Dear Wildlanders,
As we approach the Labor Day weekend, we wanted to give you a short update on a few important wildland issues.
Please consider joining Palouse-Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Palouse-Sierra Club and Friends of the Clearwater on Thursday September 4 from 5-8pm at the Garden Lounge in Moscow for a grassroots public lands social concerning the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests Plan Revision. Come and share your thoughts about wilderness, wild & scenic rivers, fish & wildlife habitat, timber management, clean water and cultural and aesthetic values. Information about the Forest Plan Revision will be available. The event is free and open to the public. Learn more about our Citizen Conservation Biology Alternative.
Speaking of public lands, an alarming bill named HR 5204 The Federal Lands Enhancement Modernization Act 0f 2014 was recently introduced into the House of Representatives. The bill would authorize the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to charge fees for simply accessing your public lands and waters! Both Pay Use and Permit Fees would become the norm, meaning you would pay to park, hike, fish, hunt, recreate, etc. if it’s taking place on the national forest or lands managed by the BLM. Please contact your elected officials and tell them to oppose this legislation. Learn more.
Our ally Idaho Rivers United has launched a new and exciting legal-defense campaign on Indiegogo to help cover expenses for the battle to protect the Wild & Scenic Middle Fork Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers from megaloads. The campaign is titled Fighting Goliath, aptly named after the people’s fight to keep the Highway 12 corridor from becoming a permanent, high-wide industrial corridor. Take 5-minutes and watch the video, and then consider supporting the fight to protect one of America’s iconic places.
Sadly, the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) recently announced that the agency would not list the imperiled wolverine under the Endangered Species Act. Despite recommendations for listing by the agency’s own scientists, and prior indications from agency leadership that listing was likely, USFWS Director Dan Ashe is now claiming that climate models are too unpredictable and the known impacts on wolverines and denning is too uncertain. FOC has joined allies in the filing of a 60-day Notice of Intent. Learn more.
We will have more important wildland updates next week!
Brett Haverstick, Education & Outreach Director