http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2006/06/...ews/forest.html

June 16, 2006


1.35 million acres is potential wilderness
By MARK WAITE
PVT

After several years of research, a list of 1.35 million acres of land in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest capable of being designated as wilderness was presented to the public during an open house at the Tonopah Convention Center June 7.

The list includes 376,220 acres in the Tonopah Ranger District, including areas around Arc Dome, Table Mountain, and the Toiyabe Range in Nye County.

Restricting off-road vehicle users seem to be a major target of the revised plans. The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest includes national forest areas throughout Nevada from Jarbidge to Las Vegas and Reno to Elko.

Tom Baker, legislative liaison for the U.S. Forest Service, said it was the first revision of the plan for the Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest since 1989.

The need for wilderness is determined partly by public input, like the open house in Tonopah.

"If you look at the acreage that we said is capable of being wilderness, those areas have been closed to vehicle use for a number of years anyway ... They have been considered roadless areas for some time," Baker said.

Baker said he was often asked why wilderness areas are needed. He said it's a quality of life issue. A lot of people would like their children or grandchildren to see Nevada the way it was.

Baker emphasized that wilderness areas aren't off limits to everybody. They are open for hiking, horseback riding and camping. But people would not be able to drive all-terrain vehicles and cut new paths through them, Baker said.

"The difference is, between the BLM and the Forest Service, BLM will identify an area that becomes wilderness study area; then they will manage that area as wilderness. When we say an area is capable of being wilderness it continues to be managed as national forest until Congress acts on that," Baker said. For an area to be a wilderness area, he said, "Those areas have to be pretty much as the good Lord made them. There has to be the demand for wilderness area out there."

Baker outlined some of the points that were made during the open house.

"When we were down in Tonopah, one of the things that came out was the roads that were not on the map," he said. "We asked people to get us that information. We're going back and reevaluating, did we miss anything? If there's concurrence and everybody said this does meet the criteria for wilderness, that information goes to Congress, and it's up to Congress to act. It's not our call to establish wilderness areas," Baker said.

Baker said many people are concerned about increases in vehicle use in undeveloped areas.

"Hunters, fishermen don't particularly like to have 35 jeeps come tearing through their hunting area," he said. "Ranchers, some of them who feel it may be an inconvenience, would rather have the land stay the way it is than have off-road vehicles go trampling across their grazing allotments."

Baker said some ranchers in Ely were supportive of the wilderness designations. The study identified 174 permittees on 261 grazing allotments across the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, of which about 85 percent have active 10-year grazing permits.

Forest fires and the proximity of people to National Forest lands, have also changed a great deal since the 1987 plan, the study notes.

U.S. Forest Service planners say maps of vegetation show sagebrush has been reduced due to grazing, climate change and fire suppression, which has allowed strands of pinyon-juniper trees and cheat grass to spread. Aspen and cottonwood tress are declining across the West, which provide habitat for wildlife and plants. The plan looks to restore river habitat and maintain or restore old growth forest. The plan would also address treatment of noxious weeds.

The priority areas on the list in the Tonopah Ranger District include: Georges Canyon, 97,713 acres; Table Mountain East, 83,623 acres; Secret Basin south of the Arc Dome Wilderness Area, 61,040 acres; Mt. Ardivey, 36,960 acres, an area west of Peavine Canyon in the Toiyabe Range; Alta north, west and east, 34,207 acres; Rock Canyon, 26,083 acres; Four Mile Canyon, 22,578 acres; Spanish Peak, 9,962 acres and Table Mountain West Valley Basin, 4,044 acres. In addition 100,397 acres in the entire Toiyabe Range is part of a separate list for inclusion in the Austin Ranger District.