This is our very first issue of Broadly Speaking. Forward it to your Broad-minded friends and let us know what you think.

In this issue:

• Salazar's wild lands policy Will it end up on the cutting room floor?
• Partial wolf de-list deal struck Needs court approval
• Arizona NF rethinks its fees
• Tar Sands Oil Extraction spurs Solidarity walk Eight Broads from Palouse Broadband participate. Is Utah next?
• Saving the Bay on PBS starting April 20. Sylvia McLaughlin, one of the three "older" women who initiated the restoration of the San Francisco Bay, is a Great Old Broad.

WILD LANDS POLICY ON CUTTING ROOM FLOOR? - The budget bill passed by the US House of Representatives earlier this year poses a serious threat to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s “wild lands policy.” If the House language is included in the final budget, it will prevent the Bureau of Land Management from setting aside lands with wilderness qualities for preservation, which is at the heart of Salazar’s policy.

Conventional wisdom says that if a lie is repeated often enough, people will begin to believe it. Apparently that’s the strategy of those working to overturn the policy that Salazar introduced in December.

Here are some hard facts: Salazar’s wild lands order simply restores the BLM’s ability to manage some of its lands for wilderness qualities - returning “wilderness quality” management to equal footing with extractive uses like oil and gas, motorized recreation, and grazing.

In 2003, then Secretary of Interior Gail Norton and Utah Governor Leavitt struck a deal that eliminated the wild-lands-management option. Salazar reversed that deal assuring that the BLM follows federal law.

The December 2010 policy creates opportunities to conserve wildlife habitat and scenic values and offers a common-sense resolution to the uncertainties currently surrounding management of valuable public lands. Specifically, the policy directs the BLM to solicit public input and consider values of existing wild public lands during local planning efforts. Lands determined worthy of conservation measures will be designated "wild lands," and the agency will actively work to uphold their primitive character. This is not the same as Congressional Wilderness designation, as it can be altered or removed, again with public input. To call it a “land grab” or “de facto wilderness,” which is what the detractors are claiming, is misleading and incorrect.

The Senate is currently battling over the budget with April 8 looming as the next deadline to avoid a partial shut-down of the government.

More from the Grand Junction Sentinel.

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WOLF DE-LISTING DEAL STRUCK IN WEST - In an attempt to stave off political tinkering with the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a consortium of conservation groups struck a deal with the Department of Interior regarding wolves in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming and Utah. The agreement would remove the gray wolf from Endangered Species Act protections in Idaho and Montana but maintain full protection status for wolves in Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, and Utah. The agreement still needs Federal District Court approval.

Earlier this year, Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg (R) and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) introduced legislature that would strip Endangered Species protection from gray wolves. If the bills pass, it will be the first time a species was legislatively removed from the ESA list. Historically, delisting a species is the purview of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, who use the best available science to make a determination.

In September 2010, Federal District Judge Donald Malloy relisted wolves in the Northern Rockies, prompting Rehberg and Hatch to initiate the legislative actions. The legal agreement between the consortium and the Interior Dept. must pass across Malloy’s desk before becoming law.

A joint statement by the 10 conservation groups who signed the agreement said, “In return for allowing the states of Montana and Idaho to manage wolves according to approved conservation plans, the Department of the Interior agrees to conduct rigorous scientific monitoring of wolf populations across the region and an independent scientific review by an expert advisory board after three years. This is a critical safety net to ensure a sustainable wolf population in the region over the long run. The settlement offers a workable solution to the increasingly polarized debate over wolves.”
More from the Center for Biological Diversity.

Others are not so optimistic. John Horning, Executive Director of WildEarth Guardians, said “Wolves in the Northern Rockies are not ready to be stripped of their protections. Delisting them would be an openly political act, and delisting decisions are to be based solely on biology.”
More from Wild Earth Guardians.

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COCONINO NF NEAR SEDONA, AZ, RETHINKS FEES - Ever receive a ticket from the Forest Service or the BLM for parking at an “unimproved” trailhead?

The Coconino NF will take comments until April 15 on their controversial “Red Rock Pass,” a fee/permitting system that has been in place since 1996. At the center of the controversy is the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) that prohibits "access fees" for parking and hiking at areas that don’t have the following amenities:  designated developed parking; a permanent toilet facility; a permanent trash receptacle; interpretive sign, exhibit, or kiosk; picnic tables; and security services.

Since the Coconino NF designated the 160,000 acre Red Rock area around Sedona, Arizona, they have issued parking tickets to those who park without displaying a Red Rock Pass in the windshield – whether or not the vehicle is parked in an area with the above-mentioned amenities.

The Coconino NF is undergoing a review of its procedures since a federal court recently dismissed a ticket given for parking in an unimproved area within the Red Rock Pass boundaries. Send comments regarding the Coconino NF process before April 15.

There are dozens of similar fee areas on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands across the United States. “Federal law restricts where and for what they can charge fees, and the Forest Service and BLM are in violation of that.” - Kitty Benzar, Executive Director of the Western Slope No Fee Coalition.

The U.S. Forest Service has recently added an e-mail account to which you can send comments about any of the Forest Service fee areas.

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TAR SANDS OIL EXTRACTION SOLIDARITY WALK - On March 19 and 20, eight Broads from the Palouse Broadband joined a group of Nez Perce and non-tribal residents of north central Idaho on a walk for solidarity. The group walked and ran an 80-mile route to show support for the First Nation's people of Alberta, Canada, whose land, air, water and bodies are suffering the effects of tar sands oil extraction processes. On Saturday a group walked from the Port of Lewiston to the Nez Perce casino along U.S. Highway 12, and then Nez Perce runners relayed to Greencreek. On Sunday the runners completed their relay by running from Greencreek to Kamiah, where approximately 45 residents walked to the creation site of the Nez Perces, the Heart of the Monster, and shared thoughts and feelings about the tar sands operations and megaload trucking of massive oil extraction equipment on local highways.

Writer on the Range Mike Duncan said in a March 11 story in High Country News, “This water-intensive form of mining may be coming to Utah soon.” He continued, “It is estimated that it takes the energetic equivalent of four barrels of oil to make 10 barrels of synthetic crude from tar sands. The process generates greenhouse gases, and it also requires a huge infrastructure to supply that up-front energy and transport the oil out.” Read what the Huffington Post has to say about tar sand oil extraction in Utah.

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SAVING THE BAY ON PBS FOR EARTH WEEK - The 4-part series, Saving the Bay is scheduled to be broadcast nationally on PBS in prime time to coincide with Earth Week beginning Wednesday evening April 20, 2011 at 10 pm and continuing the next three Wednesday evenings through May 11th. Narrated by Robert Redford, Saving the Bay explores the history of one of America’s greatest natural resources — San Francisco Bay — with four one-hour episodes tracing the Bay from its geologic origins following the last Ice Age through years of catastrophic exploitation to restoration efforts of today. Sylvia McLaughlin, one of the women who initiated the restoration, is a Great Old Broad. Find air times through your local PBS station and go to http://www.savingthebay.org for details on the program.

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Photo of gray wolf by Gary M. Stolz, USFWS
Photo of Redrocks courtesy of the Western Slope No Fee Coalition
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