A Wild Dose of Therapy Transformation and Healing Occur for Veterans and Others in the Outdoors

Melanie Finan protecting wild places and wildlife, for their sake – and ours Summer 2015 A WILD DOSE OF THERAPY Transformation and healing occur for veterans and others in the outdoors he Japanese have a practice time in the woods. Tcalled shinrin-yoku, which If you Google “therapeutic translates as forest bathing or value of wilderness,” a 2004 forest basking. It was coined in report commissioned by the U.S. 1982 by the nation’s top forest Forest Service pops up near the official as a way to entice people top of the list. It is a 13-page out of the cities and into the gem, titled “The Social Values of forests that dominate the island Wilderness,” that directly chal- nation’s landscape. lenges the notion that wilderness It may have been one of the lacks value because its benefits greatest environmental PR efforts cannot be quantified financially. in history. The term has entered The report identifies a long list Japanese lexicon, and there of social values that wilderness are now more than 40 official offers to individuals and society shinrin-yoku locations around as a whole. Wilderness builds the country. Some companies character and enhances personal even require employees to incor- well-being. There are aesthetic porate forest bathing into their and educational values that ap- Paul Andersen workweek. Academic studies by ply across society. Wilderness in- Crossing Spruce Creek in the Hunter-Frying Pan Wilderness a number of Japanese institutions spires artists. It supports families helps this veteran find his balance. all reveal that stress levels fall by giving them shared recre- and the body’s immune system improves simply by spending CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 HIKES/RESTORATION PROJECTS PG. 7 JUNE 2012 | Wild Works 1 WILDERNESS IN THE WHITE RIVER HAS A NEW CHAMPION he effort to protect tens of thou- 9 Legend T sands acres in Eagle and Summit ¯ Proposed Wilderness counties with wilderness designation Potential Wilderness Addition got a big boost this spring from the Williams Special Management Area ranking member on the House Natu- Fork Existing Wilderness ral Resources Committee. U.S. Representative Jared Polis, D- Colo and Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., toured 41,807 acres of proposed Ute Pass wilderness and 16,621 acres of pro- Grand County posed special management areas in Acorn Creek the eastern reaches of the White River 9 National Forest. After the tour, they Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness attended a roundtable discussion with Spraddle Creek over two dozen supporters of the land Freeman Creek protections. Spraddle Creek Ptarmigan Grijalva committed at the end Addition ¨¦§70 of the meeting to make Polis’s bill ¨¦§70 Eagle's Nest Wilderness Porcupine a priority. “It’s a well-done piece of Gulch legislation, and I was glad to see it first-hand. This is a precedence setter,” he was quoted in the Summit Daily News. Summit County As ranking member, Grijalva is ¤£24 Eagle County ¨¦§70 well positioned to influence legisla- tive priorities on the House Natural Tenmile North 9 Resources Committee even though it is controlled by Republicans. Polis re- cently was named to that committee. Holy Cross Wilderness Workshop Eagle Wilderness County Organizer Susie Kincade isn’t Tenmile Tenmile surprised by the Arizona congress- South man’s response following a very No energizing meeting. Name Hoosier Park County Ridge “I felt excitement in the room and the expectation that these lands will 91 be protected,” Kincade said. ¤£24 Sources: Esri, HERE, DeLorme, USGS, Intermap, increment P Corp., NRCAN, Esri Japan, METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), Esri (Thailand), TomTom, MapmyIndia, Polis’ bill includes Spraddle Creek © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community Conservation Colorado and Freeman Creek near Vail, both of which will add to the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness Area. In Summit County, 2 Wild Works | JUNE 2012 2 Wild Works | Summer 2015 Summer 2015 | Wild Works 3 it calls for tens of thousands of acres Foundation described the benefits May 21st Polis introduced his bill, to be added to the Holy Cross and of wilderness to him and other vets. The Continental Divide Wilderness Ptarmigan Wilderness Areas and cre- “When I came home [from Iraq] and Recreation Act, and sent it to ation of three new wilderness areas. that’s where I went: I went out into Grijalva and the House Natural One thing that impressed Grijalva the wilderness, and that’s where I Resources Committee. was the diversity of support, which found healing,” he said. “If we don’t The Workshop will be push- includes Vail Resorts, the Interna- have this for our kids and future ing members of that committee to generations then quickly move the bill out of commit- Polis: We are protecting these what the hell did I tee and onto the house floor. We’ve fight for?” also begun outreach to Colorado’s lands for future generations The room erupted two Senators, and hope one or both with applause. will soon begin working on a similar tional Mountain Bikers Association Rep. Grijalva is a wilderness bill in the Senate. and the Summit Fat Tire Society, champion in his own right. He prominent business leaders like successfully pressed for withdrawal Dave Gorsuch and Josh Lautenberg, of nearly 1 million acres of mining and most local governments in the claims around the Grand Canyon. area. In 2013, he was honored as one of There was also extremely mov- America’s Great Outdoors Congres- ing testimony at the roundtable. A sional Champions by the Arizona mountain biker talked about wilder- Wilderness Coalition, the Sonoran ness as a resource that energizes the Institute, The Wilderness Society and local economy, and a hunter said other groups. (Not a bad guy to have being in wilderness was spiritually on our side!) rejuvenating. John Fielder Garett Reppenhagen, Rocky Bill introduced As a promising follow-up, on All creatures great and small are rooting for Rep. Polis Mountain director of the Vet Voice and his wilderness bill. fareweLL TO WILDLIFE DEFENDER ild animals around here lost be fenced in, leashed up or barred way Wright sees it, people are the W a champion with the retire- all together in remote subdivisions nuisances in those circumstances, ment this spring of Kevin Wright encroaching into wild lands. because they are leaving their trash from Colorado Parks & Wildlife. Wright was the guy who would unsecured and luring the bears into Wright was not out to win any crawl into a bear den to tag a sow deadly situations. popularity contests, at least not and check on her newborn cubs, fur Wright spent nearly his entire with people. He would show up balls really. He would wrestle a big- career working in the Roaring Fork at county commissioner meetings horn sheep into submission so that a Valley, first as the Wildlife Officer in and explain why building a mas- tracking device could be fit. He was Carbondale, and then in Aspen. “I sive home in winter elk range was a kicked around by elk and avoided doubt I’ll be quiet for long,” he said. bad idea. He was one of most vocal by deer as he tried tagging them too. We at Wilderness Workshop ap- state officials to consistently push One thing Wright never got used plaud Kevin Wright for a job well back against aggressive trail building to was putting down bears that were done and encourage him hope to by many in the recreation commu- considered nuisances for getting into continue defending wildlife and the nity. He always pressed for dogs to people’s unsecured garbage. The wild places they call home. 3 2 Wild Works | Summer 2015 SummerJUNE 20152012 | Wild Works 3 TAKING THE ‘PUBLIC’ OUT OF PUBLIC LANDS magine a “Closed to the Public” Consider this: Mercifully, both bills died in the I sign at the Dinkle Lake trailhead The U.S. Congress passed Senate, thanks in big part to the to Mount Sopris, or a “No Trespass- a nonbinding resolution this work of freshman State Senator Kerry ing: Private Property” sign at the year written by Alaska Sena- Donovan, D-Vail, who represents trailheads into Hunter Creek Valley tor Lisa Murkowski that calls Senate District 5, including Pitkin or Lost Man above Aspen. for the transfer to states of all and Eagle counties. If many legislators in Colorado federal lands not currently Only 18 percent of the existing and other western states have their designated as a national State Land Board Lands are open to way, we may see public access park, national monument the public, a clear indication of what closed off to some of our most or national preserve. Even could happen were public lands iconic public treasures. Why? though every Democrat and handed over. During times of state Because there is a concerted effort three Republicans, including budget shortfalls it’s not uncommon under way, primarily by Republi- Colorado Sen. Corey Gard- to see state parks closed—something cans at the state and federal level, to ner, voted against this call we definitely never want to see transfer lands managed by agencies to transfer public lands, the happen to National Forests and BLM like the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau amendment passed 51-49. lands. of Land Management and the U.S. In our neck of the woods, that But those bills are reflective of a Fish and Wildlife Service to state would comprise of nearly all public trend in western state legislatures.. governments. lands managed by the Forest Service The federal lands transfer move- Simply put, they are trying to take and BLM, including all wilderness ment has financial and organiza- the “public” (you) out of our federal areas.

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