“This is wonderful news," David Heflick, conservation associate for Conservation Northwest. "It not only affirms that the quality of our collaborative restoration work on the Colville National Forest is of national caliber, but it allows us to greatly increase the amount of restoration work we can do in the Kettle River Range. This is great for both wildlife and the community jobs.”
Conservation Northwest has been part of the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition in a decade-long collaboration in northeastern Washington singled out by Secretary Vilsack in 2009 as a “model for the nation.” The successful project creation was overseen by a 13-member steering team that included national forest leadership and members of the timber and conservation community.
It rests upon almost a decade of collaborative and community history, through the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition, through the Colville National Forest’s uniquely collaborative forest planning process, and through the leadership of Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. McMorris Rodgers, who convened a broad stakeholder roundtable in 2008.
NEW Forest Vision 2020 centers on the Kettle River Range, nestled between the Cascades and Rocky Mountains. The diverse forests of the Kettles vary from lodgepole pine in high-elevation wild lands to dry ponderosa pine in the forests close to homes and communities. In between are gradients of mixed conifer and even pockets of coastal type cedar-hemlock.
The newly awarded project includes restoration logging to restore damaged forests, increase forest resilience, and help restore older forest structure and function.
In a letter, we urged the agency to reconsider the plan, but they decided to stay the course. This week, Conservation Northwest, Kettle Range Conservation Group, and The Lands Council filed an appeal against the project. The appeal was sent to the Region 6 appeal deciding officer of the Colville National Forest, who will decide on its merits over the next few months.
The South End Project raises many questions. For example: The Colville National Forest has a poor record in stopping illegal ORV use and restoring areas damaged by ATVs. Given the many more miles of roads proposed for all-terrain vehicle use, how will the agency control illegal trespass and damage to backcountry areas adjacent to the newly opened routes? The South End Project needs to address this issue and more.
His appointment was met with opposition by some, including several Okanogan county commissioners and the editor of the Omak Chronicle, who claimed he shouldn't be on the commission because he works for Conservation Northwest. In an editorial, the Wenatchee World responded to the vitriol with "A new blacklist."
The job of a Fish and Wildlife commissioner is to look at the best science possible and make a good decision for wildlife, says Jay Kehne. Politics and one’s place of employment should not be involved. “Everybody works for somebody,” Kehne said. “I’ve got degrees in wildlife biology and soil science and have had jobs for 31 years across eastern Washington and California.”
"Governor Gregoire made an outstanding choice in appointing Jay Kehne to the commission," said Mitch Friedman, Conservation Northwest executive director. Read more "We are confident that Jay will make quality, independent decisions informed by both his strong knowledge and experience as a hunter and scientist and by his respectful relationship with a broad range of the public."
The natural resources committee of the Washington State Legislature ultimately approves appointees to the Fish and Wildlife Commission. Senator Kevin Ranker is chair of that committee.
]]>The maps are available as a result of the Western Wildlife Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (known as CHAT), an initiative of the Western Governors' Association.
For the part of Washington state, much of the specific data, models, and maps are the work of the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group and Conservation Northwest.
"The Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group created great scientific tools to describe the status of Washington’s wildlife, movement patterns, and habitat," said Jen Watkins, conservation associate.
“Use of the Working Group’s tools by BLM will make a tangible difference for our wildlife, from mule deer to sage grouse, from badgers to jackrabbits."
"The governor's transportation package directly benefits Washington's wildlife by accelerating the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project, and steering clear of the destructive Cross-Base Highway," said Jen Watkins, Conservation Northwest conservation associate.
Specifically the Connecting Washington Plan provides $106 million to the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project to "continue widening from the end of the snowshed project near Keechelus Dam to Bonnie Creek, including the construction of the wildlife overcrossing."
It also includes $350 million for interchange improvements to I-5 in the Joint Base Lewis-Mchord area to improve traffic flow, but declines to fund a new east-west Cross-Base Highway through rare oak woodland habitat in Puget Sound.
"While we celebrate the exclusion of the Cross-Base Highway (SR 704)," said Watkins, "We remind lawmakers that the Thorne Lane Interchange included in their funding proposal must be redesigned lest it activate a sleeping lawsuit."
The interchange is currently designed as the gateway to the Cross-Base Highway, which is under litigation. A redesign of the interchange would avoid the lawsuit and allow improvements to traffic flow in the Joint Base Lewis-Mchord.
The wolf plan was crafted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) starting in 2007 with the help of a 17-member public stakeholder advisory group and supported by tens of thousands of people in Washington. Since then, it has been intensely scrutinized, surviving both scientific scrutiny and the social gauntlet.
"There is clearly a lot of support for a balanced wolf recovery plan in Washington, despite opposition from a minority," says Jasmine Minbashian, who directs Conservation Northwest's wolf program. "A majority of the wolf working group supported it – including other livestock groups and some hunters. Finding the middle ground on what is a polarizing issue – I'd call it a big success."
The final Washington wolf plan presents a science-based approach that balances the legal and biological requirements of a recovery plan with needed on-the-ground management tools and a fair compensation package for the small number of livestock producers who may face impacts.
Derrick Knowles, an avid hunter who works for Conservation Northwest, participated as a member of the advisory Wolf Working Group. "Throughout the process I worked closely with hunters, cattlemen, scientists, and other conservationists and my experience as a working group member convinced me that we can work through most concerns and differences, and be better off for it," said Knowles.
]]>For BC caribou, the 2009 Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan protects 5.4 million acres of caribou habitat from logging and road building. This year, augmentation of caribou to bolster dwindling herds is moving ahead at last.
Mountain caribou prefer high elevations and steep terrain with old-growth forests. Large hooves allow caribou to stay on top of deep snows to feed on lichens growing from low-hanging boughs. In winter, they rely almost exclusively on these arboreal lichens that grow only on trees more than 100 years old.
The greatest threats to mountain caribou survival are loss of old-growth forest, habitat fragmentation, the movement of predators into caribou habitat—and climate change.
Public comments to the critical habitat plan will be accepted until January 30, 2012. To make your voice heard, sign up to receive our email alerts!
]]>The Similkameen River valley, particularly the habitat north of Palmer Lake at the eastern foot of the North Cascades, is the most important riparian reach in the US portion of the Okanogan watershed. It would have been underwater, but for the recent decision. The decision comes after several years of opposition.
Flooding the valley would have eliminated seasonal bighorn sheep range and mule deer winter and spring range, and drowned other habitat for animals, from birds to bats and beavers to bears. The river and uplands of the Similkameen are home to one-third of the red-listed (the BC equivalent of threatened and endangered) species in Canada.
The Okanogan PUD's has yet to give up on the smaller, Enloe Dam project, turbines for an existing concrete plug in the Similkameen River just downstream from the Shankers Bend and just upstream of Oroville. That proposal would largely de-water the Similkameen Falls below the dam and along the new Similkameen River Trail. It is generally considered another poor proposal for an area rich in natural beauty and wildlife diversity.
]]>In Washington State, 2 million acres of roadless forests will remain wild and roadless, continuing to amass biocarbon and help slow climate change. Wildlife keep quality habitat and habitat connectivity and escape roadkill, poaching, and habitat loss. Opportunities for non-mechanized travel are retained.
"The public forests we've fought so hard to protect are now safe," added Tim Preso, an Earthjustice attorney representing the conservation groups, including Conservation Northwest.
US Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell also applauded the decision.
The path to roadless area protection has been a real rollercoaster ride. The Clinton Roadless Rule in 2001 protected 58 million acres of national forest lands. The Rule was repealed by President Bush. Conservation Northwest fought for the rule in the 9th Circuit Court in 2002, and again in 2003 against a nationwide injunction from the 10th Circuit Court.
This latest ruling aligns the 10th and 9th Circuit Court rulings, asserting the validity of the Rule and protecting roadless forests as part of America’s heritage.
]]>The project site was directly adjacent to the Nemah Murrelet Area near Willapa Bay. If built, the 45, 400-foot tall wind turbines would likely have killed significant numbers of murrelets in what is the highest concentration of murrelet nests in Washington State. Murrelets nest in platforms high in old-growth trees, and make up to five excursions each day from forest to ocean to hunt for fish for their young.
While Conservation Northwest commends efforts to develop alternative energy sources, the Radar Ridge project is the worst possible site for a wind farm in southwest Washington. Murrelet experts predicted more than 2,600 murrelets would have been killed by the wind turbines over a 30-year period.
There are about 4,700 murrelets in Washington, and their populations are declining due primarily to extensive loss of their old-growth forest habitat and unpredictable marine conditions. This power project could have been the final blow.
The old-growth logging plan began life in response to a lawsuit put forth by the timber industry in 2003 demanding more old-growth logging. In response, the Bush administration proposed to increased logging of Oregon's remaining old-growth forest by 350%. The Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) targeted some of the biggest and oldest Douglas firs remaining in the Northwest, habitat to endangered species from northern spotted owls to fungi to salmon.
"The judge confirmed what everyone's been saying for years — that BLM took an illegal shortcut to avoid scientific scrutiny," said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for Earthjustice who represented conservation groups.
A federal judge must approve Judge Hubel's recommendation before the WOPR can be withdrawn and these old-growth forests and countless species they harbor are again kept whole and safe. That decision is expected in the coming months.
]]>Negotiations began last summer after a federal court ruled for the second consecutive time that the agencies had violated the law in its effort to eliminate the “Survey and Manage” wildlife provision of the Northwest Forest Plan. US District Court Judge John C. Coughenour approved the agreement yesterday. Read press release
“We all started from the sensible premise that rare species that rely on rare old forests deserve protection, and bona fide restoration projects that improve wildlife habitat should move forward efficiently,” said Dave Werntz, science director at Conservation Northwest. “The rest was figuring out the details.”
The Survey and Manage rule requires field surveys to determine whether rare and sensitive species are present so that logging plans or other habitat disturbing projects can be adjusted to avoid harm.
]]>Phase 1C includes rebuilding the avalanche snowsheds, an essential step in the eventual, full 15-mile Hyak to Easton freeway upgrade, and one that benefits all travelers.
The contract bid for the latest upgrades was approximately $20 million less than originally expected for this phase.
Thanks to direction from the legislature, the saved funds will remain in the I-90 corridor, benefiting people's safety, wildlife connectivity, freight mobility, and capacity. Down the line, the savings translate into an additional new lane in each direction along the much traveled interstate, as well as several new wildlife crossings - including the first wildlife bridge in the state - to help wildlife navigate those new lanes.
"The award-winning I-90 project has received international attention for its innovative design, partnerships and educational outreach. We are excited that these funds will go towards the next phase of the project that includes the first wildlife overpass," said Charlie Raines, Director of the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition.
"When built it will be an icon of the Mountains to Sound Greenway," he continued, "not only providing excellent connectivity for wildlife, but also demonstrating the value of partnerships and sparking learning about wildlife and highways."
“Commissioner Goldmark is attempting to defend the state’s trust lands from harmful and poorly conceived development,” said Dave Werntz, science and conservation director at Conservation Northwest. “We’re pleased that the Commissioner will have his day in court.”
The proposed new powerline - 26 miles long by 100 feet wide - would cross 12 miles of DNR land and require construction and maintenance of 20 miles of new roads. The development would fragment wildlife habitat, degrade range lands, increase fire risk, erode soils, and damage fisheries by cutting through the largest contiguous block of state-owned shrub-steppe habitat in the Methow Valley.
With many fewer impacts and lower overall costs, a new transmission line could be constructed and maintained within the existing powerline corridor along state highways.
Conservation Northwest has joined local organizations including People for Alternatives, Conservation & Education in opposing the development of scarce remaining shrub-steppe just east of the Cascades, important for wildlife connectivity in the area.
"These winners are setting the standard for the way the transportation community meets environmental challenges," said Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez. "By shortening project delivery and advancing innovative technology, the people behind these projects are helping make every day count."
The Excellence in Ecosystem, Habitat, and Wildlife Award was granted to the Working Group partners for our Washington Connected Landscapes Project. Comprised of representatives from management agencies, non-profit conservation groups, and universities, the Working Group produced a suite of tools and analyses that offer communities unprecedented data on wildlife connectivity for a number of representative species, such as elk, sage grouse, wolverine, and lynx. These tools and analyses help highlight opportunities and priorities for providing habitat connectivity in Washington and surrounding habitats.
The FHA recognized the Working Group analysis as an important tool in the design of transportation projects that "allow for the long-term movements of wildlife while minimizing collisions with the traveling public."
"It is fantastic to be recognized for the collaboration and the products of our working group," said Jen Watkins of Conservation Northwest. "We certainly feel that both the process and outcome were unique and benefited Washington in the long run. To have others see that as well adds to the meaning.”
The Washington State Department of Transportation and US Forest Service also received an award for the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project. The collaborative approach taken by WSDOT and its partners, like our I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition, enabled the project team to consider ecological issues early, thereby streamlining the environmental review process and saving both time and money. The preferred alternative that resulted will improve wildlife connectivity and mitigate hydrological impacts while improving transportation mobility and safety.
Conservation Northwest is honored to be a part of both these award-winning collaborative solutions for our state's wildlife and transportation systems.
Congratulations to our co-recipients: Western Transportation Institute, Washington State DOT, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the University of Washington
]]>