In California, the Forest Service issues a revolutionary
management plan for the Sierra Nevada's forests, putting the health
of trees and wildlife before that of the timber industry.
Magazine
August 27, 2001
In California, the Forest Service issues a revolutionary management plan for the Sierra Nevada's forests, putting the health of trees and wildlife before that of the timber industry.
Feature
Essays
Writer and geologist Rick Bass calls on the Senate to save
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling, keeping this
extraordinary refuge a true and untouched refuge.
Book Reviews
Dave Foreman's first novel, The Lobo Outback Funeral Home,
tackles issues like wolf reintroduction, old-boy politics, and New
Mexico culture clashes in the guise of fiction.
The U.S. Park Rangers Lodge of the Fraternal Order of
Police lists the 10 most dangerous national parks in the
country.
Jessica Sherwood's Feet First Program seeks to fight
Colorado sprawl and traffic by introducing schoolchildren to the
idea of alternative transportation.
The brief essays gathered in Arctic Refuge: A Circle of
Testimony offer passionate arguments against drilling in Alaska's
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Colorado nonprofit Sustainable Settings wants to teach
farmers about an ancient agricultural system called "alley
cropping" that uses scant water wisely and protects against soil
erosion.
Heard Around the West
Boy Scouts vandalize dinosaur tracks; escaping Ore. bison;
power plant workers camp in Las Animas, CO; James Dean loses
cigarette in Utah; ORVer defends his destruction; Idaho Rep. Otter
pays Clean Water fine; Wyoming has most cars per
household.
Dear Friends
About this issue; Paonia growth battle; Peter Chilson and
other visitors; tribute to Chuck Wellner; axing the fax.
News
A controversial federal-state agreement seeks to share
scarce Rio Grande water between the rare silvery minnow and New
Mexico farmers.
The Sagebrush Rebellion smolders when the BLM impounds and
tries to auction off cattle owned by ranchers Ben Colvin and Jack
Vogt for refusing to pay for grazing allotments.
Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA); Interior Dept.
still in mess over Indian trust accounts; law firm hired by
government for Yucca Mtn. also lobbies for nuclear industry; Bush
may roll back Clinton-era restriction on coal-fired power
plants.
La Verkin, Utah, declares itself a "U.N. Free Zone" in a
controversial ordinance that would have required U.N. supporters to
identify themselves as "U.N. Agents," file "activity reports" and
pay unspecified fees.
A revised and scaled-down version of Colorado's
controversial Animas-La Plata water project appears poised to
become reality at last.
The Forest Service's right to demand "bypass flows" -
leaving enough water in streams tapped for human uses to keep fish
and wildlife healthy - may not survive the Bush
administration.
Four-wheel-drive recreationists protest the Forest
Service's new $5 per vehicle fee to enter Canyon Creek near Ouray,
Colorado.
An armed encounter erupts between environmental activist
Deirdre Wolf and local rancher Alex Thal over whether a road
through her property near Silver City, N.M., is public or
private.
In Colorado, The Nature Conservancy begins a battle
against the exotic invader tamarisk, hoping to make the San Miguel
River tamarisk-free before the plant takes over entirely.
The government's General Accounting Office criticizes the
$1.6 billion National Fire Plan approved by Congress last
September.
Related Stories
The Sierra Nevada Framework seeks to protect old-growth
trees where the California spotted owl lives, but some critics say
the agency should aggressively thin and clear the region's
fire-prone forests.
Some facts are given about the Sierra Nevada Framework and
its management plans for 11 national forests in
California.
A timeline traces the evolution of the Sierra Framework
from 1981, when the Forest Service first tackled the impact of
intensive logging on the California spotted owl.
California regional forester Brad Powell, a 32-year agency
employee not known as a "bunny-hugger," put his career on the line
to finish and approve the Sierra Nevada Framework.
Longtime California environmental activist Craig Thomas
praises the Sierra Nevada Framework as a "landmark"
document.
Forest Service fire manager Brent Skaggs worries that the
Framework's new burning restrictions won't allow the amount of
controlled burning he believes necessary to prevent catastrophic
wildfires.
Cecil Wetsel and other mill operators and loggers in towns
like El Dorado Hills, California, warn that the Framework's timber
cutbacks may harm the forest as well as the local
economy.
Forest Service fire specialist Berni Bahro talks about
fuels management in the forest under the new Sierra Nevada
Framework.
North Fork, Calif., and other struggling timber towns
resent the fact that the Framework places survival of the owl above
survival of the logging industry.
The Forest Service has received more than 200 appeals of
the Sierra Nevada Framework, but instead of coming from
environmental groups, as usual, most come from people in small
towns like Tulare and Visalia, California.
California ranchers, such as Dick O'Sullivan, who graze
cattle on Forest Service land, are angry that the Framework plans
to reduce grazing in the Sierras by 20 percent.
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