USFS Sued over ignoring the Wilderness Act

[Elkaholic DaWg]

No better than riding my sled into the wilderness which they ALL would be screaming about!

This is almost funny. like fighting amongst the litter of greenies Maybe they should READ what they promote. Comments at end are interesting.


http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201...WS01/701159925


Home News Local news

Published: Saturday, January 15, 2011

Environmental group sues over Green Mountain wilderness lookout
The lookout, which replaced one built in the 1930s, is used for wilderness management and as a rest stop for hikers.
By Gale Fiege, Herald Writer
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DARRINGTON — A Montana-based watchdog group is suing the U.S. Forest Service and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Supervisor Rob Iwamoto.

Wilderness Watch alleges that, under Iwamoto's direction, the Forest Service violated the federal Wilderness Act and National Environmental Policy Act when it built a new lookout atop Green Mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area east of Darrington.

The lawsuit has angered regional hiking groups whose members have helped maintain mountain lookouts throughout northwest Washington.

The new $50,000 lookout, which incorporated much of the original lookout's materials, has been a destination for hikers for decades and is used for wilderness management. It replaced an old fire lookout built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Wilderness Watch executive director George Nickas contends that the federal law doesn't provide for construction in the wilderness except for use in managing the area. The use of a helicopter and power tools in construction also violated the act, Nickas said.

In addition, the suit says that environmental policy was violated because the Forest Service did not prepare an analysis of the effects of constructing a new lookout.

Wilderness Watch wants the Forest Service to take down the new lookout at Green Mountain and pay the watchdog group attorney fees and its costs.

Back-country hiker and Everett Mountaineers Club member Arthur Wright believes the lawsuit is “a travesty.”

“The suit is a way for Wilderness Watch to raise money. I have helped forest crews work on trails and maintain lookouts. I would trust the forest professionals who live and work here much more than I ever would somebody in an office in Missoula,” said Wright of Lynnwood. “The new building looks substantially like the old one. There is history there at Green Mountain.”

Longtime Glacier Peak Wilderness volunteers Mike and Ruth Hardy of south King County believe the suit threatens the work of those trying to preserve the history of the old fire lookouts. Scott Morris, a member of the Darrington Historical Society, agrees, noting that lookouts are among the historical icons of the region.

“I am an advocate of the wilderness and know it perhaps better than most. I could sympathize with Wilderness Watch if every mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness were somehow threatened,” Morris said. “The purist zealotry of this group is going to harm appreciation of the wilderness. Shall we not walk in the wilderness anymore?”

“If this is the biggest threat to the Glacier Peak Wilderness, we're doing OK,” Morris said.

Forest Service personnel say they are not allowed to talk about the lawsuit.

Darrington Ranger District wilderness and trails coordinator Gary Paull said the Green Mountain Lookout is used by paid staff and volunteers to manage the wilderness and make sure that no one is committing violations of the wilderness act. While the lookout has not been used for fire detection since the late 1980s, volunteers often are able to report lightning strikes from the lookout and help cut down on aerial fire detection above Glacier, Paull said.

Green Mountain has been a radio-relay position for restoration crews working to repair trails in the national forest. It also has played a recreation function, as a place for hikers to stop.

The lookout is on the west side of the 573,00-acre Glacier Peak Wilderness.

The old lookout was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 and, as it began to fall apart and come off its foundation, restoration efforts followed. Record snowfall in 2002 and major flooding in 2003 slowed down restoration efforts. In 2009, with the help of a state recreation grant, the Forest Service rebuilt the lookout.

When the Forest Service got complaints about helicopters flying in supplies to the mountain top, pack horses were used. But because many of the trails leading to the lookout were not restored to handle horses, two of the animals were injured and had to be shot.

“The helicopters impacted the wilderness less than the horses,” said Wright, the Lynnwood hiker.

At his Missoula office, Nickas said the lawsuit is simply a matter of protecting the integrity of the wilderness system.

“It's supposed to be free of structures, free of motor vehicle use. The (lookout) is either legal or it's not. For people to say it's OK is the same as saying the wilderness should be open to off-road vehicles,” Nickas said. “Everybody wants it their way. The hikers don't want the loggers or the miners or the off-road vehicle folks. You can't expect your pet use to be OK, when the Wilderness Act is designed for us to step back and let it truly be a wild place. Without it, future generations won't know what wilderness is.”

The Wilderness Watch is being represented in federal court in Seattle by attorney Peter Frost of the Western Environmental Law Center of Eugene, Ore. Brian Kipnis in Seattle is the federal Department of Justice lawyer on the case.

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[ccoleman77]

WOW . These people are nuts. Yeah the wilderness is great and all, but this was built to help people enjoy that. Give me a freaking break.

[RMKcowboy]

What a crock of ****.

[Wade]

How do you know a zealot, when their impacting your sport. HAHAHA

The fracking wilderness worshipers are going to punt the hikers out of the wilderness, one of these days. It's almost funny watching purest being attacked by zealots.

[tumblina]

There is some truth to this.......They want NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES in the wilderness....but somehow flying a heliocopter to rebuild the lookout is ok? It's hypocrisy.

[tumblina]

I had to take a couple of comments from people who commented on the article......LMFAO!!!

"Ok we'll tear it down and put the old one back, then remodel it useing sherpas and a hand saw."

"I hope that the law suit goes down, the outlook gets bulldozed, mother nature screams and there is no fresh granola for 18 months."

[Elkaholic DaWg]

And they LOOSE!!

Hardcore greenies Vs wanna be greenies of Washington


http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201...in-wilderness-

first few paragraphs....

The Green Mountain fire lookout has been ordered removed by a federal judge because of Forest Service violations of the federal Wilderness Act.
*



By Gale Fiege, Herald Writer
Related Items






Green Mtn WW decision 032712

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DARRINGTON -- A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Forest Service to remove a historic lookout from Green Mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.

The mood was sour at the Darrington Historical Society meeting Wednesday evening as people were met with the news that U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled in favor of a Montana-based conservation group that sued to have the lookout removed.

"I can't tell you how totally devastated I am by this news," said historical society president Leah Tyson. "I honestly don't see how the judge could possibly believe that (the forest fire lookout) doesn't belong up there."

The lawsuit, filed in 2010 by Wilderness Watch, alleged that the Forest Service violated the federal Wilderness Act, which doesn't allow for the use of motorized vehicles nor new construction in wilderness areas. Helicopters were used to haul out the old lookout and haul in what Wilderness Watch calls a new building.

[Dogmeat]

Originally Posted by tumblina

There is some truth to this.......They want NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES in the wilderness....but somehow flying a heliocopter to rebuild the lookout is ok? It's hypocrisy.

Hipocracy at its finest .... sort of like how the latest UT wilderness act, it basically ****ed everyone but the heliskiiers out of accesing certain parts of AF canyon .... then we get our asshole congressman stating, on record "everyone had to give something up in this proposal" ..... oh really? apparently everyone but the ****ing people who can afford heli-skiing? wtf.

[Elkaholic DaWg]

what parts of the wilderness act must be followed. In other words, greenie supporter doesn't like it when his greenie supporters affect his opinions on what should be allowed in wilderness......



http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201...WS01/706269805



Published: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 7:07 p.m.
Bill would save lookout in Glacier Peak Wilderness
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen is introducing federal legislation to preserve the Green Mountain fire lookout near Darrington.
By Gale Fiege, Herald Writer



The Green Mountain fire lookout is in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Influential voices line up for Green Mountain lookout
Effort continues to save Green Mountain fire lookout
Judge orders removal of historic lookout in wilderness
Local news

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DARRINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., plans to introduce legislation Wednesday aimed at halting the removal of the historic Green Mountain fire lookout in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

"The lookout is an integral part of the Glacier Peak Wilderness, important for both recreation and the region's history," Larsen said Tuesday by phone from Washington, D.C. "The message of this bill is simple: The Green Mountain lookout stays on Green Mountain."

Earlier this year the U.S. District Court in Seattle ordered the lookout removed after Montana-based Wilderness Watch successfully sued the Forest Service for using a helicopter to repair it, a violation of the federal Wilderness Act. The Forest Service maintained that the lookout's historical significance made it an allowable project in the wilderness. The lawsuit is still in the courts, pending an appeal by the Department of Justice.

Larsen's proposed Green Mountain Lookout Heritage Protection Act would amend the Washington State Wilderness Act of 1984, allowing for the operation and maintenance of the lookout and preventing the Forest Service from tearing it down and carting it away.

"I believe strongly in preserving our environment, and I have been a leader in the fight to protect wilderness in the Wild Sky (Wilderness), the Skagit River Valley and in the San Juan Islands," Larsen said. "It's as important to me to save the lookout as it was to save the Wild Sky. Folks who live in Montana may not understand our efforts here to preserve federal land."

George Nickas, director of Wilderness Watch, said Larsen's bill has the potential to set a bad precedent, an effort that deserves national attention.

"The Wilderness Act was established for the permanent good of the whole people," Nickas said. "When members of Congress pick away at it, the idea that these lands are set aside for future generations begins to ring hollow."

Larsen said the position taken by Wilderness Watch fails to take into account the spirit of the law.

Chris Moore, field director of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, agrees.

"As an organization, we believe the lookout enhances the Glacier Peak Wilderness," Moore said.

The Green Mountain lookout is one of the few surviving fire lookouts in the West, Larsen said. The lookout was built in the summer of 1933, when a Civilian Conservation Corps crew climbed 6,500-foot Green Mountain in the North Cascade Range east of Darrington. Along with its use as a key fire lookout in the logging heyday, Green Mountain also was an early warning station for aerial attacks during World War II. The lookout is on national and state registers of historic places.

Elected officials including Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, the Snohomish County Council and the Darrington Town Council and organizations such as the Darrington Historical Society, many recreational groups, the Forest Fire Lookout Association and state and national Trusts for Historic Preservation support the maintenance of the lookout, Larsen said.

"Wilderness Watch's lawsuit wasted a lot of people's time and money," said Scott Morris, historical society vice president, "and it's time for Congress to step in and allow us to move on to more important things. The lookout won't last forever. Just let it be."

The fire lookout on Green Mountain is one of only 15 left from North Bend to the Canadian border, Morris said. That's 15 of 90 that were built in the 1930s, he said.

"I am not speaking for the historical society or people in Darrington when I say this, but I love the Wilderness Act," Morris said. "The lawsuit brought by Wilderness Watch is the kind of thing that (ticks) people off over a non-issue. Nickas was the one who started this whole thing, and he is the one who has set the bad precedent."