And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 08:54:06 -0700 >To: "Wild Rockies Alerts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: Wild Rockies InfoNet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Wild Wyoming Needs Your Help >Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Wild Wyoming Needs Your Help > >Action Alert: >Prevent Development Adjacent to Wyoming's Spectacular Washakie Wilderness > >From Greater Yellowstone Coalition; Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance; >Wyoming Chapter of the Sierra Club; Wyoming Outdoor Council > >More Clearcuts, New Oil Wells In the Heart of the Shoshone National Forest, >the Forest Service May Allow Both. Unless... > >Ramshorn Peak is one of the most prominent landmarks in the Absaroka >Mountains. Motorists traveling through the Wind River Valley are awed when >they first catch sight of its jagged peak, rising from a sea of spruce, >fir, and whitebark pine. The cliffs tower over the headwaters of Tappan >and Brent Creeks, just outside the Washakie Wilderness, north of Dubois, >Wyoming. > >The Shoshone was the nation's first national forest, created on March 30, >1891 by President Harrison to protect forests threatened by overcutting for >railroad ties to make the nation's growing railways. Near the town of >Dubois - which is making the switch from timber town to tourism economy - >is the amazing and beautiful Dunoir Special Management Area, a vast >forested valley below the colorful cliffs of the Continental Divide, >draining into the Wind River. > >This is where the Forest Service is preparing the Ramshorn Environmental >Impact Statement (EIS) to simultaneously consider a major timber harvest >and an oil company's proposal to develop an exploratory well. > >The latter would involve bulldozing a road, gouging out waste pits, pouring >concrete pads, erecting drill rigs and - if the company hits oil or gas - >installing pipelines, dehydrators, condensate tanks, gas "sweetening" >plants, and many other eyesores. The proposed timber sale will "treat" >over 700 acres of forest, and build more than 5 miles of new road. All >this development will take place on the same 14,000 acres. > >Do you want industrial development a few miles from the Washakie >Wilderness? If not, please consider writing to the Forest Service. > >More than scenery is at stake! Biologists have called the Ramshorn area >some of the the best grizzly bear habitat in the Greater Yellowstone >Ecosystem. At least 15 bears use the area. It's also the first place >outside Yellowstone Park where recently reintroduced wolves chose to den, >one of the few remote places in Wyoming where lynx tracks have been found >and it provides some of the best elk habitat in the state. > >The site is also a favorite recreation spot for locals and visitors to the >Upper Wind River Valley. Hiking, backpacking, horsepacking, fishing, and >hunting would be compromised by traffic, flaring of gas, and other round >the-clock activity that comes with oil and gas development. > >The Shoshone is facing too many pressures: > >* Over the next ridge, the Forest Service has already approved the Double >Cabin Timber Sale for 1999-2000, which will further compromise important >habitat and inevitably send the area's unstable soils into the Wiggins >Fork-- a nominated Wild and Scenic river. > >* Also in the Wind River Valley, contractors are gearing up to straighten >and widen Togwotee Pass Highway. In areas where grizzly bears are known to >cross, the highway's footprint on the landscape will grow as trees are >removed and more surface is paved. > >The combined effects of these projects - some already approved, others >under consideration - could be disastrous for wildlife in the area. > >Please write the Shoshone National Forest and tell them: > >The exploratory well under the Ramshorn should not be approved. Grizzlies >and other wildlife depend on this important habitat and it should not be >sacrificed as a development zone! The Ramshorn EIS must analyze: > >* The cumulative effects of the proposed Brent Creek timber sale, as well >as the Double Cabin Timber sale, the Togwotee Pass highway reconstruction, >oil and gas leasing in the Brent Creek and Sheridan Pass areas and in four >management areas being considered for leasing on the other side of the >Continental Divide in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. > >* The effects that oil and gas leasing, exploration and development on >lynx, grizzly bears, wolves, elk, moose and goshawks. > >* The impacts of increased human activity and the potential for human/bear >encounters. > >* The impacts to roadless areas, wilderness, air quality, water quality, >wildlife migration routes, historic/cultural resources and >visual/recreational resources. > >* The environmental impacts of exploration and full field oil and gas >development including the construction of roads and all the other >facilities and activities associated with petroleum development. > > >Other points you may wish to emphasize: > >* As required by the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental >Policy Act, the Forest Service must consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife >Service regarding the combined projects' potential effects on grizzly >bears, lynx and wolves. > >* Because Hudson Oil stands to make a substantial profit by developing our >national forest, taxpayers should not foot the bill for the costs of the >EIS. Furthermore, the EIS should include a reclamation plan, backed up by >a bond, that will ensure the area can be restored to its natural condition. > >* The Forest Service should study the impacts of oil and gas development on >the society and economy of Dubois including balancing the economic benefits >of hunting, fishing, recreation, wildlife viewing with the short term >economic benefits of oil and gas. > >Send your comments to: > >Bob Rossman, ID Team Leader, >808 Meadow Lane, Cody WY 82414 >(307)527-6241 >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >(if you send an e-mail, be sure to also send a hard copy). > >Please act soon! The deadline for comments is January 15. > >Caroline Byrd >Staff Attorney >Wyoming Outdoor Council >262 Lincoln Street >Lander, Wyoming 82520 >ph. (307) 332-7031 >fax (307) 332-6899 >http://www.wocnet.org > >The Wyoming Outdoor Council represents Wyoming citizens who are concerned >about our quality of life, our communities and our environment. > >Transfered by: > >Phil Knight >Native Forest Network, Yellowstone Branch >Last Refuge Campaign >Gondwana Forest Sanctuary >PO Box 6151 >Bozeman, MT 59771-6151 >(406) 586-3885 >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Visit: > >The Native Forest Network Northern Hemisphere Web Site: >http://www.nativeforest.org > >The Native Forest Network's Last Refuge Campaign web page: >www.nativeforest.org/campaigns/last_refuge/index.html > Keeping the Wild in Wild West! > >The Native Forest Network Southern Hemisphere Web Site: >http://www.nfn.org.au > >************************************************************************ >List-Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >News Submissions or Problems: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >This list is a public service provided by WIN: http://www.wildrockies.org > &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment ...http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ `"` `"` `"` `"` `"` `"`