no?

Nice picture.

All I can read on the shirt is "sand." What is the rest?

Vicki

now the dam thing won't post

What's At Stake:


California's Furnace Creek is a beautiful and fragile perennial desert stream flowing down the eastern slope of the White Mountains, the highest desert range in North America, home to ancient bristlecone pines, endangered Paiute cutthroat trout, and other rare wildlife.

Furnace Creek is a desert oasis of cottonwoods, willows, and wetlands that has been seriously harmed by past off-road vehicle abuse. Furnace Creek has protected by a hard won vehicle closure for the last year.

The Inyo National Forest & BLM Ridgecrest Field Office have released an Environmental Assessment to determine the future of Furnace Creek. They want to build a new road up this rare desert oasis, but they also offer an alternative (#2) to protect Furnace Creek.

To put the issue in perspective, less than 2% of the entire Inyo National Forest support the streamside and aquatic habitat (riparian) vital to nearly all wildlife. With over 8300 miles of road on public lands in the Eastern Sierra, there are plenty of places to drive, but very few places for deer to drink, fish to thrive, birds to feed & nest, and countless aquatic creatures to live.

Despite an excess of places to drive off-road vehicles and a scarcity of streams for desert wildlife, the Bush Forest Service and BLM are proposing to sacrifice the critical ecological link of Furnace Creek in favor of a new road that would serve to attract and increase damaging off-roading, and create conflicts with other visitors.

A road through Furnace Creek would allow permanent undue harm to accommodate a tiny group of extremist off-roaders, and would put ORV promotion over conservation and sustainable recreation. Building a road would attract more ORVs to Furnace Creek, encouraging more habitat damage and conflicts with hikers, equestrians, hunters & anglers, and other visitors.

Please take a moment now to tell them you support Alternative 2, and oppose road construction and ORVs in desert riparian areas.

More Furnace Creek information and photos: www.friendsoftheinyo.org

Read the EA: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/projects/furnacecrk.shtml




Campaign Expiration Date:
March 8, 2005





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I don't know much about the area other than remembering it from childhood... camping, fishing, hiking.

I know the White Mountain range (along with pretty much all of Owen's Valley) has been targeted by the Wilderness Society for some time now.

And if I recall correctly, "they" are not just shutting out mechanized access... they want to also eliminate mountain biking. Of course "they" don't say that out loud very often... much easier to gain support if they only publicly target off road vehicles.

Vicki

For those who may be interested, there are public meetings coming up on this...

Subject: Furnace Creek Road.

Two public meetings are also scheduled to answer questions on the Environmental Assessment and provide an opportunity for public comment on the project.

The first meeting will be from 7:00-9:00 PM, on February 2 , 2005, at the Presbyterian Church, 585 North Main Street, in Bishop, CA.

The second meeting will be from 5:00-7:00 PM, on February 3, 2005, at the Fish Lake Valley Community Center in Dyer, NV.

Vicki