Road RIPorter 6.5

8/14/2019 Road RIPorter 6.5

1/16

IThe Road-R PorterBimonthly Newsletter of the Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads. September/October 2001. Volume 6 # 5

continued on page 4

Located just minutes from Wilmington,

North Carolina, the north end of Carolina Beach

(also known as Freeman Beach) is one of t he

few undeveloped Atlantic Coast barrier island

areas left. This awe-inspiring area serves as

habitat for several species of birds including

american oystercatchers, willets, least terns,

common terns, black skimmers and the threat-

ened piping plover. Loggerhead sea turtles also

nest here.On July 10, 2001, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

(USFWS) designated the Carolina Beach Inlet are a as cr itical

hab itat for win tering piping plover (see m ap).

Carolina Beach is bordered by the Intracoastal Waterway

on th e west side and th e Atlantic to the east. On the

northern tip is a man -made cut-through from the Intrac-

oastal to the Atlantic, the Carolina Beach Inlet. The south ern

part of th is three-mile stretch conn ects to Canal Drive in the

town of Carolina Beach an d is located just minu tes from

Wilmington , North Carolina. Shore, dun es and wetlands

stretch across Carolina Beach from th e town access to the

cut-throu gh and tea m with wildlife.

The town o f Carolina Beach has jurisdiction over the

first 1000 feet of this area. The remain ing area is flood-zone

private property inher ited by the Freeman Heirs. The townof Carolina Beach allows unregulated off road vehicle (ORV)

access at the en d of Canal Drive onto th e private proper ty,

allowing environmental degradation and habitat damage on

the north end.

David Allen , NC Wildlife Resource Com missions

Nongam e Coastal Project Leader for Nongam e an d Endan -

gered Wildlife h as com piled statistics depicting an a larming

decline wildlife in th is area: In 19 95, 475 n ests of least

terns, black skimm ers and comm on terns were found n ear

Carolina Beach inlet. As disturban ce has increased in th e

The North Endand ORVsCarolina Beach, North Carolina

By Lynda Bilbrough

area over the last five years, the num ber of n esting pairs of

these colon ial waterbirds h as declined to zero (March 20 ,

2001).

Environm ental activists, the Freeman Heirs, and oth er

local property ow ners, for various reason s, have for several

decades been trying to eliminate vehicular access to the

beach . Their requests were virtually ignored u ntil March,

2001, whe n they asked the Carolina Beach Town Coun cil to

enforce a 1997 law prohibiting beach driving. They in-

formed th e town Council and Mayor Rothrock of the threat-

ened an d endan gered species issues and pointed out the

erosion and wetlands destruction that was occurring. Despite

clear evidence o f Enda ngered Species Act violations, no t on ly

did the Carolina Beach Council refuse to reverse the no

beach d riving ordinance, it reversed the ord inance!

New shore highway signs. Lynda Bilbrough photo.


2/16

The Road-RIPorter September/October 20012

WildlandsWildlandsWildlandsWildlandsWildlands CCCCCenter for PPPPPreventing RRRRRoads

2001 Wildlands CPR

Wildlands Center for PreventingRoads works t o protect and restorewildland ecosystems by preventingand removing roads and limitingmotorized recreation. We are a

national clearinghouse and network,

providing citizens w ith tools andstrategies t o fight road

construction, deter motorizedrecreation, and promot e road

removal and revegetation.

Main OfficeP.O. Box 7516

Missoula, MT 59807(406) 543-9551

[email protected]

Colorado Office2260 Baseline Rd., Suite 205

Boulder, CO 80302(303) 247-0998

[email protected]

DirectorBethanie Walder

Development DirectorTom Petersen

ORV Policy Coordinat orJacob Smith

Roads Policy Coordinat orMarn ie Criley

Program Ass ociateJennifer Barry

NewsletterDan Funsch & Jim Coefield

Inter ns & Volunteers

Benjamin Hart, Eric Harris,

Carla Abrams, Amy Barry

Board of DirectorsKatie Alvord, Karen Wood DiBari,

Sidney Maddock, Rod Mondt,Greg Munther, Cara Nelson, Mary

O'Brien , Ted Zukoski

Advisory Committ eeJasper Carlton, Dave Foreman ,

Keith Hamm er, Timothy Herm ach,Marion Hourdequin,

Kraig Klungness, Lorin Lindner,Andy Mahler, Robert McConne ll,

Stephanie Mills, Reed Noss,Michael Soul, Dan Stotter,

Steve Trom bulak, Louisa Willcox,Bill Willers, Howie Wolke

From the Wildlands CPR Office...

Just before press time, the world was ch anged by th e terrorist attacks at the

World Trade Center an d the Pentagon. At this point, in tim e, we cannot b egin to

fathom the impacts of these actions on the natural world, domestic politics, and the

global com mu nity. For n ow we just offer our tho ughts to all those wh o suffered

person ally from th is tragedy, and our h opes for a peaceful, non -violent resolution.

ThanksWildlands CPR would like to start with a sincere than k you to the W. Alton Jon es

and Turn er Foun dations an d the Foundation for Deep Ecology for con tinuing their

supp ort of ou r pr ograms. We are esp ecially excited about W. Alton Jone s two-year

grant to sup port a staff scientist at Wildlands CPR. Thanks also to tho se who

respon ded to Tom mys renewal notices we really appreciate your co ntinu ed

supp ort of our work. And as on e more sp ecial than ks, we have our first ever bibliog-

raph y no tes written by a high sch ool studen t Evan Youn gblood-Petersen. THANKS

EVAN for working o n th is pro ject, we

ho pe you h ad fun ! Finally, wed like to

than k the Billings chapter of the

Montan a Wilderness Association,

especially Dick Walton, for their help

with our road m onitoring program inthe Pryor Mountains this summer.

Itchy FeetSeems like fall is a time for

cha nge Its just that we just didn t

realize thered be so m uch of it at

Wildlands CPR. Leslie Han nay, ourmost excellent program assistant for the

past year decided to move on and

eventually pursue an advanced degree.

In addition, as of m id-Septem ber, Ronni

will be working for us on some legal

issues on con tract, and we will be hiring

a n ew Grassroots Advocate for the

Natural Trails and Waters Coalition . And in th e midst of those sh ifts, were in the

process o f hiring a staff scientist. Wed like to welcome Jenn ifer Barry as our new

Program Assistant. She com es to u s by way of th e Souther n Rockies Wolf Restoration

Project in Boulder CO. In add ition, former intern Kather ine Postelli and Jessica Cohe n

are bo th joining us on a special pro ject to collect data abo ut ORV abuses nation ally.

Welcome back Katherine, and we lcome ab oard Jessica!

Wildlands CPR would like to exten d a big than ks to Leslie and Ron ni! Leslie

comp letely revamped o ur website, kept the office together an d did some terr ific

research for us over the p ast year. Ronn i helped build the grassroots aspect of the

Natural Trails an d Waters Coalition, an d increased our un derstandin g of off-road

vehicle legal issues, statewide legislative e fforts and recreational trails p rogram

fund ing. To them , we wish the b est of luck as you move on d own, (or off) the road .

Thought youd like to knowThat we dont spend a wh ole lot of our re sources on fan cy print jobs for our

newsletter. Well okay, you co uld already tell that sin ce we stick to black an d wh ite,

and we keep th e n ewsletter on letterweight post con sumer, non-chlorine bleached

pap er. But last mo nth o ur pr int quality was really poor, and we exp ect that man y of

you n oticed perh aps you th ought you just got a bad copy. Well, it didnt make

sense to us to waste a bun ch of pap er reprinting just so the pictures would be clearer,

especially since the text seem ed just fine. In any case, we want you to kn ow that

well continu e to put the m ajority of our fun ds into getting roads rem oved on the

ground , not into fancy newsletter printing. Thanks for your patience, and

hop efully were over our prin ting problems.

The North End & ORVs, p. 1, 4-5-Lynda Bilbrough

DePaving the Way, p. 3, 10Bethanie Walder

Odes to Roads, p. 6-7Tom Petersen

Bibliography Not es, p . 8-9Evan Youngblood-Petersen

Alert s & Regional, p . 10-14

In this Issue


3/16

The Road-RIPorter September/October 2001 3

In the 1970s, the US Forest Service unde rtook

two different mapping and inventory processes to

determ ine the overall rema ining roadless acreage it

man aged in the United States. Those processes,

called RARE I an d RARE II (Roadless Area Review and

Evaluation), eventually resulted in map s of all

inventoried roadless areas on nation al forest lands.

In partial respon se to p roblems with RARE I, the

Forest Service developed very specific criteria for

what constituted a roa d for the RARE II inventories,

and th us wh ich roads would disqualify an area for

inclusion on the inventoried roadless maps.

According to the Forest Service Handbook (FSH

1909.12 , 7 .11) a roadless ar ea is literally an area

without an y improved roads m aintained for travel by

standard passe nger type vehicles. User-created

cross-country rou tes, therefore, would not and do n ot

disqualify an area from ro adless consideration.

Even so, in some instances two-tracks that were

not constructed or m aintained were used to dis-

qualify areas from the ro adless inventory. Other areaswere simply left off the map s because the tim ber

values were too h igh. One lon gtime activist cites

examples where a road m ight h ave been constructed

throu gh a valley bottom, but the road less area

boun dary was drawn in at the ridgetop, leaving all the

land between the valley bottom and the ridgetop

unp rotected. These examples show cause for

concer n with large-scale map ping projects.

But was it imp ortant to inventor y roadless areas

back in th e 1970s? Yes. Was it a flawed p roce ss in

several instances? Yes. Does that m ean we sho uld

never map anyth ing again? No. More imp ortan tly,

how do es this, now, app ly to roaded an d roadless

areas an d do es it app ly to ORVs?

The Forest Service recen tly approved a long-term

transp ortation p olicy, which included d irectives to

develop a comprehen sive, ground-based transp orta-

tion atlas of every tran sportation r oute th at exists,

from bridges to airstrips. From trails to roads. And

we do need to know wh ats on the groun d to under-

stand the overall impacts the transportation system is

having on wildlife an d watersh eds, regardless of

whe ther or n ot all the routes are legal. But while we

do n eed to know whats out th ere, we also need the

Forest Service to man age the land w hile they do th e

mapping.

Unfortunately, the Forest Service is m ixing road

mapping with o ff-road vehicle management. Theyve

decided that th e only way they can get control over

the illegal constru ction of m otorized routes is to

make n ew map s, showin g all the routes. They thin k

theyll be able to somehow stop people from making

new routes, just because theyve pu t all the old illegal

routes on a m ap. The Forest Service seem s to think

that the only way to get a handle on the continuedproliferation of illegal off-road vehicle routes is to

inventory those rou tes; to create a baseline m ap that

shows everything that is on th e ground at the time

the map is comp leted, and then an ything that

app ears after that time wou ld be considered illegal.

But th e Forest Service already h as m aps

baseline ma ps of all their system /classified tran spor-

tation routes* both motorized an d n on-motorized,

both trail and road. Those system transp ortation

map s were completed at a fixed point in time. And

those system m aps are supposed to be up dated as

new ro utes are officially and legally added to the

system. Anyth ing that exists on the groun d, there-

fore, but does not show up on a system m ap, shouldconstitute an un classified/no n-system route. It is

impor tant to remem ber, however, that those system

The New Transportation Atlas:

Still RARE?By Bethanie Walder

* The Forest Service switched th eir term inology

from system to classified, and from non-system

to unclassified. But both term s are still used, so we

are using both h ere.

continued on page 10

The failure to arres t t he cont inual creation

and use of unaut horized cross -count ry

routes results in further degradat ion of

t he land, an at mosphere of lawless ness

regarding mot orized recreat ion,

and a tacit app roval of one of t he mostsignificant p roblems ever t o plague

the Nat ional Fores t s.


4/16


We n otified th e New Hanover County Coun cil

abou t the issue, and contacted all significant pub lic

officials. We also encou raged the local media to

cover our story. As timing would have it, one time,

during a visit to the site by WECT-TV News, a truck

became stuck in th e sand just beyond the cam eras

view. Sand flying from th e spinn ing tires showed

clear eviden ce of erosion. Huge plow marks fromvarious ORVs gutted the beach. The Carolina Beach

Weekly News printed a full-feature, front-page cover

story.

We also solicited credible en vironm ental

agencies and organ izations to get involved. The

National Audu bon Society agreed to m anage an d

mon itor the site provided th at ORVs would be

eliminated an d the private owners were in sup port.

This mon itoring service would save both New

Hanover County as well as North Carolina taxpayers a

substan tial amo un t of money. The USFWS and th eNC Wildlife Resources Comm ission data both supp ort

an ORV closure as th e on ly mean s that w ill achieve

adequ ate pro tection of wildlife and wildlife habitat.

The situation at a ne arby beach is instru ctive.

Fort Fisher State Park, a state beach just three miles to

the south , allows man aged vehicular access. How-

ever, according to the NC Wildlife Resources Commis-

sion, even well mana ged traffic and wildlife do not

mix. The statistics docum ent th e decline nesting birds

at Fort Fisher State Park:

* In 1990, 392 n ests for black skimme rs,

com mon terns, least terns, and gull-billed terns

were found ;

* In 1991, there were 400 least tern n ests, and n o

others;

* In 1993, there were 130 least tern nests;

* In 1995, there were no nests of any kind;

* In 1997, there were 92 n ests for black skim-

mers, comm on terns an d least terns;

* The most recent survey in 1999 found 41 n ests

for black skimm ers and least terns.

David Allen, n ongam e coastal pro ject leader for

the Nongam e an d Endangered Wildlife Section of the

NC Wildlife Resources Commission, indicated that

these trends are the result of the nu mber of people

using Fort Fisher, and n ot a result of managem ent

practices.

We also just confirmed at pr ess time that n o

terns or skimm ers nested on the north ern end of

Carolina Beach th is year. Disturban ce was the specific

sole cause for abandonment of this site.

The Biodiversity Legal Found ation , Bluewate r

Network, Cape Fear Sur friders, Sierra Club, North

Carolina Coastal Reserve, Sea Tur tle Restoration

Project, Volusia County Sea Tur tle Patrol, and Wild-

lands Center for Preventing Roads all suppor t efforts

to elimina te ORVs from th e no rth en d sho re.

According to Bart Semcer, a representative of the

Sierra Club, After sp rawl, recre ation al use is th e

leading cause in the d ecline o f wildlife. The last

rema ining 4-5 pe rcent o f Atlantic Coast ba rrier island

hab itat is being destroyed pr imarily by motorized

vehicles.

U.S. Senator John Edwards wrote th e USFWS and

asked them to create a plan to protect the piping

plover. At press time, there h as been n o respon se to

this request.

Private citizens who have fought (and won )

similar efforts elsewhere provided a great dea l of

support for our work and h elped us along. Mostnotably am on g them is Shirley Reynolds. Shirley was

named National Wildlife Federation Citizen of the

Year for her u nrelen ting efforts to p rotect the se a

tur tles of Volusia Coun ty, Florida. After not getting

anywhere throu gh other m eans, she ultimately sued

Volusia County for violating the Enda ngered Species

Act by failing to con trol ORV use o n the beach an d

won!

Recently, throu gh th e h elp of New Hanover

Coun ty Comm issione r William Caster, we were able

to secure some slight gains. There has been a slight

increase in law enforcemen t for the area, but vehicu-

lar access is still allowed. However, it is a step in the

continued from page 1

View from Lands End at Carolina Beach of wetlands with beach dunes and vehicles,

wit h t he At lantic Ocean in t he background. Lynda Bilbrough Photo.

Vehicles t ravelling wit hin post ed areas create fields of dune

ruts. Lynda Bilbrough photo.


5/16


What You Can Do

You can help protect th is fragile barr ierisland , the no rth en d of Carolina Beach, bywriting Sena tor John Edwards an d requesting tha the lead th e effort to elimin ate ORV access. Also,you can write to othe r North Carolina p oliticians.

For your own efforts to conser ve our shor es,look at th e situation from all angles: scientific,econ om ic, environm ental, safety, sanitation, etc.

Get exper t legal sup port. Wildlands CPR/NaturalTrails and Water Coalition is a good resource.Send all impo rtant corresp ond ence via certifiedmail. (Don t e-mail politicians an d risk beingignored.) Keep an excellent pa per trail.

Be a concern ed citizen gathering informa -tion. Never be deceitful. Theres no need todisperse information until you know the facts.Dont exaggerate. Be an informa tion con duit.Publicize the facts. Think of yourself as thepu blic relation s director for the land. What agreat job!

Be patient. Persevere. Expect to be shockedthat en vironmen tal protection laws are notenforced. Expect to be downh earted, discour-aged and an gry at times. Take action and get a

beach bu ddyseveral if you want. There arethose wh o will carry the resp onsibility ofknowledge with you and lighten the load.

Write to these officials with your concer ns:

NC Public OfficialsSenator John EdwardsUS Senate, 22 5 Dirksen Office Bldg.Washington, DC 20510202-224-3154

Governor Michael F. Easley20301 Mail Service CenterRaleigh, NC 27699-0301919-733-4240

William G. Ross, Jr., SecretaryNC Departm ent of Natural Resources1601 Mail Service Cente rRaleigh, NC 27699-1601919-733-4984

Representative Mike McIntyreUS House of Representatives228 Cann on House Office Bldg.Washington, DC 20515202-225-2731; 202-225-5773 fax

State Senator Patrick BallantineDistrict 4 , NC Gen eral Assemb ly1127 Legislative Office BuildingRaleigh, NC 27601

State Representative Daniel McComasChair, Env. & Natural Resources Com mitte eNorth Carolina General Assembly606 Legislative Office Bldg.Raleigh, NC 27601-2808

Ted Davis Jr., Chairm anWilliam Caster, [email protected] Hanover County Com mission320 Chestnu t St. Room 305Wilmington, NC 28401

US Fish and Wildlife Service graphic.

Knowledge carr ies responsibility.As Shirley Reynolds once said,

They [w ildlife] have no voice.

We must be that voice and protect our

natural resources and their habitat.

right direction. Now, only licensed 4-wh eel drive vehicles and licensed

drivers are allowed an d n o cam pers, trailers, jet skis or boats ar e

perm itted. The dun e/vegetation line also was redefined to restrict

vehicles to a na rrower sh ore lane. Unfortunately, the area is only

sporad ically patrolled. On Labor Day weekend there were several

violations (see ph otos).

Com missioner Casters action does no t address the sea tur tle andwaterbird h abitat issues, however. Dogs are still allowed to run free. The

shore still has revving engines and destabilized dun es. A hod ge-podge of

signs marks th e entire sh ore; one area is actually marked crossover

throu gh the Atlantic dune line into the wetlands. Even with these

changes, its clear that beaches and vehicles are incom patible!

Knowledge carr ies resp on sibility. As Shirley Reyn olds once said,

They (wildlife) have no voice. We m ust be th at voice an d pro tect our

natural resources and their habitat.

Lyn da Bilbrough is an act ivist work ing to prot ect Carolina Beach. You can

contact her at: [email protected]

Piping Plover. Photo by C. Perex, USFWS.


6/16


Odes to Roads

We took the Dalai Lama on

the road with us. He got

the front seat. We usually

dont feel his presence so strongly,

but that morning Evan and I were

start ing a road trip to Salt Lake

City to hear him speak. The sunroof

was open, our hair ruffled in thewind, and as we glanced upward

through the open roof, mountain-

ous cumulus clouds loomed over us.My 17 year-old son and I were on the road, and

it couldnt have been better: a road trip to Salt Lake,

about 1200 m iles round trip from our h ome in

Missoula, Montan a. Interstate 90 to Interstate 1 5 all

the way. We cranked u p the tap e player and san g

Willie Nelsons On th e Road Again, over an d over.

On th e road again; I just cant wait to be on the roa d

again, Willie croon ed, and it seemed h e was singing

just to u s. We poin ted ou t red-tail and har rier hawks,gazed at blue Utah sky and san g to the op en cou ntry.

The trip an d th e road seem ed full of possibility. We

put the cruise control at 75, crunched tortilla chips

and Gala apples and dran k cold sodas from ou r

cooler. When we stopp ed at a small town park

outside of Logan Utah for lunch , we ate tuna

sandwiches un der breezy cottonwoods.

We ha d time. Time to talk abou t his new (and

first) girlfriend, abou t wha t we expe cted to h ear

from th e Dalai Lama (who was in Salt Lake to h ono r

the city and the ir care and settlemen t of Tibetan

refugees), and tim e to talk about w here wed stop to

fish on the way back. We had plenty of time, and th e

car and th e road trip enclosed our time, encapsu-

lated it in its roaring m etal body, allowed us to get

away from our oth er life of writing grant pr oposa ls

or doing Spanish h om ework or picking towels off

the bathroom floor. Everything is fine, God exists,

we know time, says Dean Mortiarty in Jack

Kerouacs On the Road.

Evan and I were prisoners by cho ice, explorers

by nature, speeding through an adventure in time

and place and father and son with the freedom to go

anywhere we wantedas long as there was road

ben eath u s. We had Amer ican history by ou r side.

We were Sal and Dean from Kerouacs On the Road,

and yes, we had a little more m oney th an Sal and

werent hustling wom en, but th e essence was the

same: it was late spring, the seaso n Kerouac called

the great time of travelling.

I have a tenden cy to associate roads with

freedom through m ovemen t, and they do give us

freedom to movequicklyto new places, new

faces. Inman , a ch aracter in Char les Fraziers Cold

Mountain says travelers can take the a ttitude tha t

there was n o burden that couldnt be lightened, n owreckful life that cou ldnt be set right by headin g off

down the road.

Evans and my life were not wre cked and we

carried few burden s; all we had was more roa d

ahea d of us, possibility, and th e un certainty of what

lay beyond the n ext turn , the next town. It is

liberating to leave your life behin d, even for a

weekend. There is little to lose.

We cruised into Salt Lake later that day, pulled

into the h uge par king lot at the University of Utah,

popped open th e car doors and pried ourselves out

of our well-imp rinted seats. We stretched th e road

miles from ou r bodies, and sh ook the road d ust from

us like dogs sha king off wate r. The Dalai Lam a left toprep are his talk.

During the trip down my m ind had spu n with

thoughts of roads. They have helped create our

mo bile society and in som e ways we are all the

bette r for it. How cou ld Evan an d I travel to Salt Lake

without th em ? We could have flown, but driving

allowed th e flexibility and freedom to go whe rever

we desired, to veer off the bea ten track to buy a

souvenir, to stop at a roadside p ark for lunch , to take

a different route or maybe turn around if we

changed our minds.

Road WorthyBy Tom Petersen


7/16


My life seems to be carried b y the ro ad. In the late 50 s,

whe n I was growing u p n ear St. Louis, my family would d rive

nor th som e sum mers to Lake Michiganto Saugatuck an d

Douglas and Hollandabout a th ird of the way up th e lake on

the easter n side, around the be nd from Chicago. My dads

work partner had a small house in Saugatuck that wed rent

for the week.

My two brothers an d I would scramb le into the b ack seat

of ou r light-blue 57 Mercury, shiny chro me tail fins flying off

the ba ck of the car like the winged Mercury h imself, while our

paren ts would load th e well-used stainless steel ice-chest with

pop an d beer and bologna sandw iches wrapped in wax pap er.

Off wed go, n orth and east on old U.S. Highway 55, our tires

over the sectioned-cement road rhythmically clicking and

clacking like train over track.

Our m otor-time didnt stop wh en wed arrive in

Saugatuck. Sand d un es ro lled along Lake Michigans sh ores,

some towering as high as 20 0-300 feet and wider than m any

farm fields. Sculpted by Ice Age glaciers, wind and water, the

dun es were called a signature o f time and etern ity, by the

poet Carl Sand burg. Tour ist businesses cou ld take you on

those du nes in oversized sand dun e buggies with four fat tires,

rollbars and n o roofs. The five of us wou ld load up in th e

buggy and the driver would speed off, race up a high dun e,

hesitate mom entarily at the crest and the n, as if we were

riding a road of steep hills, accelerate dow n th e far side, all of

us scream ing, han ds up as in a roller coaster ride. Sometimes

on th e peak of those du nes the driver would pause, then let

the dun e bu ggy fall backwards, racing in reverse.

The road mean t time with m y family, and like Evans and

my trip to Salt Lake, gave us th e chan ce to exper ience ou r

travels together, held in the Mercury an d the road, forcing us

to talk and p lay as a group o f five. Even alone on my bike as a

twelve-year-old, roads brought m ovemen t and speed an d

freedom.

There are m any kinds o f freedom h owever. Som e voices,mo re disciplined th an m ine, call for freedom from the road,

not freedom with the road . Ruby, ano ther ch aracter in Cold

Mountain , has the view that a wor ld prope rly put together

would yield inhab itants so suited to th eir lives in their

assigned places that they would h ave neither n eed no r wish to

travel.

Before road s? We walked. Its estimated that the pre-

Europ ean p opu lation o f what is now the United States was

aroun d 5 million. They moved on path s, thin travelways worn

by foot, back and forth from village to village, from h un ting

ground to h unting ground. In The Practice of the Wild, Gary

Snyder writes of a pass in the Brooks Range of north ern

Alaska at the head waters of th e Koyukuk River, a green, th ree-

thousand-foot high tundra p ass between the ranges, extremely

remo te, no road s, only trails m ade by migrating caribou. Yet

the pass was u sed by Inupiaq and Athapaskan p eople as a

regular trade route for at least seven thou sand years.

Some cu ltures still tell their stories th rough walking.

Snyder describes driving through the desert of central

Australia with a Pintub i elder. While narrating th e landscap e

for Snyder, the elder su dden ly began speaking rapidly about a

moun tain th ey were passing, then another hillside, then a

boulder, then lizards, acacias, wallabies. Snyder writes, I

realized after about h alf an h our o f this that th ese were tales

to be told wh ile walking [Snyders emph asis], and that I was

exper iencing a speeded-up version of wh at might be leisurely

told over several days of foot travel.

My true story also or iginates with th e land, the p lace from

which all stories begin, in all cultures. When I get out o f the

car, the lan d tells a different kind o f story. When I shift from

the pa nora mic view from the ro ad to the slower, more detailed

view of foot travel, my story b ecom es com plete.

It makes sense in som e ways, growing up in a culture of

roads an d road travels, that some of my stories com e from a

paved place. But th e land fills and enrich es my stories like a

river swollen to its shores, flowing with the fullest current,carrying the greatest force.

When Evan and I were driving through southeastern

Idaho on our way b ack from ou r trip to see the Dalai Lama , we

tried to find a river to fish. As we drove, fishing stories rose to

the su rface like trout du ring a big hatch. In the car Evan told

me th at the Dalai Lama h ad made such an impression on him

that the n ext time he m issed a strike he would exercise

Buddh ist-like patience, and n ot toss his rod in frustration a s he

som etimes had . It was a statem ent of hop e, me ntally crafted

as the wheels in h is head turned with the wheels of the road.

Eventually we stopped th e car, got out and p laced our feet

on the ground . Evan an d I stood be fore the Black River, its

riparian banks and brush swirling in warbler yellow and

standing in stately her on blue. Encased in Black Canyon , theriver prom ised cutthroats an d browns.

We fished in de ep p ools along the rock-stepped river.

Early on , Evan m issed a strike. He swore, an d tossed h is road

to his feet. He paused a m omen t, glanced at m e and smiled.

Then he p icked up his rod and m oved to another p ool.

Tommy Petersens son always catches more fish than he does.

It makes sense in s ome ways,

growing up in a culture of roads and

road travels, that s ome of my s tories

come from a paved place.

But t he land fills and enr iches my

st ories like a river s wollen to it s

shores, flowing w ith the fullest

current, carrying the greatest force.


8/16


Bibliography Notes sum marizes and highlights som e of the

scientific literature in our 6,000 citation bibliography on the

ecological effects of roads. We offer bibliographic searches to

help activists access important biological research relevant to

roads. We keep copies of most art icles cited in Bibliography

Notes in our off ice library.

Bibliography Notes

Sand dun es are a biologically unique fraction of arid land

ecosystems (Bury & Luckenb ach 1 983). They serve as habitat

island s for num erous sp ecies of vegetation and w ildlife. The

Oregon Dun es Nationa l Recreation Area, for exam ple, teemswith life, encom passing 42 differen t ecotones. The same is

true of the dun es of Back Bay, Virginia wh ere yellow san d is

crowne d with sea oats and nesting birds. Com pared to those,

the du nes of Californ ia seem devoid of life. They supp ort on ly

a few specialized plants an d an imals, of which m any are rare,

threaten ed or en dem ic species such as Peirsons milk-vetch or

the Andrews du ne scarab b eetle (Anon ymo us, 1974). All

unp rotected dunes hold one thing in comm on, though: they

are used in tensively by dune bu ggies and o ff-road vehicles

(ORVs).

ORV use in sa nd dun e areas cau ses significant adverse

impacts to wildlife an d vegetation in m any ways. ORV use can

destroy vegetation, leaving the area pron e to erosion and

disrupting th e life cycles of animals dep end ing on th is vegeta-tion for food o r cover. Wildlife can be cr ush ed by ORVs, have

their dens destroyed, and even become completely deafened

by noise. Dune bu ggies and ORVs displace sand, causing

erosion. ORV tracks also com pact san d, hind ering its ability to

nourish vegetation and absorb water.

Vegetation DestructionORV use in d un e areas d estroys man y species of vegeta-

tion. There is a direct correlation between th e intensity of ORV

use an d the severity of damage (Bury 19 80). ORVs can an d do

run over and through various dune vegetation species, includ-

ing blue palo verde, screwbean , and ironwoo d. Enda ngered or

threatened species found in du ne ecosystems include croton,

desert sun flower, sandfood, and de sert buckwh eat (Bury &Luckenb ach 19 83).

Direct impa cts caused by ORVs include w heels cru shing

the foliage, root systems, and seedlings. The superstru cture

and u nd ercarriage of ORVs can dam age vegetation an d upr oot

plant foliage and stems (Wilshire et al 1979). In a case study of

the Algodon es Dunes in California, control plots h ad an

average of 2.4 times the n um ber of species, ten times th e

den sity, 9.4 times the cover, and forty time s the volum e of

shru bby peren nials when com pared to ORV-impacted plots

(Bury & Luckh enb ach 19 83). Destruction of root systems in

dun e areas is especially prevalent because th ey are already so

fragile. Vegetation rem oval alone can raise th e soil tempera-

tures u p to 14 d egrees Celsius in th e daytime (Liddle & Moore

1974). This suggests that in sand du ne pastu re the removal of

above-groun d vegetation h as a ma jor effect on th e soil micro-climate (Liddle & Moore 1974 ).

Adverse Effects on W ildlifeORV use on sa nd du nes h as adverse affects on m any

species of wildlife, including piping plovers, desert kangaroo

rats, fringe-toed lizards, pale kangaroo mice, sidewind ers an d

shovel-nosed sn akes (Bury & Luckenb ach 1983, Bury 19 80).

ORVs har m d esert kangaroo rats in m any ways (Berry

1980, Bury 1980). They can be crush ed or m aimed and tires

can collapse the ir burrows (Bury 19 80). The desert kan garoo

rat also has a highly developed sen se of hearing that it depen ds

on for sur vival. They can detect, at a distance, sounds as faint

as wing beats of owls and the m ovement of a snake across the

sand. When exposed to 500 seconds of intermittent dune

buggy sounds, desert kangaroo rats are deafened for approxi-

mately 21 days. During this time, they can be app roache d

unnoticed and eaten by snakes and owls (Berry 1980).

The piping plover is listed und er the Endan gered Species

Act as end angered in four eastern states and threatened in

six (Hoopes et al 1993). A 1986 su rvey foun d only 547 p airs of

bree ding plovers in those states. Nine yea rs later, after ORVs

and dune buggies were restricted seasonally from nesting

areas, they had m ore than doub led to 1150 breed ing pairs (Line

1996).

Plovers are affected by ORV use in m any ways. The pair

forms a depression in the san d somewhere on the high beach

close to the dun es after arriving on beach es along the Atlantic

coast, (USFWS 199 9). These n ests can be cru shed by ORVs,leaving scavengers easy p ickings (Line 19 96). Both chicks an d

adults have been found cr ush ed by ORVs. Surviving chicks can

leave the n est within a day after h atching to feed, moving

extensively along the beach . They will stand in, walk, and run

along tracks created by ORVs an d h ave trouble crossing o r

climb ing out of deep r uts (Melvin et al 1994 ). Over the course

of a five-year study in Massachusetts an d New York, 18 piping

plover chicks and 2 ad ults were found d ead in tire tracks.

Biologists believe that vehicles kill man y m ore p lovers th an the

study observed (Melvin et al 19 94).

Dumont Dunes, a BLM open area in the Mojave Desert.

Howard W ilshire photo.

The Impact of Off-RoadVehicles on Sand Dune Habitats

By Evan Youngblood-Petersen


9/16


Erosion and CompactionORV use can greatly destabilize dunes, mak ing them mo re

susceptible to erosion. The U.S. Senate Com mittee on Interior

and Insular Affairs (1971) concluded that ORVs increase the

rate of dune erosion by destroying vegetation. On arid land

dun es, this is eviden t in the form of wind erosion . Sand is

displaced into adjacent non-dune areas covering land well

beyond the region o f direct ORV impact. In addition to wind

erosion, sea erosion is a major factor in coastal dun e areas. In

these areas, land behind th e dun es becomes m ore vulnerableto saltwater flooding (Sherad in 19 79).

While ORVs desta bilize th e su rface layer, they also

comp act the sub-surface (Sher adin 1979). Com paction causes

an incre ase in soil bulk density, penetra tion resistance, and

therm al capacity (Bury & Lucken bach 1 983). In one instance,

the increased penetration resistance prevented loggerhead

turtles from b urying th eir eggs on th e beach es of Back Bay,

Virginia (U.S. Senate Noise Con trol Act 1971). The su b-sur face

also cannot absorb nearly as much water, greatly reducing the

amoun t of m oisture available to n ourish plants an d replenish

subsu rface aquifers (in Sheradin, 197 9).

Conclusion

There are m any im pacts of ORV use th at are h ighlydetrimen tal to sand dun e ecosystems. These range from

erosion and compaction of the dune to wildlife mortality and

vegetation destruction . Some wildlife and vegetation imp acts

are obvious, while othe rs may be m ore subtle.

The piping plover pop ulation alon g the Atlantic coast

plum meted u ntil ORVs were removed from th eir nesting

grounds, after which the n umb er of breeding pairs rebounded.

ORVs were directly ca usin g wildlife m ortality.

Where ORV use o ccurs on dun es, vegetation is either very

sparse or comp letely absen t. Conversely, whe re there is no

ORV use, native plant pop ulations flourish.

There are hear tening developme nts. In th e Algodon es

Dunes in Californ ia, recent legal settlemen ts (seeRIPorter6:3)

have closed almost 50,000 acres of the Dunes to off-roadvehicles to pro tect Peirsons m ilk-vetch, d esert tor toise, an d

other imper iled sp ecies. In reviewing the literature cited above,

if the closure re main s effective we can predict that in th e

future, Algodon es Dunes will have drastically improved h abitat

for plan ts an d w ildlife.

Evan Youngblood-Petersen is a senior at Hellgate High school in

Missoula, MT.

Piping Plover. USFWS phot o.

BibliographyAnonym ous. 1974. Running it into the ground: a special ORV

report. Outdoor Western Annual 41:4-26

Berry, K.H. 1980. The effects of four-wheel vehicles on biological

resources. In: Andrews, R.N.L. and P. Nowak. 1980. Off-road

Vehicle Use: A Management Challenge. U.S. Departm ent of

Agriculture, Office of Environm enta l Quality, Washington,

D.C.231-33.

Bury, R.B. 1980. What we know and do not know about off-road

vehicle impacts on wildlife. In: Andrews, R.N.L. and P.

Nowak. 1980. Off-road Vehicle Use: A Management

Challenge. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of

Environmenta l Quality, Washington, D.C. 110-22.

Bury, R.B. and R.A. Luckenbach. 1983. Vehicular recreation in arid

land dunes: biotic responses and management alternatives.

In: Webb, R.H. an d Wilshire, H.G. Environm enta l Effects of

Off-Road Vehicles: Impacts an d Managem ent in Arid

Regions:207-21.

Liddle, M.J. and K.G. Moore. 1974. The microclimate of sand dune

tracks: the re lative contribution of vegetation removal and

soil compression. Journal of Applied Ecology 11(3):1057-68.

Line, L. 1996. Massachusetts miracle, piping plovers return to New

England. Audubon. March-April:20-24.

Luckenbach, Roger A. and R.B. Bury. 1983. Effects of off-road

vehicles on the biota of the Algodones Dunes, ImperialCounty, California. Journal of Applied Ecology 20:265-86.

Melvin, S.M., A. Hecht and C.R. Griffin. 1994. Piping plover

mortalities caused by off-road vehicles on Atlantic coast

beaches. Wildlife. Society Bulletin. 22:409-14.

Sheridan , D. 1979. Off-road vehicles on public land. Council on

Environmental Quality:10.

U.S. Senate. 1971. Committee on Commerce. Noise Control Act

of 1971 and Amendm ents. Hearing before the

Subcommittee on the Environment. U.S. GPO:626.

U.S. Senate. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. 1971.

Snowmobiles and Other Off-Road Vehicles, hearing before

the Subcomm ittee on Parks and Recreation, 92d Cong., 1st

sess., on study of effects of rapidly expanding use of all

terra in vehicles on public lands. U.S. Govt. Print. Office:72.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website:

http://pipingplover.fws.gov/overview.html

Wilshire, H.G, S. Shipley, and J.K. Nakata. 1978. Impacts of off-

road vehicles on vegetation. Transactions of the Forty-Third

North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference,

Phoenix, Arizona, editor K. Sabol. Washington D.C. : Wildlife

Managem ent Institute:131-39.

Tom Petersen photo.


10/16


Regional Reports & Updates

The RAP: WCPR Hosts Road Removal

Priorit iz ation Meeting

On August 17 -18, Wildlands CPR hosted a mee ting of activists and

scientists to comm ence a coordinated effort to establish eco logically-

based roa d rem oval criteria. While Wildlands CPR has wanted to initiate

such an effort for a while, one o f the reasons beh ind holding the

meetin g now is the new Forest Service Roads Policy. The n ew p olicy

provides an opportunity to affect road closure decisions through the

Roads Analysis Process (RAP), a public participation process. Its through

RAP tha t the Forest Service will prioritize road decom missioning,

reconstruction an d new con struction, and wh ere we need to push for

ecologically based roa d rem oval decisions as op posed to access an d

budget-based decisions.

Many activists and scientists are interested in or are a lready

developing road removal criteria. We wanted to bring these peop le

together to avoid working similar projects indepe nde ntly and to figure

out how to share knowledge and resources to come up with the b est

possible tool. The criteria, which w ould include stand ards an d guidelines

for road removal prioritization, could be used n ot only as an on -the-ground too l for en vironmen tal activists condu cting assessmen ts, but also

as a standard against which to hold the Forest Services RAP.

The m eeting included presen tations by Lee Metzgar, on pr ioritizing

road removal for wide ranging carnivores (specifically grizzlies), and

Chris Frissell from Pacific Rivers Council on prioritizing road removal for

aquatics and fisheries. Other components discussed were hydrology/

geomor ph ology, soils, invasive plant sp ecies, and recreating road less/

wildlands through road removal.

We also discussed tools and m odels already in progress th at can

help in ou r efforts to p rioritize road rem oval. Bo Wilmer, Dawn Hartley

and Michele Crist from The Wilderness Societys Center for Land scape

Analysis talked about the RoadNET model they are developing. RoadNET

(Road Network Evaluation Tool) is a spatially based computer software

application for assessing the ecological and econ om ic imp act of roads.Ano ther key to prioritizing roa d rem oval criteria is on-going

landscape level mapp ing efforts by group s such a s The Wildlands

Project, Yellowston e to Yukon Initiative, an d Alliance for th e Wild

Rockies, just to n ame a few. Finally, on-the-groun d road assessme nt an d

removal efforts by groups like Sky Island Alliance, Predator Conservation

Alliance an d Swan View Coalition provide som e of th e best m odels for

getting roads rem oved.

In term s of actually starting to write up road rem oval criteria... well,

were not th ere yet. But the m eeting was a great opp ortun ity to share

knowledge and experiences and lay the groundwork for a coordinated

effort o f getting th e m ost ecologically dama ging roa ds rem oved. We plan

to continue working on the criteria, with assistance from other scien-

tists, and will keep you up dated as it proceeds.

transportation m aps do no t present even a rem otely

accurate picture of the ecological prob lems caused by

all the illegally created rou tes that are ou t there on

the groun d. Some unclassified routes may have been

official routes th at the FS never pu t on th eir map s,

but m any are the u ser-created routes that the FS

states they are trying to address through m apping.

The FS certainly does not n eed n ew map s to deter-

mine wh ich routes are legal. They already have maps

that sh ow the legal system. The FS already has a

system tha t they can use as a basis for current off-

road vehicle m anagement before they comp lete

their new comprehen sive transportation atlas.

In the m eantim e, the Forest Service has an

obligation to stop th e continu ed proliferation o f new

user-created rou tes. In addition to that, the Forest

Service has an obligation to stop th e use of m otorized

vehicles on non-designated, non-system/unclassified

routes. That obligation does not rest on wh ether or

not n ew map s are com pleted the Forest Service has

maps. Any routes not on the current m aps should not

be open for use period.

While mapp ing is clearly imp ortant, it is no t a

substitute for aggressive, active man agemen t of

existing ORV problem s. The failure to arre st the

continual creation and use of un authorized cross-

country routes results in further degradation of the

land, an atmosphere of lawlessness regardingmo torized recreation, an d a tacit approval of one of

the m ost significant problem s ever to plague the

National Forests.

And to com e full circle, if this map ping is don e

correctly it will not th reaten existing road less areas or

wilderness de signation . As long as the Forest Service

sticks to their language from RARE II, a n on -con-

structed, non-improved, non -maintained route does

not disqualify an area from roadless consideration,

nor d oes it disqualify an area from po tential wilder-

ness designation. Historically speaking, map ping has

provided us with invaluable inform ation for protect-

ing roadless and w ildern ess areas. It does n ot,

however, replace management. Mapping roads androutes an d man aging off-road vehicles are two

different things.

Mappin g will provide us with a p icture of road

problems an d the remaining roadless acreage.

Mapp ing will provide us with a too l that we can use

to determine which roads to remove to expand

roadless acreage. Mapp ing will provide us with m uch

needed information for future man agement. But not

a single map other than the current transpo rtation

plans is neede d to provide us with the basis for

man aging illegal off-road vehicle u se, right now.

continued f rom p age 3


11/16


Wildlands CPR Co-hosts

Road Workshop in Canada

Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative,

Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads and the

Calgary/Banff chapter of Canadian Parks and

Wilderness Society present:

Managing Roads for Wildlife

Near Crowsnest Pass, AB

October 1-2, 2001

When:The worksh op begins at 8:30am o n Monday, October 1st. Participants are en couraged to arr ive the

evening of Sunday, September 30 th . The workshop fee includes workshop s all day October 1 st and the 2nd

until 3 pm, dorm itory accommo dations September 30 th & October 1 st, all me als on October 1 st and breakfast

& lunch o n October 2. If eno ugh p articipants are interested, we will offer an op tional dinner Sun day, Sept.

30 th at cost.

Where:The worksh op will be held at the Crowsnest Bible Cam p between Coleman and Sparwoo d, and n ear theinfamou s Highway 3 fracture zone. (If that do esnt mean anyth ing to you, com e to the worksh op!!)

The Workshop:This roads workshop has been created as a direct response to num erous queries from Y2Y and

Wildlands CPR networ k groups abo ut:

1) the best available science on the eco logical effects of highways and forest roads,

2) possible mitigation an d prevention m easure s, and

3) how to accomplish those measures on the ground.

Presenters Include:Chris Frisse l, Carolyn Callagha n, Shelly Alexan der, Ton y Clevenger, Kim Davitt, Marn ie Criley, Jake

Herrero, Rupe rt Pilkington, Keith Hamm er, and m ore to be ann oun ced.

Topics:Ecological effects

Mitigation and restoration

Tools: documen ting linear disturban ces

physically mitigating linear d isturban ces

policy and legal hoo ks to prevent roads, get mon ey

to mitigate, etc.

Forest Roads Case Study Field Trip

Highways Case Study Field Trip

Logistics:This worksho p is open to anyon e wh o is part o f the Yellowstone to Yukon networ k, Wildlands CPR or

is active with a n etwork group . The cost for th e worksh op, wh ich includes all materials, food an d lodging

(shared room s) for 1 1/2 days an d two n ights, is on ly $150.00 CD or $100.00 US. Y2Y offers a limitednu mb er of travel scholarships to h elp cover som e par ticipan ts travel costs (preference will be given to

those com ing from farthe r away and/or carpooling). We can help arran ge carpooling if you let us know

your needs!

To Regist er:Contact Caitlin Fox, Y2Y US Outre ach Assistant at (406 ) 327 -8512 or [email protected]. Send ch ecks to:

Y2Y, 114 W. Pine Stree t, Missou la, MT 59802.

We still have spaces left for the worksh op co ntact us soon to guarantee a spot.


12/16


Colville Nat ional Fores t

Sets Bad ANILCA Precedent

On August 15, The Lands Council and o ther conser vation

groups appe aled a Colville Nation al Forest d ecision to grant

Stimson Lumber Comp any a cost-share easement based on th eAlaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).

ANILCA perm its road co nstru ction for th e p urp ose o f accessing

private holdings within the boundaries of federal land.

Stimson plans to use th is act to constru ct two miles of road on

public land, some of which cuts through old growth forest and

would lead to the degradation of critical end angered spe cies

hab itat for grizzly bear, Canad ian lynx , gray wolf, bull trout an d

mou ntain caribou of which there are less than 30 an imals

left. Stimson s parcels lie within the LeClerc watershed , hom e

to rare wildlife and fish species. Stimson plans to log 1,577

acres, build 16 m iles of new road s, and build 28 stream

crossings in th is critical hab itat.

According to Mike Petersen of The Lands Council, this

decision by the Forest Service sets a bad preceden t; thatANILCA supersede s th e Endangered Species Act.

Mark Spren gel, Forest Program Director w ith th e Selkirk

Conse rvation Alliance wh o coord inated efforts to write the

adm inistrative appeal challenging the decision, states that the

Fores t Services Fina l Environm en tal Impact Statem ent (FEIS)

for the pr oject is inadequ ate, because a ll the con ditions that led

to the Services initial Jeopardy finding still apply such as

displacemen t of bears and mo rtality from road building. This

situation is un precede nted, explains Spren gel, since th e FEIS,

wh ich was issu ed last Septe mber by the Colville NF, readily

determ ines that the direct, indirect and cum ulative effects of

ANY action alternatives may affect are likely to adversely

affect caribou, grizzly bear, bull trout, lynx and gray wolf.

The Lands Coun cil and Selkirk Conservation Alliance arepart of The Selkirk Coalition, a U.S./Canadian group of 19

organizations working to p rotect and restore the wildlife,

watersheds and commu nities of the Southern Selkirk Moun-

tains. Idea lly, wed like to see Stimson a t the negotiating table

to discuss the reasonable and prudent alternative of selling

their land in-holdings to a third party for perpetual protection,

says Petersen of The Land s Council, un fortunately, this is n ot

the case. This is why we are app ealing this project.

CPAWS gets Injunction against Clearing

Road in Wood Buffalo Nat ional Park

The Can adian Parks an d Wildern ess Society (CPAWS) won

the first stage of their legal battle to stop con struction o f a 118

km r oad th rough the cen tre of Wood Buffalo National Park on

August 11, 2001. Wood Buffalo is Canadas largest nationa l

park and is recognized by the United Nations as a World

Heritage Site. It is hom e to on e of the largest free-roam ing

herds of bison in the world. The road was being proposed by a

Fort Smith-based co nsor tium, the Thebach a Road Society, and

paid for from federal and territorial governm ent fun ds.

Federal Court Judge, Honourable Madam Justice Dawson

gran ted CPAWS app lication for an in terim in junction p revent-

ing tree clearing and road construction until the conservation

groups lawsuit against road con struction is hea rd in federal

court. Without the injunction the tree clearing for the road

would h ave started in th e first week of Septemb er. Sierra Legal

Defense Fun d will presen t legal argume nts against the ro ad

Septem ber 27 in Vancou ver, BC.

Its ou r view tha t Ministe r of Cana dian Heritage, She ilaCopp s is contravenin g national parks law by approving the

road. The judges decision saves the p ark from 118 kilometres

of tree clearing throu gh the hear t of Wood Buffalo an d allows

us to argue that th e road is illegal, declared Sam Gun sch,

Execu tive Director of th e Edmo nton Cha pte r of CPAWS.

Building this road would be a m ajor step backwards in h ow

Parks Canad a ma nages ou r nation al parks, as well as setting a

damaging precedent for future prop osals in other p arks.

The injunction cites the irreparable damage that would

hap pen to the pa rk vegetation, as well as the risk of erosion

and dam age to sen sitive, intern ationally recognized geological

karst formations. It also cites deficiencies in th e roads

environm ental assessment about the potential impacts of the

road on bison, forest birds and woodland caribou.Parks Canada h as a legal responsibility to ma nage

nation al parks to maintain the ir ecological integrity. In recent

years, Heritage Minister Sheila Copp s ha s been respon ding to

pub lic op inion and calls from CPAWS and othe r con servation

groups to put nature first in national parks. She passed a new

National Parks Act, a stro ng piece of environm ental legislation

requiring ecological integrity of national par ks be th e first

priority in their man agemen t. Then, in one of her first major

decisions after its passage, the Wood Buffalo road was ap-

proved, said Steph en Hazell, Executive Director of CPAWS.

The Mikisew Cree First Nation are also opp osed to the road

and are taking legal action against th e Minister an d Parks

Canad a. Some Mikisew Cree reside in the p ark near wh ere the

road would be b uilt and object to construction on theirtraditional territory.

For further information please contact:Sam Gun sch , Executive Director, CPAWS Edmon ton

Chapter 780-903-5990; 780-432-0967.

Alison Wood ley, Federal a nd Northe rn Campaigner, CPAWS

613-569-7226.

Background & Photographs:http://www.cpaws.org/woodbuffalo/

Regional Reports & Updates


13/16


ORVs on t he Oceano Dunes SVRAThe Ocean o Dun es State Vehicular Recreation

Area (ODSVRA) is a stat e park operate d by the

Californ ia Departm ent of Parks an d Recreation (DPR)

and is abou t 20 minu tes south o f San Louis Obispo.

The fragile Oceano Dunes ecosystem provides

hab itat to several federally protected species and is a

playground to over one m illion m otor vehicles every

year. A staggering 65,000 mo torized vehicles were

expected to use th e dun es over the Labor Dayweekend.

The ODSVRA is home to the Californ ia least tern

and the western sn owy plover, and con tains three

end angered p lants within its borders: the Marsh

Sandwort, th e Gambels watercress, an d la Graciosa

thistle. The Oceano p rovides critical hab itat for th e

threatened snowy plover and red-legged frog and provides important habitat for the

end angered California least tern. Arroyo Grand e creek, which dra ins into the Pacific

Ocean from w ithin its bou nda ries, provides critical habitat for the th reatene d

southern steelhead.

The environm ental impacts caused by the seem ingly unen ding num bers of

vehicles on th e un ique and fragile Oceano Dunes ecosystem is of great concern to

citizens in th e area. The extrem ely high vehicle use of the ODSVRA results in an

un usually high m ortality rate of terns an d plovers. According to the Santa LuciaChap ter of the Sierra Club, this year an entire generation of snowy p lover chicks was

lost at the Oceano Dunes.

The vast majority of the over on e m illion ann ual par k visitors cross the Arroyo

Grande Creek by car or truck. In the process, they pollute the creek with petroleum

and other toxic products, and can physically interfere with the annual migration of

Steelhead. There has never been an en vironme ntal ana lysis of these impacts.

The DPR also is op erating withou t a valid incidental take p erm it (a sp ecific

exemp tion from the Enda ngered Species Act) from the U.S. Fish an d Wildlife Service.

As DPRs 4 04 Clean Water Act perm it ha s exp ired, th e USFWSs Biological Opin ion is

no lon ger in effect. DPRs activities violate the federal End angered Species Act, as

they h ave, and will continu e to take the federally protected California least tern ,

snowy p lover, red-legged frog, and south ern stee lhead.

The Santa Lucia Chap ter of the Sierra Club, represen ted by th e Environm ental

Defense Center (EDC), has notified app ropriate state an d federal agen cies that th e

group will file suit un der the Endan gered Species Act over the illegal take of protected

species un less the DPRs m anagers take n ecessary m easures to satisfy the ESA.

Sierra Club volunteers an d othe rs have attended an d spoke ou t at various

hear ings regarding the ODSVRA and have organ ized p rotests. Sierra Club h as also

produced a 15-minute video, Easing the Throttle, to show why this inappropriate

vehicular recreational activity is one of the longest running and most environmen-

tally destructive coastal tragedies.

What You Can Do

You can he lp by wr iting to Californ iasGovernor:

Hono rable Gray DavisState CapitolSacramento, CA 95814

You also sh ou ld write to Californ ia State

Parks Director Rusty Areias and DeputyDirector Dave Widell of th e Off-HighwayVeh icle Division of State Parks :

Californ ia State ParksP.O. Box 942896Sacramento, CA 94296-0001).

For m ore inform ation con tact TarrenCollins at [email protected],or leave a message at 805-54 3-8717.

You can visit the Californ ia StateParks webs ite at:

http://www.oceanodunes.com.

Talking points for the let t ers* Curren tly, and for decad es, DPR has

allowed vehicles to destroy th eOceano Dune s, despite never havingconducted any environmental review.

* It is time for DPR to stop usin g tax-payer dollars to promote recreationalvehicle destruction of our preciousdunes and beach.

* You sup port th e Sierra Club an d EDCsefforts to protect the endangeredwestern sn owy plover, which hassuffered a dram atic decline inpop ulation by 1/3 over just the last

five years, with less tha n 1000individual birds left in California.

* Demand th at DPR be held accou ntablefor allowing all but one of the 5 0snowy plover chicks that hatchedthis year to die at Oceano Dune s andthat they comply with the Endan-gered Species Act.

* Deman d that DPR imm ediately closethe ODSVRA to veh icles.

* Demand protection for steelhead troutin Arroyo Grande Creek frommillion s of vehicle crossings everyyear.

* Deman d th at the city of Grover Beachand San Louis Obispo County stopallowing the grading of the vehicleramps under their jurisdiction, an dthat the Coun ty stop allowingvehicles on beach prop erty it ownsnear the ODSVRA.

* Demand th at State Parks protect th epublic trust resources by immedi-ately taking action to correct th eimproper m anagement practiceswhich resu lt in a con tinual loss ofendan gered and threatened species.

Least tern .

California State Parks photo.

Red-legged frog. USFWS photo.


14/16

ProblemIllegal off-road vehicle use is violating Holgate beachs

federally designated Wilderness status and is most likely

harassing migrating birds during their critical migrationseasons. In the United States only 4.4 percent of the land

is preserved as wilderness and only two- percent of theland in New Jersey enjoys this status. In New Jersey, over

two dozen beaches allow beach buggies and other off-

road vehicles to drive along the shoreline. On Long BeachIsland, off-road vehicles are allowed on nearly 18 miles o

beaches. Only 2.5 miles of undeveloped beach in the

refuge are restricted to vehicles.

Solution

Protect New Jerseys wild shore and enforce the

Wilderness Act of 1964 by prohibiting beach buggy and

other off-road vehicle use. We urge the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service to explore alternative ways of getting

people to the tip of the beach.

Take Action

New Jersey Rep. Jim Saxton has introduced legislation

(H.R. 896) that would undermine Wilderness protections

by amending the boundary of Holgate beach on the Edwin

B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge to allow beachbuggy and other off-road vehicle use. Support New

Jerseys Wilderness by opposing H.R. 896.

For more information contact:Kristen Brengel, (202) 429-2694

Bart Semcer, (202) 675-6696

BackgroundAmid the hustle and bustle of the Garden State Parkway and New

Jersey Turnpike, there are few wild places to experience solitudeand wildlife in their natural habitat. The Holgate seashore in the

Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge provides New

Jerseyans an unrivaled experience to see birds including pipingplovers, brown pelicans, great blue herons and peregrine falcons.

This Wilderness area on Long Beach Island was set aside to host

thousands of shorebirds that migrate and feed along the coast ofNew Jersey. This area is so critical that from April through

August the Wilderness is completely reserved to allow piping

plovers, a federally threatened species, time to nest and migrate.

Moreover, this area remains a prime area for migrating shorebirdsthrough the fall months.

Close to 300 species including Atlantic brant and American black

duck have been sighted by birdwatchers in the Holgate areaalone. The Wilderness designation provides added protection and

encourages the recovery of threatened and endangered species.

Holgate beach is the only wild space that affords New Jerseyans

and all visitors an opportunity to enjoy bird watching and fishing

free from the sounds, smells, and wildlife harassment caused by

off-road vehicles.

The Natural Trails and Waters Coalition includes more than 70

conservation, recreation, hunting, and other groups (including the

Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society and Wilderness Watch) working

to protect and restore all public lands and waters from the severe

damage caused by dirt bikes, jet skis and all other off-road vehicles.

Beach buggies and other off-road vehicles carve tracksin the protected Wilderness of the Refuge.

SUPPORT WILDERNESS IN NEW JERSEY

OPPOSE H.R. 896

Illegal tracks can be seen throughout the Edwin B.Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Sierra Club The Wilderness Society Wilderness Watch Audubon Defenders of Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge Association

Natural Trails and Waters Coalition


15/16


Printed MaterialsRoad-Ripper 's Handbook ($20.00, $30 non-member s) A com -

preh ensive activist man ual that includes th e five Guides listed

below, plus The Ecological Effects of Roads , Gathering In-format ion wit h the Freedom of Informat ion Act , and more!

Road-Ripper's Guide to the National Forests ($5, $8 non-mem-bers) By Keith Hamm er. How-to pro cedur es for gettingroads closed and revegetated, descriptions of environmentallaws, road den sity standard s & Forest Service road policies.

Road-Ripper's Guide to the National Parks ($5, $8 non-mem-bers) By David Bahr & Aron Yarm o. Provides ba ckgrou ndon th e National Park System an d its use of roads, and outlineshow activists can get involved in NPS planning.

Road-Ripper's Guide to the BLM ($5, $8 non-members) ByDan Stotter. Provides an overview of road-related land an dresource laws, and detailed discussions for participating inBLM decision-making processes.

Road-Ripper's Guide to Off-Road Vehicles ($5, $8 non-mem-bers) By Dan Wright. A com preh ensive guide to redu cingthe use an d abuse of ORVs on pu blic lands. Includes an ex-tensive bibliography.

Road-Rippers Guide to Wildland Road Removal ($5, $8 non-

members)By Scott Bagley. Provides tech nical inform ation

on road construction and removal, where an d why roads fail,

and how you can effectively assess road rem oval projects.

Trails of Destruction ($10) By Friends o f the Earth and Wild-

lands CPR, written by Erich Pica and Jacob Smith. This re-

port explains th e ecological imp acts of ORVs, federal funding

for motorized recreation on public lands, and the ORV

industry s role in p ush ing the ORV agenda.

On-Line ResourcesVisit our Web Site: www.wildrockies.org/WildCPR. You ll find

educational materials, back issues ofThe Road-RIPorter(in-

cluding all our bibliography, legal and field notes), and cu r-rent action alerts.

Also at t he site, weve got a link to an ORV Inform ation Site with

an interactive m ap-based database o n e ach National Forests

ORV Policy.

Now available on our s ite: Ecolo gical Impacts of Roads: A Bib-

liographic Database (Updated Jan. 2001) Contains approx.

6,000 citations including scientific literature on erosion,

fragmen tation , sedimen tation, pollution, effects on wildlife,

aquatic and hydrological effects, and other information on

the impacts of roads.

Subscribe to our on-line list-serv es. Check th e boxes below onthe m emb er form a nd r eceive Skid Marks and/or our Activist

Alert over E-Mail.

Membership and Order Information

Refer a friend to

Wildlands CPR!Send u s the n ames an d addresses of friends

you think m ay be interested in receiving

membership information from Wildlands CPR.

WILDLA N DS CPR MEMBERSH IP/ORD ER FORM

Prices include shipping: for Priority Mail add $3.50 per item;

for Canadian orders, add $6.50 per item.International Membership $30 Minimum . All prices in U.S. Dollars

Ask about reduced rates for items ordered in bulk.

I want to join (or renew my membership with)Wildlands CPR:

Type of Membership: Individual Organization

Other$30 standard

$50 business

$15 low-income

$100$250

Send me these Wildlands CPR Publications:

Qty: Title/Price Each: Total:

Total of all items:

/

/

Phone/E-mail

Affiliation

Address

Name

Check here to receive our new ORV and road E-mailnewsletter, Skid Marks, every few weeks.

Check here for our E-mail Activist List.

Please remember to include your e-mail address!

Please send this form and your check to:Wildlands CPR PO Box 7516 Missoula, Montana 59807


16/16

Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads

P.O. Box 7516

Missoula, MT 59807

Non-profit OrganizationUS POSTAGE

PAIDMISSOULA, MT 59801

PERMIT NO. 569

The Road-RIPorter is print ed on 100% post -consum er recycled, process chlorine-free bleached paper.

"What does accessibilit y m ean? Is t here

any spot on earth that men have not

proved accessible by the simplest

meansfeet and legs and heart ?"

Ed Abbey, in Desert Solitaire

Morning glory vines overt aking logging road in Sabah, Malaysia. Bruce Howlet t photo.

Documents

Road RIPorter 6.5