1. protecting wild places and wildlife,Trouble in paradiseThe
Forest Service is sounding the alarm on wilderness hot
spots.Wilderness designationmay be the best defenseagainst
drilling, logging, miningand such, but theres one threatthat it
doesnt keep out: us.The most popular wildernessareas, such as our
own MaroonBells-Snowmass, face a growingdilemma. Parts of them are
justtoo attractive for their own good,inviting overuse that
degradesthe very solitude and wildnesstheyre supposed to
preserve.This past summer, the Aspenmedia were full of stories
abouttrouble in paradise. While the50th anniversary of the
Wilder-nessAct was an occasion tocelebrate these protected areas,it
also brought attention to somerather alarming trends.Conundrum Hot
Springs wasthe poster child for overuse. On asingle night in July,
Forest Servicewilderness rangers counted 42occupied campsites
around thesprings, with a total of 161 camp-ers.Over the summer,
rangershauled out 640 pounds of trash,and had the grim job of
burying168 piles of human waste. (Thecleanup was graphically
docu-mentedin Wilderness in Peril,an excellent short video that
youcan find on Youtube.)At the Forest Services request,WW
wilderness monitoringspecialist Dave Richie made aspecial trip to
sample the springsfor fecal coliform contamina-tion.Happily, the
levels werewell within acceptable limits, butwell continue to test
the springson an annual basis.JUNE 2012 | Wild Works 1for their
sake and oursWinter 2014Glenn RandallCONTINUED ON page 10The Forest
Service plans to launch a community discussionthis winter to figure
out how to reduce impacts to localwilderness hot spots like
Conundrum Hot Springs.Courtesy Red Lodge ClearinghouseElection
Debrief Pg. 4
2. A QUESTION OF BALANCEnatural settings for our
recreationlifestyle and economy.However, theres some fine
print.About half of the Thompson Divideis already leased, and
existing leaseswont be affected by this plan (it ap-pliesonly to
future leasing). Further-more,the plan wont limit leasing inthe
southwestern part of the Thomp-sonDivide, because that area is in
adifferent national forest. Finally, theleasing closure isnt
permanent itsonly for the life of the plan.Its called a final plan,
but infact it wont be a done deal until allthe objections have been
settled and we wont be surprised if industrygroups appeal to try to
roll backthe key provisions. And failing that,industry could sue
over the plan.Theyll probably holler that theirmembers are being
squeezed out ofthe White River National Forest, butthe fact is that
the vast majority ofour public lands are leased or avail-ablefor
leasing (see below). In thePiceance Basin alone, more than
6.5million acres of federal lands are stillavailable for leasing,
and the BLManticipates that more than 26,000wells will be drilled
in the basinin the next 20 years thats half asmany wells as
currently exist in theentire state.We probably wont find the
planentirely to our liking either, butbottom line, its a step in
the rightdirection, and well likely need todefend it against
possible attempts toundermine it.OPEN FOR BUSINESSA recent report
by The WildernessSociety reveals that the Bureau ofLand Management
treats the oil and gasindustry as a favored tenant on the landsit
stewards.Open for Business (and Not MuchElse), released in October,
finds that 90percent of the 250 million acres man-agedby the BLM
are available to oil andgas drillers. The figure for Colorado
iseven worse 94 percent.While most BLM lands are requiredby law to
be managed for multipleuses, the report details how the
agencysystematically favors oil and gas devel-opmentover recreation
and conserva-tion.This puts vital watersheds, criticalwildlife
habitat, wilderness-qualitylands and popular recreation
destina-tionsa distant second in BLMs rankingof the land it
oversees.This bias allows industry to lock upmuch of our public
lands. Currently,more than 36 million acres of surfacelands or
mineral estate managed by theBLM are under lease by the oil and
gasindustry yet only 35 percent of thatacreage is actually in
production. Evenas theyre seeking to lease and drill morefederal
lands, private companies aresitting on more than 23 million acres
ofAmerican land, and hoarding more than6,700 approved drilling
permits.In its report, The Wilderness Societysays the BLM has the
authority to do bet-ter,and offers some sensible suggestionsfor
doing so: dont make land open tooil and gas development by default;
pro-activelyset aside areas for conservationprotection; steer oil
and gas to where itsmost appropriate; and build more bal-anceinto
oil and gas leasing planning.We heartily concur. As the
conserva-tionboots on the ground in our part ofColorado, the
Wilderness Workshopis continually trying to get the BLM toabide by
these principles in its localdecisions.We hope that by the time
youreceive this newsletter, thefinal Oil and Gas Leasing Plan
forthe White River National Forest willbe out. If youve been
reading thepapers, youll know whats in it. Aswe went to press, we
didnt.The plans release should be afairly momentous development,
anda largely positive one, so wed liketo offer the Wilderness
Workshopsinterpretation of it based on what weexpect
hopefully.Forest Service protects#ThompsonDividenow its your turn
@BLMColoradoPeter HartHeres what we hope to be thankful for this
holiday season.This is the document that willguide the White River
NationalForests decisions on oil and gasleasing over the next
20-plus years.The current plan dates from 1993,when there was very
little drillingactivity in the region, and frackingand directional
drilling technologieshad yet to transform the industry.Its weak and
way out of date; itsinadequacies led to leasing of theThompson
Divide and other sensi-tiveareas on the Forest.WW has been leading
the con-servationcommunitys engagementWill the new oil and gas plan
move moretoward the sensible middle on leasing in theThompson
Divide and roadless areas?on the revision process since 2009,and
weve consistently pushed for acomplete halt to further leasingon
the White River NationalForest in the upcoming plan.Unfortunately,
thats notlikely to happen.But there are indicationsthat the new
plan will be a bigimprovement over the old one.It wont be an
environmental-istsdream, nor an industrygiveaway, but it will begin
torestore some balance after along period of
anything-goesleasing.The most significant changethat were hoping to
see isa requirement that any newleases issued in
inventoriedroadless areas carry no surfaceoccupancy stipulations.
In otherwords, roadless areas will remainroadless which stands to
reason,right? In practice, that will meanthat a company buying a
lease in aroadless area will be able to developit only by drilling
from outside thearea boundary.We and our partners at theThompson
Divide Coalition alsohave high hopes that the plan willclose the
Thompson Divide or atleast the lions share of it to
furtherleasing.That change would get a lot ofmedia attention, and
with goodreason, because it would signal thatthe Forest Service
agrees that theThompson Divide is a special placethat deserves
special treatment.The BLM, in turn, would have toconsider that
thinking in its separatereview of 65 disputed roadless-arealeases
in and around the Thomp-sonDivide illegal leases that wecontend
should be voided, and thatdont adequately protect existingvalues
such as clean air and water,bountiful wildlife, productive
foragefor local ranching operations, andhow youcan helpGiven the
likely industry pressureto weaken the plans protections,well need
to push back hard toensure the Forest Service sticksto its guns.
Please send an emailnow using our action
page:wildernessworkshop.org/actionGraphic courtesy of The
Wilderness Society22 WWiilldd WWoorrkkss || JWUiNntEe r 2 0210214
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3. 2015 ELECTION DEBRIEFIf youre hoping for a
defini-tiveNightsFREE WINTER SPEAKER SERIESin Aspen and
CarbondaleJanuary7 (C) & 8 (A) How Bears Make a Living off
Salmon inKodiak, AlaskaWill Deacy, University of Montana14 (C)
& 15 (A) DamNationFilm screening21 (C) & 22 (A) Capturing
Glacial Change Through 3-DimensionalTime-Lapse Photography on the
Helheim Glacier, GreenlandAdam LeWinter, PhD., Cold Regions
Research and Engineering Laboratory28 (C) & 29 (A) Adapting to
Extremes: Life in Alaskas ArcticAndre Wille, National Science
FoundationFebruary4(C) & 5 (A) Wilderness in Peril: Overuse in
the Maroon Bells-SnowmassWildernessKaren Schroyer, Aspen-Sopris
District Ranger, White River National Forest11 (C) & 12 (A)
Ordinary Extraordinary Junco: Remarkable BiologyFrom a Backyard
BirdFilm screening18 (C) & 19 (A) Wilderness Pecha KuchaSlide
show and performances by local artists and wilderness seekers25 (C)
& 26 (A) Lessons in Protecting Wildlands from Oil and Gas
DevelopmentPeter Aengst, Northern Rockies Director, The Wilderness
SocietyMarch4 (C) & 5 (A) Western Yellow Billed Cuckoo:
Colorados Newest Threatened SpeciesJason Beason, Rocky Mountain
Bird Observatory Biologist11 (C) & 12 (A) Fire in the Hunter
Creek ValleyJason Sibold, PhD., Colorado State Universityanalysis
of what the recentelections will mean for local andregional
conservation efforts well,ask us in another six months.Theres no
denying that it was asetback to lose our senior Senator,Mark Udall,
who had committedto introducing a CentralMountains wilderness
billin the next Congress, andwho had joined as a co-sponsorof Sen.
MichaelBennets Thompson Di-videprotection bill. Wellnow have to
start fromscratch with Udalls suc-cessor,Corey Gardner, tofind out
whats importantto him and to show himthe depth of public
sup-portfor these campaigns.Our other members ofCongress Sen.
MichaelBennet and Reps. ScottTipton and Jared Polis (inSummit and
eastern EagleCounty) will remain inoffice.Its too soon to say
ex-actlyhow our game planwill change in the nextCongress. In the
comingweeks well be discuss-ingwith our conservationpartners around
the stateand nationally how toprioritize various
legisla-tiveefforts. Regardlessof whos in office, thebroad-based
commu-nitysupport for boththe Thompson Divide and CentralMountains
remains the foundation ofour legislative strategy.Meanwhile, the
lame duck ses-sionof the current Congress may bean opportunity to
win last-minutepassage of one or two Coloradopublic-lands bills. In
the first day ofthe session, the Hermosa Creek billpassed out of
the Senate Energy andWhile the new Congress may force usto shift
focus, wilderness remainsa bipartisan issue.Natural Resources
Committee (itslast step before a final vote in bothhouses). Were
cautiously optimistictherell be new wilderness in Colo-radobefore
the end of the year!The next Congress is likely to bea mixed bag in
terms of environ-mentalissues. The incoming chairsof the House and
Senate naturalresources committees are likely torun some pretty
horrendous billsaimed at rolling back protections forclean air and
water, human healthand wildlife. But at the same time,the new chair
of the House NaturalResources Committee, Bob Bishopof Utah, may
want to pass a wilder-nessbill or two of his own, and thatmeans hes
going to have to let otherlegislators run similar bills. So youcan
expect us to reach out to you forhelp, both to stop bad bills and
tosupport good ones.It used to be that organizationslike the
Wilderness Workshop putmost of their energy into
passinglegislation. Nowadays youve got tohave other tools in your
toolbox.At WW, weve found that ourgreatest leverage is often in
admin-istrativeprocesses i.e., protect-ingland through Forest
Serviceand BLM decisions and this hasproved to be the most
effective wayto defend the Thompson Divide, forexample. Going
forward, if Congresswont play ball, we can use agencyprocesses to
preserve the eligibilityof our special places for
legislativeprotection down the road. One wayweve already begun this
work is bysuccessfully pressuring the regionalBLM office to add to
its inventory oflands with wilderness characteris-tics.One last
point: historically, con-servationhasnt always been a
par-tisanissue, and theres no reason forit to become one now.
Safeguardingour natural heritage for future gen-erationsis just
sound policy, regard-lessof ones party.The Wilderness Workshop
iseager to work with Republicans andDemocrats alike. It would be
foolishindeed to let what we care mostabout become a political
football,carried by one party and blocked bythe other. We think
protecting wil-dernesscan transcend politics, andwell work with and
welcome sup-portersof any political persuasion.Our elected
representatives inthe next Congress: Sens. CoreyGardner and Michael
Bennet;Rep. Scott Tipton.Bears in AlaskaDamNationWestern Yellow
Billed CuckooPresentations are Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.
atCarbondales Third Street Center, and Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.at the
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES).44 WWiilldd
WWoorrkkss || JWUiNntEe r 2 0210214 (A) = Aspen, (C) =
CarbondaleWJUinNteEr 22001124 || WWiilldd WWoorrkkss 55Presented
by:aspennature.org roaringforkaudubon.org
wildernessworkshop.org
4. TAKEAWAYS FROM WILDERNESS 50Celebrating, and contemplating,
the 50th anniversary ofThe great and the good of thenational
wilderness movementgathered for a three-day conferencein
Albuquerque, New Mexico in Oc-toberto toast the first 50 years of
theWilderness Act, and to ponder whatmay be in store for the next
50.Three WW representatives attend-ed,and brought back these
reports.Making common causeDirt bikes and mountain bikes ata
wilderness conference? Its 8 a.m.and Im not sure if Im dreaming.Ive
been invited to give a presenta-tionon how working with
recre-ationalusers from the motorized andmechanized (i.e., mountain
biking)communities can benefit wilder-ness.Sitting on the panel
with me isAaron Clark, public lands directorthe Wilderness Act.at
the International Mountain BikingAssociation (IMBA). My
Powerpointis full of images of all the things youcant do in a
wilderness area; butslowly the room fills, and if noth-ingelse
people are curious to see ifsparks will fly.As any of you who have
followedthe Hidden Gems or Central Moun-tainswilderness campaigns
know,the relationship between wildernessadvocates and mountain
bikers,snowmobilers, ATV riders andjeepers has not been an easy
one.What is there to say to a room full ofwilderness advocates
about the folkswho often are directly responsiblefor reducing the
size of wildernessproposals?Quite a bit, it turns out.The bulk of
my presentationconsists of several stories about
wil-dernesscampaigns in Colorado. Ineach, conservationists invited
moun-tainbikers and dirt bikers to have aconversation about (and in
the caseof IMBA, jointly campaign for) newwilderness. I talk about
workingon a management plan for a newdirt-bike trail system between
Basaltand Gypsum, which WW is support-ingas long as its managed
well. Idescribe support for additional lands(both wilderness and
less protectivemanagement areas) to be added toour wilderness
proposal from bothIMBA and the Colorado BackcountryTrail Riders
Alliance. I show photosof mountain-bike trails that hope-fullywill
become the boundarybetween new wilderness and thesenovel forms of
land protections thatallow mountain-bike use.I dont want to
sugarcoat it. Thereality is that recreational advocateswill
continue to try to carve off partsof proposed wilderness areas
thatthey consider rideable. However,in an increasing number of
cases,theyre also playing a key role inhelping ensure that
legislation getsdrafted in the first place and priori-tizedby our
members of Congress. Will Roush, Conservation DirectorGoing digital
with millennialsIf its not digital, its not impor-tant.Those words,
spoken at apresentation about wilderness andmillennials (people
born in 1980 orlater), were my takeaway from theAlbuquerque
conference.The mantra could arguably betaken a step further: For
millennials,if its not digital that is, if it doesntappear on a
screen it doesnt exist.This reality presents a profoundchallenge to
anyone in the wilder-nessmovement, as we tend to counton real,
visceral experience in thewild to convert people to its
impor-tance.Indeed, wilderness is oftenMountain-biking and
wilderness advocates can work together on conserving publiclands.
Imagine this trail threading between designated wilderness and a
specialmanagement area a win-win for all.Ann
DriggersTwitterWilderness Workshop@WildforGoodI Wilderness Workshop
@WildforGood Oct 15The WW crew (Sloan, Karin and Will)is down in
Albuquerque for the big#wilderness50 conference.I Wilderness
Workshop @WildforGood Oct 16The best classroom in the world is
onewith no walls, one which is untrammeled@SecretaryJewell at
#wilderness50I Wilderness Workshop @WildforGood Oct 16The
wilderness movement is acontinuation of the civil rights
movement@TempestWilliams. #wilderness50I Wilderness Workshop
@WildforGood Oct 17Do we have the generosity and thegreatness of
heart to live with all the othercreatures on the tree of life Dave
Foreman#wilderness50I Wilderness Workshop @WildforGood Oct 17I
think the future for wilderness is bright;whoever controls
congress, we will seenew wilderness Paul Spitler:
@Wilderness#Wilderness50I Wilderness Workshop @WildforGood Oct
19Dave Foreman calls for 300 million acresof wilderness on land and
500 million in theocean at #wilderness50 @Wilderness
@pewenvironmentheld up as the antidote to digitaloverload, the
place to unplug andreconnect with the non-man-made,natural world.So
whats a wilderness organi-zation one whose very missiondepends on
cultivating the nextgeneration of advocates to do?Besides the
obvious need toembrace digital and social media,we must create ways
for millennialsto experience wild places on theirterms, in their
own ways.That may mean that a first forayto a mountaintop is made
with theencouragement of music streamedthrough ear buds. Does this
takeaway from a full sensory experienceof the wild, including the
quiet (whatDave Foreman, a keynote speaker atthe conference, calls
the hush)? Itwell may, but it also may be whatsneeded to bring
young people in,and, if the experience is positive, itwill lead to
further wilderness ven-tureswhere perhaps the iPod will beleft at
home.In any event, who are we to tellyoung people how to
experiencewilderness? Theyll figure it out, justas millennials have
figured out howto bring vitality and beauty to somuch of their
world. Google skate-boarding,for example, to get a tasteof their
overflowing creativity. Thatsame creativity could be brought tobear
on adventures in the wild andserve as the hook they need.While many
of us value wilder-nessfor the solitude it offers, millen-nials,who
are also intensely social,may be drawn in by visuals thatshow
wilderness as places wherethey can spend exciting and
chal-lengingtime with friends. And oncetheyre in it, who isnt
confident thatwilderness will work its magic onthem? Karin Teague,
Board PresidentIncreasing our diversityAs I listened to the largest
col-lectionof wilderness gurus everassembled (or so it seemed)
inAlbuquerque, I constantly askedmyself if the Wilderness
Workshopwas properly aligned with the best oftheir thinking, and
what we could doto ensure that we were well preparedto steward
wilderness for the next 50years.Im happy to report that, by
andlarge, WW is properly founded inour work, current with the best
ideasand properly poised for the next50 yearsexcept in one
criticallyimportant way: demographics.Much of the wilderness
movementlooks like me white, male and gray.As todays young people
are increas-inglyseduced by little virtual-realityscreens, and the
composition of thenation gets more complex and color-ful,the
wilderness movement mustadapt or die, and with it the valueand
concern for one of our nationsbest ideas, wilderness.I concluded
that WW must devel-opprograms that actively reach outto young
people and diverse culturesin our community, or we too willgo the
way of the dodo. Youll hearmore about this in coming months,but I
wanted to start the discourse byinviting our members with
expertisein youth and diverse-culture out-reachto share their
wisdom withus. This isnt our area of expertise,so please show us
the trail youvealready blazed. Sloan Shoemaker, Executive
Director66 WWiilldd W Woorrkkss || JWUNinEte r2 0210214 WJUinNteEr
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5. A WILD YEAR2014 was extra busy, thanks to a series of events
marking the50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act and of our own
MaroonBells-Snowmass Wilderness.This page (counterclockwise from
left): WW co-founder JoyCaudill cutting the cake at the Maroon
Bells Birthday Bash;Karin Teague and group atop Treasure Mountain;
Alex Bethelin a flowery mood; kids dressing up at the Birthday Bash
photobooth; volunteers removing barbed wire near Ashcroft; thecrowd
at WWs Untrammeled! symposium in Aspen.Opposite page (clockwise
from upper left): WW executivedirector Sloan Shoemaker speaking at
the Birthday Bash; WWstaff on the trail; hikers on Midway Pass;
Richard Vottero urgingthe BLM to void contested oil and gas leases;
more barbed-wireremoval; photographer John Fielder presenting his
50th-anniversaryslide show in Aspen; The Wilderness Societys
JamieWilliams speaking at Untrammeled.Dave ReedMelanie Finan
Melanie FinanAlex BethelWill RoushDave Reed Peter HartDave
ReedKarin TeagueSusie Amichaux Will Roush Melanie Finan Will
Roush
6. trouble in paradise FROM PAGE 1Further sobering news came
inNovember, when the Aspen-SoprisRanger District reported that
54,000people had hiked the trail fromMaroon Lake to Crater Lake
duringthe four-month summer season astaggering 26 percent increase
overlast year.District Ranger Karen Schroyersays she wants to
launch a commu-nitydiscussion this winter to figureout how to
reduce impacts to themost heavily used spots: Conun-drum,Crater
Lake, Snowmass Lakeand the Four Pass Loop.We at the Wilderness
Workshopwill be partnering with the ForestService to convene this
communitydialog and build consensus aroundthe best solutions. We
encourageour members to get involved in find-ingthe best path
forward.High standardsIt wasnt so many years agothat Conundrum Hot
Springs wasa locals secret and the Four PassLoop was a trail less
traveled. Now,nothings a secret anymore. Selfies,social media,
online reviews andtop-ten lists are increasingly puttingsuch places
on the map. A relativelyfew greatest-hits destinations are
get-tingoverrun, and our Maroon-BellsSnowmass Wilderness is high on
theinternational bucket list.(And yes, well say it before youdo:
throwing a big Maroon BellsBirthday Bash this summer no doubtfed
into this trend. But as Ed Ab-beysaid, wilderness needs
moredefenders, and sometimes it takes aparty to recruit the next
generationof defenders.)Fortunately, wilderness areas areheld to
high standards. The Wilder-nessAct states that they must bemanaged
to maintain their wilder-nesscharacter and outstandingopportunities
for solitude. In recentyears, federal land managers havebegun to
develop standardized waysof monitoring these characteris-tics WWs
Dave Richie has beeninstrumental in this effort but byany measure,
some of our local wil-dernessmagnets arent making thegrade these
days.And its not just that too manypeople are hitting the hot
spots;theres also been a noticeable de-clinein wilderness ethics.
Conun-drumis where its most noticeable.Some visitors are treating
the springslike a backcountry rave, disruptingthe solitude with
boom boxes andleaving behind cast-off clothing andpiles of
you-know-what. Rangershave attempted to enforce the ruleson summer
weekends, but wilder-nesscharacter still suffers under theweight of
sheer numbers.WW has been providing the For-estService with
defensible data onimpacts over the years, and wevebeen seeing the
same trends. Morepeople are making shorter excur-sionsinto
wilderness, concentratingtheir impacts along the most
popularroutes.Time for a permit system?Visitors and land managers
agree:somethings got to change. The For-estService document that
guides themanagement of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness is
nearly 30NEW WILDERNESS BIL60,000 acres are proposed for protection
inSummit and eastern Eagle Counties.Overshadowed, perhaps, byall
the carrying-on about the50th anniversary of the WildernessAct this
summer was the introduc-tionof an actual new wilderness billfor
lands in our region.On Aug. 24, Rep. Jared Polisannounced his Rocky
MountainRecreation and Wilderness Act indowntown
Breckenridge.Building off of years of workby local citizens and
businesses,the bill proposes to designate over40,000 acres of new
wilderness andprovide lesser protection to an-other20,000 acres.
Thats less thanhalf the acreage contained in theprevious version of
the bill, due toCongressional redistricting: westernEagle County
has moved from Poliss2nd District to Rep. Scott Tiptons3rd
District, and with it some largeproposed wilderness areas.Still,
the bill would establish sev-eralnew wilderness areas
includ-ingSpraddle Creek (immediatelynorth of Vail), Tenmile and
HoosierRidge (south of Breckenridge), andWilliams Fork (north of
Silverthorne) and would add acreage to theexisting Holy Cross,
Eagles Nestand Ptarmigan Peak wildernesses.Plus, it would create a
new Porcu-pineGulch Protection Area and aRecreation Management Area
inthe Tenmile Range, conserving thenaturalness of the land while
main-tainingvehicular access on roadsand mountain-biking
opportunitiesRep. Jared Polis announced the introduction of his
RockyMountain Recreation and Wilderness Act at a ceremony
inBreckenridge.throughout the area.Well ask Rep. Polis to
reintro-ducethe bill as soon as possible inthe new Congress.This
bill is a crucial step forwardin the work to protect the
CentralMountains of Colorado. Rep. Polisseffort is supported by a
broadcoalition of local business owners,mountain bikers, water
providers,town and county governments andcitizens. Adding new
wilderness andrecreation management areas to theexisting protected
lands in Coloradowill help ensure local economiesremain vibrant,
provide clean waterand safeguard wild places for
futuregenerations.Will Roushyears old, and needs updating.Other
wilderness areas, includ-ingthe Indian Peaks and adjacentRocky
Mountain National Park, havealready gone down this road, andof
course many rivers have had tobe rationed. The solution
generallycomes down to a permit system tolimit the number of people
who canuse the high-use area during busytimes, although there are
variousways to implement it.While Schroyer says shell
abso-lutelyconsider a permit system, shewont make any decision
unilater-ally.Hence this winters communityprocess to find out what
kind ofmanagement changes people wouldbe comfortable with.Everyone,
I think, has the senseof, Theres a problem and we needto do
something about it, she says.What we dont want to do is get
outahead of it and say what we think isthe perfect
solution.Schroyer will kick off the conver-sationwith a Naturalist
Nights pre-sentationon Feb. 4 in Carbondaleand Feb. 5 in Aspen (see
page 5).Whatever solution emerges, itlltake at least a couple of
years to putit into operation. The Forest Servicewill probably
conduct an Environ-mentalAssessment on the proposedaction, and then
run a separate inter-nalprocess to iron out
implementa-tiondetails.Were blessed to have world-renownedplaces
like Conundrumand the Maroon Bells in our back-yard,and doubly
blessed that theyreprotected as wilderness. A fewtweaks to their
management, andtheir continued wilderness charactershould be
assured.here, kitty kittyFor over five years, biologists from Rocky
Mountain Wildhave been monitoring wildlife movements in the I-70
cor-ridoraround East Vail Pass, where a wildlife-only overpass
isproposed. Their motion-sensor wildlife cameras have capturedall
sorts of animals, and in October they photographed theirfirst
Canada lynx on the south side of the highway near StaffordCreek.
Knowing where these rare and threatened animals aretrying to cross
the highway will be very helpful in the eventualprocess of building
the wildlife bridge.Denver Zoo and Rocky Mountain Wild1100 WWiilldd
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7. OTHE ART OF WILDERNESSur Artist in Wilderness pro-gramhad
something of acoming-out party in August, with aspecial art-themed
gathering of theMaroon Bells Circle (WWs nationalcouncil) at the
Sopris MountainRanch home of Sally Sakin.The Art of Wilderness
featuredthe first screening of a new Artist inWilderness video by
local filmmakerKrysia Carter-Giez, a silent auctionof works donated
by past Artist inWilderness residents, and a fun liveauction of
pieces donated by well-knownarea artists Dick Carter, SaraRansford,
Tania Dibbsand James Surls.Not only was a goodtime had by all,
butthe evening proved tobe a wildly successfulfundraiser. Art
purchasesand donations topped$70,000, and when youadd the amount
thatqualified to be matchedby an anonymous donor(see back page),
theevent brought in a totalof $117,00 for WW.Thank you, Maroon
BellsCircle members!The Artist in Wilder-nessprogram offers upto
four residencies eachyear to allow artists tomake works inspiredby
the lands that WWis working to protect. Itstarted with the idea
that creativepeople might bring unexpected newperspectives on our
wildlands, andthat their creations could engage anew circle of
wilderness supporters.The response to The Art of Wilder-nessWWs
artist residency program is engaging awhole new circle of
wilderness supporters.was a resounding confirmationof that
idea.Kudos to WW board memberMary Dominick, who has laboredfor the
past five years to develop theArtist in Wilderness program and
tocurate the collection of art that wassold at the event.We hope to
present a public pre-miereof Krysias video early in thenew year.
Meanwhile, Mary and herjury have selected four terrific artistsfor
our 2015 residencies.Joellyen Duesberry is a Denver-basedlandscape
painter who worksin oils. She has painted all over theworld, but
her main areas of focusare the northeastern and westernUnited
States. Her work has beenthe subject of 50 solo gallery showsand
four museum surveys, includinga 2011 retrospective at the
ColoradoSprings Fine Arts Center that resultedin the book Elevated
Perspective: thePaintings of Joellyn Duesberry.A clinical
psychologist by day,Roaring Fork Valley local EllenWoods is also an
accomplishedabstract painter. Her pieces, inspiredby the
surrounding landscape, con-tainrichly diverse textures achievedby
dynamically layering, scrap-ing,spraying and splashing paint.She
has exhibited in juried andinvitational shows at the Aspen
ArtMuseum, the Civic Arts Gallery inWalnut Creek, Calif., and the
BostonArchitectural Center.I should have quit years ago, butthat
would have proved so manypeople right, jokes Steven Walker.Raised
in South Carolina and Virgin-iaand now living in Ohio, he beganhis
career as a freelance illustratorand broke into fine art the hard
way,starting with small shows at coffeeshops and libraries to
eventuallybecome a highly collected artist.He has been included in
severalregional and national juried compe-titions,and is
represented by variousgalleries in the East.Although still in her
twenties andwith a newly minted MFA, MichellePodgorski has already
been featuredin several group shows and has il-lustratedthree
childrens books. Herwatercolors focus on the strengthand resilience
of nature, especiallythat of the trees along the river thatflows
near her North Carolina home,and use extensive negative space
toimply the erasure of landscape byman.Steven Walker and Ellen
Woods have been selected as 2015Artists in Wilderness.BROADENING
OUR BASEYouve heard what they say onthe public-radio pledge
drives:only about 10 percent of listenersare actually members. The
rest justlisten.Its kind of like that with wilder-ness.Most people
around herecare about wildlife and forests andhealthy streams, and
love to spendtime in the backcountry its whythey live here but only
a fractionget actively involved in protecting it.Many dont even
know it needs pro-tecting,or dont know how to help,because they
lead busy lives and theenvironment doesnt happen to betheir top
priority.Seeing this as an opportunityto broaden our base, weve
con-tractedwith JVA Consulting to helpus understand the publics
currentperceptions of WW and to find waysto reach beyond the
environmen-talchoir to better communicatewith this silent majority
of potentialsupporters. All this year, JVA hasbeen guiding us
through a processof internal reflection, research andanalysis.If
you were among the 1,000-pluspeople who completed our onlinesurvey,
thank you. If you participatedin one of the focus-group sessionsor
key informant interviews, manythanks.Above all, were grateful to
RobPew and Susan Taylor for generouslyfunding this process.JVA is
now compiling the dataand will present us with a set of
stra-tegicrecommendations before theend of the year. Expect to see
WWengaging the public in bolder, moreaccessible ways starting in
2015.the end of an eraAfter 11 years with WW, communications
anddevelopment director Dave Reed is movingon to become director of
the Western ColoradoCongress in Grand Junction.When he was hired as
the Wilderness Work-shopssecond paid staffer, Dave, a former
journal-ist,quickly realized that WW had an incrediblestory to
tell, and started telling it through warmand engaging literature,
online communicationsand popular events. It was a winning
strategy.Membership soared, more funders came on board,and we were
able to hire more fabulous staff andgrow into the conservation
powerhouse that younow see before you.While it takes an amazing
team to get this muchwork done, we owe Dave a tremendous debtof
gratitude for all his hard work and sacrificeshes made over the
years to WW. Well miss himmightily, but our loss is WCCs gain, and
we wishhim equal or greater success at his new position.We look
forward to continuing to work with Davein his new role at WCC, a
sister organization do-ingvital conservation work in far western
CO.follow us on...Social media are becoming anincreasingly
important part of theWilderness Workshops advocacy,organizing and
education work.Weve been on Facebook for afew years now, but its
only beenin the past year that weve hit ourstride. Be sure to like
our page, ifyou havent already, to get our postsabout upcoming
events, campaignupdates, and interesting photos, vid-eosand items
from around the web.Recently weve added Instragramand Twitter to
our social mediachannels, and we encourage you tofollow us on
those, too.Instagram is a natural for a con-servationorganization
like WW. Wepost gorgeous photos of the landswere working to
protect, which ofcourse we hope will inspire you toprotect them
too. And if you have animage from a recent local adventure,send it
our way and well put it upon our site.On Twitter, were
live-tweetingfrom events and posting breakingnews and just-released
studies fromthroughout the environmental move-ment.Its a great way
to stay up tothe minute on public-lands issueslocally and around
the country.Stay tuned for announcementsabout our Winter Wilderness
Adven-tureInstagram Challenge, suggestedby our newest (and
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8. The Wilderness Workshop wishes to thank the
follow-inggenerous people who have made donations sincethe previous
newsletter. New members are indicatedby an asterisk
(*).$25,000+Charlie Hopton, in memory ofHeather Hopton and
DottieFox, and in honor of ConnieHarvey and Joy CaudillNew-Land
Foundation$10,000-24,999Anonymous (2)Aspen Skiing
CompanyEnvironment FoundationJimmy IbbotsonCynthia and George
MitchellFoundation$5,000-9,999Marcia CorbinMaggie DeWolf/Nick
DeWolfFoundationDONOR HAL OF FAMEAron RalstonKate and Chris
RobertsIsa and Daniel Shaw/CattoCharitable
Foundation$2,000-4,999Alpine BankTom and Currie BarronRichard
CarterBeth Cashdan and Paul DAmatoLaurence CohenChristin Cooper and
Mark TacheTania DibbsMary Dominick and SvenCoomerSue Edelstein and
Bill SpenceEmma Coulter Ware FoundationMarty and Sarah
Flug/MargulfFoundationJeremy and Angela FosterJoanne and Tony
GuerrerioWilliam H. & Mattie WattisHarris FoundationMark
HarveyJuliane HeymanHenry and Angela HiteHenry LordMaki
FoundationAnn NicholsNorcross Wildlife FoundationCarol RacineSally
SakinPolly and Jim Shoemaker, inhonor of Sloan ShoemakerKatie and
Hank Van SchaackPeter and Dawn Barton Welles*Jill White*Andy
Wiessner and PatsyBatchelderJack and Bonnie Wilke$1,000-1,999Carol
W. DuellJill SofferCharlie and Carol Herder*Gorsuch, Ltd.Jane and
Dick HartConnie HarveyKatie Kitchen and Paul KovachJames and
Hensley PetersonSara RansfordReese Henry & Co.Ford and Susan
Schumann$500-999Aspen Club Lodge ProperiesBruce BergerJohn and
Chuckie ChungBeth Fergus/Robert H FergusFoundationHarry Teaugue
ArchitectsSandy JacksonMarcella LarsenRob Pew and Susan TaylorPaul
and Laurie Sturz*James SurlsZac Weinberg/The Angora
RidgeFoundationVictorias EspressoJay and Patti WebsterPaula
Zurcher$250-499Susan and George FesusJohn FielderLynn and Judy
HancockMichal BrimmLouise Petosa and Pierre Follari*Bob AdamsAnnie
CookePhilip and Lynn EastleyMichael Hassig and Olivia EmeryCharles
and Linda HoAndrew McGregorMaggie Pedersen and BobMilletteStephen
PfeifferCasey SheahanBeth ShoemakerSteve Smith and
HeatherMcGregorBill StirlingRoberta StokesElissa Topol and Lee
OstermanTown of BasaltCraig and Becky WardSusan WelschMarilyn
Wilmerding$100-249Karen BeardLee Beck and John StickneyKathy and
Andrew BerkmanDan and Pam BudmanNoni ButterflyJudy Byrns and Joe
BergquistEllen Citron*Janet CourseyJeff and Priscilla
DickinsonStacy Everson*Connie and Ted FinanCici Fox, in memory of
Dottie FoxP.O. Box 1442Carbondale, CO 81623Offices in the Third
Street Center,520 S. 3rd St., CarbondaleTel (970)
[email protected]
Wilderness Workshops mis-sionis to protect and conserve
thewilderness and natural resourcesof the Roaring Fork Watershed,
theWhite River National Forest, andadjacent lands.Board of
DirectorsKarin Teague,PresidentMichael McVoy,Vice PresidentPeter
Van Domelen,TreasurerCici Fox,SecretaryBeth CashdanMary DominickSue
EdelsteinCharles HoptonPeter LooramJohn McBride, Jr.Tim McFlynnAron
RalstonMike StranahanAndy WiessnerFoundersJoy CaudillDottie
FoxConnie HarveyStaffSloan Shoemaker,Executive DirectorMelanie
FinanPeter HartDave ReedWill RoushArt AuctionpurchasersMark Fox, in
memory of DottieFoxAdam and Katy Frisch*Dorothy FrommerKathy and
Bill Hegberg*Gail and Phil HolsteinHouses for Higher Education*,
inhonor of Tim McFlynnJanis and George HugginsBob and Eilene IshRob
IttnerAnn and Sam JohnsonLeslie and Patrick Johnson, inmemory of
Randy UdallMark and Maryanne Keating*Scottie Leddy and Tom
CooperPatricia MaddaloneMain Street Gallery and theFramer, Ltd.Mike
and Valerie MillerDavid MorkWick Moses*Laurie and Jim Noyes, in
memoryof William W. BiddleLynda PalevskySusan Philp and Lance
ClarkeIrma ProdingerMissy and Steve PruddenGlenn RandallLee
RimelMarilee RoccaGreg and Patti RulonCynthia and Andrew
Russell*Carolyn and Dick ShohetRoger and Elizabeth ShugartKim
Stacey and John HoffmanSandy and Stephen StayLeelee and Bill
StegeHal SundinThrift Shop of AspenTom and Roz TurnbullLinda
VidalDr. Richard and Gayle WellsAndre and Julie WillePam and Robbie
Zentmyer$50-99Aspen DeconstructionLiz and John BokramKatey
BusterHelen CarlsenNed and Jan CochranRichard ComptonKaren
Degerberg and AndySandlerDavid EberhardtEleanor Finlay*Annie
FlynnAnne and Phil FreedmanJon GibansLiberty Godshall*Pat HoganMark
Howard*Kate HudsonMary Jo Kimbrough and JimHarrisonRichard
Klein*Pamela Kling and Michael RauschPaul and Jodi Lamiroult*Chris
Loose*Judy and Amory LovinsDiane Madigan*Joanie MatrangaAnna Naeser
and GeraldTerwilligerElizabeth PenfieldGlenn RappaportTy and Terry
ReedPauline Reetz*, in honor ofJoy CaudillRenata
Scheder-BieschinTim and Max SchlumbergerRandy Gold and Dawn
ShepardGordon Silver*Pat SpitzmillerGary TennenbaumDr. Diana
TombackChris Tonazi*Gerry VanderbeekMarion, Jean and Hayden
WinklerJackie WoganUp to $49Sierra Aldrich*Anne Anderson*Steve
AnthonyRobert and Diana BlaschakDavid and Janet BoyleNancy
CaponiJane ClickKate CocchiarellaDebra Connolly*Susy Ellison and
Marty SchleinPam Gross*Sarah Gruen*Kay HannahPeter HartAdele
HauseSarah JohnsonKenneth JonesDiane Kenney and
JohnMcCormickMichael KinsleyDenise LockKeith Minick*Jennifer
Moore*Lee Mulcahy*Tehri Parker*Doc PhilipRalph Pretti*John
RealRachel RichardsPolly RossJoanne and Richard RubinoffAnita
Schwartz*Cam ScottRuth Sears*Debi Shirey*Carlie SiemelJonathan
Staufer and WendiLoSassoPhilip StraffinNed Sullivan*Aaron TaylorLee
WilsonRobert ZupancisThe following people helped make our Art of
Wildernessevent a great success through their purchases of works
inthe silent and live auctions:Tom and Currie BarronKathy and
Andrew BerkmanMichal Brimm and MichaelMcVoyLaurence CohenMary
Dominick and SvenCoomerKaren Degerberg and AndySandlerJoanne and
Tony GuerrioJane and Dick HartPeter HartCharlie and Carol
HerderJudy and Amory LovinsRob Pew and Susan TaylorAron RalstonKate
and Chris RobertsJill SofferPat SpitzmillerPeter and Robin Van
DomelenPeter and Dawn Barton Welles1144 WWiilldd WWoorrkkss ||
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9. NON-PROFIT ORGU.S. POSTAGEPAIDPERMIT NUMBER 62CARBONDALE,
CO81623P.O. BOX 1442CARBONDALE, CO 81623ADDRESS
SERVICEREQUESTEDPrinted on 100% recycled paper. Please recyclethis
newsletter - pass it on to a friend!Please remember WW in
youryearend givingThank you for your past support of theWilderness
Workshop. Youll soon receive ourannual fundraising appeal, and we
hope youll againconsider making a special yearend gift to WW.Theres
an extra reason to give this year: an anony-mousdonor will match
all new money that we raisethrough Dec. 31, dollar for dollar, up
to $100,000.That means that whatever you give in excess of lastyear
will be doubled.Its always a good thing to support your local
non-profitconservation group, if you can; your supportnow will
achieve twice the impact. Thank you!
