They're your public lands, you just can't go there?
Now is the time for Citizens of Boundary County to join together and make your opinions known regarding the latest land closures outlined within the Caribou Critical Habitat proposal. We need to join with residents of Bonner County to challenge the rule proposed.
Having been quietly released, the open public comment period is nearly over as it closes January 30, 2012. Few, if any public or town halls community meetings were held informing and educating the general public of the facts contained within this proposal.
To submit comments, the public should sign on a computer and go to the following web link: http:/www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FWS-R1-ES-2011-0096-0001
The Caribou Critical Habitat proposal for the Selkirk Mountains is the result of a 2009 Settlement Agreement (court order) which stipulated that the USFWS would submit a proposed critical habitat rule to the Federal Register on or before November 20, 2011.
This proposal, having been initiated by a petition submitted to the USFWS by the preservationist community which include, but are not limited to; Defenders of Wildlife (Washington, DC), The Lands Council (Spokane, WA), Selkirk Conservation Alliance (Priest River, ID), and Center for Biological Diversity (Tucson, AZ). In other words, the petition finds its way to court where the legal system directs the USFWS to generate the proposal and follow the Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulatory process rather than the employment of sound and proven forest practice techniques. This is no way to manage any forest ecosystem, not to mention our public National Forest.
"The primary threat to the species’ survival is the loss of contiguous old growth forest habitats due to timber harvest and wildfires. Human activities such as road-building and recreational trails can also fragment caribou habitat and facilitate the movement of predators into the caribou’s range". (USFWS News Release 11/29/2011)
Along with numerous small wildfires, the large 1910, Trapper Peak and Sundance fires burned extensively throughout the Selkirk Mountain range of Idaho which, by way of nature, eliminated the largest majority of old growth forest within the proposal area as well as most adjoining areas. Combined with these multiple fires and over 100 years of a forest prescription of Multiple Use Management consisting of logging, road building and trail maintenance - a contiguous old growth forest within the Selkirk Mountain range of Idaho is long since gone and cannot be regained.
Furthermore, in the above statement (press release) it is feared that road-building and recreational trails fragment habitat and facilitate the movement of predators INTO the caribou’s range. Conversely, the movement of predators INTO the caribou’s range has been facilitated not by roads and trails, so much as by the introduction of predatory species, such as the Canadian Grey Wolf, by the USFWS.
The USFWS states; "The primary threat to the species’ survival is the loss of contiguous old growth forest habitats due to timber harvest and wildfires.
The Selkirk Mountain Range of Idaho is not, and has not been managed as primitive or as Wilderness. As a consequence, a quick review of satellite image easily displays visual evidence of logging, roads, and trails existing in virtually every drainage of Idaho’s Selkirk Mountain Range. Again, other than a few localized pockets, a contiguous old growth forest within the Selkirk Mountain range of Idaho is long since gone.
Also evident within the adjoining areas of Canada, large scale logging has been extensive and road systems and trails are prevalent. These adjoining areas pose a much larger issue of “loss of contiguous old growth forests” and embody the large scale fragmentation of caribou habitat, which, is effectively out of any US ESA regulation or influence.
The USFWS states; "..road-building and recreation trails can also fragment the caribou habitat..". Also buried in the plan is the proposal that roads and trails will be demolished and re-contoured. Funding for this project would rest squarely on the shoulders of the tax payer but all funding aspects are exempted from any ESA consideration.
Presently, the remaining herd of Selkirk Mountain Caribou, resides in the Selkirk Mountain Range of British Columbia. Not to be overlooked, there is currently a major east-west highway in British Columbia just north of the international boundary that traverses through the north-south tending Selkirk Range. How can the USFWS propose the demolition of forest roads and trials in the Selkirk Mountain Range of Idaho while such a large scale trans-continental thoroughfare dissects directly through the proposed range habitat? The existing caribou herd resides north of this Canadian highway. If road demolition needs to be done to recover the species in the US Selkirks, it must start with Highway 3 in Canada. After all, Hwy 3 is the largest and most impending threat to the fragmentation of caribou habitat.
Simply put, this proposal has been initiated because the Selkirk Mountain Range of Idaho is downhill from the present caribou herd and several preservationist organizations are attempting to take advantage of the holes in the Endangered Species Act. The Selkirk Mountain Range of Idaho cannot, under any terms, meet the definition of Critical Habitat. Fire impacts combined with over 100 years of Multiple Use Management cannot be demolished, no matter how much funding is acquired from any source.
Truly, this proposal is nothing more than another environmentalist movement land grab supported by like-minded biologists facilitating and pursuing their personal agendas. Moreover, this plan identifies another tool used to perpetuate the ongoing assault on our communities economic “life’s’ blood,” the forest products industry. A tactic supported by the preservationist ideology shared by the current leadership of our US Dept. of Agriculture/Forest Service.
I request that the USFWS and USFS schedule numerous public meetings within all communities of the affected area and outline the policies intentions to all area media’s.
Clearly, if this proposal represents the “best science available”, the science community should be embarrassed of its lack of detail, evidence, impartiality and validity. There are so many flaws in this proposal it cannot be declared as factual science, rather it is merely theoretical or hypothetical rhetoric.
However, one thing is evident, this proposal and process clearly displays the need for a complete re-draft of the Endanger Species Act.
Sincerely,
LeAlan Pinkerton
Bonners Ferry, ID
Lester Pinkerton
Custer, SD