. They conducted a trip to the interior part of the Prewitt Loop April 4-7. Flagging and roughly clearing the upper Carrizo Trail is a possible project later this spring. The 14th annual work trip on Forest trails around the Tassajara Zen Center is occurring in late April with a six person crew. More info: Steve Chambers.
In March, 8 members of the VWA Trail Crew made an abbreviated trip in to work on the Black Cone Trail between rainstorms, tidying up the Marble Peak Trail along the way. A second trip to the BCT took place in mid-April, when the old Black Cone Camp was cleaned up and made useable. Later this spring and early summer more trailwork outings will be organized to both backcountry locations and closer-in trails in need of attention. More info: Boon Hughey.
The Monterey District of the Los Padres NF is preparing a new wilderness map for the Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness. The new map is due out this Spring. It will contain Leave No Trace information modified to local requirements. The District has indicated they will make that information available for signs to be posted at trailheads and other such places. More info: Steve Chambers.
VWA Webmasters Boon Hughey and Phil Williamson have made a number of additions and improvements to the website since January, including:
»» The VWA Newsletter Ventana Wilderness Watch is now available online at http://www.ventanawild.org/newsletter/
»» Members and visitors can now make secure online credit-card donations via Network for Good: http://www.ventanawild.org/donate.html
»» New members can now join with the VWA's new secure online membership form at https://www12.cruzio.com/w12a040/secform.html
»» A PDF-format copy of the document "Wilderness Stewardship Guidelines, Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness Areas: A Citizens' Alternative" is now available at http://www.ventanawild.org/projects/forplan/
»» The fonts used in the website are now scalable, so that users can utilize their browsers' text-size function to increase or decrease displayed text size for improved readability.
As of April 1, the number of unique hits to the VWA main page since the new page was posted in October 2001 passed the 10,000 mark, and we've identified more that 150 links to the VWA website from web pages outside the ventanawild.org domain. The VWA website ranks consistently in the top 5 returns for a variety of searches on terms relating to the Ventana/Big Sur area in all the major search engines. Judging from our server logs, it seems that the VWA site and the Double Cone Quarterly archives are being increasingly used for research purposes, as a resource for regional information, and for planning visits to the Big Sur area. Suggestions for the website are always welcome -- please contact Boon and Phil.
We will be having our annual VWA membership gathering this year on Saturday, June 1, at the beautiful Mittledorf Preserve in Carmel Valley. We decided that we need to be meeting in beautiful outdoor settings rather than inside as in the past.
This will be a one-day event with hiking, barbeque and reports from the board on the past year and a half since our last big meeting together. Parking is limited at Mittledorf and carpooling will be necessary. There will also be the opportunity for a limited number of people to stay over at Mittledorf Saturday night and then participate in trail work on Sunday, June 2. Participation is limited to a first-come basis.
Reply to Jon Libby if you can attend the meeting or if you want to participate in the trail work.
The VWA Board will hold its next meeting on the Big Sur coast on July 20. Members are invited to attend the meeting if they wish. Contact Jon for details.
The VWA Board Members are:
Jon Libby, President
Steve Chambers, Vice President
Tom Hopkins, Treasurer
Boon Hughey, Secretary
Gordon Johnson
Paul Danielson
Nikki Nedeff