DON'T GO UNLEASHED

I’m hardly the first person to write about this issue, but I want to be one of the first to hit it head on instead of nervously dance around it, so here we go.

If I had a hundred bucks for every time I’ve observed dog owners acting irresponsibly on wilderness trails, I’d have enough to buy all new hiking gear and clothing--new Lowe-Alpine backpack, new Merrill boots, new Magellan GPS, new G. Loomis backpacking fly outfit, new Patagonia from head to toe, and all the rest--and best.

If I had a hundred bucks for every time I’ve observed dog owners acting responsibly on wilderness trails, I’d have enough to buy one of those new, spiffy, BPA-free, double-walled, vacuum-sealed, stainless-steel water bottles from New Wave Enviro.

Well, not quite, but close. The point is, most people who take their dogs into the wilderness don’t get it.

IS ANYBODY SURPRISED?

If anybody is surprised U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy put the gray wolf back on the endangered species list and stopped wolf hunting in Idaho and Montana, he or she hasn’t been following the debate. I’m sure not surprised, but his decision, released Aug. 5, puts the spotlight back on a lot interesting issues.

Here are my thoughts on the next chapter of the biggest outdoor story of the century.

PLEASE DON'T LET IT BE A TREND

I haven’t seen much of an uproar over the rather startling news of two green groups essentially extorting $20 million (later revised to “at least $22 million") from Big Oil. So, I’m wondering if I’m the only greenie choking on it.

On July 18, El Paso Corporation, one of America’s largest natural gas pipeline builders, and two fairly small green groups, the Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Foundation, announced a “partnership.” (Click here)

WILL IDAHO AND MONTANA BE LEFT OUT?

With the severe escalation of partisan politics and divisiveness in recent years, it has become basically impossible to pass a Wilderness bill or any other type of public lands or outdoor recreation legislation on its own. Time on the Senate and House floor is so scarce and closely guarded and partisanship so bitter that the only way public lands legislation has any realistic chance is a relatively new invention called the omnibus bill.

As you may remember, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed S. 22, a massive public lands omnibus bill on March 30, 2009 after a long, heated debate and lots of last-minute maneuvering. The 1,300-page bill was the combination of 170 pieces of legislation creating new national parks and monuments, plus park expansions and national recreation trails, protecting hundreds of miles of wild and scenic rivers, and designating more than 2 million acres of Wilderness.

EQUAL RIGHTS? WHAT A NOVEL IDEA!

You could call this old news, but I didn’t see much press coverage on this rather momentous event, so I wanted to do my part to make sure cyclists and motorists knew the rules of the road are changing.

Back on March 12 Ray LaHood, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, went to the National Bike Summit and dropped a bomb. Transportation policy might have, finally, made the right turn.

IT'S ABOUT TIME OBAMA DID SOMETHING GREEN

Back in February somebody leaked seven pages of a “vision document” conceived within the Department of the Interior and created quite a political uproar. OMG! Top brass in the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service (all Interior Department agencies) and a few green groups were actually discussing the idea of creating 14 new national monuments using the same end-run strategy employed by President Bill Clinton when--only three days before turning over the keys to the White House to George W. Bush--he used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate the 377,000-acre Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument in north central Montana and 12 more monuments in other states.

Now, it appears as if President Obama might do the same thing, even though Interior Secretary Ken Salazar claims it’s all “false rumors.” But in an excellent analysis (click here), Great Falls Tribune capital bureau reporter John S. Adams verifies that Interior Department higher-ups have indeed been seriously chatting up the monument idea. Salazar should have been proud to admit it.

EARTH TO FOREST SERVICE: YOUR PLAN CAN'T WORK

The Forest Service (FS) still clings to the fallacy of ATVers and hikers/bikers peacefully and safely sharing the same trail. And that it can write a travel plan that pleases everybody when in reality it’s almost guaranteed to please nobody.

Case in point. The Superior Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest has just released a long-awaited “scoping notice” for a 30-mile rail trail in western Montana, running from Taft to St. Regis along the abandoned Milwaukee Road railbed. This proposed trail, tentatively named the Route of the Olympian after a historic train, could extend the extremely popular Route of the Hiawatha bicycle trail, which runs 17 miles on the same railbed, over 4 trestles and through 9 tunnels, from Taft, Montana to Pearson, Idaho. What a great idea. We could have a spectacular, 47-mile rail trail that would attract cyclists from all over the world, promote healthful outdoor activities and booster local travel-related businesses.

MORE ON THE NEVERENDING STORY

For about three years now, I’ve been wondering how something so easy to do just can’t seem to get done.

Pro-wolf and anti-wolf groups really aren’t that far apart on a compromise that could end the seemingly endless wolf debate and allow all of us to move forward. Yet, nobody, I guess, wants risk showing weakness by making the first move. So I will. I’m weak. I’m blinking. I’m saying let’s settle this now.

HOPPY BIRTHDAY

We’ve all heard about the Tea Party and its politically conservative approach that blames government in general and Democrats in particular for all the nation’s problems.

Now, in response, we have the Coffee Party emerging to applaud more liberal views, such as viewing government as merely an expression of our collective will, so it sort of seems like it should be named the Espresso Party. Anyway, it already has 350 coffee shops signed up in 44 states.

Now, I’m hearing rumblings of another new political party starting up, one that might really solve the many troubles that threaten to sink the greatest nation on earth, the Microbrew Party. It doesn’t have a website yet, or staff, promotional webcasts, offices, or anything formal, so lots more news to break in coming months, but here’s what I’ve heard so far.

HE HAS A POINT, NOT UNDER HIS CAP, BUT ON HIS FLY

Somebody has to stand up for the beleaguered northern pike, the amazing game fish we love to hate. It might as well be me.

My fellow NewWestie, Bob Wire, is a great writer, and I almost always applaud his aggressive views on whatever subject strikes his fancy at particular moment--guns, health clubs, football, whatever. I like it. But not this week when Bob wrote a lengthy condemnation of one of my favorite game fish, the northern pike. You might want to read it first (click here) and then come back for my pushback.