Frank Church-
RNR-Wilderness
management
decision signed
"Our decision strikes a balance between
competing demands expressed by many people. It addresses Americans’ needs and
desires for use and protection of this wilderness and the mandate we have for
managing wilderness resource values."
— LESLEY THOMPSON, Salmon-Challis
National Forest former acting supervisor
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
With the signing of a record of decision
in late-November, public land managers established a 10- to 15-year blueprint
for managing the largest wilderness area in the continental United States.
The decision for the 2.4 million acre
Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area in the heart of Central Idaho
governs backcountry travel and floating its Wild and Scenic Rivers. It is
subject, however, to a 45-day appeal period that expires Feb. 1.
The decision amends the forest plans for
the Boise, Bitterroot, Nez Perce, Payette and Salmon-Challis national forests
and consolidates the wilderness management plan into a single document.
"Our decision strikes a balance between
competing demands expressed by many people," said Lesley Thompson,
Salmon-Challis National Forest acting supervisor. "It addresses Americans’ needs
and desires for use and protection of this wilderness and the mandate we have
for managing wilderness resource values."
The process leading up to the signing of
the document took nine years during which 3,500 people commented.
The Forest Service created a stir in 1998
with release of a draft environmental impact statement. The overwhelming
majority of comments from the public indicated that the range of alternatives
was too narrow and that all five proposed alternatives restricted use below
current management plan levels.
The Forest Service worked with various
groups on a supplement that was released in 1998, with six additional
alternatives. In 2000, wildfires burned 500,000 acres in the wilderness and
diverted the focus from the planning effort to fire recovery efforts through
2001.
In March of this year, the forest
supervisors of the four forests with management responsibilities for the
wilderness area met to streamline the planning process.
"They determined that we were trying to
make too many decisions with too many alternatives in the EIS," said Wilderness
Coordinator Ken Wotring. "The supervisors narrowed the number of decisions to be
analyzed in the final EIS and reduced the number of alternatives. Many of the
decisions that were eliminated from the final EIS will be decided under other
existing authorities."
The result was a smaller document that
focused on programmatic or general decisions rather than site specific
decisions.
The preferred alternative, which was
finally selected in the record of decision, reduces potential for growth in
float boat use on the Middle Fork of the Salmon and the Wild and Scenic stretch
of the Salmon, while maintaining current use levels. It increases noncommercial
jet boat use on the Salmon. Four backcountry landing strips on Big Creek will be
maintained for emergency use only.
The management plan incorporates an
adaptive management and monitoring strategy, said the wilderness area’s
managers. A revised monitoring program is designed to focus on visitor use and
experiences, campsite conditions and general resource conditions.
For floaters, the new management decision
also establishes variable trip lengths for each river that are designed to allow
commercial and noncommercial parties to choose party sizes with a corresponding
length of stay that varies between six and eight days, with smaller groups
allowed to stay longer.
Additionally, self-issued permits for
noncommercial float boat use of the tributaries of the Middle Fork and Salmon
rivers will be required. The permits will allow boaters to exit from Big Creek
onto the Middle Fork and from the South Fork of the Salmon onto the Salmon
without an additional permit for the larger rivers.