Land Allocation Committee alert for August and September 2017

Land Allocation Committee update

This summer the Payette Forest Coalition voted to make the Land Allocation Committee a standing committee. The members of the Land Allocation Committee have agreed to keep working together to resolve Recommended Wilderness issues on the Payette. Everyone agreed that all options should be on the table, including wilderness as well as replacing recommended wilderness with other options.

Lick Creek Yurt field trip on Saturday, Sept. 9

Marty Rood with Payette Powder Guides is hosting a field trip and a discussion about the Secesh and Needles Recommended Wilderness Areas. The trip is scheduled from 10 am to 3 pm. See details at bottom. RSVP to John Robison at jrobison@idahoconservation.org

Next meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 20

We will be meeting from 7 pm to 9 pm at the Idaho First Bank basement conference room. One of the next steps will be to refine our charter and develop our work plan. This work will help define the issues we are going to work on as well as the issues we are not. We will also review our protocols and decision-making process.

Committee members needed

We want to convene a smaller core group to see if we can come up with some specific proposals for better management. We need to have all stakeholder groups represented. These folks would be listed as official committee members and would be expected to attend meetings and field trips as they can. Committee members should also be willing to work collaboratively on forest restoration issues. If you would like to be on the committee, please let the co-chairs Larry Laxson or John Robison know. Groups can sort out how many representatives they want to send. The committee is also open to citizens at large who aren’t officially being represented by another group.

Non-committee members still needed

You don’t have to be a committee member to provide feedback. We still want to get everyone’s suggestions and will make sure there is a time at each meeting or every few meetings to tell folks what we’ve looked at and to hear what people think.

Facilitators and funding

We have been in touch with some facilitators who may be able to help guide us through the deliberation process and keep us on track. If you know of any facilitators or know of any funding sources to help cover costs, let us know.

Lick Creek Yurt field trip details

On Saturday, Sept. 9 Marty Rood with Payette Powder Guides is hosting a field trip and a discussion about the Secesh and Needles Recommended Wilderness Areas. The trip is scheduled from 10 am to 3 pm. We will be meeting at the Idaho First Bank Parking lot in McCall. We will consolidate vehicles, drive up Lick Creek Road and park at the yurt. From the yurt, we will take short hikes and discuss outfitter operations and desires regarding future forest planning efforts and designations. Bring lunch, snacks, water, hiking shoes, warm layers and rain gear

Payette Powder Guides is an outfitter that manages the Lick Creek Yurt and offers backcountry skiing trips, avalanche classes and yurt rentals at Lick Creek Summit east of McCall. The Needles Recommended Wilderness lies to the south and the Secesh Recommended Wilderness lies to the north. Depending on how the Forest Service manages each Recommended Wilderness, they can either allow or restrict motorized and mechanized uses. Formal designations such as Wilderness often divides recreationists into two camps: non-motorized/non-mechanized and motorized/mechanized.

In the case of the Lick Creek area, the current interpretation for this Recommended Wilderness is working well. Recreationists can access the yurt by automobile in the summer and snowmobile or snowcat in the winter. Once at the yurt, the current restrictions on cross-country snowmobile use provide excellent backcountry skiing and riding experiences for skiers and snowboarders who are specifically seeking slopes that are not tracked up by snowmobilers. In the summer, the Payette Powder Guides provide mountain bike tours on both non-motorized and motorized trails. This type of use is currently allowed in the Secesh Recommended Wilderness but would not be allowed in Wilderness. Releasing this area from Recommended Wilderness would increase the amount of motorized uses in the area and likely conflict with outfitter goals.

RSVP to John Robison at jrobison@idahoconservation.org

Other field trip ideas

In addition to our Lick Creek Yurt Field trip, we are hoping to tour some other areas where current management may unnecessarily place recreation and conservation interests in conflict. The plan is for the group to look at several of these this fall, report back to the larger group and discuss options for long-term solutions.

If you have any recommendations for field trips or would like to join us on one, let us know. Also let us know what dates might work for you.

Ideally, the sites would be 1) suitable for a day trip, 2) within or near a Recommended Wilderness area, 3) or someplace that has been posing a management problem from a recreation or conservation perspective. While our group won’t be able to visit every site this year, it would be good to know where these are. We will also look at winter recreation issues when the snow flies.

Thanks,

John Robison and Larry Laxson, Committee co-chairs