SKID MARKS
ISSUE #44 November 26, 2001
Skid Marks, Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads' (usually) biweekly
e-mail
newsletter, reports on activist efforts to challenge roads and
motorized
recreation nationwide. Skid Marks shares instructive and
precedent-setting
successes and failures in the campaign to halt motorized abuse of
wildland
ecosystems.
---
CONTENTS:
1. JUDGE DISMISSES CHALLENGE TO NEW MONUMENTS
2. MASSIVE HOLIDAY CROWDS DESCEND ON IMPERIAL SAND DUNES
3. FOREST SERVICE PROPOSES ROAD CLOSURES TO PROTECT GRIZZ
4. POLARIS RECALLS ***S
5. WV COAL COMPANIES CLOSE ROADS TO ***S
6. COLLISION WITH FLYING DUCK KILLS JET SKI RIDER
---
1. JUDGE DISMISSES CHALLENGE TO NEW MONUMENTS
A federal judge upheld former President Clinton’s designation of six
national monuments across the western U.S., reported Associated Press
on
November 16. The Mountain States Legal Defense Fund brought the
lawsuit,
arguing that Clinton overstepped his authority under the Antiquities
Act,
the law he used to establish the monuments, and challenging the
constitutionality of the Act itself. The lawsuit aimed to invalidate
the
designation of the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon,
Hanford
Reach in Washington, Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado, and Grand
Canyon-Parashant, Ironwood Forest, and Sonoran Desert National
Monuments
in
Arizona. Another lawsuit, challenging Clinton's 1996 creation of the
Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, is pending in
Utah
Federal District Court. Clinton used the Antiquities Act to create 19
national monuments and expand three others during his tenure in the
White
House.
---
2. MASSIVE HOLIDAY CROWDS DESCEND ON IMPERIAL SAND DUNES
Nearly 200,000 spent their Thanksgiving weekend recreating at the
Imperial
Sand Dunes Recreation Area in Southern California, reported the
November
26
Yuma Daily Sun. This figure is more than twice that of last year. In
addition to driving under the influence arrests and more than 200
medical
response calls tallied by authorities, today’s Imperial Valley Press
reported that two men were killed in ORV accidents and one arrested for
attempted murder after trying to run down a Bureau of Land Management
ranger. The area was the site of a near-riot over Thanksgiving weekend
in
1999, resulting in injuries to law enforcement officers and civilians.
---
3. FOREST SERVICE PROPOSES ROAD CLOSURES TO PROTECT GRIZZ
The Forest Service is proposing to close 43 to 61 miles of roads now
open to
“unrestricted traffic,” restricting motorized travel on “at least 16
miles
of other roads and 11 miles of trails,” and obliterating 520 miles of
currently gated roads to protect grizzly bear habitat, reported the
Spokane
Spokesman-Review and GREENlines last week. The move comes as the
result
of
a settlement with conservation groups. The proposal is described in a
newly
released Draft Environmental Impact Statement for 28 Bear Management
Units
on the Kootenai, Lolo, and Idaho Panhandle National Forests in Idaho,
Montana, and eastern Washington. Conservationists, while pleased with
the
closures, are concerned that they are insufficient to protect the
area’s
grizzly bear population. "In the big picture, this proposal is not
consistent with the known biological needs of the grizzly bear,” Ryan
Shaffer of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies told Skid Marks. “Despite
a
plethora of local, state, and federal laws that mandate it, the Forest
Service is unwilling to make protection and recovery of grizzly bears a
priority.”
---
4. POLARIS RECALLS ***S
A November 20 Associated Press story reported on a recall of 12,000
all-terrain vehicles by their manufacturer, Polaris Industries of
Medina,
Minnesota. The recall was sparked by a transmission problem, which can
cause the rear wheels to lock, leading to loss of vehicle control.
Polaris
sold the machines during the past three years for approximately $6,300
apiece. At least seven incidents related to the defect have been
reported.
---
5. WV COAL COMPANIES CLOSE ROADS TO ***S
Driven by concerns about increasing liability, coal companies owning
most of
the prime boar range in West Virginia’s Spruce Laurel Watershed blocked
many
of the main access roads with loads of rock rubble, says a story in the
November 9 Charleston Daily Mail. "They blocked the roads because of
the
aggravation created by all-terrain vehicles," Tom Dotson, district
wildlife
biologist for the state Division of Natural Resources, told the Mail.
The
West Virginia DNR introduced Russian wild boars to the area in the
early
1970s. Boar populations have declined in recent years due to influxes
of
competing wildlife, increasing land disturbance from new mines and
logging,
and drastic increases in the use of ***s for hunting. "It seems
everyone
has become affluent and owns an ***," Dotson says. "They drive them up
every drain, every hollow, out every ridge."
---
6. COLLISION WITH FLYING DUCK KILLS JET SKI RIDER
A jet skier died after an apparent collision with an airborne duck
while
riding across a lake about 20 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
says
a November 20 Associated Press report. The jet ski was traveling at
approximately 55 miles per hour when the accident occurred. The rider,
an
employee of a local Yamaha dealership, was testing the machine. "Our
theory
is that the bird was airborne and clocked him in the head," said David
Bamdas, an owner of the dealership. Given the speed of the jet ski,
the
10-
to 15-pound duck "might as well have been a cinder block," Bamdas said.
*********************************************
Please keep in touch with us about your roads and motorized recreation
work.
Questions about Skid Marks should be directed to Jacob Smith at
prebles@indra.com. Please send e-mail action alerts to
WildlandsCPR@wildrockies.org.
TO SUBSCRIBE
If you aren't already subscribed to Skid Marks and you would like to
be,
send an email to majordomo@indra.com with the following command in the
body
of your email message:
subscribe skidmarks [your email address]
TO UNSUBSCRIBE
Likewise, if you would like to remove yourself from our listserve, send
an
email to majordomo@indra.com with the following command in the body of
your
email message:
unsubscribe skidmarks [your email address]
Skid Marks is brought to you by the friendly road-rippers at Wildlands
CPR.
Thanks for your support and all of your efforts on behalf of wild
places
and
imperiled species.
********************************************
Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads
P.O. Box 7516
Missoula, MT 59807
(406) 543-9551
WildlandsCPR@wildlandscpr.org
www.wildlandscpr.org
ISSUE #44 November 26, 2001
Skid Marks, Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads' (usually) biweekly
newsletter, reports on activist efforts to challenge roads and
motorized
recreation nationwide. Skid Marks shares instructive and
precedent-setting
successes and failures in the campaign to halt motorized abuse of
wildland
ecosystems.
---
CONTENTS:
1. JUDGE DISMISSES CHALLENGE TO NEW MONUMENTS
2. MASSIVE HOLIDAY CROWDS DESCEND ON IMPERIAL SAND DUNES
3. FOREST SERVICE PROPOSES ROAD CLOSURES TO PROTECT GRIZZ
4. POLARIS RECALLS ***S
5. WV COAL COMPANIES CLOSE ROADS TO ***S
6. COLLISION WITH FLYING DUCK KILLS JET SKI RIDER
---
1. JUDGE DISMISSES CHALLENGE TO NEW MONUMENTS
A federal judge upheld former President Clinton’s designation of six
national monuments across the western U.S., reported Associated Press
on
November 16. The Mountain States Legal Defense Fund brought the
lawsuit,
arguing that Clinton overstepped his authority under the Antiquities
Act,
the law he used to establish the monuments, and challenging the
constitutionality of the Act itself. The lawsuit aimed to invalidate
the
designation of the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon,
Hanford
Reach in Washington, Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado, and Grand
Canyon-Parashant, Ironwood Forest, and Sonoran Desert National
Monuments
in
Arizona. Another lawsuit, challenging Clinton's 1996 creation of the
Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, is pending in
Utah
Federal District Court. Clinton used the Antiquities Act to create 19
national monuments and expand three others during his tenure in the
White
House.
---
2. MASSIVE HOLIDAY CROWDS DESCEND ON IMPERIAL SAND DUNES
Nearly 200,000 spent their Thanksgiving weekend recreating at the
Imperial
Sand Dunes Recreation Area in Southern California, reported the
November
26
Yuma Daily Sun. This figure is more than twice that of last year. In
addition to driving under the influence arrests and more than 200
medical
response calls tallied by authorities, today’s Imperial Valley Press
reported that two men were killed in ORV accidents and one arrested for
attempted murder after trying to run down a Bureau of Land Management
ranger. The area was the site of a near-riot over Thanksgiving weekend
in
1999, resulting in injuries to law enforcement officers and civilians.
---
3. FOREST SERVICE PROPOSES ROAD CLOSURES TO PROTECT GRIZZ
The Forest Service is proposing to close 43 to 61 miles of roads now
open to
“unrestricted traffic,” restricting motorized travel on “at least 16
miles
of other roads and 11 miles of trails,” and obliterating 520 miles of
currently gated roads to protect grizzly bear habitat, reported the
Spokane
Spokesman-Review and GREENlines last week. The move comes as the
result
of
a settlement with conservation groups. The proposal is described in a
newly
released Draft Environmental Impact Statement for 28 Bear Management
Units
on the Kootenai, Lolo, and Idaho Panhandle National Forests in Idaho,
Montana, and eastern Washington. Conservationists, while pleased with
the
closures, are concerned that they are insufficient to protect the
area’s
grizzly bear population. "In the big picture, this proposal is not
consistent with the known biological needs of the grizzly bear,” Ryan
Shaffer of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies told Skid Marks. “Despite
a
plethora of local, state, and federal laws that mandate it, the Forest
Service is unwilling to make protection and recovery of grizzly bears a
priority.”
---
4. POLARIS RECALLS ***S
A November 20 Associated Press story reported on a recall of 12,000
all-terrain vehicles by their manufacturer, Polaris Industries of
Medina,
Minnesota. The recall was sparked by a transmission problem, which can
cause the rear wheels to lock, leading to loss of vehicle control.
Polaris
sold the machines during the past three years for approximately $6,300
apiece. At least seven incidents related to the defect have been
reported.
---
5. WV COAL COMPANIES CLOSE ROADS TO ***S
Driven by concerns about increasing liability, coal companies owning
most of
the prime boar range in West Virginia’s Spruce Laurel Watershed blocked
many
of the main access roads with loads of rock rubble, says a story in the
November 9 Charleston Daily Mail. "They blocked the roads because of
the
aggravation created by all-terrain vehicles," Tom Dotson, district
wildlife
biologist for the state Division of Natural Resources, told the Mail.
The
West Virginia DNR introduced Russian wild boars to the area in the
early
1970s. Boar populations have declined in recent years due to influxes
of
competing wildlife, increasing land disturbance from new mines and
logging,
and drastic increases in the use of ***s for hunting. "It seems
everyone
has become affluent and owns an ***," Dotson says. "They drive them up
every drain, every hollow, out every ridge."
---
6. COLLISION WITH FLYING DUCK KILLS JET SKI RIDER
A jet skier died after an apparent collision with an airborne duck
while
riding across a lake about 20 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
says
a November 20 Associated Press report. The jet ski was traveling at
approximately 55 miles per hour when the accident occurred. The rider,
an
employee of a local Yamaha dealership, was testing the machine. "Our
theory
is that the bird was airborne and clocked him in the head," said David
Bamdas, an owner of the dealership. Given the speed of the jet ski,
the
10-
to 15-pound duck "might as well have been a cinder block," Bamdas said.
*********************************************
Please keep in touch with us about your roads and motorized recreation
work.
Questions about Skid Marks should be directed to Jacob Smith at
prebles@indra.com. Please send e-mail action alerts to
WildlandsCPR@wildrockies.org.
TO SUBSCRIBE
If you aren't already subscribed to Skid Marks and you would like to
be,
send an email to majordomo@indra.com with the following command in the
body
of your email message:
subscribe skidmarks [your email address]
TO UNSUBSCRIBE
Likewise, if you would like to remove yourself from our listserve, send
an
email to majordomo@indra.com with the following command in the body of
your
email message:
unsubscribe skidmarks [your email address]
Skid Marks is brought to you by the friendly road-rippers at Wildlands
CPR.
Thanks for your support and all of your efforts on behalf of wild
places
and
imperiled species.
********************************************
Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads
P.O. Box 7516
Missoula, MT 59807
(406) 543-9551
WildlandsCPR@wildlandscpr.org
www.wildlandscpr.org
