There are two fairly specific places in this world where I get the utmost sense of “home”. This is one of them. The mountains here have a unique look, and are incredibly abrupt. The forest is the wildest left in the lower 48, home to all predators prior to European settlement. The small valley in this location has frequent sightings of lynx, wolverine, cougar, grizzly, bighorn, elk, moose, mountain goat, moose, fisher, pine marten and black bear. Bald eagles, golden eagles and osprey soar along the mountain cliffs. Waterfalls are everywhere, as well as deep blue lakes of size. Truly magical country.

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part II

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The Forest Service viewed the easements narrowly: logging use only. Plum Creek viewed them broadly: all uses, including residential access.

Neither wanted to test its opinion in court, however, because there was too much at stake for the loser. And so they talked.

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A few weeks before Earth Day was a sad time for us to learn of the San Fran-cisco-based Bohemian Club’s plan to get permission for extensive logging in Bohemian Grove. This grove adjacent to Monte Rio is graced by the presence of Sonoma County’s last portion of ancient redwoods.

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Kane County’s ongoing bid to claim ownership of roads in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and surrounding federal lands suffered a serious, and perhaps fatal, blow Friday.

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The National Parks Conservation Association has urged the Bush administration to halt efforts to roll back clean air protections for national parks, saying Great Basin is among 10 national parks at risk from pollution from such power plants.

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The agency wants to partner with local governments and nonprofits to protect land near national forests that are threatened by development. A recent Forest Service report described the challenges posed by increased density on private lands.

PEER was kind enough to send me this email the other day, so here you go:

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Under orders to be published this week in the Federal Register, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages the monument, will declare nearly 55,000 acres (approximately four times the land area of Manhattan) off-limits to all ORV traffic for “up to two years or more, depending on the restoration success,” according to the acting monument manager. An estimated 90 miles of ORV routes will also be closed to motorized use. This no-ORV zone lies southeast of the North Maricopa Mountains wilderness.