BOULDER WHITE CLOUD WILDERNESS

v

NORTHERN ROCKIES ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION ACT (N.R.E.P.A.)

DEBATE:

PRO- BOULDER WHITECLOUD WILDERNESS (current designation)

Here is a video on CIEDRA v Boulder WhiteCloud Wilderness)

SOURCE 1: MEANING OF WILDERNESS AS LAND POLICY

After decades of iterations and stalling the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA) has now become three

wildernesses that would be separated by motorized vehicle trails.

On September 3rd, 1964 President Lyndon Johnson signed The Wilderness Act into law; it defined wilderness as:

DEFINITION OF WILDERNESS

(c) A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized 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. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.

(www.wilderness.net 5-20-14)

WILDERNESS AS LAND POLICY VIDEO:

SOURCE 2: (2004): MOTORIZED AND MOUNTAIN BIKE OPPOSITION TO WILDERNESS DESIGNATION :

The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date: 07-02-2004

STANLEY — Rep. Mike Simpson on Thursday heard what people don't like about his plan to protect wilderness in the Boulder/White Clouds Mountains and help the economy of central Idaho.

Preservationists in Ketchum criticized Simpson for leaving lakes and trails they love out of his 294,000-acre wilderness area.

In Stanley, mountain bikers and snowmobilers urged him to keep open access to the alpine peaks where they ride.

Others asked him to change plans to transfer federal land to Custer County and the state to offset wilderness protection costs.

About 250 people packed the American Legion Hall in Ketchum, while 150 came to the Stanley School. Simpson vowed to continue to seek a compromise that protects most of the state's largest roadless area while keeping motorized access and helping economically strapped Custer County.

He holds the last of his three meetings today in Challis.

Federal wilderness designation prohibits motorized use, logging and new mining. But in the Boulder/White Clouds, the major conflict left is between motorized recreationists and wilderness advocates who want the backcountry quiet and open only to hikers and horseback riding.

Sarah Michael, a commissioner from Blaine County, and Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon told Simpson they want more wilderness because it's critical to their recreation-based economy.

"Wilderness requires very little federal action and very little federal money,'' Simon said.

But Merle Ebers, of the Idaho State Snowmobile Association, countered in Stanley that the economies of Elk City, Grangeville and Kooskia that are next to wilderness are not benefiting economically. Stanley can build its winter economy on snowmobiling if he and other riders are allowed into the high country for riding. Singer-songwriter Carole King, who has a ranch in the White Clouds, called the 500,000 acre roadless area "our Hope Diamond."

"What's happening with this (plan) is we're chipping off the Hope Diamond,'' King said.

Jack Struthers, who owns a motorcycle dealership in Boise, urged Simpson to consider other ways to protect the area without kicking out motorized users. Simpson's plan does keep open several critical motorized trails, including a loop around popular Frog Lake and the Germania Trail that divides the Boulders from the White Clouds and connects the East Fork of the Salmon River area with the Sawtooth Valley.

"We don't want to destroy the land, we want to preserve it," Struthers said.

Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, said a provision that would require federal officials to open a new trail if they are forced to close an existing trail to motorized use is a "fundamental flaw" of the plan. He and other environmentalists decried the proposal to give the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation $1 million for motorized trail development and land.

"It's really hard for them to take care of the land they have now," said Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum. Simpson's plan calls for transferring 1,000 acres of Challis National Forest lands to Custer County so it can resell it to help pay for the costs of wilderness management like ambulances, rescue and road maintenance. He also proposed an unspecified transfer of federal lands in the Stanley area, which is surrounded by the Sawtooth National Recreational Area.

Bob Hayes, executive director of the Sawtooth Society, which works to keep the SNRA from becoming overdeveloped, said he hoped they could support the bill. But Simpson must ensure that any land transferred in the SNRA cannot exceed 100 acres, must be contiguous to existing development and have strict deed restrictions to meet the SNRA standards.

Chris Cook of Boise, a mountain biker who regularly rides deep into the backcountry of the White Clouds, spoke for the Idaho Recreation Council, a new group he said represents motorized recreationists and mountain bikers. They can support the bill, he said, only if there is no net loss of recreation in the area, including bicycling.

"I feel the current proposal is going to shut me out of areas unique in Idaho and the United States," Cook said.

Only one rancher testified, Jay Neider of Stanley. He said he supports multiple use and has not liked watching logging, mining and ranching fade in the area.

"I'm against any more wilderness in Idaho, but I know there's going to have to be more to satisfy the enviros," he said. "I do think the peaks should be wilderness."

Simpson told those in various camps why they should help get his bill done this year. To wilderness advocates, he warned that if he fails, it could be 25 to 30 years before the issue is resolved, and motorized use would only grow. To the motorized users, he pointed out that Sen. John Kerry could win the election, and the western White House would be in Ketchum. Kerry could declare the area a national monument, which could close down use.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

SOURCE #3:

BOULDER WHITECLOUDS NATIONAL MONUMENT PROPOSAL

AND

BOULDER WHITE CLOUDS Wilderness and SAWTOOTH NATIONAL RECREATION AREA (SNRA): the land policy management prior to wilderness designation in 2015

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Forest Management

The Boulder-White Clouds of central Idaho represent part of the largest unprotected landscape in the lower 48 states. For more than a decade, Idahoans have worked to protect this spectacular region. Prior to the 2015 Wilderness Designation, the Boulder White Clouds were apart of the multi-use policy of the Sawtooth National Forest and Sawtooth National Recreation Area. "The Boulder-White Clouds region of Central Idaho represents the largest unprotected roadless landscape in the lower 48 states. It is unparalleled in its ecological, cultural, and recreation values, yet many of these values remain unprotected. The area contains the headwaters of four major rivers, critical alpine habitat, plants found nowhere else on earth, and elusive and threatened species like the wolverine, bull trout, and Chinook salmon. The abundance of habitat and winter range creates a sanctuary for elusive and threatened species, like the Canada lynx and fisher. Recreationists—hikers, skiers, snowmobilers, mountain-bikers, kayakers, rafters, hunters, anglers—find opportunities to explore rugged landscapes that can’t be matched." (www.boulderwhiteclouds.ord 5-11-15)..

Rugged stories are imbedded in the many relics of bustling mining towns that once existed throughout the region. Native American tribes relied on the fertile hunting and fishing grounds of the eastern rain-shadowed landscape of the Boulder-White Clouds.

Because of the pristine, wild country and fascinating history, these mountains are treasured as one of Idaho’s premier backcountry recreational destinations." (boulderwhiteclouds.org 5-11-15)

The Boulder White Clouds are apart of Sawtooth National Recreation Area. "The Sawtooth National Recreation Area (Sawtooth NRA) consists of 756,000 acres of scenic mountain country. The Sawtooth NRA has over 700 miles of trails, 40 peaks rising over 10,000 feet and 300 plus high mountain lakes that add to the spectacular scenery and vistas. " (fs.gov 5-11-15)

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area, was established in 1972. While the Sawtooth National Recreation Area has been a very positive step for the landscape, it did not provided a higher level of protection for recommended wilderness areas within the Boulder-White Clouds. And while the Sawtooth National Recreation Area withdrew much of the area from mining, many of today’s primary threats—including expanding off-road vehicle use—would be better managed under Wilderness Designation. Also, prior to the Wilderness Designation parts of the Boulder White Clouds were managed by the Bureau of Land Management and parts are under National Forest Management.

SOURCE 3: BWC as one or three Wilderness Areas: what is the difference?

The greatest benefit in protecting this area as wilderness is preserving the land as one connected landscape and achieving watershed-scale protections. Including the Sawtooth National Recreation Area lands within as one contiguous wilderness would provide better, comprehensive protections for the region’s wildlife, fisheries, wild lands, recreation, historic and other values that make this region one of the most unique in Idaho.

HISTORY OF WHITE CLOUD NATIONAL PARK PROPOSAL:

Starting in 1975, three years after the Sawtooth National Recreation Area Act became law, the Department of Interior issued a report on whether or not the Boulder-White Clouds should become a National Park. The study recommended that “the high mountain peaks [of the Boulder-White Clouds] would be managed essentially as wilderness national parks, with little development,” and the area would be “closed to nearly all motorized transportation”. The National Park for the Boulder-White Clouds never materialized, but the Department of Interior report demonstrates that a national recreation area designation would likely not be adequate to ultimately protect the wilderness aspects of the Boulder-White Clouds." (boulderwhiteclouds.org 5-11-15).

Mountain biking, grazing, and motorized use would not be allowed in wilderness areas. But the three wilderness areas allow for motorized vehicle use on trails that bisect the three areas.

Wilderness designation, which requires congressional legislation, provides the highest level of protection for public lands and ensures an area remains unimpaired by human interference.

One contiguous Wilderness area improves and better manages non-motorized recreational access, preserve historic sites, and promotes opportunities for enhancing or restoring wildlife habitat and migration corridors.

While the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (C.I.E.D.R.A.) had three wilderness areas that were segmented by motorized roads, the one White Clouds Wilderness area would not.

Three Idaho Wilderness Areas designated in 2015:

Hemingway-Boulders Wilderness—110,370 acres of federal land in the Sawtooth and Challis National Forests will become the Hemingway-Boulders Wilderness, to be managed by the Sawtooth National Forest.

Cecil Adnrus White Clouds Wilderness— 90,888 acres of federal land in the Sawtooth and Challis National Forests will become the White Clouds Wilderness, to be managed by the Sawtooth National Forest.

Jerry Peak Wilderness—131,670 acres of federal land in the Challis National Forest and Challis District of the Bureau of Land Management will become the Jerry Peak Wilderness, to be managed by the Challis BLM.

SOURCE #4: Oral Testimony on BWC Wilderness

Oral Testimony on BWC Wilderness

Ketchum Legion Hall, Ketchum, Idaho

Lynne K. Stone, Director

Boulder-White Clouds Council

Box 6313

Ketchum ID 83340

www.wildwhiteclouds.org

Thank you, Rep. Simpson for your efforts. I work for the Boulder-White Clouds Council here in Ketchum. I’m a big fan of wildlife. I hike. I own three mountain bikes. I wrote a mountain bike guide.

And I’d like to take a minute and talk about how, to me, wilderness isn’t about recreation.

I’d like to think that all of us, whether we’re snowmobilers or mountain bikers or hikers or motorcyclists, that we like the wildlife. And, we all want at times to have peace and quiet with our family.

This year we will be making a decision and it will be a decision that will last forever.

Right now as we are meeting here, there are mountain goats on ledges above Fourth of July Lake, Phyllis Lake and Germania Creek; bighorns in Bighorn Basin and on Railroad Ridge; elk with their new spotted calves in the quiet of East Pass Creek and Herd Creek. And our gray wolves -- the Castle Peak and Galena Packs -- feeling the warm morning sun -- and I won’t say where they are.

Thank you for recognizing, Congressman, the high wildlife values on the east side -- the high plateaus of the Herd Creek and Jerry Peak country. I love that country. It’s the best part of your plan.

But there are areas that we need to work on. And I know you’re reasonable and I know the Republican party cares about the environment, and cares about wildlife and we can fix this. I have some suggestions. Here they are. They’re easy.

Number 1 - Your plan makes motorized recreation the number one use of the White Cloud west side. I feel that harms family values. It harms the opportunity for me to take my son and my future grandchildren to a lake that’s not a hard hike.

We all know these places, we can all walk to them. We can walk to them as three-year olds and ninety-year olds. And they are Fourth of July, Washington Lake, Phyllis Lake, Heart Lake and Six Lakes Basin. It’s Rough Creek and if you’re adventuresome, Rough Lake. These need to be one Wilderness in your plan.

We urge you to get rid of this absurd idea of turning Champion Lakes into a motorized nightmare. Champion Lakes is not even open to mountain bikes. (Applause) Furthermore, the proposal to build a trail from Phyllis Lake, which is now closed to motors, over a 9,400’ pass and then go into Washington Basin, then over Washington Peak, which is 10,500’ high, so that motorcycles and snowmobiles can get into the Champion Lakes drainage borders on criminal in my mind. (Applause)

I wasn’t going to speak today because I wanted to hear from you in the audience. And then I decided that -- as I slept out by the Boulders along the Big Wood River last night -- that I just had to get up here.

Number 2 - And this has already been hit on -- the plan as it stands right now undermines everything the Sawtooth National Recreation Area was created to save in 1972. We didn’t save Castle Peak from the bulldozers and mining -- to give it over to motorized recreation on almost every trail on the west side.(applause) We have to fix that.

Right now Boulder-White Clouds Council cannot support this proposal. We’d like to support it. We’re really willing to compromise, we’re willing to give some trails over the motorized recreation. We’ve already had some arguments today with the purists who think we’re going to get it all, the whole chunk intact. We’re not. But I happen to think that motorized users care about this place as well. I’ve heard a lot of them say they don’t want Germania Creek improved. They want it tough. They want it to be expert only.

So, let’s keep working together. Thank you again, Congressman, and thank all of you for coming.

SOURCE #5: "THE VALUE OF WILDERNESS," RODERICK NASH ESSAY

Source #6: Read Aldo Leopold's "The Land Ethic"-link.

Locke and Leopold: The Land Ethic

John Locke Second Treatise of Government (1690):

WHAT IS THE STATE OF NATURE?

“A state of equality wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another...the state of nature has a law of nature to govern it (and reason is that law), which obliges everyone and teaches mankind that all (being) equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health liberty or possessions.” (Locke 8).

“Men living together according to reason, without a common superior on earth, with authority to judge between them, is properly the state of nature.” (88).

WHAT IS A LAND ETHIC? ALDO LEOPOLD 1949

The Ethical Sequence

This extension of ethics, so far studied only by philosophers, is actually a process in ecological evolution. Its sequence may be described in ecological as well as in philosophic terns. An ethic, ecologically, is a limitation on freedom action in the struggle for existence. An ethic, philosophically is a differentiation of social from anti-social conduct. These are two definitions of one thing. The thing has its origin in the tendency of interdependent individuals or groups to evolve modes of co-operation. The ecologist calls fees symbioses. Politics and economics are advanced symbioses in which the original free-for-all competition has been re placed, in part, by co-operative mechanisms with an ethical content.

The complexity of co-operative mechanisms has increase with population density, and with the efficiency of tools. It was simpler, for example, to define the anti-social uses sticks and stones in the days of the mastodons than of bullet and billboards in the age of motors.

The first ethics dealt with the relation between individuals; the Mosaic Decalogue is an example. Later accretions dealt with the relation between the individual and society. The Golden Rule tries to integrate the individual to society, democracy to integrate social organization to the individual.

There is as yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. Land, like Odysseus' slave-girls, is still property. The land relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but no obligations.

The extension of ethics to this third element in human environment is, if I read the evidence correctly, an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity. It is the third step in a sequence. The first two have already been taken. Individual thinkers since the days of Ezekiel and Isaiah have asserted that the despoliation of land is not only inexpedient but wrong. Society, however, has not yet affirmed their belief. I regard the present conservation movement as the embryo of such an affirmation.

All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in that community, but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate (perhaps in order that there may be a place to compete for).

The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land...Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal. Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity.”

This thumbnail sketch of land as an energy circuit conveys three basic ideas:

• 1. That land is not merely soil.

  2. That the native plants and animals kept the energy circuit open; others may or may not,

  3. That man-made changes are of a different order than evolutionary changes, and have effects more comprehensive than is intended or foreseen

These ideas, collectively, raise two basic issues: Can the land adjust itself to the new order? Can the desired alterations be accomplished with less violence?

-Aldo Leopold

THE LAND ETHIC: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."(Leopold)

ASSIGNMENT: Take John Locke's moral obligation to respect and honor the innocent life, liberty, health, equality, and property of other humans and include the moral obligation to respect and honor the innocent life and health of ecosystems in one statement.

And explain why it is a moral obligation to honor innocent human life, liberty, health, equality, and property and intact ecosystems:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRO NORTHERN ROCKIES ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION ACT

(N.R.E.P.A.)

Source #1: NORTHERN ROCKIES ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION ACT(N.R.E.P.A.) MAP AND HABITAT MAPS

Grizzly Bear Map:

Mountain Goat Map:

Wolverine Map:

Endangered Bull Trout Map:

SOURCE #2: NREPA Ecosystem Protection and Biological Corridors

Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (N.R.E.P.A.) would not only protect all of the proposed area as wilderness, it would also link up the White Cloud Wilderness with other wilderness and roadless areas to create biological corridors to link the Yellowstone to Yukon Northern Rocky Ecosystem.

NREPA Ecosystem Protection and Biological Corridors

The Northern Rocky Mountains encompass the last great expanse of native biodiversity in the contiguous United States. This bioregion—known as America's Serengeti—is the last stronghold of the grizzly bear, the woodland caribou and the bull trout. It contains all the species present at the time of the Lewis & Clark Expedition two hundred years ago, including free-roaming populations of bison, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, wolves, mountain lions and hundreds of others. They roam the region's great forests and native grasslands. ENDANGERED salmon and trout still make their epic migrations from the sea, more than 900 miles inland, to high mountain tributaries along the Great Divide.

"Some of the nation's last remaining elk herds and grizzly bears are managing to survive in these areas. If we allow further development we're actually offering taxpayer money to finance the depletion of the land and the species."

—Rep. Carolyn Maloney

Congress has made great strides in protecting a portion of this great region, designating some areas as wilderness, and others as national parks such as Yellowstone and Glacier. However, more than 20 million acres of these unspoiled lands remain unprotected and increasingly vulnerable to being lost forever through excessive roadbuilding, forest clearcutting, mining and other developments that mar the beauty of the landscape. Adding economic insult to injury, corporations receive federal subsidies for logging through money-losing timber sales. That is, the federal government sells the development rights for logging at below-cost rates. We're literally paying for the destruction of our last wild forests.

"America has the opportunity to protect some 20 million acres of western land and save more than $245 million of taxpayers' dollars."

—Rep. Christopher Shays

To reverse this alarming trend, common citizens from all walks of life, scientists, and economists have developed a plan to protect the Northern Rockies Ecosystem. The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) is sponsored by a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Congress led by Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY).

Biological Corridors: Two hundred years ago the Northern Rockies was one vast, unspoiled wilderness. Today, human settlements, agriculture and a growing network of roads and rail lines occupy most of the valleys between remaining wild habitats. To prevent the isolation of wildlife in small pockets which eventually succumb to the effects of small population size and inbreeding, scientists have pioneered the concept of biological linkage corridors that connect the core wildlands of a region into a functioning ecological whole. These biological bridges allow for animal, fish and plant migration, and the genetic interchange vital to longterm health and viability. NREPA puts this concept into practice through its designations of Biological Linkage Corridors and through the expansion of Wild & Scenic Rivers that maintain free-flowing rivers essential to fish migration.

Source 3: "Why Wilderness" by Wallace Stegner

SOURCE #4 N.R.E.P.A.: Core Ecosystems:

Cabinet-Yaak-Selkirk Ecosystem

The wettest of the five ecosystems, it boasts the last major stands of low elevation ancient forests, including the oldest living cedars in America. The only woodland caribou herd in the lower 48 still roams here, joined by the grizzly and the endangered Coeur d’Alene salamander. Towering spires and remote, lake-filled basins define the Cabinet, Selkirk, and Purcell Ranges.

Glacier-Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem

Encompassing Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, America's largest bighorn sheep herd scales the peaks here and grizzlies still roam the prairies along the Rocky Mountain Front. Old growth forests in the Swan and Mission Ranges shade pristine bull trout spawning runs. The gray wolf is making a comeback here.

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Yellowstone's world-famous geyser basins, vast forests, abundant wildlife, and blue-ribbon trout streams form the core of this great ecosystem. Glaciers and permanent snowfields cloak the rugged Teton and Beartooth Mountains. Diverse habitats range from cactus deserts to alpine tundra. Wildlife includes the grizzly bear, our nation's last wild bison herd, endangered trumpeter swans and nearly 50,000 elk.

Hells Canyon-Wallowa Ecosystem

The Hells Canyon of the Snake River--the deepest river-carved canyon in the world--forms the core of this mostly vertical ecosystem. America's largest elk herd roams the old growth ponderosa pine and larch forests beneath the high peaks of the Wallowa and Seven Devils Mountains. The region abounds in cultural and archeological sites. The Imnaha River Chinook are among the largest salmon in the nation.

Salmon-Selway Ecosystem

This ecosystem is one of the most rugged, remote areas in America. At its heart are the Frank Church/River of No Return and Selway-Bitterroot Wildernesses. Several species of salmon and the steelhead trout still swim from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in the high mountain tributaries of the Salmon and Clearwater Rivers. Biological and landscape diversity is great, ranging from rocky, dry canyons to wet forests of ancient cedars.

Land Use Policies in concert under NREPA:

The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act differs from traditional state-by-state wilderness bills by offering a variety of designations designed to work in concert to achieve one goal: protection of an entire, functioning ecosystem. These designations are based on the best science on ecological and watershed features—not arbitrary political boundaries.

Wilderness

NREPA affords America's pristine roadless lands with their highest level of legal protection—designation under the 1964 Wilderness Act. These designations (20,572,147 acres) complete the visionary work enacted by previous Congresses and fill important ecological gaps overlooked when our understanding of conservation biology was less advanced.

National Park & Preserve Study Areas

NREPA establishes two potential additions to our national park system: Hells Canyon-Chief Joseph National Park & Preserve Study Area (1,439,444 acres) along the Oregon/Idaho border and the Flathead National Preserve Study Area (285,078 acres) adjacent to Glacier National Park. Preserve status prohibits developments which impair natural and scenic values, while traditional uses such as hunting, fishing, and firewood gathering and some motorized uses, would continue.

Wild & Scenic Rivers

NREPA protects 1,810 miles of headwaters rivers which feed three different oceans. Wild, Scenic and Recreational River designations will protect these rivers and safeguard ancient migration routes for numerous species of salmon, steelhead, and native trout including bull trout. World-class rafting and boating opportunities will also be preserved while assuring steady flows of high quality water for downstream users.

Biological Linkage Corridors

NREPA safeguards against habitat fragmentation by establishing a system of Biological Linkage Corridors to connect the region's core wildlands into a functioning ecological whole. These areas would be protected as wilderness and as special management zones (3,476,118 acres) where development is limited, but not prohibited.

National Wildland Recovery System

NREPA establishes a pilot system of Wildland Restoration Areas (1,022,769 acres) and creates jobs restoring damage caused by unwise resource extraction practices. Efforts will focus on removal of excess and unneeded roads, reduction of soil erosion, and restoration of native vegetation and water quality. Native fisheries and wildlife populations will be rejuvenated while boosting the economy in rural communities formerly dependent on resource extraction.

Native American Religious & Treaty Rights

NREPA respects and honors the rights and religious practices of our first citizens. The Badger–Two Medicine area adjacent to Glacier National Park is designated The Blackfeet Wilderness where traditional Native American uses and treaty rights are fully protected. All areas designated through NREPA explicitly recognize and protect these rights.

YELLOWSTONE TO YUKON VIDEO:

Source #5 Y2Y: The Geography of Hope

Wildlife studies have revealed that the Yellowstone to Yukon region is North America’s greatest conservation opportunity.

Stretching some 2,000 miles in length (3,218 km), the Yellowstone to Yukon region is one of the last intact mountain ecosystems left on Earth. It is home to the full suite of wildlife species that existed when European explorers first arrived and it is the source of clean, safe drinking water to 15 million North Americans.

A Rare Oasis

Other iconic mountain ecosystems like the Himalayas, the Andes and the Alps have not been so fortunate. The cumulative effects of human occupation and cultivation in these areas have led to the extinction or endangerment of many large native mammals.

These same issues have not yet damaged beyond repair the Yellowstone to Yukon region or the life that lives within it. If we can protect critical habitat and keep it connected, we can continue to avoid the same fate as these other iconic mountain ecosystems.

See what science says about the need to keep the Yellowstone to Yukon region protected and connected and why it is North America’s geography of hope:

Wildlife’s Need to Roam

North America’s Greatest Conservation Opportunity

An Antidote to Extinction

Why Y2Y

Need: Thriving Wild Places

Wild places provide us with the things that keep us alive: fresh water, clean air, productive soil, and protection from natural disasters like drought and floods. When animals, birds, fish, plants, soil and water interact as they should, not only does wildness thrive—so do we.

To know how well our wild spaces are faring, we often turn to the grizzly bear. Due to their need for large, intact landscapes and diverse ecosystems, grizzly bear populations are good indicators of the health of our natural landscapes. When bear populations thrive, our wild places are healthy.

Issue: Bad News Bears

Unfortunately, the status of North America’s grizzlies tells us that all is not well. More than 100,000 grizzly bears once roamed from Mexico to Alaska. By the 1920s, many grizzly populations were exterminated, leaving only island populations in western United States. By the early 1970s, grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem were completely cut off from the remaining bears on the continent, stranding them on an island of habitat where, even today, their future survival is at risk. Other indicator species such as caribou, wolverine and bull trout share a similar story.

Cause: Habitat Fragmentation

The problem is not only habitat loss but how that loss occurs: big pieces of wild land get chopped into ever-smaller chunks until the wide-ranging grizzlies and other wildlife encounter too many manmade obstacles to survive. This process is known as habitat fragmentation. Roads, development and settlement break up the landscape, reduce the amount of wildlife habitat and bring bears into frequent contact with people, often leading to bear deaths. When bear populations lose their ability to connect with other bear populations, inbreeding ensues and the gene pools weaken. Even with 44 national parks scattered throughout the Yellowstone to Yukon region, protected areas alone are not big enough to ensure the long-term survival of this indicator species.

The Big Unknown: Climate Change

More than 95 per cent of climate scientists agree that human-caused climate change is occurring. This is disrupting biological relationships that have evolved since the last ice age. Wildlife and plants depend on certain temperatures to survive. As a result, many species will need to adapt – or perish. Within the Yellowstone to Yukon region, we have already experienced extreme events and precipitation is projected to shift from snow to rain. Glaciers are melting, increasing the likelihood of spring floods and summer droughts.

These changes will cause plant communities and wildlife to move in search of more favorable climates. Picas and wolverines, for example, will move to higher elevations and more northern habitat to find the cooler temperatures they need to survive. Even entire ecosystems will shift. In northern British Columbia it is expected that some alpine ecosystems found at higher elevations will be taken over by scrubby plants and trees from lower down. Animals that live above treeline will be squeezed out. Although, large lakes and streams should remain, small shallow ones could dry up or fill in.

The best solution to support these inevitable changes is to maintain and connect large swaths of ecologically diverse land , like those found in the Yellowstone to Yukon region.

Solution: Think Big

In 1993, a group of conservationists, scientists and activists met to discuss a solution to habitat fragmentation. Their idea was to think of conservation on a larger scale—a continental scale.

Their vision was of a web of life-sustaining wildlife habitats linked by movement corridors that extend some 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon Territory. It is a vision that seeks to reverse fragmentation; to protect and connect habitat in order for wildlife and people to coexist and thrive. Such a protected and connected network also creates the best opportunity for wild species to move to adapt to a changing climate. The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) exists to realize this vision.

A Global Model

Today, Y2Y‘s continental-scale conservation strategy is recognized as a global model for reconciling the needs of nature and people.

A few years after the Yellowstone to Yukon vision was launched, the Panel on Ecological Integrity of Canada’s National Parks hailed this scale of conservation the “new paradigm of protected areas.” In 2011, Y2Y was featured in President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors report as a leading example of a collaborative approach to large-landscape conservation.

Not only does this big-picture approach remedy genetic isolation and the loss of habitat, scientists also believe it is the appropriate scale for enabling wildlife and vegetation to adapt to the environment’s most pressing issue—climate change.

Related Information:

Geography of Hope

Our Progress

Our Progress

What Progress Looks Like - Protected Land

(Enjoy this Y2Y 8-minute video that highlights the Yellowstone to Yukon Vision and its 20 years of progress.)

Since the Yellowstone to Yukon vision took hold in 1993, some 300 partner groups have joined forces to connect and protect this stunning landscape so people and nature can thrive. Progress over the past 20 years is astounding.C

https://y2y.net/vision/our-progress

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE THE COMPLETE BEFORE AND AFTER MAP:

These areas are critical in ensuring functional wildlife corridors that connect protected landscapes and allow wildlife to roam. Y2Y is consulting with its partners to determine that the land represented on this map is being managed to support connectivity and that the list is fulsome.

Read on to see how grizzly bears have responded to conservation efforts and to see what Y2Y has achieved with its partners.

Since 1993, the actions of Y2Y and partners have increased protected areas* from 11 to 21 percent within the Yellowstone to Yukon region, while better management practices have improved conservation** across an additional 30 percent of lands.

Salmon-Selway-Bitterroot

Overview

The Salmon-Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem (SSB) includes one of the largest continuous roadless areas in the lower 48 States. The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness (~1.3 million ac / 527,000 ha) and the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness (~2.4 million ac / 930,776 ha) protect much of its landscape. This large core area is inhabited by bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elk, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, cougars, wolves, black bears, lynx, coyote and red fox.

Value to Yellowstone to Yukon Vision

This rich protected landscape provides a safe refuge for wildlife and is a future home for grizzly bears. The SSB was once part of grizzly bears’ historic range. Enabling their return is key to reconnecting Yellowstone’s isolated grizzly bear population to bears in the rest of the continent.

Grizzly bears once made the Salmon-Selway-Bitteroot their home. Supporting the return of grizzlies to this area is key to reconnecting Yellowstone grizzly populations to their northern cousin. Image: Kent Nelson

Threats

Although deemed one of the few remaining areas in the lower 48 States with suitable habitat for grizzly bears, bears have not resided in the region for several decades. They were eliminated by the 1940s, primarily due to relentless hunting pressure. The return of grizzly bears, and the long-term health of all wildlife here, will depend on connections to the Greater Yellowstone and Crown of the Continent ecosystems through the High Divide, and to the Central Canadian Rocky Mountains through the Cabinet-Purcell Mountain Corridor.

Y2Y Goals and Gains

Goal: Y2Y is working with several partner groups to improve the connections between the Greater Yellowstone, the Crown of the Continent, the Cabinet-Purcell Mountain Corridor, and especially the High Divide priority areas to ensure wildlife can move between these regions. The ultimate goal is to have grizzly bear populations re-inhabiting the SSB within the next 20 years.

Gains: Compelling evidence suggests that the gap between northern and southern grizzly bear populations is closing. Northern bears moving out of the Crown of the Continent are within 50 miles (80 km) of the Salmon-Selway-Bitterroot Ecosystem.

What We Are Working On Now

High Divide – Y2Y is currently working with local partners to improve wildlife movement in this region and reconnect the High Divide with the Salmon-Selway-Bitterroot.

Cabinet-Purcell Mountain Corridor – Y2Y and some 60 partner are undertaking dozens of on-the-ground projects to restore key habitat in this priority area. These projects also improve wildlife movement throughout the continent.

Related Information:

Grizzly Bears Are Responding

Habitat Restoration

Co-existence

Transportation

Central Canadian Rocky Mountains

Cabinet-Purcell Mountain Corridor

Crown of the Continent

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

PRO NORTHER ROCKIES ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION ACT: