Conservation Northwest protects and connects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies, vital to a healthy future for us, our children, and wildlife. Since 1989, Conservation Northwest has worke
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2011 A Wild Year Derrick Knowles Columbia Highlands campaign Between the Cascades and ROckies director, derrick@conservationnw.org Big vision for the Columbia Highlands 2011 has been a challenging year of wins and setbacks in the Columbia Highlands. We started with renewed hopes that more than 10 years of collaborative forestry efforts and community collaboration might finally bear fruit in a balanced plan for northeast Washington's Columbia Highlands. The plan included legislation to designate new wilderness, conservation, and recreation areas and an ecologically and economically sound plan for managing and restoring much of the Colville National Forest. This year, political divisiveness, Forest Service budget cuts, and the economy worked against our best efforts to move legislation forward. Unfortunately, the general mood of some players in northeast Washington when it comes to forest management has shifted along with the national political climate, arcing away from problem solving and toward entrenched positioning. Despite this disconcerting trend, timber industry and conservation members of the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition continue to work together to fulfill our balanced vision for the Colville National Forest where we can. We'll continue to collaborate with the Forest Service on forest health and restoration projects. And we'll explore Turnout was high this year in Spokane at our letter writing parties for wilderness on the Colville National Forest. Crystal Gartner 8 Winter 2012 new opportunities to find funding and increase bureaucratic efficiencies to get more of the kinds of forest projects that we support accomplished on the ground. Wilderness in progress The Colville National Forest's proposal, as part of its forest plan revisions released for public comment this past summer, is a small yet significant step in the right direction for wilderness and wildlife in the Highlands. The plan preliminarily recommends five new wilderness areas in the forest. Throughout the public comment period on the draft plan, Conservation Northwest organized citizens statewide to attend public meetings and submit hundreds of personal letters and comments supporting the Forest Service's wilderness recommendations and asking for additional critical wild lands to also be considered. The next step in the forest planning process will be the release of a draft Environmental Impact Statement expected next summer, which we hope will include a strong set of wilderness recommendations for special places including the Kettle Crest, Thirteenmile Canyon, Hoodoo Canyon, Abercrombie Mountain, and other areas adjacent to and just south of the existing Salmo-Priest Wilderness. While wilderness recommendation status by the Forest Service doesn't provide the same lasting protection that Congressional wilderness designation does, it is a significant step toward eventual permanent protection, as Congressional wil- In January, Senator derness champions often look to agency recommendations to Maria Cantwell led the way on the Kettle inform the drafting of legislation. Crest in the Columbia Beyond the boundaries of the Colville National Forest, we Highlands. Bob Whittaker also had several successes with our private ranchland conservation efforts, which will maintain important wildlife habitat for lynx, wolves, deer, elk, and other wildlife. It will also help keep two large ranches intact as working ranches, permanently protected from subdivision and development. Initial funds have been raised and accords reached to protect the Dawson family ranch near the proposed Abercrombie-Hooknose wilderness, and the Gotham family working forest and ranch adjacent to the proposed Kettle Crest wilderness. The Dawson's ranch is neighboring one of Washington's five confirmed wolf packs, and the Gotham's lands, which are prime mid-elevation habitat for lynx and other wildlife, contain mineral deposits that could have left this area vulnerable to mining development. More donors are still needed; contact Paul Bannick at paul@ conservationnw.org to be part of these historic habitat protections! This year we've also had to face many of the challenges and difficult choices that most other conservation nonprofits have also had to make in this tough economy. Sadly, this year we lost two staff from our Columbia Highlands Initiative team, Tim www.conservationnw.org