Frontline: Forest Guardians Newsletter, Issue 5, 12/10/97
12/10/97
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: Frontline: Forest Guardians Newsletter, Issue 5, 12/10/97
Source: John Horning
Watershed Protection Program
Forest Guardians
1413 Second Street
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 988-9126
505 989-8623 fax
www.fguardians.org
Date: 12/10/97
*FRONTLINE*: THE ONLINE NEWSLETTER OF FOREST GUARDIANS
ISSUE 5, DECEMBER 10, 1997
----------------------------------------------------------------
1. GRAZING IN LAS VEGAS, NM MUNICIPAL WATERSHED CHALLENGED
2. INDUSTRIAL RECREATION HITS THE JEMEZ
3. RADICALS IN CONGRESS DEFUND FOREST PLANNING
*********
1. GRAZING IN LAS VEGAS, NM MUNICIPAL WATERSHED CHALLENGED
Forest Guardians has appealed a Forest Service plan which would allow
continued livestock grazing of the municipal watershed of the city of Las
Vegas, NM and open the area to commercial logging. The Gallinas Watershed
plan is silent on the issue of livestock grazing, proposes to add 5,805
acres to the suitable timber base, and would allow roads to be built into
roadless portions of the Gallinas River watershed. The Forest Service
justifies the proposal arguing that it is necessary to address the
potential of catastrophic fire which it claims presents the most serious
threat to water quality.
Forest Guardians appealed the decision because Santa Fe National Forest and
New Mexico Environment Department records both document serious concerns
about the threat grazing poses to the city's water supply. In addition the
groups appealed the Forest Service's plan because it failed to even mention
the potential threat of the cattle-born parasite cryptosporidium, which can
be fatal. Grazing in the watershed has been under fire since 1987 when the
Forest Service first determined that streams on the allotment were severely
degraded and that the permitted level of livestock should be 35 head, not
100. According to a 1995 New Mexico Environment Department: letter to the
Forest Service,"degradation of this watershed threatens the quality, and
ultimately the quantity, of the water source for over 15,000 people." The
lone livestock allotment in the watershed is the Beaver allotment, portions
of which lie within the Pecos wilderness.
In its appeal, Forest Guardians argued that concerns about the potential
threat of catastrophic fire could be adequately addressed through
non-commercial restoration activities - without constructing roads and
promoting more human activity in the watershed.
*******
2. INDUSTRIAL RECREATION HITS THE JEMEZ
The Forest Service is proposing to intensify its campaign to develop
industrial recreation in the Jemez mountains on the Santa Fe National
Forest. The Cuba Ranger District wants to construct three campgrounds and a
day-use recreation site along the Rio de Las Vacas. Combined the
campgrounds would contain 60-85 camp units, require the paving of 2-3 miles
of roads and the relocation of several dirt roads. The development of this
recreation complex will attract many more visitors and their cars into an
area of the forest considered critical to the Mexican Spotted Owl.
According to Forest Service Documents, the complex "could increase traffic
, vandalism, dust, litter, and noise". At present, there are several
developed campgrounds and day-use facilities existing in the immediate
vicinity.
Forest Guardians will challenge the proposed industrial recreation
development on the grounds that it will negatively affect threatened,
endangered, and sensitive species and actually do more damage to the
sensitive riparian ecosystems through higher visitor use. Tree cutting and
construction activities would occur within potential spotted owl habitat
and protected activity centers for the owl are nearby. The fragmentation
and disturbance of this habitat could cause harm to one off the most vital
spotted owl populations in New Mexico. Potential spotted owl habitat is
critical for dispersal and recovery of this species. In addition, potential
harm to other species of concern include; the Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon,
Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, and the Jemez Mountain Salamander. The
environmental assessment fails to adequately analyze and disclose how the
proposed activity will affect these and other species of concern. Comments
on the proposal are due December 21, 1997.
*******
3. RADICALS IN CONGRESS DEFUND FOREST PLANNING
A rider on the FY 1998 Interior Appropriations bill has defunded the
National Forest Plan revision process on all forests that had not
previously published a notice of intent to revise their forest plan. The
Cibola national forest is the only forest in the southwestern region that
had published a formal notice of intent, making it exempt from the rider.
Forest Guardians is working on a citizen's management alternative to be
submitted to the Cibola NF which will be based on the principles of
conservation biology.
Several national forests in the southwest have started the initial phase of
inventory and analysis, necessary for the planning process, but never
published a notice of intent. Although the San Juan national forest in
southwestern Colorado has been working on the initial phases of the process
for at least two years, officials at the forest neglected to publish their
notice. In conjunction with several Colorado environmental organizations,
Forest Guardians is working on two citizen's management alternatives for
the San Juan plan which will both call for protection of all remaining old
growth forest, roadless areas and the reintroduction of the grizzly bear.
In addition, the Forest Guardians' Southwestern Wildlands Alternative will
end the commercial logging program on the forest , being the first ZeroCut
alternative submitted in the forest planning process.
Under the National Forest Management Act, forests are required to update
their plans every 10-15 years. An excerpt from the rider: "No part of any
appropriation contained in this Act shall be expended or obligated to fund
new revisions of national forest land management plans until new final or
interim final rules for forest land management planning are published in
the Federal Register."
John Horning
Watershed Protection Program
Forest Guardians
1413 Second Street
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 988-9126
505 989-8623 fax
www.fguardians.org