It continues to be a busy and rewarding task heading up the VWA; I am able to be surrounded by a bunch of really wonderful people and do some interesting things. The rewards to me are many faceted and rewarding. The VWA continues to grow and gain recognition. We were recently invited to attend the Coastal Zone Forum which was hosted by Assemblyman Fred Kelley and The Big Sur Land Trust. I was honored to be able to represent the VWA in front of all of the local public agencies and a few other non-profits at this event. This past weekend some of us were invited by The Great Old Broads for Wilderness (http://www.greatoldbroads.org) to lead some hikes during their recent gathering in Big Sur. I am grateful that there are so many VWA supporters out there as your support is very important to the VWA and it is what keeps us going. I want to thank all of you for making us what we are today and for what we are able to accomplish as an all volunteer organization. Have a great fall and winter -- this has been a great season for hiking and backpacking but I do hope we get some wet weather soon!
Best Regards to all...
Jon Libby, President of the Board
Autumn is a great time of year to explore those trails that are too just too exposed, hot and buggy during summer. So, check out the website calendar -- it's looking a bit livelier now that we're including Sierra Club (both Santa Lucia and Ventana Chapters) outings. You'll also be finding California Native Plant Society field trips and Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District hikes for Garland Park and, in spring, Mill Creek Preserve. Of course, the Wild Heritage Campaign hikes are still happening. As always, outing ideas are welcome as well as volunteers to lead them.
The first two purely VWA outings were a success. Boon Hughey led a group on a strenuous hike to Silver Peak on the equinox and, thanks to a group of VWA volunteers, the Prewitt Loop can now be hiked without confusion or a subsequent visit to your podiatrist.
Our website has become THE place for trail condition info. Thanks for taking the time to submit those trail reports. More info: Vince Manning
Practice your plant ID skills, or learn some new species when the VWA and the Monterey Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society co-sponsor a botanizing trip to the Cone Peak area on November 9 and 10. The overnight 3.5 mile backpack -- or 7-mile day hike on Saturday -- will explore the Cook Spring and Tin Can Camp area along the Coast Ridge north of Cone Peak. We'll look for sugar pine, Santa Lucia fir and other interesting distinct plant species. Call Bruce Delgado or Dave Nelson for information and logistics. Call early, as parking passes will need to be acquired for overnight parking. More info: Nikki Nedeff.
The next monthly volunteers meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 12. at 7 p.m. at All Saints Church in Carmel. All are welcome! Come and find out how you can help the effort. Letters from local businesses to Sam Farr's office in support of the Big Sur Wild Heritage Act and letters to the editor in local and regional newspapers are especially helpful. We are continuing to lead "Show Me" tours of potential wilderness additions, see the VWA calendar or contact: Kelsey Jordahl.
Big Sur Coastal Grazing Allotments:
Following the withdrawal of the Decision Notices for the 8 Big Sur coastal grazing allotments by the USFS in February 2002 as a result of a successful appeal by the VWA and Center for Biological Diversity, things remain somewhat quiet on the grazing front. According to Forest Service sources, new, revised and reportedly "bulletproof" Environmental Analyses are in the works and are due out in the Spring of 2003. The VWA Public Lands Grazing Committee is looking forward to reviewing the new documents and becoming further involved in the allotment renewal process in order to ensure fair, equitable and environmentally responsible stewardship of local public lands by the managing agency in charge.
Sur Sur Ranch and Smith's Blue Butterfly:
As reported in the last issue of the VWW, the VWA Public Lands Grazing Committee successfully facilitated the discovery of a number of previously unknown populations of the federally endangered Smith's blue butterfly (Euphilotes enoptes smithi) on recently acquired USFS lands near the Monterey/San Luis Obispo county line. The property hosting the majority of the Smith's blue populations, the Sur Sur Ranch, has been grazed by permission of the Forest Service since 1996 without the proper biological surveys or agency consultations being conducted, in apparent violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. Unofficial word from the Forest Service is that this potentially mis-authorized grazing on the Sur Sur Ranch will be immediately suspended pending the completion of consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service over the Smith's blue butterfly populations now known to occur there.
Grazing Monitors Needed:
With the Forest Service being short-staffed and unable to spend as much time in the field as necessary to ensure that local public lands grazing activities don't adversely impact other resources such as listed species, trail infrastructure and recreational opportunities, the VWA is moving ahead with a plan to enlist monitors from our membership to help keep them informed. Grazing Monitors will commit to hiking a certain allotment or portion of an allotment on a regular basis while the cattle are on, and submitting a brief written report of their findings. Those interested in getting involved should contact us via the email links below.
For more information or to get involved with the VWA Public Lands Grazing Committee, contact Steve Chambers or Boon Hughey.
Great news for public land and national forest advocates everywhere: on September 16 a class action lawsuit was filed in federal court against the U.S. Forest Service and the widely opposed Adventure Pass "Fee Demo" Program. The class action suit was brought by Santa Ynez, CA, public interest lawyer Mary Ellen Barilotti, and seeks to bring an end to the Forest Service's Fee Demo Program which imposes access fees on national forests and was quietly passed -- without public comment or congressional debate -- as a rider on an Appropriations Bill in 1996. The class action suit "seeks a determination of the court that the U.S. Forest Service exceeded the scope of its legislative authority in implementing a 'Fee Demonstration' program," and that the agency's actions violate plaintiffs' constitutional amendment rights and "contravene established laws and rules governing the use and enjoyment of public lands." Ms. Barilotti is the former Chief Deputy Counsel for the County of Santa Barbara. She is also representing Adventure Pass protester and Santa Barbara resident Terry Dahl in his appeal of a court conviction brought by the Forest Service in 2001 for riding his bicycle in the Los Padres National Forest without an Adventure Pass. Mr. Dahl's appeal is being heard by the 9th Circuit Court on October 9, 2002.
Meanwhile, U.S.F.S. employees in Oregon and Washington are divided on whether they support Fee Demo, according to an internal survey released in September. Forty percent of those responding approved of the program, 38 percent opposed it, and the remainder said they were either neutral or didn't know. More than 60 percent, however, worry that the system of charging $5 a day or $30 a year to use certain areas of national forests is unfair to low-income people. The results were based upon responses from 2,240 of the approximately 7,000 U.S.F.S. employees in the agency's Region 6. Researchers at the University of Florida and Pennsylvania State University compiled the results. The agency sponsored the survey to find out where employees stood on the controversial program and what information they needed about it, said Jocelyn Biro, regional fee program coordinator. After receiving a congressional extension in 2000, the program provides about 20 percent of the region's recreation budget.
You may contact your elected federal legislators (go to http://www.freeourforests.org actionalert.html for info on how) and let them know you do not want to see Fee Demo become permanent. More info: Joy Greenberg.
Brenda Reed has been named Zone Archaeologist for the Monterey and Santa Lucia Districts and has been making contact with people who are on the list of Site Stewards for her districts. Essentially, she is trying to get a sense of people's current involvement as Site Stewards and directions that they'd like to see their involvement take in the future. She is also exploring the possibility of one or multiple field visits to fulfill training needs, discuss site needs, and meet some of the Site Stewards. Her telephone number is 831-385-5434 X220. More info: Paul Danielson.
Eight members of the VWA Trail Crew spent the last weekend in September working trail on the Prewitt Loop Trail in celebration of National Public Lands Day. Fallen trees were cleared, plenty of brush cut back, and many of the rougher portions of the tread were cleaned up to make it much more enjoyable hike than it previously was. Support in the form of tools and the time of backcountry ranger Kerry Russell was generously provided by the US Forest Service. More info: Boon Hughey.
The Monterey District of the Los Padres NF is still working on a local adaptation of the Leave No Trace principles and intends to have them available this season. More info: Steve Chambers.
October 30th was the first anniversary of the "new" VWA website. In the last year we have registered more than 26,000 hits to the VWA main page; general traffic has continued to rise (and rise dramatically for certain pages such as the Forum); our link popularity (the number of links to our pages from external domains) has surged to almost 200; and we have seen the varied resources on the VWA website -- particularly the DCQ, Forum, Visitor Info and Projects pages -- increasingly used for research and cited on other sites and in a wide range of message boards as sources for the most current and exhaustive information available on a wide range of subjects, be it recreation/trip planning, conservation and activism, or local cultural history and natural history. The VWA website has rapidly become the single most important internet resource for information relating to the Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness areas and adjacent public lands. If you haven't been there yet, check it out at http://www.ventanawild.org.
Since the last Newsletter, the only significant change to the website has been the improvement of the DCQ Index page, which now includes direct links to every item in the DCQ archives arranged by issue; eventually we would like to sort them by subject area as well to improve searchability. Ideas for the coming year include the development of a site map or site index; the implementation of a database system to improve the handling of trail reports; and a "FAQ" based on the most frequent and most interesting topics raised on the Forum board. And we will continue to try to come up with new ways to improve the site's value and usability.
As always, your input is important to us. If you have any suggestions, bright ideas, or constructive criticism about the website, don't hesitate to contact webmasters Boon and Phil.
The VWA Board of Directors will hold their next meeting on Sunday, February 2. It will be an open meeting for all VWA members and we hope to see many of you in attendance. The location is yet to be determined but will be in the Monterey Bay Area somewhere. Put it on your calendar. What we are planning is to have a short meeting and then a nice activity of some sort to follow. Contact: Jon Libby.
14 new VWA members who have joined since August, 2002. The membership rolls continue to grow at a record pace. We have shot past the 200 mark and continue to grow. Consider giving a VWA membership as a gift this season. Or, let Jon know if you would like some VWA brochures to distribute or place in a library, retail or other location.
The VWA Board Members are:
Jon Libby, President
Steve Chambers, Vice President
Tom Hopkins, Treasurer
Boon Hughey, Secretary
Gordon Johnson
Paul Danielson
Nikki Nedeff
