Summer 2014: the Wilderness 50th Anniversary Issue

John Fielder
protecting wild places and wildlife,
for their sake – and ours
Summer 2014
WILDERNESS FIVE-O
The 50th anniversary of the Wilderness
Act is a cause for celebration!
Meredith Ogilby
I
Top: The Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness was
established with the passage of the Wilderness Act
in 1964. The original area comprised only the core
of the Elk Range; it took 16 more years for the Aspen Wilderness Workshop, led by “Maroon Belles”
Connie Harvey, Dottie Fox and Joy Caudill (above),
to get Congress to expand its boundaries to include
places like American and Cathedral Lakes and
Mount Sopris.
Wilderness 50 Events
t’s never a bad idea to stop
and smell the roses. So once
in 50 years, at least, we owe it to
ourselves to make a point of celebrating the wilderness – and the
idea of wilderness – that makes
our country great.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
Signed into law by President
Lyndon Johnson on Sept. 3, 1964,
the Wilderness Act established the
National Wilderness Preservation
System, and got the ball rolling by
designating the first 54 wilderness
areas. These were the first-round
draft picks – the very paragons
of wilderness – and among that
number was our own Maroon
Bells-Snowmass.
That was just the beginning of
our region’s role in the wilderness
movement. In the two decades
that followed, local citizens’ campaigns secured seven other wilderness areas on the White River
National Forest, and more than
doubled the size of the original
Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness – permanently protecting
more than 750,000 acres, nearly
a third of the Forest.
Members of the Aspen Wilderness Workshop (as it was then
called), led by Connie Harvey,
Joy Caudill and Dottie Fox, were
the boots on the ground for these
efforts in the Roaring Fork watershed. Folks like Bill Mounsey and
Chuck Ogilby played a similar
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Pg. 5 • Hike/projects Schedule
Pg. 7
The appropriately named Raggeds Wilderness was part of a massive wave of areas
designated by the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1980.
Humility and restraint
The Wilderness Act has been
called “the most beautiful piece of
legislation ever written.” In soaring language that was hammered
out over eight years and dozens
of drafts, it speaks of the need “to
secure for the American people of
present and future generations the
benefits of an enduring resource of
wilderness.” In its most memorable
passage, it defines wilderness as “an
area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man,
where man himself is a visitor who
does not remain.”
In signing the Act, President Johnson contributed a bit of homespun
commentary that’s just as worth
recalling: “If future generations are
to remember us with gratitude rather
John Fielder
role in the Eagle Valley. Thanks to
that “greatest generation,” we and
our children and grandchildren
will be able to enjoy these magnificent areas in their natural state in
perpetuity.
Is that a cause for celebration or
what?
This summer and fall, the Wilderness Workshop is spearheading a
series of events to commemorate
the big Five-O; highlights are a
gigantic Maroon Bells Birthday Bash
at the base of Aspen Highlands on
Aug. 2, and a wilderness symposium at the Aspen Institute’s Paepcke
Auditorium on Sept. 10. Be sure to
mark your calendar – see the schedule on page 5.
John Fielder
WILDERNESS
FIVE-0 FROM PAGE 1
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than contempt, we must leave them
a glimpse of the world as it was in
the beginning, not just after we got
through with it.”
It was, and remains, an historic
gesture of humility and restraint
toward the natural world.
Challenging the view that the
value of land is measurable only in
board-feet of lumber or tons of ore,
the Act asserts that wilderness itself
is a resource – and one that grows
more valuable in a time of increasing population and modernization.
The landmark legislation laid down
a philosophical foundation that has
permanently shaped our national
consciousness.
It establishes, as a matter of law
and policy, that it’s in the national
interest to set aside some places
to remain in their natural state. It
In the 1960s, the Colorado Department of Transportation wanted to route I-70
through a tunnel under the Gore Range-Eagles Nest Primitive Area to shave 11 miles
off the Vail Pass route. Eagle Valley citizens rallied to block the plan, and then campaigned to protect the area as the Eagles Nest Wilderness in 1976.
trailhead and go at the pace that our
feet (or a horse) will take us.
Wilderness is the slow food of
recreation – it’s a country road compared to the interstate of our daily
lives. There are benefits in taking the
slow road, both for the traveler and
for the land.
Leading horses to water
Establishing a first batch of wilderness areas and defining how they
would be protected was only the
beginning of the Wilderness Act’s
genius. What makes it worth celebrating now, 50 years later, is that
it provided for the designation of
additional wilderness areas through
further acts of Congress.
It’s that enabling function that has
leveraged the original 54 wilderness
areas into more than 700, expanding the National Wilderness Preservation System from just 9 million
acres in 1964 to nearly 110 million
acres today.
While only Congress can designate wilderness, citizens play
an essential role in leading those
political horses to water. One of the
first groups to seize the opportunity
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John Fielder
doesn’t go into much detail about
why; its framers were savvy enough
to know not to limit the Act’s force
by enumeration.
But 50 years later, the value of
wilderness becomes ever clearer.
Even as we alter our planet at an
ever-accelerating pace, we’re better understanding the extent of our
impacts on ecosystems. More than
ever, we need large “untrammeled”
places where wildlife can find
refuge, where natural processes can
continue to play out, and yes, where
we humans can find solitude and
recreation.
The Wilderness Act didn’t just protect certain places; it also stipulated
how we humans should behave in
them, and this too has proved to be
prescient.
The Act prohibits not only roads
and structures, but also mechanized
travel. While some bemoan this as
discrimination against bikes and
other machines, in effect it’s a speed
limit. As our machines become faster
and more powerful, they enable us
to go places we previously didn’t
go, and to cover more ground and
impose more impacts. In wilderness,
we must leave our wheels at the
You could say the idea of wilderness was born in what
is now the Flat Tops Wilderness. In 1919, a young Forest Service engineer named Arthur Carhart was sent
to Trappers Lake to plot planned vacation home sites.
Upon his return, Carhart boldly advised his superiors
that the best use of the area was wilderness recreation;
his action inspired fellow conservationist Aldo Leopold
to champion the creation of the first Wilderness Reserve
(what is now New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness), and later
led to the protection of the Flat Tops as a Primitive
Area.
Max Lyons
Conservationists led by the Aspen Wilderness Workshop spent much of the 1960s and
’70s saving the Hunter Creek Valley, first from residential development and then from
a massive water diversion project. Prevailing on both fights, they went on to secure
designation of the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness in 1978.
WILDERNESS FIVE-0
offered by the Wilderness Act was
Aspen’s own Wilderness Workshop.
Connie, Joy, Dottie and their crew
correctly perceived that wilderness
was a constituent issue that lent itself
well to grassroots organizing. By
pioneering the use of on-the-ground
inventorying, mapping, petitions,
public events and the like, they
helped pioneer the model of the
modern citizens’ wilderness campaign.
Theirs was a simpler, less partisan
and less recreationally intense time.
Big blank spots on the map like the
Hunter-Fryingpan and Collegiate
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
Peaks were low-hanging fruit, ripe
for wilderness designation. Even
then, it took more than a decade
of campaigning, with much of that
time spent parrying threats like water
diversions and interstate highways.
When victory came, it came in a
rush: two bills, in 1978 and 1980,
established most of the wilderness
acreage on the White River National
Forest.
These days, building consensus
around new wilderness is a complex
process. Sen. Mark Udall’s Central
Mountains proposal, together with
a related bill in the House by Rep.
Jared Polis, represents a hopeful
return to the golden era of big, bold
wilderness bills of the 1970s and
’80s. Udall’s proposal has passed
through every conceivable screen
and has successfully addressed virtually all the concerns of myriad user
groups and special interests, and is
ready for introduction in Congress.
(Rep. Polis’s bill has already been
introduced, and is poised for reintroduction this summer.)
In the old days, this would have
been more than half the battle. Now,
it takes a lot more to get Congress to
take action on such matters. Public
lands bills are pawns in the wider
ideological war; they may advance,
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John Fielder
John Fielder
Left: While the bulk of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness lies in the Arkansas River drainage, it also includes part of the upper
Roaring Fork watershed south of Highway 82. WW advocates contributed to the effort that led to its establishment under the
Colorado Wilderness Act of 1980, along with 30 other areas. Below: The Holy Cross Wilderness has been revered by pilgrims ever
since William Henry Jackson first photographed the famed mountain’s cross of snow in 1873. The giant Homestake water diversion project, completed in 1967, sent a warning shot across the area’s bow, and the Homestake II proposal galvanized a movement
for its protection. It received wilderness designation in 1980.
Wilderness
years
2014 roaring fork valley events
Join us in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act with these special events!
Guided Hikes & projects June-Sept.
maroon bells b-day Bash Aug. 2
This summer our free hike series showcases lesser-known
destinations in local wilderness areas, and our habitat
restoration program focuses
on projects in existing wilderness. See p. 7 for schedule.
Party like it’s 1964! It’s the 50th
birthday of the Maroon BellsSnowmass Wilderness, so a big
community-wide party - complete
with cake and candles - is in order.
And where better to do it than at
Aspen Highlands, the gateway to
the Bells?
parade July 4
See the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Regional Pack String
- a team of mule and horse ambassadors - in the Aspen July 4
parade.
The outdoor event will feature
live music by multiple bands,
inspiring words by author/activist
Rick Bass, a Ute Nation performance, kids’ activities, wilderness
displays, and food and drink deals by the Highlands Alehouse.
Other free activities will be offered during the day by various local
organizations.
Wilderness in pictures July 15-Aug. 16
Tickets and full schedule at MaroonBells50.org
Renowned landscape photographer John Fielder is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act
with a touring exhibition of his
most breathtaking images.
Catch the show while it’s on
display at Aspen’s Wheeler
Opera House.
Alpine symphony Aug. 3
carbondale mountain fair July 25-27
The valley’s favorite festival celebrates the 50th with the theme Wild
At Heart: Celebrating our People, Town, and Wilderness.
To honor the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, the Aspen
Music Festival's Sunday afternoon concert will feature Leonard
Slatkin conducting Richard Strauss's majestic tone poem to
nature.
wilderness symposium Sept. 10
An evening with national and local wilderness experts, examining
the legacy of the Wilderness Act and the challenges of the next 50
years. Speakers will include Dave Foreman, former U.S. Senator
Tim Wirth, Jamie Williams, Gloria Flora and John Fielder. At Aspen’s
Paepcke Auditorium.
The Wilderness Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964.
Throughout 2014, communities around the country are celebrating this historic act of human restraint
and humility toward the natural world.
Summer 2014
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WILDERNESS FIVE-0
sometimes suddenly, but it’s a long
waiting game.
Despite political uncertainty, the
Wilderness Act remains as relevant
as ever. Nothing else compares – it’s
the gold standard of conservation,
affording the strongest, most enduring protection for federal public
lands.
Jon Bradford
The next 50 years
The youngest of the White River National Forest’s eight
wilderness areas, the Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness was
designated in 1993. Summit County residents originally
proposed a 75,000-acre area, but pressure from Denver
Water and the Federal Timber Purchasers Association reduced it to 13,000. New proposals by Rep. Jared Polis and
Sen. Mark Udall would regain some of the lost acreage.
And what of the next 50 years?
The need for such protection will
only increase.
Climate change threatens to
force plant and animal communities
northwards and uphill. Increasing
human population and new forms of
recreation will likely put more pressure on our public lands. Drilling,
mining and other forms of resource
extraction will continue to fragment
wildlife habitat.
Wilderness can provide resiliency
FROM PAGE 4
in the face of these changes – if we
manage it carefully, and add to it
where appropriate.
But for all the good and logical
reasons to protect wilderness, in the
end, utilitarian arguments don’t fully
state the case. As Wallace Stegner
famously wrote,
“That is the reason we need to
put into effect, for its [the land’s]
preservation, some other principle
than the principles of exploitation or
‘usefulness’ or even recreation. We
simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more
than drive to its edge and look in.
For it can be a means of reassuring
ourselves of our sanity as creatures,
a part of the geography of hope.”
So we celebrate the wilderness
that has been handed down to us,
and we invest in it our hope, with
interest, for the next generation.
ART AUCTION TO BENEFIT WW
S
ince 2008, WW’s Artist in Wilderness
program has offered residencies to allow artists to make works inspired by the
lands that we’re working to protect.
The selected artists are provided with
housing, a generous stipend and travel
expenses, and a guide if they need one.
In return, they give us one piece resulting
from their residency.
Finally, after six years, the program has
acquired enough works to fulfill its other
purpose, which is sell them off to raise
money for our conservation work.
You can see the pieces – and bid on
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them – at wildernessworkshop.org/auction.
The online auction will remain open until
12 noon on Wednesday, Aug. 20. Please
bid early and often! The highest bidders for
each piece will be our guests at the annual
gathering of the Maroon Bells Circle (WW’s
national council) on Friday, Aug. 22, where
the art will be sold by silent auction.
Meanwhile, we’ve received a record
number of entries for the next two Artist in
Wilderness residencies, in fall 2014 and
spring/summer 2015. The jury, led by WW
board member Mary Dominick, will announce the winners in August.
“Across the Valley II,” by Richard
White (0il on linen, 2010)
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restoration
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restore a wildlife
corridor
Remove old barbed-wire fencing to allow animals to move
freely across a high alpine valley.
restore a wetland
AUGUST
Sat. July 19 : Ashcroft, Castle Creek Valley
Sat.-Sun., Aug. 23-34 : Crooked Creek Pass Reservoir
The Forest Service is removing this reservoir to restore a former
wetland; our crew will car-camp in the area and revegetate the
area with willows and other native species.
restore a trail
Reconfigure the trail to the summit of Mount Sopris, which
crosses sensitive terrain above treeline and was never
properly constructed. Because of its remoteness, the crew
will camp overnight.
rsvp required!
learn more and sign up at www.WildernessWorkshop.org
SEPT
Sat.-Sun., Sept. 6-7 : Thomas Lake Trail
9 (Wed.) Hunter Creek Wildflower Hike WITh aCES,
neaR aspen
11 (fri.) Hay Park Full Moon, Base of mt. sopris
12-13 (Sat.-Sun.) frying pan lakes, holy cross
wilderness (overnight)
19 (Sat.) Hoosier Ridge, near Breckenridge
20 (Sun.) Savage Lakes, holy cross wilderness
2 (Sat.) East Maroon Pass, Maroon Bells-Snowmass
Wilderness
9 (Sat.) McCullough Gulch, proposed Tenmile
Wilderness Area
9 (Sat.) Tabor Lake, Collegiate Peaks Wilderness
10 (Sun.) East Willow, Thompson Divide
16 (Sat.) West Lake Creek, proposed wilderness
area near Avon
17 (Sun.) Marion Gulch, Thompson Divide
23 (SAt) spraddle creek, proposed wilderness
area north of vail
13-14 (Sat.-Sun.) Lake Ridge Lakes, Thompson
Divide (overnight)
20 (Sat.) Marble Peak, Raggeds Wilderness |
21 (Sun.) Bull Dog Creek, Proposed Crystal River
Wilderness
Hikes and projects marked with this symbol
are part of a series of events to celebrate the
50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
See full schedule on page 5.
MORE THAN THE THOMPSON DIVIDE
Nelson Guda
recreational playground, critical
wildlife habitat, a renowned hunting
area, summer pasture for local ranch
Located just west of the Thompson Divide, the Reno
Mountain Roadless Area is in the path of oil and gas
development spreading southwards from Silt.
operations and the source of water
for communities and farms – all of
this would be put at risk by oil and
gas development.
But the Thompson Divide isn’t
the only special place in our region
that’s threatened by drilling.
In April, WW took the next step
in a long-running effort to protect
eight roadless areas on the White
River National Forest that contain
oil and gas leases that we contend
were issued illegally (see page 8).
Four of them are within the Thompson Divide; the other four stretch
westwards from there, and comprise
much of the high country that’s visible to the south of I-70 between Silt
and Debeque.
While not as well known as the
Thompson Divide, we believe these
four areas – Housetop Mountain,
Mamm Peak, Reno Mountain and
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
Baldy Mountain – are just as worthy
of protection. For a start, they’re
roadless! What’s more, together they
form a long, wild, mid-elevation
corridor that’s critical to our region’s
wildlife. Rugged and hard to access,
these roadless areas are home to the
best bear habitat in the state, and
support large herds of elk and deer
year-round. As oil and gas development continues to displace wildlife
from the Colorado River Valley, these
areas are becoming all the more
important as refuges.
So amid all the campaigning to
save the Thompson Divide, let’s
spare a thought for its little-visited
cousins to the west. They, too,
deserve to be spared. That’s why we
at the Wilderness Workshop asked
BLM to cancel all 65 leases currently
under review, not only the ones in
the Thompson Divide.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
T
he White River National Forest
is proposing to construct a new
single-track dirtbike trail between
Basalt and Gypsum. The 11-milelong Green Gate Trail would traverse
forested backcountry just west of
Basalt Mountain and Red Table, two
areas we’ve been working to protect
for more than a decade.
You may be wondering why we
haven’t come out against it.
While adding a new motorized
route through the backcountry isn’t
something we’re thrilled about, we
see this as a net gain. The area is
currently fragmented by a network of
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about 20 miles of bandit trails; this
project offers the opportunity to replace those trails with a shorter, less
impactful alignment and to move the
parking lot out of a wetland. Another
part of the deal is that the Forest
Service will step up enforcement in
the area to prevent illegal riding and
trail construction, so overall impacts
should be reduced.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife views
this as the least bad of the available
options, and will hopefully join us in
asking for seasonal trail closures to
further protect wildlife.
The White River National For-
est committed to this basic travel
scenario in its 2011 Travel Management Plan, which we supported and
which was a strong win for wildlife
and watersheds.
Since then, we’ve also been
working closely with the valley’s
local dirt-biking group, the Colorado
Backcountry Trail Riders Association,
on this project. They’ve been a key
part of the effort to move from the
status quo of riding illegally created routes to “staying the trail” and
ensuring future use occurs only on
the new legal trail.
T
his spring, citizens of the Roaring Fork Valley told the BLM
in no uncertain terms to nix 65
“deficient” oil and gas leases in the
Thompson Divide and elsewhere on
the White River National Forest.
Hundreds of people attended
BLM public meetings in Aspen,
Carbondale and Glenwood Springs,
with every single speaker calling for
the leases to be voided. (A fourth
meeting, held in Debeque, not
surprisingly drew almost entirely
pro-drilling comments.)
Meanwhile, more than 30,000
people emailed comments telling
the BLM to consider canceling the
leases. We want to thank the Natural
they haven’t been approved for
development, and they could go
away entirely as a result of this process. Thus the lease review has the
potential not only to remove a major
part of the threat to the Thompson
Divide, but also to spare four other
roadless areas from drilling (see next
page).
Olivia Weber
The BLM calls them “deficient”;
we contend they’re illegal.
Students spoke out at one of the BLM’s public
meetings in April.
Resources Defense Council, Wilderness Society, Conservation Colorado
and other groups for sending out
alerts, and all of you who attended
the meetings or wrote comments.
The BLM’s review of these leases
got off to a somewhat confusing
start, because it came just days after
the agency announced it was extending 25 leases in the Thompson
Divide for another two years.
So, to clarify: the 25 leases in the
Thompson Divide are a subset of the
65 leases that the BLM is reviewing.
Although they’ve been extended,
“Deficient” is the word the feds
use to describe these 65 leases; we
contend they’re illegal. The BLM
itself admits that it issued them in
violation of environmental laws
in the 1990s and early 2000s. The
problem is something we’ve been
focused on for a long time. In 2004,
WW and Pitkin County protested
three leases that had been issued in
the Thompson Divide with the exact
same “deficiencies”; those leases
were finally voided in 2009.
The process that the BLM has
initiated to remedy the problem
MORE THAN THE
THOMPSON DIVIDE
Illegal leases threaten four other
roadless areas, too.
S
ome places are too special to
drill. Is that such a controversial concept?
Judging by the energy industry’s
rhetoric, you’d think that anyone
questioning its right to develop
every square inch of land with
fossil fuels under it is a hemp-clad
ecoterrorist bent on dynamiting
the American dream.
Or an Aspen one-percenter
who wants his private jet and his
heated driveway but is strangely
squeamish about fracking fluid in
his kale. The industry scatters its
shot pretty broadly.
Despite such hyperventilations,
the vast majority of regular folks
take a more balanced view of the
situation. Drilling is going to happen in many places, but it doesn’t
have to happen everyplace.
The Thompson Divide has
become a national poster child for
Nelson Guda
VOID THE LEASES
involves a number of stages and an
Environmental Impact Statement.
The recent meetings and public
comment period were only the first
step, known as scoping, because
the agency must first determine the
scope of what it will consider in its
analysis.
Scoping is when you have to
speak up if you want issues to be
analyzed, and that’s why we asked
you to tell the BLM to include voiding the leases and modifying their
terms among the options that it had
to consider.
The BLM says it’s going to take
until next summer to produce the
draft EIS, and the final decision
won’t come until the summer of
2016. However, expect a flurry of
activity this summer on a related
matter, when the White River National Forest issues its long-awaited
final oil and gas leasing plan. The
BLM is likely to rely heavily on that
plan for guidance on what to do
about its 65 leases. We’ll be pushing
hard for a plan that allows no further
leasing in the Thompson Divide and
that adequately protects roadless
areas across the Forest.
The Mamm Peak Roadless Area, south of Silt, runs the
gamut from steep cliffs to bear-rich forests.
“too special to drill,” of course, and
if you’re reading this newsletter
you’re probably familiar with what’s
at stake there. A massive, 220,000
swath of backcountry, a year-round
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MISTAKES WERE MADE: A 20-YEAR TIMELINE OF OIL & GAS LEASING IN OUR AREA
Piceance Basin drilling
boom starts ramping up;
BLM takes “lease now,
look later” approach
Current White River
National Forest oil & gas
leasing plan finalized
WW and Pitkin County
begin challenging new
leases and development
in roadless areas
3 Thompson Divide
leases voided as a result
of WW/Pitkin challenge
Colorado Roadless
Rule implemented
White River NF
releases draft
leasing plan
BLM launches review
of 65 deficient leases,
holds public scoping
meetings
BLM to issue draft
EIS on deficient
leases
You are here
1995
2000
Federal Roadless
Rule implemented
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2005
2010
White River NF
begins revising its oil
& gas leasing plan
2011
2012
2013
BLM admits leasing “deficiencies”
2014
2015
White River NF to release final oil
& gas leasing plan/Record of Decision, which will inform BLM’s
deficiency EIS
2016
2017
BLM to issue final EIS
on deficient leases
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2014
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LIKE ROLLING A BOULDER UPHILL
I
n March, the almost-final Resource Management Plan for
our local BLM lands hit with an
electronic thud: if you printed it all
out, it’d probably fill a bookshelf. Its
release triggered a 45-day protest period, and there was much to protest.
This is an important document,
as it will serve as a blueprint for
development on a half-million acres
of public lands in the Colorado,
Roaring Fork and Eagle valleys over
the next 20 years. (The current plan,
issued in 1984 and amended several
times, is woefully out of date.)
WW has been engaged in the
revision of this plan since 2007,
nudging it toward something that
will do a better job of protecting our
public lands over the long term. But
while the latest version has its merits, we find its handling of oil and
gas development and protections for
special places to be unacceptable.
So WW staff attorney Peter Hart rallied an A-Team of analysts, experts
and partner organizations, and
drafted two formal protests.
Honestly, the plan’s analysis of
potential oil and gas development
is a pretty flat-footed exercise,
revealing an agency that’s unable or
unwilling to commit itself to protecting the land and public health. Our
first protest takes the plan to task for
failing to factor recent trends into its
projections of future enery development.
Consider the “Beast.” That’s what
industry insiders are calling a well
drilled into shale formations near
Parachute last year that produced
as much gas in its first 100 days as
a typical well in this region does in
20 years. The Beast is the highestperforming shale gas well in the
nation, followed closely by another
ment there in the meantime.
Case in point: the Grand Hogback, that sweeping rock curtain
that stretches from I-70 near New
Castle up to Rifle Gap and beyond.
We and our partners are demanding stronger
action on oil and gas and special places in the
BLM’s Resource Management Plan.
well drilled nearby. The fracking
recipes and drilling techniques used
to drill and produce these wells,
along with the extraordinary initial
production, represent big changes
in the way drilling is done in the
Piceance Basin, but the BLM’s plan
hardly registers the risks and impacts
that could come with it.
The potential impacts are farranging and grave: air quality, water
quality and quantity, disposal of
wastewater, traffic, human health,
earthquakes, climate change and
more. Our protest delivers a thorough critique of the BLM’s analysis,
and recommends how to do better.
In the second protest, we urge the
BLM to protect places that it found
to have wilderness characteristics
but opted not to protect in the plan.
And we challenge its cursory review
of many other areas that may have
wilderness character, according to
agency guidance; we’ve asked the
agency to take a closer look at these
areas, and defer approving develop-
The plan identifies over 11,000
acres of it that qualify as Lands with
Wilderness Characteristics – yet
hastily dismisses the idea of managing to protect those values because
of the potential for oil and gas
development there.
Our protest also asks the BLM to
restrict motorized travel on a horribly eroded road in the Thompson
Creek area, southwest of Carbondale, and to protect greater sagegrouse habitat in the Castle Peak
area north of Eagle.
The BLM has indicated that it
would like to have protests resolved
by August of this year. A Record of
Decision should follow and the new
plan could become the law of the
land later this year. We’ll
continue pushing this
agency to produce
the best possible
plan, even if it’s like
rolling a boulder
uphill.
The BLM’s plan could do more to protect greater sagegrouse in the Castle Peak area north of Eagle.
JUNE 2012
Summer
2014
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Wild
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WW WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS
T
he Wilderness Workshop board
recently added two new members – without losing any old ones!
Allyn Harvey has
been a Wilderness
Workshop supporter
and ally since 2008,
when he acted as
communications
consultant to the Hidden Gems Wilderness
Campaign. A former
Allyn Harvey
Aspen Times reporter
and managing editor,
he now runs his own
public and media relations company, Allyn
Harvey Communications.
Allyn also somehow
manages to juggle
being a member of the
Carbondale Board of
Trustees and a foundLindsay Gurley
ing board member of
the nonprofit Sopris Sun.
Lindsay Gurley moved to the
Roaring Fork Valley from Denver in
2010 to work as a summer naturalist
for the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, and went on to work
as a staffer for the Community Office
for Resource Efficiency (CORE).
She currently teaches yoga at True
Nature Healing Arts as well as offering privates and health coaching
throughout the valley.
Since childhood Lindsay has been
deeply rooted in wilderness, and she
says she’s thrilled and honored to
join the WW board and can’t wait
to share her energy in the amazing
work of the WW team.
We’d also like to heap vast praise
on our new board president, Karin
Teague, who has inspired board
and staff alike by her passionate
leadership and her hard work on the
Wilderness 50 event series.
And by the way, our staff members haven’t been letting any grass
grow under their feet, either in or
out of the office.
Executive director Sloan Shoemaker continues to chair the Colorado Bark Beetle Cooperative, and is
planning a large public meeting this
fall on community resilience in the
face of changing forests.
Will Roush has been promoted to
the position of conservation director,
and has been invited to speak at the
National Wilderness Conference in
Albuquerque in October.
Staff attorney Peter Hart and his
wife Katy welcomed their second
child, Asa, in February. In March,
Peter was a panelist at the Public
Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Oregon.
Operations and outreach coordinator Melanie Finan spent the
months of April and May in Bali and
other exotic locales.
Development and communications director has just returned
from an extracurricular trip to DC
as a volunteer for Citizens’ Climate
Lobby.
And part-time community organizer Alex Bethel recently completed
a course in Leadership, Organizing
and Action through Harvard’s Kennedy School.
JOIN OUR MONTHLY GIVING CLUB
T
here’s a small but growing band of folks who are supporting the Wilderness Workshop in a way that’s more
convenient for them, and more helpful for WW. They’re our
monthly givers, and we love them!
If you’re a once-a-year giver, you might look into setting up
recurring payments through our online donation page (wildernessworkshop.org/give). You can choose to have payments
deducted monthly, weekly or whatever. It’s easy, secure and
painless, because you’ll be spreading your contribution out
over the year.
12
12
Wild
Wild Works
Works ||
JUNE
2012
Summer
2014
If you’ve been meaning to support WW, but weren’t sure
you could make a meaningful donation, recurring giving
could be the way to go. You’ll hardly notice the monthly payments, yet they’ll add up to a sizeable annual gift.
Slow and steady: that’s the easiest way to climb a mountain,
and it’s the most efficient way to support your local conservation nonprofit! Your regular donations will provide a reliable
flow of funding for the crucial, long-term work of safeguarding
our wild places and wildlife. Thanks for your help!
DONOR HALL OF FAME
David Houggy*, in honor of
Charlie Hopton
Reese Henry & Co.
The Wilderness Workshop wishes to thank the
following generous people who have made
donations since the previous newsletter. New
members are indicated by an asterisk (*).
$25,000+
Brundige
Ford and Susan Schumann
Aspen Square Condominium
Association
Bruce Berger
Anonymous
Debbie and Marc Bruell
New-Land Foundation
Marty and Sarah Flug
Beth Cashdan and Paul
D’Amato
Tom and Currie Barron/
Merlin Foundation
Jim Bonesteel
Gayle Embry/Embry Family
Foundation
Peter Looram and Owen
McHaney
The Cynthia and George
Mitchell Foundation
Rob Pew
Pitkin County
Eaden and Deva Shantay/The
Cohen Family Fund of the
Community Foundation for
Southeast Michigan
Hansjoerg Wyss/Wyss
Charitable Endowment
$5,000-9,999
City of Aspen
John and Laurel Catto/Alpenglow Foundation
Marcia Corbin
Felicity Huffman
John and Laurie McBride/
ABC Foundation
Martens Foundation
Moore Huffman, Jr.
Bill Hunt/Oak Lodge
Foundation
Douglas and Lynne DeNio
Fred and Elli Iselin Foundation
Leslie Desmond
Islands Advised Fund at
Aspen Community Foundation
Colby June Jewelry
Anonymous
Annie Cooke
$10,000-25,000
Sandy Jackson
$500-999
Tita and Dan McCarty
Michael McVoy and Michal
Brimm
Barney and Dot Mulligan
Tom Newland
Ragged Mountain Sports
Barbara Reese
Roaring Fork Audubon
Society
Drew DePaul
Tara and Casey Sheahan
Maggie DeWolf
Sue Edelstein and Bill Spence
Jane and Dick Hart
Pat Spitzmiller
Deidre Stancioff
Jay and Patti Webster
Lynn Nichols and Jim
Gilchrist
Ann Johnson
Marty Pickett and Edgell
Pyles
Henry Lowe
Martha and Mke McCoy
Toni Zurcher, in memory of
Christoper H. Smith
Jill Soffer
Kent and Elizabeth Meager
Mark Tache
Marjory Musgrave
$100-249
Thendara Foundation
Blanca and Cavanaugh
O’Leary
$1,000-1,999
Arches Foundation
Aspen Associates Realty
Group
Susan Welsch and Everett
Peirce
Judith Lapkin Craig
Bob Adams
Barbara Andre
Anonymous
Susan O’Neal
David Arnold*
Patagonia
Camilla and Raymond Auger
Ken and Emily Ransford
Paul and Carole Auvil
Connor Bailey/Warrington
Foundation
Roaring Fork Valley Horse
Council
Kay Brunnier
Bill Stirling
Shelley Burke and Al Nemoff
Harry Teague Architects
Anneliese Chumley
Drs. Rick and Alice Voorhees
and Bedard-Voorhees, in
memory of Randy Udall
Frannie Dittmer
Mary Dominick and Sven
Coomer
Marti and Charles Bauer
Georges Becus*
Richard Beresford
Diana Beuttas
Don Birnkrant
Gavin Brooke
Paula Zurcher
William Brunworth
Judith Byrns
iMarcie and Robert Musser
Advised Fund at Aspen
Community Foundation
Carol Duell
$250-499
Bill Fales and Marj Perry
Gina Berko
Wallace and Kristen Graham
Phil and Sunny Brodsky
Pew Charitable Trusts
Lucy Hahn
Kristine Crandall
Carol Racine
Joe Henry
Susan Fesus
RCG Fund
Judy and Amory Lovins
Garry and Sharon Snook
David Newberger
Donna Fisher and Skip
Behrhorst
$2,000-4,999
Wendy and Hank Paulson
Town of Carbondale
Pitkin County
Chelsea Congdon and James
Ken Ransford, P.C.
Lynn and Judy Hancock
Ann Harvey and Mike
Campbell
Kristen Henry
Rick and Lorrie Carlson
Steve Child
Ned Cochran
Charles and Janice Collins
Gesine Crandall
Crystal Valley Environmental
Protection Association
Chuck Downey
Michele Dressel*
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
JUNE 2012
Summer
2014
||
Wild
Wild Works
Works
13
13
DONORS
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
William Roush
Lucy Chew
Steph and Ken Ryan
Jeanette Darnauer
Sandy Shea
Barb and Doug D’Autrechy
Collins and Patrick Kelly, in
honor of Will Roush
Carolyn and Dick Shohet
Don Davidson
Roger Shugart
Laurie Loeb
Carolyn Shurman*
Rachel Dayton and Chip
Mccrory
Jan and Jerry Fedrizzi
Patricia Maddalone
Leonard Simmons*
Kimberly Defries
Connie and Ted Finan
Howie Mallory
Kim Stacey and John Hoffman
Barbara Dills*
Jim Finch
Mirte Mallory
Sandy and Stephen Stay
David Eberhardt
Jerry and Nanette Finger*
Alex Gay Marks
Hjalmar Sundin
Greer and Bruce Fox
Al Fiorello, in memory of
Dottie Fox
Bill and Sally Meadows
David and Geni Swersky
Tom and Lindy Melberg
Audrey Sattler and Don
Fleisher
Sally Tischler
John Fox, in memory of Dottie
Fox
Joe Mincberg*
Tom and Roz Turnbull
Annie Flynn*, in memory of
Randy Udall
Vyonne Mincberg*
Denny and Linda Vaughn
Elsa Mitchell
Mary Ann Wallace*
Carolyn Moore
Annie Ware
Pam Moore
Dexter Williams
Sue Mozian
Hugh and Mary Wise
Jim Neu*
Rebecca Norman Dvorak*
Maggie Woods, in memory
of Dottie Fox and Jackie
Chandler
Virginia Parker
King Woodward
Les Gray
Lee Parker*
Pam Zentmyer*
Janet Guthrie*
Bruce Parlette
Edward Zukoski
Maggie Pedersen and Bob
Millette
$50-99
Richard and Sheryl
Herrington
Julie and Greg Pickrell
Carol Bayens
Paul David Ellis
Susy Ellison and Marty
Schlein
Lynelle Fowler
Cici Fox
Dorothy Frommer
Jim Githens and Valerie Gilliam
Donna and Bernie Grauer
Joyce and Bill Gruenberg
Brewster Hansen*
Mary and Shep Harris
Trautlinde Heater
Sue Helm
Casady Henry, in honor of
Mark Fuller and Penny
Atzet
George and Liz Newman
Anne and Arny Porath
Jacquelyn Powers and Jourdan
Dern, in honor of Karin and
Harry Teague
Karen Hessl*
Ann Hodges
Irma Prodinger
Gail and Phil Holstein
Bob Purvis
Kate Hudson*
Rich Ranieri*
Tai and Molly Jacober
Ron Reed
Leslie and Patrick Johnson
Ty and Terry Reed
Sarah Johnson
Maggie Rerucha
Patrick and Donna Keelty
Ruth and Peter Frey
Mark Fuller
Walter Gallacher
Sara Garton
Jon Gibans
Randy Gold and Dawn
Shepard
Anne Goldberg
Candace Goodwin
Katherine Hubbard
Anonymous*
John Isaacs
Lee Beck and John Stickney
Robert and Tracy Bennett
Nancy Berry
Jeff and Janette Bier
Mary Sue Bonetti
Betsy Bowie
Charlyn Canada
Susan Cashel*
Bob and Eilene Ish
Suzanne Jackson
Sandra and Peter Johnson
Shael Johnson
Gary L. Johnson*
Suzanne Jones
Deborah Jones and John
Katzenberger
Kristan Kaplinski*
Lee Cassin
Patricia Chew, in memory of
Laura Kirk and Dave
Carpenter
WATCH NATURALIST NIGHTS ONLINE
W
e hope you caught some of this past
winter’s Naturalist Nights presentations
at ACES and the Third Street Center. But if you
missed any, you can still watch them online at
our website (wildernessworkshop.org/video).
Thank you to our sponsors who made it
possible for us to have GrassRoots TV record
the presentations: Alpine Bank, Aspen Ski-
14
14
Wild
Wild Works
Works ||
JUNE
2012
Summer
2014
ing Company, Bristlecone Mountain Sports,
Days Inn Carbondale, Filson, KUUR, Main
Street Gallery & The Framer, Ragged Mountain
Sports, Reese Henry & Co., St. Moritz Lodge
& Condominiums, Stirling Peak Properties,
The Big Wrap, The Connected Concierge, True
Nature Healing Arts, Two Leaves Tea Company,
and Tyrolean Lodge.
Sarah and Steve Knous
Robert Zupancis
Constance Matuschek
Barbara Larime*
Up to $49
Matthew McKenna
Anonymous
Graeme and Liz Means
Debbie Crawford-Arensman and
Russ Arensman
Rebecca Mirsky
Cristal Logan*
Parker and Tilly Maddux
Mary Ballou
Warren Ohlrich
Malcolm McMichael
Eric Baumheier
Doc Philip
Cathy Montgomery
Pat and Michael Piburn
Stephanie and Dave Munk
Tony Bennet and Maureen
Bennett Chew*
Shari Nova
Kim Beroman*
Bob Rafelson*
Tom Oken
Leslie Bethel
Jim Rahman
Gracie Oliphant
Maralyn Bloomer
John Real*
Connie Overton and James
Gilliam
Barb Brown*
Alyssa and Dave Reindel*
Helen Carlsen
Fred and Sandra Peirce
Willard Clapper
Janie Rich and Scott, Tess and
Lexie Munro*
Elizabeth Penfield
Jane Click
Rachel Richards
William and Elizabeth Phillips
Virginia Culp
Cooper Rogers*
Susan Philp and Lance Clarke
Dawn Dexter*
Wiley Rogers*
Suzy and David Pines
Tim Drescher*
Mary Russell
Dale and Sally Potvin
Carol Dresner*
Janet Rutigliano*
Glenn Randall
Stephen Ellsperman
Judith Schramm
Glenn Rappaport*
Sally and Chris Faison
Gerald Roehm
Renee Fleisher
Lee Sherman II*, in memory of
Bam Sherman
Polly Ross
Herb Fox*
Karen Siebert
Susan Rothchild
Susan Frazee
Steve Skadron
Jill Sabella
Linda Froning*
Shayne Sledge*
Marius and Clare Sanger
Marty Ames and Steve Hach
Emilie Somerville
Beth Schaefer
Justin Streeb*
Renata Scheder-Bieschin
Teresa Hall and Doug and Bentley Rager*
Sherry Schenk*
Kay Hannah
George and Jenny Tempest
Jill and Michael Scher
Sacha Hart-Logan
Timothy Tillman
Andre Schwegler*
Huey Hurst
John Tirrill*
Rosalinda Shearwood
Elise Jones*
Nicolette Toussaint*
Shelly Sheppick
Jackie Kasabach
Felicia Trevor*
Richard Simpson
Debra Keller*
Mike Truman*
Skye and Steve Skinner
Reenie Kinney and Scott Hicks*
Doug Tucker
Karn Stiegelmeier
Kathleen Kopf
Katie and Hank Van Schaack
Shelley Supplee and Hawk
Greenway
Sharon Clarke and Mark Lacy
John and Sarah Villafranco*
Brad and Laurel Larson
Kevin Ward
Lynn Tanno
Terry Lawson Dunn*
Deborah Webster
Diana Tomback
Patty Lecht
Julia Weese-Young*
Margaret Truman
Alicia Lee*
Jacque Whitsitt*
Gerry and Maria Vanderbeek
Geoffrey Lester
Andy Wiessner
Eric Wahl
Mary Logan*
Robbie Williams*
Tom and Donna Ward
Jennifer Long
Beka Wilson
Sylvia Wendrow and JD Sturgill
Christine Lucht*
Jeffrey Wuerker
Polly Whitcomb
Lisa Wuerker
Jason White
William Lukes + Associates
Architecture
Andre and Julie Wille
Renee Maggert
Daniel Yuhascik
Jackie Wogan
Julia Marshall/Mt. Daly
Enterprises
Nathan Ziv*
Lis Sue Layne
Susan Lindbloom
Ed and Cindy Zasacky
Virginia Newton
P.O. Box 1442
Carbondale, CO 81623
Offices in the Third Street Center,
520 S. 3rd St., Carbondale
Tel (970) 963-3977
www.wildernessworkshop.org
info@wildernessworkshop.org
Heather Pratt*
The Wilderness Workshop’s mission is to protect and conserve the
wilderness and natural resources
of the Roaring Fork Watershed, the
White River National Forest, and
adjacent lands.
Board of Directors
Karin Teague,
President
Michael McVoy,
Vice President
Peter Looram,
Co-Treasurer
Charles Hopton,
Co-Treasurer
Cici Fox,
Secretary
Edward Swanick
Beth Cashdan
Mary Dominick
Sue Edelstein
Lindsay Gurley
Allyn Harvey
John McBride, Jr.
Tim McFlynn
Aron Ralston
Mike Stranahan
Peter Van Domelen
Andy Wiessner
Founders
Joy Caudill
Dottie Fox
Connie Harvey
Staff
Sloan Shoemaker,
Executive Director
Melanie Finan
Peter Hart
Dave Reed
Will Roush
Nancy Yang*
JUNE 2012
Summer
2014
||
Wild
Wild Works
Works
15
15
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