Economy Meets Environment

Businesses Lead Wild and Scenic Fight

By Scott Poniewaz, 8-18-05

	Tom Beck of Victorville, Calif. takes advantage of the fishing on the Greys River near Alpine, Wyo. while on vacation to the Jackson area. Photos by Scott Poniewaz/New West

Tom Darin, Public Lands Director and staff attorney with the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, points at an area on the map near the headwaters of the Greys River south of Jackson and reminisces about an epic day of fishing he had there. “We must have caught 75 Cutthroat,” he said, “not one non-native fish.” His organization is looking to protect fisheries like the Greys from being disrupted by timber sales, oil, or development that could affect it and 18 other river ecosystems. The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and several other businesses and organizations have stepped behind a proposal to include about 430 stream miles on 19 rivers of the Snake River headwaters area under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. It's a lot of land, but Darin has been trying to explore each area, so he knows exactly what terrain there is and what is really at stake.

While there are already 163 river segments nationwide that have been protected since 1968, including a popular whitewater rafting section of the Snake River downstream from the Hells Canyon Dam, this campaign would be a first, said Aaron Pruzan, the owner of Rendezvous River Sports and a chair member on the board of the Snake River Fund. This is the first watershed approach in the Wild and Scenic designation.

The act, which hopes to protect 30 separate sections on 19 separate rivers, including the Greys, Gros Ventre, Hoback, Salt and Snake Rivers, is meant to protect a river’s natural qualities, such as scenery, water quality and “outstandingly remarkable values.”

An "Are You Wild and Scenic?" sign is displayed just off the town square in Jackson in front of Snake River Kayak & Canoe. Bracelets, stickers and other items can also be seen throughout Jackson.

It seems like a large undertaking, especially with the varied land uses in the area from recreation to ranching.

“This campaign hopes to ensure that the economic engine or wildlife or recreational activities keep going in the future,” Darin said. “It will make the economy rely less on extraction, but more on functioning ecosystems and watersheds, making for less of a reliance on coppers, oil, natural gas and timber.”

Darin clarified that the key economic engine in this region is directly linked to the healthy wildlife and recreational activities that wild and scenic rivers support.

The largest economic booster to the Jackson area is its recreational tourism among visitors scooting between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the estimated 200,000 people rafting on the Snake River every summer near Jackson. A study released by Dr. John Loomis of Colorado State University last May showed that fishing on the Upper Snake River System creates 1,460 jobs and nets $46 million for the economy. The study also asked if people would spend more if people were able to catch more, or larger fish and found a better fishery would generate 1,000 more jobs and $32 million more for the Upper Snake’s surrounding economy.

With that in mind, it's no wonder business owners want to protect the river. “Its the best of the best in the Yellowstone area and one of the best functioning [river ecosystems] in the lower 48,” Darin said.

The idea is marketable to these businesses, because it seems like a plan that will help in sustaining their economy. It doesn’t keep people from hunting or fishing in the areas, it doesn’t keep people from driving or building roads along the river corridors, it doesn’t prevent private land owners from doing anything on their own property and it doesn’t effect existing water rights or interstate water compacts.

While there is widespread support, it isn’t quite time for members of the Campaign for the Snake Headwaters to throw their pints of Snake River Lager up in celebration. The Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, which represents about 2,800 agricultural producers throughout Wyoming, is opposed to the Wild and Scenic designation. Ken Hamilton, the organization’s Executive Vice President, explained that their policy tends to stand against any protection of lands that could limit future uses.

“A lot of members oppose the locking of land for future uses,” he said, though the organization doesn’t have a direct policy on the Wild and Scenic Act, meaning it is somewhat of a blanket policy for the organization.

Since many members rely on federal lands for things like grazing, Hamilton explained that it can make it tough on the members’ pocketbooks. “We’ve already seen an increased cost in operating in wilderness areas,” he then added, “The Wild and Scenic gives us concern in the future, where we may need to develop offsite storage and water facilities.”

So what exactly does the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act do for the Snake Headwaters?

	Oil rigs occupy the skyline over the town of Pinedale, Wyo., a hotbed for oil development. People pushing for the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act worry that the development will push into the Snake's headwaters ecosystem.

What is interesting with the Wild and Scenic designation is that it doesn’t necessarily keep development from happening in the watershed or clean anything up, it just makes the agencies involved, like the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management, scrutinize development and make sure it doesn’t degrade the river ecosystem. If the Wild and Scenic designation were to be approved by Congress, which the groups hope will happen by 2006, the rivers would have a baseline water quality test done in the protected areas and any future developments would not be able to degrade those set standards.

One of the big things it does is prevent new dams from being built in the area. For example, even the river's eligibility has altered plans for a proposed dam and roadwork aimed at protecting an area on Highway 191, east of Hoback Junction toward Pinedale from a growing landslide danger on the Hoback River. Since the river became eligible for protection, the Bridger-Teton National Forest's policy is to manage any development or change in the area in a way that will not affect the water quality or its wild and scenic characteristics, making it difficult for the Wyoming Department of Transportation and the Bridger-Teton National Forest to reach a sufficient solution to protect the road from landslide, said forest spokesman Jason Anderson.

Another example concerns a Forest Service lease proposed near the Hoback and Cliff Creek areas. Initially set at 175,000 acres, it was downsized to 45,000 acres further to the southeast, outside of the proposed protection area. It is developments like these that the campaign hopes to put off as the oil and natural gas development moves west and threatens areas like the Upper Green River, Darin said.

The campaign has been developing since 1993, Pruzan said, but didn’t go public until this past May, when the Campaign for the Snake Headwaters got Wyoming’s Republican Senator Craig Thomas on the bandwagon. “This campaign has brought together people from all aspects of the political spectrum,” he also pointed out.

“We wanted to work behind the scenes to build a cross-section of the economy, since many of the local businesses depend on floating and fishing. We wanted the businesses to come together to join forces,” Darin said.

The cross-section of businesses and political viewpoints seems to be the key in the campaign, which has seen little opposition. Oil has stayed out of the controversy thus far, which Darin believes was because the access to the resources is somewhat difficult in the area anyway. That leaves the only objection thus far is from the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation.

Rafters pummel through Big Kahuna on the Snake River south of Jackson. Approximately 200,000 people utilize this section of the Snake for river recreation annually.

“It's a question of ... you take a resource out of potential use and it can have a trickle effect throughout the state,” Hamilton said, who also voiced concern over potential effects on upstream users.

To breed a successful campaign, the leaders realized that they needed to avoid the typical method for an environmental campaign. “There are people that love conservation for conservation’s sake. Any conservation campaign people see and businesses and conservationists work together for a watershed with clean water, a good fishery and riparian habitat, they can start to understand that it is good for the environment and economy in Jackson Hole,” Pruzan said.

Nearly 50 local businesses and organizations have jumped on board with kiosks that supply informational brochures and sell “R U Wild & Scenic?” bracelets to raise money. Throughout the streets of Jackson, you’ll also find signs in front yards and stickers asking the same “Are you Wild & Scenic?” question.

Pruzan said, “Some organizations were against due to ignorance and fear, but we found that if we sat down with people initially against it, they’re converted by the end ... Its more of a knee-jerk reaction than what the legislation really is.”

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