Wilderness or something else?

Following is a synopsis of the goals of the for the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative (WPLI) Carbon County committee's goals and remarks made at a recent meeting that committee held at 5 p.m. on April 11 at the Grand Encampment Opera House:

WPLI Overview

Carbon County Commissioners have been tasked with making a determination on four Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) in Carbon County.

The group that set the task was the Wyoming County Commissioners Association. The task itself is labeled the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative.

The intent of WPLI is to determine whether current WSAs across the state should become full wilderness areas, released to a multiple use category or any number of other categories in between, including remaining a WSA. Those determinations are then to be sent to Wyoming U.S. Senator John Barasso to craft legislation which will be sent to Congress as a bill to be voted into law.

Of the 23 counties in Wyoming, only eight have elected to participate including Carbon County.

To achieve their goal of making determinations on the four WSAs in Carbon County, County commissioners created the Carbon County WPLI Advisory Committee which is made up of nine members from diverse economic areas. Two county commissioners and advisors from energy, agriculture, motorized recreation, non-motorized recreation, conservation, outdoor sports sectors along with two members of the general public make up the committee.

The WSAs up for consideration include the Bennett Mountain Area, the Ferris Mountain Area, the Encampment River Canyon Area and the Prospect Mountain Area. Each of these areas will be given independent recommendations as to their future status by the committee.

To build consensus on the recommendations to be made to Senator Barrasso, the committee has been holding monthly meetings in Rawlins and around the county.

The Encampment

Meeting

The Carbon County WPLI Advisory Committee held their most recent meeting in Encampment to build consensus in the area and listen to any questions or concerns members of the public or businesses operating in the area might have.

Around 25 people were at the meeting which began with director of the Carbon County Higher Education Center in Rawlins and WPLI committee member Dave Throgmorton explaining the goals of the committee and explaining the options the committee had to make recommendations.

Throgmorton explained the process the committee was going through in making WSA determinations and how those recommendations would be forwarded to congress for final disposition.

Fire Fighting

A concern expressed at the meeting, which focused mainly on the Encampment River Canyon WSA, was fire control.

If eventually designated a wilderness area Dennis Carpenter, field manager of the Rawlins field office, said such a determination removes some firefighting tools from the currently available "tool bag".

Audience member and former firefighter Mick Hood echoed that sentiment saying, "Basically when the crews do an initial attack on fire in a wilderness area ... no pumps are allowed, aerial resources have to stay at 500 feet above ground level. No chainsaws-basically shovels and hoes. However, mechanical use can be allowed with special approval. On the Forest Service approval has to come from the Forest Supervisor and he or she may or may not approve the use of mechanical tools equipment in a wilderness."

Oddfellows subdivision resident Willis Greenwood expressed that, in his conservative estimation, 90 percent of the residents of the Oddfellows subdivision, which lies alongside the Encampment River Canyon WSA, were happy with the current safety level afforded by the WSA designation and he was impressed by the protection the area was given during a fire in the Encampment River Canyon last year.

A handout available at the meeting said this about firefighting: "Fires in wilderness areas are managed with the same top priorities as other federal lands-firefighter and public safety are most important. When possible, fire in wilderness may be allowed to provide its natural ecological role, which can decrease risk to firefighters and the public over time. If possible and necessary, managers may suppress fires in wilderness, and motorized access during fires is permissible when necessary. Mechanical treatments and prescribed fire can be used as management tools in wilderness areas."

Sportsman advisor for the committee, Pat Rollison, added, "Generally speaking, in most areas with wilderness potential, you couldn't get into them with motorized fire fighting equipment to begin with. Same with the Encampment River Canyon. You are probably very limited to what you could get in there that would be of help as far as mobilized anything. You couldn't whether it was wilderness or non wilderness. So I mean that would have very little bearing on fire."

When asked if less aggressive fire fighting techniques were offset by any benefits in becoming a wilderness area, Throgmorton replied, "We would be falling down on the side of solitude, recreation ,traditional agricultural uses and just creating more spaces in our county for people to get away from other people. For some of the people on the committee, that outweighs fire suppression and some of those other things because that is an important Carbon County value." Throgmorton was clear however that he was not speaking for the whole committee and that a decision had not yet been reached.

Following further discussion on fire procedures in wilderness, A-Bar-A and Big Creek Ranch Manager Justin Howe said that two year's ago the Beaver Creek Fire on wilderness land that butts up with his ranches' western reaches, he had a hard time and lost some cattle. He went on to say because deadfall in the forest had burned, the following year the forest was much easier to access and he had experienced the best grazing year in quite a while.

Grazing & Management

Another concern voiced about a possible wilderness designation for the Encampment River Canyon Area concerned cattle grazing and currently allowed management techniques.

Nick Haderlie, of the Silver Spur Ranch, said, "One of the concerns we would have, specifically with the Encampment River Area here, is it being committed to be wilderness."

"We graze the entire area you are looking at." Haderlie said, pointing out the area map. When asked if Haderlie would support the area remaining a WSA he remarked, "I think we would support the status quo. We do use motorized and mechanized uses up there now for the purposes of our agricultural operations. So long as the status quo continues we wouldn't necessarily have an issue with that."

The flyer, which innumerates public access and historic uses, says that grazing cannot be eliminated under a wilderness designation and that some motorized access necessary to manage grazing where precedent exists will be allowable.

Howe noted about his Big Creek and A-Bar-A operations, "When we do operate in the Prospect Creek Wilderness (which adjoins the Ranch) ... we have the grazing lease there and have looked at the impacts of wilderness. And in the case of Prospect Creek we do not have any negative impacts on our operation because we are already using it in a way wilderness is designed. The only concern for us would be Prospect Creek Road and finding a way to improve it."

Howe was assured that the road, which borders the Encampment WSA, could have that improvement written into the recommendation as an exclusion for the area.

Howe continued saying "The other place we have experience operating is in the Savage Run Wilderness, which we abut. We have an irrigation ditch which comes out of the Savage Run and there is an easement that is there for the purpose of maintaining that irrigation ditch-and that easement has not been an issue for us. We just call the Forest (Service) and say we are just going to maintain that irrigation ditch in the same way we do on non-wilderness land."

Howe went on to say he felt it was important to make any agricultural management issues known to the committee.

Other Concerns

While fire control and livestock management techniques were the major issues discussed, the flyer available at the meeting explained that hunting and fishing, recreation such as horseback riding, boating, camping and other similar outdoor activities would still be allowed under a wilderness designation.

The flyer further stipulated that fences, stock ponds and other facilities necessary for grazing operations may be maintained as before with historical precedent and that weed control is permissible to preserve wilderness character-but that low impact approaches will be prioritized.

Further review

While no overall agreement was reached at the meeting, it seemed around 25 people in attendance were in favor of protecting and preserving the Encampment River Canyon in some form.

The committee, however, would like the public in general to give further comment on the WSAs in question. They ask that when making comment, a respondent is sure to identify the area about which they are giving opinions or statements.

Comments should be made by late May or mid June and may be made by visiting the WPLI website at http://carbonwpli.org and going to the "share your input" tab. Interested parties may also email the committee at [email protected].

Throgmorton said that the committee's final recommendations will be announced before sending them to Senator Barrasso.

The committee's recommendations are expected be made by late June or early July and Carbon County Commissioner and WPLI committee member John Espy assured the attendees he would be watching the progress of the bill very carefully to make sure unwanted changes were not made during the bill's progress through Congress.