Daily Wilderness News Clips

On a recent tour of the Chestnut Ridge area of Allegheny National Forest, one thing that was loud and clear was the silence and solitude.

A drive around the boundaries of 5,000 acres of lush forest land near Route 321 in McKean County revealed an unbroken canopy created, in part, by stands of the beloved and rare American chestnut tree.

All signs of civilization were gone from the remote area except for one thing. On various sections of the acreage, orange plastic survey flags were seen tied around trees marking sites for potential oil and gas development.

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson is trying to jump-start a new central Idaho wilderness proposal in Congress by dropping provisions opposed by the House Democratic majority and some environmental groups.

Energy development in the Rocky Mountains represents the most urgent threat to the region's wildlife, panelists said Friday at a workshop during the annual National Wildlife Federation meeting at Keystone.

Conservation advocates explained that they are trying to work both at the national and state levels to stem the tide habitat fragmentation and degradation resulting from widespread oil and gas extraction.

Karl Van Calcar's passion is elk hunting, and he likes to do it the hard way: by longbow. Bowhunting requires mimicking elk calls well enough to convince a bull elk he is being challenged for his herd of females. When Mr. Van Calcar is convincing, and everything goes right, the reward is an angry, 700-pound animal with massive antlers looking for a fight.

U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow introduced the Beaver Basin Wilderness Act Wednesday, which would permanently designate 11,739 acres as wilderness at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

The National Park Service has been working to finalize the establishment of the Beaver Basin Wilderness Area, which is one component of the park's General Management Plan completed in 2004, after five years of planning and public involvement.

Proposals for six new wilderness areas are on their way to the House floor after the Natural Resources Committee easily cleared them yesterday.

The bills, all cleared by voice vote, were replaced with substitutes that incorporated several technical changes at the behest of federal officials and the bills' different stakeholders. The substitute version of Rep. Tom Udall's (D-N.M.) H.R. 2632, for example, reduces the amount of land proposed for the Sabinoso Wilderness Area in northeast New Mexico from 19,880 acres to 15,995 acres.

A bill to protect additional Riverside County forests, mountains and rivers was passed by the U.S. House's Natural Resources Committee today, paving the way for a floor vote in the full House.

Sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, the bill would permanently protect four new wilderness areas, expand six existing protected areas, and add additional protected land to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. It would include 190,000 acres of wilderness in areas including Joshua Tree National Park.

Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (CA-45) today praised Committee passage of her conservation bill in the House Committee on Natural Resources. Bono Mack´s legislation, H.R. 3682, the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act, would preserve desert, forest, and river areas throughout California's 45th Congressional District. The bill is now ready to be considered on the House Floor.

Utah is a state of campers and hikers, but when it comes to recreational activities on public lands, what you like to do depends a lot on where you live.

Preliminary research by Utah State University about socioeconomic "connections" Utahns have with public lands in the state shows that urban Utahns like certain activities more than their rural counterparts and vice versa.

A trio of wilderness bills will be up for consideration in the House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, including one that would protect more than 190,000 acres of Southern California desert and forests.

Rep. Mary Bono Mack's (R-Calif.), H.R. 3682 would protect Interior Department and Forest Service land that is home to the threatened bighorn sheep, bald eagle, desert tortoise and other species by creating four new wilderness areas and adding to six existing areas. In addition, it would add about 5,000 acres to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.