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1 P.O. Box 9175 Missoula, MT p: Board of Directors Louise Lasley President Wyoming Gary Macfarlane Vice President Idaho Dominguez-Escalante NCA Bureau of Land Management 2815 H Road Grand Junction, CO Sent via to: dencarmp@blm.gov September 23, 2013 Joe Fontaine Secretary/Treasurer California Janine Blaeloch Washington Fran Mauer Alaska Bob Oset Montana Jerome Walker Georgia Howie Wolke Montana Executive Director George Nickas Advisory Council Magalen Bryant Dr. Derek Craighead Dr. M. Rupert Cutler Michael Frome Dr. Roderick Nash Dear Planning Team: Wilderness Watch is providing these comments on the Dominguez-Escalante RMP. The comments are directed at the wilderness management portion of the RMP. Wilderness Watch is a national nonprofit wilderness conservation organization dedicated to the protection and proper stewardship of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness Watch has several concerns with the plan. These include the emphasis on gardening or manipulating wilderness, building of new structures especially for grazing, and an inadequate array of alternatives. The plan, as proposed, strikes at the heart of wilderness, its untrammeled nature. Wilderness is as much a process as place. It is "untrammeled by man" (wild or unconfined) with "primeval character and influence." These relate directly to a process that is devoid of conscious industrial human manipulation. This point becomes crucial in instances where it appears that wildness/wilderness is at odds with naturalness. According to the laws of statutory construct, the law should be read so there is no internal division. However, the draft RMP erroneously sets up this so-called tradeoffs. The end result is a diminished wilderness. An example is illustrated below. Implementation-level activities within the Wilderness would be evaluated using the Minimum Requirement Decision Guide (Appendix I) to determine how the activity would impact the wilderness characteristics. Because there are inherent trade-offs associated with management of wilderness characteristics (e.g., actions that may protect and enhance cultural supplemental values, such as a barrier around a rock art site, may diminish the undeveloped nature of the Wilderness), actions may enhance wilderness characteristics or may be detrimental to wilderness characteristics. 1

2 The Wilderness Act did not prescribe management that would maintain pre-columbian flora and fauna, as desirable as that may seem to some. The Wilderness Act did not prescribe a presettlement vegetative condition, as desirable as that may seem to some. It did not prescribe that man-made artifacts be protected from natural processes. There is no charge to manage for specific end points. Management is very carefully used in the Wilderness Act and mainly in conjunction with managing things that could harm the wilderness and its wild processes. Wilderness is about process, not an end point. This is where the draft RMP utterly fails as it contemplates significant manipulation in wilderness based upon desired future conditions. A further look into the Act shows us how this is the case. Section 2(a) of the Wilderness Act is clear. The "purpose" is "to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness" through the establishment of "a National Wilderness Preservation System" and that system "shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such a manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness (emphasis added) and so as to provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character..." Thus, the Wilderness Act charged the agency with "preserving the wilderness character" of wilderness areas. The character implies both the condition and the process. The condition reflects the relatively unmodified landscape embodied in the definition of wilderness. It is something that all wilderness areas possess, by law. The process is how those areas are to be treated after designation. Together, they define the naturalness and wildness of these areas. Section 4(b) of the Wilderness Act reinforces the importance of preservation of wilderness character. This section does so because it also lists the "public purposes" (plural) to which Wilderness Areas are devoted, as long as the purpose of preservation of wilderness character remains paramount. These "public purposes" are "recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use." The benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness through the establishment of the National Wilderness Preservation System which is to be administered to protect its wilderness character for the future use and enjoyment as wilderness of the American people is the singular and overriding purpose for the Wilderness Act. The public purposes, enumerated above, are the uses to which wilderness areas are devoted, provided the primary and overriding purpose is met. Further, trying to conflate the public purposes in wilderness with supplemental features, that wilderness may possess in section 2(c), leads to the absurd. For example, one cannot define educational or scenic uses as the purpose of the Act. If so, an agency could build a structure over and around some scenic feature to protect some unique feature from natural processes or build trams, hotels, and visitors centers to allow visitors to see a ecologically educational site that is difficult to access due to rough terrain and conclude that is consistent with Wilderness designation because it is "necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of the Act." The Wilderness Act intended no such thing, yet the absurd conclusions in the RMP lead to such findings. 2

3 The key value of wilderness is untrammeled. Using the wilderness character monitoring protocol and the MRDG as bases not for monitoring and evaluation but for management decisions to seek trade-offs is an abuse of the intent of the protocol and the MRDG. Rather than limit decisions to rare occurrences, as it was intended and has wilderness stewardship was conducted by the agencies until recently, the MRDG process is now being used to justify new kinds of manipulative management actions that strike at the very heart of wilderness. Another example from the RMP illustrates the problem: Protection of wilderness character (the combination of all the wilderness characteristics) often involves trade-offs between the individual characteristics. For example, protecting or enhancing a biological community may require a vegetation treatment. In this case, impacts to the wilderness characteristic of naturalness would be beneficial, but the vegetation treatment would adversely impact the untrammeled characteristic. The duration of effects may also vary. For example, a trade-off of short-term trammeling could result in long-term beneficial impacts to naturalness; in this case, short term would be defined as the duration it takes to spray weeds (approximately a week, for example). Howard Zahniser, the author of the Wilderness Act clearly stated that wilderness stewards need to be guardians not gardeners. This is gardening activity completely at odds with wilderness. Nowhere in the Wilderness Act is this kind of manipulation allowed or contemplated. Exceptions for controlling fire, disease or insects are provided in the Wilderness Act, but there is no such exception for controlling weeds. Table 4.31 is confusing. It suggests that there would be no limitations in wilderness on oil and gas activities in alternative A and only some in the other alternatives. This is wrong from a statutory perspective as the Wilderness is not open to oil and gas leasing. This needs to be explained. Wilderness Alternatives Of the options analyzed, Alternative B appears to be the best for Wilderness with some modifications. The BLM should look at party-size limits under this alternative and proper human waste disposal. A major failing of the RMP is in looking at alternatives from a recreation perspective is the assumption that closing sensitive areas to recreation is contrary to maintain wilderness character. The Wilderness Act s author clearly noted that the purpose of wilderness was to protect values and not provide for any specific kind of use. Indeed, some wildernesses are closed to all recreation use to protect valuable resources such as colonies of nesting sea birds. There is no real array of alternatives presented that would adequately protect Wilderness. For example, it is assumed that weed spraying will go on in wilderness. There is no discussion of managing either livestock or recreational (including packstock) use that would obviate any perceived need for spraying. In fact, research shows prevention is far more effective than 3

4 herbicides at controlling weeds. Here are some weed prevention ideas for recreation use: Require pelletized feed for recreational stock. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to inspect hay brought into the Wilderness and to ensure that it is certified weed free. Moreover, there is a great deal of doubt that all certified feed is in fact weed free. Pellets are a simple and proven-effective remedy. Prohibit pack stock grazing and/or use in areas that currently contain weeds until the weeds are eliminated. Stock grazing on weeds along trails or in meadows carry and deposit those weed seeds into other parts of the Wilderness. Even if stock are free of weeds when entering the Wilderness, they can still spread weeds if allowed to graze in areas that contain weeds. Require that all assigned campsites (outfitters) be made weed free within 5 years, or those sites will be closed to public, commercial, and administrative use until they are certified as weed free. Failure to keep a weed-free site would result in an automatic permit revocation. Implement Wilderness-wide campsite standards that will eliminate bare ground that serves as a ready site for weed invasion. The plan does not limit the number or party size of upland users. While use is currently low, proactive measures should be taken. Adopt policies that recognize that trail systems are weed vectors and act accordingly. Quarantine all pack stock animals for at least 48 hours prior to entering the wilderness. Having a quarantine corral established at all stock trailheads and have the trailheads staffed (especially during hunting season) and stocked with pelletized feed (weed-free hay isn t, people would be required to either bring in pelletized feed for the quarantine or purchase it from the campground host at the trailhead) is a start. Require cleaning of all boats before entering the wilderness. Measures to prevent livestock from spreading weeds could include: Close grazing in areas that currently contain weeds until the chance of weed spread is negligible. Implement measures to prevent weed spread when livestock are entering the allotment. This could include herding away from infested areas or measures to prevent weed spread from where the livestock were previously held. 4

5 Reduce the conditions for weed establishment by using herding in lieu of supplement or salt distribution. Concentrated areas like salt blocks create conditions where weeds grow. Conduct grazing activities without motorized vehicles. Vehicles are a major vector for weed spread. Livestock Grazing Allowing new water development projects for livestock within wilderness is not consistent with the grazing guidelines nor with protecting wilderness values. The BLM should omit this increase in grazing under any selected alternative. The analysis of wilderness livestock grazing is essentially this: current livestock use is too high, though not as high as we want to see permitted, so we must create more forage, via better livestock distribution, which necessitates the construction of 7 to 17 new ponds. This will help naturalness in some areas so it can be justified. This kind of illogical analysis turns the Wilderness Act on its head. Summary The draft RMP and EIS turn the Wilderness Act on its head. The assumption that wilderness must be manipulated to maintain naturalness has no basis in law. Rather, it is contrary to the very concept of wilderness. The idea that wilderness character monitoring protocol used to establish an active management regime in terms of manipulating the environment was never the purpose of the protocol in the first place. The idea that the MRDG should be sued to promote active wilderness manipulation was never the idea behind developing the MRDG. The MRDG is now being used to greatly expand the kind of management activities in wilderness. The end result of the preferred alternative in the RMP would be a diminishing wilderness character the result of overt agency trammeling. The wilderness stewardship parts of the proposed RMP must be drastically changed. Aside from Alternative B, with some modification, no alternative honors wilderness for the values it is supposed to embody. Wildness and naturalness should not be in conflict, according to the laws of statutory construct. The analysis in the EIS places them at odds and elevates naturalness above wildness. This leads to a management paradigm where manipulation is emphasized over an administration paradigm where restraint is emphasized. This is contrary to wilderness as untrammeled and a self-willed landscape. 5

6 Sincerely, Gary Macfarlane Board member 6

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