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Sand Creek Roadless Area Spared from the Chainsaw
Old-Growth Ponderosas
in the Sand Creek Area
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In February, the Bearlodge Ranger District in the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills National Forest issued its decision for the Sand Creek Inventoried Roadless Area within the Rattlesnake Project area. Although the agency had considered allowing significant logging within the Sand Creek inventoried roadless area, the Forest Service opted to limit its activities there to 2,420 acres of prescribed burning within the roadless area. This is great news considering the Black Hills' very long history of intense and indiscriminate logging.
BCA will continue to watchdog the Forest Service's management of roadless areas in the Black Hills and other national forests, as these areas contain particularly valuable and undisturbed sources of clean water and species habitat on our public lands.
Legislature Nixes Future Very Rare or Uncommon Protections
Wyoming Governor Matt Mead on Thursday signed House Bill 152, which prevents the Environmental Quality Council from designating Wyoming lands as Very Rare or Uncommon under the state's Environmental Quality Act in the future.
Adobe Town
(Photo by by Marty Stupich)
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This designation has been in place for 30 years, and has been used to protect historic sites and special landscapes like Adobe Town from strip mining. The new law has no effect on lands already designated as Very Rare or Uncommon.
This extreme anti-conservation action shows that elections do matter. In both 2009 and 2010, the legislature passed more modest attempts to roll back Very Rare or Uncommon protections, but each one was vetoed by Governor Freudenthal.
See if your State Representative or Senator voted to end this environmental protection, and let them know what you think of their vote.
Shop and Search Online and Generate Donations!
What if Biodiversity Conservation Alliance earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!
GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up.
GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 30 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, eBay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause.
And if you download the "GoodSearch - Biodiversity Conservation Alliance - BCA" toolbar, our cause will earn money every time you shop and search online — even if you forget to go to GoodShop or GoodSearch first!
Speak Out on New Forest Plan Rules
On February 14th the Forest Service released, for public comment, new regulations that will determine overarching guidelines and standards under which the our national forests will be managed in the future. BCA is preparing comments and working with many other conservation groups to craft comments that will collectively represent the concerns of literally thousands of members.
BCA's Wildlife Biologist and Executive Director Erik Molvar traveled to Washington DC in the last week of February to work with federal officials and conservation groups to address weaknesses in the new regulations. BCA's Wild Species Program Director, Duane Short, is attending the National Forest Foundation Forum in DC on March 10th to gain further insights into improving the language of the plan and ways to raise public awareness.
Attend a public meeting on the new rules at a location near you!
March 21 in Lakewood, CO from 1 PM to 4 PM at the Forest Service Regional Office (740 Simms Street). A shorter version of the same meeting will also be held in the Lakewood office that evening from 6 PM to 8 PM.
March 24 in Cheyenne, WY from 6 PM to 8 PM at the Kiwanis Community House (4603 Lions Park Drive).
March 16 in Rapid City, SD from 6 PM to 8 PM at the Ramkota Best Western Hotel (2111 North Lacrosse Street.
Please register for these meetings online or by calling Holly Dobson at (970) 513-8340, ext. 204.
Some of the major points of concern in the new proposed plan include weakened protections for wildlife, especially those not already on the Forest Service's watchlists, ambiguous protections for wetlands and streamside habitats, and lax requirements to monitor wildlife trends in response to industrial disturbance. However, the new rule is a major improvement over the Bush regulations, which utterly stripped Forest Plans of enforceable standards, turning them into vague goal statements bereft of accountability.
Send In Your Comments on BLM Rock Springs Plan
Killpecker Dunes
(Photo by BCA)
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The Bureau of Land Management has kicked off the long-term land use plan for 3.6 million acres of public land in southwestern Wyoming, encompassing the western Red Desert. The northern half of Adobe Town as well as the Jack Morrow Hills planning area, two of Wyoming's most important crown jewel landscapes, will be up for grabs in the plan revision.
For those of you who remember the epic conservation battle over the Jack Morrow Hills, which ended with a third of the area getting long-term protection, this plan revision offers an opportunity to extend conservation protections to the rest of this area. In Adobe Town, the BLM's old plan left the "Monument Valley Management Area" as unfinished business with a potential Area of Critical Environmental Concern that never got designated. Wildlife protections for the next 15 years will also be decided in the plan revision, as will the review of lands that possess wilderness character and have the potential to be protected as "Wild Lands" under the new Obama administration policy. Watch for alerts telling you where and when "scoping meetings" will occur starting in late February in Lander, Rock Springs, Lyman, and Farson.
Public comments to determine the range of issues to be addressed in the the new plan are being accepted until April 4th.
Thanks for using your voice for the wild!
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
P.O. Box 1512, Laramie, WY 82073
(307) 742-7978 - darcy@voiceforthewild.org
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