High Country News Vol. 23.10, June 3, 1991
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A Paper for People who care about the West One dollar A fading Yellowstone 'Vision' I ____ ,by Michael Milstein der, a political line created in Washing- example, would be carried out unobtru- to the public at a series of meetings held ton, D.C., in 1872. sively and with consideration for wildlife in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, they had hoped for a fOTUmthat would con- rom space you would see the Although the trees stop at that line, and human needs on both sides of park vince both environmentalists and com- boundary of Yellowstone Nation- the ecological processes do not. Grizzly and forest boundaries. "We wanted to set up a scene," says modity producers that it was good for al Park drawn like a line in the bears and trumpeter swans cross it. Plant F Yellowstone National Park Superinten- everyone. What they got, however, was sand. Except here the line is drawn with seeds cross it. Air, and the pollution it car- criticism from all sides. Miners, loggers trees - plentiful on the park side, miss- ries, cross it. Streams and rivers cross it. dent Bob Barbee, "not to restrict people, but to ensure that the place doesn't get and livestock owners complained that ing on the other side. Even travelers, driving on roads, cross it. the plan would expand national park pro- In a satellite view of the Yellow- In earlier times, land managers messed up." tection of resources into national forests, stone region, composed of six national never really looked beyond their own Never before had public land man- ending multiple use. Environmentalists forests and two ~ational parks, mountain boundaries. But in 1989 a coalition of agers tried to operate according to biolog- called the plan weak, but later rallied to ranges stand out as narrow strips of park and forest chiefs in what is now ical and ecological boundaries on such a support it as defensive land managers white. Lakes and reservoirs are dark blue called the Greater Yellowstone ecosys- large scale. Last year they approved a backpedaled under the onslaught from and evergreen forests come out dark red. tem embarked on a pioneering plan to draft document outlining this approach Along Yellowstone's westem edge, the coordinate their management. Instead of called "Vision for the Future: A Frame- the resource users. "Somewhere along the line some- red abruptly shifts to concentrated running their domains as independent work for Coordination in the Greater Yel- thing went awry," recalls Barbee. "All of specks of white. Those are Targhee federal units, they proposed to consider lowstone Area." It has become popularly a 'sudden it became an evil on one side National Forest clearcuts, where timber the whole ecosystem in managing their known as "the vision plan." and a toothless wonder on the other." has been razed right up to the park bor- interdependent resources. Logging, for When land managers took their plan Now, after the public meetings, more I than 7,000 mostly negative public com- I ments, and letters from dozens of politi- cians, "the vision" is fading. Due out in I [mal form later this month, the plan will \I I be much shorter and more concise than it was. While some strong elements may 11 I J remain, the vision will probably have lost some of its far-reaching impact. "What we have now may not be as II, , luminous as we had originally project- ed," said Marshall Gingery, assistant superintendent of Grand Teton National - Park. "But it will still come down to how much pressure the public will put on us to manage the fight way." fany place should be managed according to its ecological needs, it Iis probably the Greater Yellowstone region, one of the last largely intact ecosystems in the world's temperate zones. Encompassing almost I 2 million acres, it includes Yellowstone National Park - the world's first - and majestic Grand Teton National Park. Surrounding that heart are the Shoshone National For- \I I I est - the nation's first --and five other !) forests, two wildlife refuges and assorted I state and private lands. Each site, however, has a different (I administration. The six national forests, for I) example, are under three different regional II offices, all with different priorities. I ,"We need the people responsible for this place to look at it as one big unit, I I which it is in the eyes of nature, and develop spared ideals," says Ed Lewis, iJJ director of the Greater Yellowstone I I ,I Coalition. "We need to look at timber sales in terms of what they will do to this entire natural treasure, not what they will I!) do for a certain timber company." Ironically, the term Greater Yellow- stone was first used in I917 to suggest II an expansion of Yellowstone Park. Nov- elist Emerson Hough wrote glowingly in the Saturday Evening Post, "Give her [Wyoming] Greater Yellowstone and she will inevitably become greater Wyoming." Since then, Greater Yellowstone has been named a world biosphere reserve. The region includes the largest collection of geysers and thermal features on Earth, and famous herds of bison, moose and elk, as well as remnants of threatened Jeff Henry Elk at the north boundary of Yellowstone National Park Continued on page 10 Une T.... 2 - High Country News - jU1/e 3, 1991 The whiteness tradeoff ~-=== The Emily L. Jackson Memorial Fund Another set of visitors wasn't pass- During March and April at least 16 ing through at all - they were here to readers took time to write or call in their Three unexpected checks from read- nest. Chris and Barbara Manning and reactions to our new non-chlorine- ers spurred us to consider how we could their children, Lima and Hale, recently bleached, part-recycled paper. What fol- honor the spirit of Emily Jackson [see moved to Paonia from Basalt, just over lows is an interim report, since we asked her story on page 7]. We had already the hill. the question again in our recent readers' decided to plant a small high-desert gar- survey and will have a much bigger sam- den behind HCN's new building in Corrections pling of opinion to report later. memory of her. But we can do some- According to our tally sheet, all 16 thing bigger, too, thanks to the generosi- In May 8's lead story, we reported strongly supported the change, and six ty of readers who have asked us to use that the Toiyabe National Forest in expressed their willingness to pay more to their contributions in a way Emily would Nevada is the second largest national help with the higher cost, Two readers like. So we are starting a fund to help forest in the country, an error quickly pointed out that over time, a better market defray the living expenses of HCN pointed oot to us by T. Meacham, a read- for recycled paper will develop, quality interns. Though some of our interns cap er in Anchorage, Alaska. The Toiyabe will improve and prices will go down. count on financial support from home to (3.2 million acres) is outsized by not "Good for you not to wait," one of them ffiGH COUNTRY NEWS tide them over twelve weeks without only the Tongass (16.7 million acres) but added. Two readers asked that we work (ISSN/019i15(i57) is published biweek- pay, many others - including Emily- also the Chugach (5.6 million acres). toward a higher post-consumer waste per- ly, except for one issue 'duririg July plan and save for months to make it Both of these forests are in Alaska. centage, and several urged us to forget and one issue during January, by the work. We know Emily would cheer for Thanks to Susan Seyl, photographs whiteness and brightness altogether and High Country Foundation, 124 Grand this one. ' librarian of the Oregon Historical Soci- go for 100 percent recycled - "I don't Avenue. Paonia, CO81428. Second- Checks earmarked for the Emily L. class postage paid at Paonia, Col- ety, for correcting a credit line in the care if it's brown and speckled," "1 don't orado. Jackson Memorial Fund will go toward April 22 issue. The old salmon-can label care if it's thin and gray." One realist POSTMASTER: send address changes rent and grocery money for interns who that appeared on page 5 is part of the observed that photographs reproduced on to HIGH COUNTRY NEWS, Box 1090, need a boost, In time, we hope the fund society's Seufert Collection. this paper are "a little muddy in the shad- Paonia, CO 81428. will enable us to attract prospective Now for an omission - the street ows but overall hold up well." Finally, Subscriptions are $24 per year for interns who otherwise could not come address of Solar Box Cookers North- thanks to the reader who raised the ques- individuals and public libraries, $34 here at all. west, for those inspired by last issue's tion, "Should HCN be recycled with high- per year for institutions. Single copies story on the ingenious box and its inven- quality office paper, or should we throw it $1 plus postage and handlliig . .special , Passing through tors. It is 192215thAvenue East, Seattle, Issues $3 each. in with the newspapers?" The answer is WA98112. that when HCN's earthly race is run and The office lately has been a popular it's been passed along to your friends and Tom Bell flyway for well-wishers heading home 'Peaceful woman' keeps getting mail Editor Emeritus colleagues or read to tatters at the library from Utah parks.