Backcountry Musings

Dear BCHA members,

Yellowstone National Park recently announced the start of an Environmental Assessment (EA) to review its “Parkwide Commercial Stock Outfitter Concessions Contracts.” Public comment letters during the initial scoping of the project are due by April 15th, 2013.  For details, go to: http://parkplanning.nps.gov

This process is VERY important to BCH and will be closely monitored.  Members that have ridden in Yellowstone, or plan to in the future, should participate in the EA process, attend public meetings (if you live in ID, MT or WY) and—importantly—submit written comments to the Park by April 15th.  BCHA’s Advisor for Wilderness & Recreation has included talking points at the end of this alert that you should consider including in your letters.

We are learning, our written comments often do carry weight, particularly if a great number of members submit personal comments (versus form letters).  We all need to respond so the Park Service understands how important Yellowstone is to horse and mule riders nationwide.

1)      Review the newspaper article below
2)      The link to the project’s website and our talking points
3)      Then submit a short, courteous letter to Yellowstone National Park by clicking on the “Comment on Document” link given on the website or by mailing your letters to:

Yellowstone National Park
Attn: Parkwide Commercial Stock Outfitter Concession Contracts/EA
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190

We are seeing more and more National Parks going through a process that includes the potential for new limits or restrictions to outfitted day rides or a reduction of stock use in the backcountry/wilderness.  If you live near or ride in a National Park or National Monument, please serves as our eyes and ears and alert BCHA if this process appears in your area. It is imperative that horsemen be in on the ground floor when an agency is considering limits on commercial stock use, as some outfitters are prevented from speaking out against reductions in guided day or backcountry tips. Moreover, we’ve seen some public land agencies move toward reducing private stock use after they’ve justified making reductions to commercial stock.

Yellowstone Park reviews horse use        Revised Stock EA Scoping Newsletter    BCHA Talking Point

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Check out this free online copy

It’s springtime again, and that can only mean one thing: It’s almost time to get back out into the wilderness backpacking, riding,floating, hiking, flying, fishing, camping, climbing, and sleeping under warm summer skies. And of course, let’s not forget about getting out into the wilderness to volunteer to take care of your favorite trail or wilderness area! We’ll be publishing our first-ever complete volunteer guide in late April, but between now and then you can view a preliminary list of our summer 2013 projects on our website. Aside from getting your gear in order and your tack cleaned, we’ve got plenty for you to do before summer hits: Http://www.selwaybitterroot.org

SBFC Receives National Wilderness Award
The Forest Service recently announced the recipients of its 2012 National Wilderness Awards, and the SBFC is the proud recipient of the Bob Marshall Award for Partnership Champion in Wilderness Stewardship. These awards honor individuals and groups for excellence in wilderness stewardship and encompass education, traditional skills and minimum tools leadership, and overall wilderness stewardship. Read Spring newsletter!

There are a number of great sources of information of interest to BCHI members outside of our state and chapter websites.  BCHA has a Facebook page and there are news feeds that post the latest information on public land agencies that we work with.

News – American Horse Council

News – US Forest Service

News – BLM

News – National Park Service

BCHA theme song

Rocky Barker – March 4, 2103 Idaho Statesman

 U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, presented numbers that appeared astounding as he made the case that state forestry is better.

Bishop, speaking at a hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation last week, said that the Idaho Department of Lands has 52 times the volume of timber harvested per acre on its 971,678 acres of forests than the U.S. Forest Service has on 20 million acres. That’s 239.4 million board feet per acre to 4.6.

Chairman Bishop said the annual revenue per acre is even more astounding – 917 times more for the state than the federal forests. That’s $55 per acre for the state to 6 cents per acre for the national forests.

What Bishop’s dinner-napkin math doesn’t say is that not all of those 20 million acres are forests. There are only 17.2 million acres of federal forests in Idaho, and a small part of that number is under the Bureau of Land Management.

Of that, more than half – 9 million acres – is roadless, and another 3.8 million is wilderness. Much of the roadless forest is technically open to logging. But, in reality, much of it is either too prone to erosion, too steep or covered in trees that are so low in value that they would not support road-building or the kind of active management practiced on state lands.

Read more

Finding different paths for forests

By ROCKY BARKER — rbarker@idahostatesman.com

 Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and Boise are looking at changing a federal management system that all but ended logging after the forest wars of the 1980s and 1990s.

The desire for new forest plans is driven by wildfires that are growing in intensity and cost, and by lawsuits that lead foresters to add time and pages to environmental reviews to avoid litigation.

In Idaho, the Legislature is studying whether to copy a Utah law that would try to force the federal government to turn over millions of acres of public lands.

In Washington, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation is looking at programs to mirror the forest trusts in 22 states – such as Idaho’s state endowments that produce revenue for schools and other beneficiaries – on 135 million acres.

Read more

R
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/02/27/2468471/finding-different-paths-for-forests.html##storylinkRead more

 More information

Boise Chapter           http://www.boisebch.org

Squaw Butte             http://sbbchidaho.org

Treasure Valley      http://www.tvbch.com

BCHI                            http://bchi.org

In 2013 Squaw Butte is applying for a grant from the IDRP for chain saws to continue our work on public land trail in the Boise and Payette National forests.  A number of agencies have provided letters of support for this grant.  I have included links to one from the BLM and the final draft of our grant proposal.  The chapter thanks Robbin Schindele for all the hard work on this grant.

It’s time to think about photos for the 2014 BCHI calendars.
In addition to being great horsemen, SBBCHI members are also noted for some spectacular photography.  It is time for each of you to go through the images you’ve taken at various SBBCHI activities during 2012 and choose the photos you would like to submit for the selection process.  Read More

 THE NATIONAL TRAILS SYSTEM ACT    Example: Idaho’s Centennial Trail

SEC. 2.
(a) In order to provide for the ever-increasing outdoor recreation needs of an expanding population and in order to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nation, trails should be established (i) primarily, near the urban areas of the Nation, and (ii) secondarily, within scenic areas and along historic travel routes of the Nation which are often more remotely located.
(b) The purpose of this Act is to provide the means for attaining these objectives by instituting a national system of recreation, scenic and historic trails, by designating the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail as the initial components of that system, and by prescribing the methods by which, and standards according to which, additional components may be added to the system.
(c) The Congress recognizes the valuable contributions that volunteers and private, nonprofit trail groups have made to the development and maintenance of the Nation’s trails. In recognition of these contributions, it is further the purpose of this Act to encourage and assist volunteer citizen involvement in the planning, development, maintenance, and management, where appropriate, of trails.

Zach Poff Lowman ranger district shared some pictures of work done in the Northern zone of the Boise National forest by his team and other volunteer organizations in 2012.

The South Western Idaho RAC minutes for the 09/13/2012 meeting are also available for downloading.

Riding a good mountain horse or mule is a wondrous experience. To be aboard a horse or mule working to travel on a high rocky mountain trail, completely tuned into their environment, is an experience never to be forgotten. It is about as close to the man and beast connection that one can get. In a worrisome (kind of really dicey) location the rider and ride (horse/mule), must be willing to trust the other. This kind of trust comes only from a lot of experience (wet saddle blankets) on one or both of the player’s parts. Read More

Want to pack light, leave the propane stove home, and consider using a back packers wood stove  Read More

Links to check out   Littlebug.com     Trailstoves.com       Titanium-hexagon-stove

I did an interview for Trail Blazer awhile ago and it is in this month’s issue, Nov 2012, on page 52,53,54,55.  We have permission to send out the link, which can be open by clicking on the cover. Michael K. McGlenn, Chairman BCHA, mike@mikemcglenn.com

Open letter from Dennis Dailey to BCHA leadership

This summer was the second year that the Squaw Butte Chapter of the Back Country Horsemen of Idaho has partnered with the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation on projects in the “Frank” The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho, the largest wilderness in the lower forty eight states.

The work projects were on Pistol Creek and Marble Creek on the west side of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Both projects had volunteers form the Idaho Trail Association and Idaho Parks and Recreation along with the pack support and camp cooks from BCHI members from both the Squaw Butte and Treasure Valley chapters. Eric Melson of the SBFC (Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation) was the project organizer for both projects. Due to the devastating fires of the past twenty years the trail system in the wilderness is in very poor condition, much downfall and tread work was required to reopen the trails for public use. Pistol Creek was opened from the trail head at Snow Shoe Cabin to the middle fork of the Salmon River, some 17 miles. Marble Creek was opened from the trail head down the creek past Buck Creek, but will require one more project next summer working from the middle fork up the canyon to fully reopen the trail. This will be about 30 miles of trail.

Partnerships are a wonderful thing, BCHI members get to meet other volunteer groups all of which are doing the same thing, keeping the trail systems in our national forests and wildernesses open for the American people to use and enjoy. My question is where are the forest service trail crews? What happened to them and why? These are questions that the public needs to be asking the Forest Service.

1-17-1915 to 1-15-2012

BCHA loses one of its founding fathers with the passing of Charles Dulane Fulton, Jan 15, 2012, two days short of his 97th birthday. “Dulane was one of the four who sat around the campfire and formed the first club of BCH in Montana,” said Rod Parks, BCHI National Director.

There is a brief article on all the founding fathers on the BCHA Website at: http://www.backcountryhorse.com/Founders_Page.html .

Dulane will be missed by all who appreciate the mission and dedication of an organization he helped to form. For Dulane’s complete obituary, click here.