Smokey Bear turns 65 today and one can only imagine the look on his face at they roll out the blazing cake with nearly 70 candles. Oh, the irony. Well, that’s not what this little piece is about–it’s actually that Smokey now speaks Spanish. Si! Apparently, speakers of español light forest fires, too, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is distributing a bilingual Smokey guide in schools. The dude is a full-on modern bear: He has a two tongues, Facebook page, My Space page, and a new catchphrase, “Get Your Smokey On”. The new slogan refers to the printable bear masks on his website and a pledge to prevent fires, not what you say to your bro the minute you settle onto the chairlift, but hey, more irony.
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public lands
After one too many muggings over a crumpled package of Twinkies, Rocky Mountain National Park is requiring all backpackers to carry bear-proof canisters for their food–a new policy implemented for this summer backcountry season. “They can smell food something like five miles away,” said a RMNP spokesman. She didn’t add that for Twinkies, it’s 10.
It turns out that Bureau of Land Management officials were doing slightly more than just standing by last Saturday as 300 ATVs sped up the Kane County, Utah, Paria River wilderness study area in violation of federal law–they were snapping photos of license plates, which they passed along to U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman on Monday.
It wasn’t quite the show of four-stroke power that protest organizers promised, but 300 ATVs, four-wheel-drives, and other vehicles drove up the Paria River in southern Utah Saturday, violating a federal law that prohibits motorized rigs in wilderness or wilderness study areas. The Bureau of Land Management did nothing to stop them.
Earlier today, The Adventure Life reported on the illegal ATV rally planned for a wilderness study area in southern Utah near Kanab. Between 500 and 1,000 vehicles are expected to roll up the Paria River in clear violation of federal law. If you want to stop it, it takes just one click.
You might want to avoid southern Utah’s Paria River on Saturday: Between 500 and 1,000 ATVs, Jeeps, and other off-road machines are expected to drive up the river bed illegally in protest of the federal government’s decision to actually enforce the law keeping them out.
If you’ve ever seen the trampling just a few cows can do to fragile cryptobiotic soil, a slow-growing, living desert crust, a new report on the impact of livestock grazing on public lands in the West will come as no surprise. According to a study released today, across the Great Basin and beyond, wildlife is under threat by cattle and sheep farming, which have caused more destruction than mining and energy extraction and, despite grazing fees, cost the federal government millions annually.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. No, it was a pretty freakin’ stupid idea. It’s one thing to clear a little brush, it’s another to clear a forest. Well, karma catches up: Two misguided backcountry skiers from Vermont have been sentenced to 18-36 months (suspended) for cutting an illegal trail near Jay Peak in the northern part of the state.
This week really wasn’t planned to be an all-pot kind of week, it’s just working out that way. (Oh–and I got to thinking, today’s the stoner new year, but if you’re stoned isn’t every year basically 1976?) Regardless, in Los Padres National Forest, California, two pot farmers scared off some campers in a high-speed dirt road rally that ended with arrests and confiscation of $26 mill in herb. The Santa Barbara County sheriff’s report reads better than I could rewrite it, so here it is in its entirety.
President Barack Obama signed the biggest lands bill in a generation today, protecting 2 million acres permanently. For all you wilderness wonks, here’s the full transcript of what he had to say: “Today I have signed into law.
It was ugly and it was long and it was all too often compared to sausage making, but the U.S. Congress today finally passed the massive omnibus public lands bill, giving permanent protection to two million acres in nine states and increasing protection to another 26 million acres. The legislation now heads down the street to President Barack Obama, who would be more likely to slow-dance with Dick Cheney than not sign it.
UPDATED 3:45PST 2/4/09: The Obama administration isn’t messing around: Just 15 days after taking office, it’s canceling the disputed and controversial Bureau of Land Management auction of 77 leases on December 19 that opened lands near Arches National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine-Mile Canyon to oil and gas exploration.
After a bit of legislative smackdown, two million acres of land and a thousand miles of rivers moved a step closer to permanent protection on Sunday when the Senate voted 66-12 to move a big public lands bill to a full vote.
Wanna save millions of acres of public land and 1,000 miles of rivers? Just pick up the phone: The Senate is voting at 2 p.m. EST in special session tomorrow, Sunday, January 11, on a bill that would protect 1,000 miles of rivers and two million acres of public lands.
“Vote the Environment” doesn’t stop with the culmination of the presidential election: Congress is set to protect 3 million acres of land across the United States and add safeguards to 1,000 miles of rivers–but it needs encouragement to get its lame-duck butt back to D.C. to approve it.
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