Ventana Wilderness Watch
www.ventanawild.org Volume 7 Number 2, Fall 2006X
VWA Sues Forest Service I Over Wilderness Act Violations
For six years the VWA has made an
earnest effort to work within the administrative
system toward convincing the US Forest
Service to respect and follow the letter and
intent of the Wilderness Act and other laws as
they pertain to commercial livestock grazing on
the eight Big Sur coastal allotments. Countless
volunteer hours have been spent analyzing
proposals and documentation, surveying the
landscape, submitting public comments, and
preparing no fewer than three appeals of the
decisions to renew these marginal public lands
grazing permits.
Last year the Forest Service finalized their
plans by denying our third appeal of their
proposals (the first two appeals were success-
ful), and the bag is mixed. First the good news:
the Buckeye allotment in the Silver Peak
Wilderness and the Twitchell allotment in the
Ventana Wilderness have been officially
dropped from the grazing system as a result
of our concerns and vociferous input. This is
an agency action we applaud and support.
Similarly, the Torre allotment will not be
stocked at this time and must undergo further
environmental review prior to any grazing use.
On the other hand, on the Gorda, San Carpo-
foro, Alder and Salmon Creek allotments
livestock grazing will continue, albeit under
new guidelines.
Ventana Wild Rivers Campaign Update
VWA Member Dennis Palm visits the San Antonio River.
But the issue isn’t over just yet. One
proposed allotment, the Kozy Kove in the Silver
Peak Wilderness, is still in dispute. Earlier this
year the VWA joined forces with Los Padres
Forest Watch, Wilderness Watch, and the Sierra
Club in filing a lawsuit against the Los Padres
National Forest for violations of the Wilderness
Act and National Environmental Policy Act by
creating a new allotment within designated
Wilderness where one did not exist at the time
of designation. Existing allotments are grand-
fathered under the Wilderness Act and grazing
is allowed to continue where permits are in
place at the time of designation, a provision of
the law which the VWA respects. But on the
Kozy Kove no permits had ever existed and
grazing hadn’t taken place for well over a
decade and never under federal ownership. To
initiate grazing there now, within Wilderness as
Photo: Hannah Schoenthal-Muse
VWA Members
(from left to right)
Corky Matthews,
Tom Hopkins,
Rich Popchak and
Julie Anne Delgado
explore the Kozy
Kove area of the
Silver Peak Wilder-
ness in August,
2006.
Photo: Boon Hughey
planned, constitutes an assault on the integrity
of Wilderness and the spirit of the Wilderness
Act. The Forest Service chose to ignore these
facts even though they were fully explained to
them in our appeals, so the only remaining
remedy to protect Wilderness is the courts. Our
complaint was filed in September in Federal
Court in San Francisco, and we are currently
awaiting a response from the USFS attorneys.
While we are hopeful that our disagreement
can be settled, we are ready and willing to go
the distance in defense of Wilderness.
We are being represented in this case by
attorney Peter Frost of the Western Environ-
mental Law Center in Eugene, Oregon (www.
westernlaw.org) and would like to thank him
and his organization for all their help and
concern. d1
The Ventana Wild Rivers Campaign
(VWRC) has been making headway. For the
past several months, the VWA has been
working with Friends of the River (FOR) to
protect outstanding rivers and streams flowing
through public lands in the northern Santa
Lucias. To ensure that these pristine waterways
remain in their free-flowing state, the goal of
the VWRC is to legislatively protect these
rivers through federal Wild and Scenic desig-
nation. Federal designation would prohibit any
new dams or developments, protect water
quality, and require that a management plan be
developed to protect the free-flowing character
and outstanding values of each particular river.
Thanks to the help of local conservation-
ists, VWA members and VWRC Organizer
CONTINUED ON BACK PAGE

VWA Volunteer Profile
VWA Volunteer Robert Parks.
The VWA is blessed with tremendous
diversity in its membership. Our volunteers
come from near and far to protect the wil-
derness. Today we profile VWA Trail Crew
member Robert Parks. Robert is a self-
described “cranky electric-bus driver” for
the San Francisco Municipal Railway. This
profession supports his love for sushi and the
crosscut saws he finds on eBay. When not in
the City, Robert enjoys the great outdoors and
spends considerable time hiking, backpacking
and performing trailwork with the VWA Trail
Crew. His talents as a certified sawyer are
indispensable to the organization.
Q
Why do you volunteer
for the VWA?
Originally it was because the Ventana was my
winter playground and I noticed the lack of
maintenance on the trails. So I started doing a
little bit of work on my own. Later I went on a
work trip in the Silver Peak Wilderness and I
was hooked. Now I do trailwork occasionally
elsewhere, but the Ventana needs more work
than any other place I’ve hiked. What better
way to do work where it is most needed than
with the congenial folks on VWA trail crew?
I Robert Parks
Q
Please tell us about your
collection of crosscut saws.
Right now, I have two saws in working order
and about a dozen that are variously not
serviceable...ranging from complete junkers
to some rather nice saws that merely need to
be cleaned up, sharpened and set. All are from
eBay. I buy relatively inexpensive saws that
show potential to be good saws, clean them
up, and sell off the ones that aren’t suitable
for use. It’s a crap shoot...sometimes you get
a decent saw, sometimes you get garbage. My
working saws are a 3.5´ Atkins 390 one-person
saw, and a 4.5´ felling style saw.
Q
What has been your greatest Pacific Ocean. I enjoy the trails in the area, as
challenge as a sawyer in the well as some of the established cross country
wilderness?
Figuring out how to complete the job safely.
The physical work of sawing can be strenuous,
but planning your work so that you can clear a
challenging log completely and know that you
will be going back to camp for R&R is critical.
Q
What is your approach to food
and drink when you are on trail
crew trips in the Ventana and
Silver Peak Wilderness?
The items I bring for the traditional potluck
appetizers often weigh more than the actual
dinners I bring. So does the beer. I figure it is
worth it to pack in some extra weight so that
there can be full enjoyment in camp after a
long day’s work. On shorter hikes in, I’ve been
known to bring cold watermelon for lunch.
Q
Who are some of the
people that have inspired
you to become involved in
conservation causes?
My family, I guess. I’ve always had an aware-
ness of and a dedication to conservation ethics
and causes.
Q
What are some of the
indispensable books you
have in your library?
Besides the vintage saw manuals, I have a
variety of crosscut training manuals as well as
general trailwork manuals/books that are
useful. Indispensable? I don’t know. Books are
good for training but the reality is out on the
trail, practicing and reinforcing your skills,
and learning from more experienced trail
workers. Outside the realm of trailwork, I
am very fond of the SciFi and Fantasy of
Lois McMaster Bujold, as well as the works
of several other SciFi authors like Terry
Pratchett and Kristine Smith.
Q
What are some of your
favorite trails and camps in
the northern Santa Lucia?
My favorite area is the Cone Peak Gradient...
from the crest of the Coast Ridge down to the
routes (Stone Ridge and Cone Peak North
Ridge, in particular). Vicente Flat Camp is a
favorite, although I’ll always have a soft spot
for Buckeye Camp since that is where my first
trailwork trip was based.
Q
What other parts of the planet
do you aspire to explore?
If I had time and money, there are interesting
places everywhere...but so far, I haven’t run
out of stuff to explore in California. d1
VWA Trail Crew I
To Secure More Tools
Recently, the VWA Trail Crew applied for
and received a grant of $600 from the Los
Padres Forest Association (LPFA). The LPFA
is the official non-profit cooperating associa-
tion for the Los Padres National Forest. The
funds will be used to purchase a selection of
tools that will be added to the VWA tool cache.
Planned for purchase are:
Felco 20 – 17 inches long
Felco 21 – 25 inches long
Felco 23 – 21 inches long
Felco Lopper Sheath
2 Fiskars – 21.5 inch bypass loppers
1 Fiskars – 31 inch bypass lopper
3 Fiskars – 18 inch bypass loppers
This will provide us with three new
aluminum loppers and six plastic handled (and
significantly lighter) loppers. Crew members
Willow Creek
Wrecks
The VWA is working with the Forest Service to
get ancient wrecks like this 50’s era Hudson (or is
it a Lincoln?) out of the Wilderness.
Photo: Tom Hopkins
In 2004 Ventana Wilderness Alliance volun-
teers backpacked over 10,000 pounds of trash
from the Willow Creek Addition to the Silver
Peak Wilderness. Plans are under way for a
new phase of the overall effort to restore the
Willow Creek Wilderness Addition to pristine
wilderness qualities. Several abandoned
automobiles, some dating back 50 years, have
been located along the Sycamore Flat access
road to Happy Landing. The VWA is work-
ing with the Forest Service to develop a plan
to remove these wrecks from the public land.
This effort will be primarily raising money to
remove the vehicles and to fund archeological
and rare plant surveys of the areas that will be
disturbed by the vehicle removal. d1
Receives Grant
can now experiment with a wider variety of
tools to see which works best in any given
application.
Some of the funds will also be used to
secure replacement parts and sharpening tools.
Special note: It has been determined that
the best way to permanently remove ceanothus
from the trail tread is to cut it below the ground
surface. This goes against the conventional
thinking that such a pruning technique would
dull or even ruin the tool’s blade. Now that we
have the funds to purchase new loppers and
repair or replace blades, we have the resources
to make brush removal much more permanent.
This method has been used with great success
on the Black Cone Trail, Arroyo Seco Trail and
the Carrizo Trail. So now, when you’re out
there working – try to cut ceanothus below the
ground! d1
Marijuana
Gardens in
the Ventana
Many of you have read about the environ-
mental toll commercial marijuana cultivation
operations are taking on our wild public lands.
Law enforcement authorities in the Ventana
region have raided a surprising number of such
gardens in recent years. More often than not
the local gardens are elaborate undertakings
that are clearly the work of well-financed and
sophisticated criminal enterprises. Unfor-
tunately, the law enforcement mission is to
eradicate the marijuana quickly and move on
to the next known garden before the growers
can bring their harvest to market. That means
that the busted sites are often left littered with
chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides,
irrigation piping, food, camping gear, and lots
of trash. The Ventana Wilderness Alliance is
working with the local Forest Service leader-
ship to develop a program that will allow
VWA volunteers to clean up these sites after
they have been harvested by law enforcement
personnel. d1
How to Become
A Trail Crew
Trip Leader
The VWA Trail Crew is always in need
of Trip Leaders. If you are interested in
becoming a Trip Leader, the VWA will help
you to gain the skills and tools you need to
lead our trail crew into the wilderness.
Please see the list of requirements below
and contact Dave Knapp (email and phone
number below) when you are ready to begin
the process to become a Trip Leader.
Trip Leader Requirements:
n Safety/medical training –
(Required) Current Red Cross Adult CPR and
Basic First Aid (Suggested) Wilderness First
Aid training or better from the Wilderness
Medicine Institute - http://www.nols.edu/wmi/
n Leadership – (Required) Trail crew
leaders are required to be assistant trip leaders
on at least two trips prior to leading a trip or
have equivalent experience. Leaders need to
follow the USFS requirements for Personal
Protection Equipment as an example to others.
n Protocols – Leaders must be familiar
with the USFS radio usage protocols, Job
Hazard Analysis protocols, Hazard Trees
Awareness, proper tool usage, and be able to
communicate that information to others.
Please contact Trail Crew Coordinator
Dave Knapp at dknapp1@gmail.com or 805-
226-7479 for more details. d1
Ventana Wilderness Alliance
Post Office Box 506
Santa Cruz, California 95061
Phone 831.423.3191
Email vwa@ventanawild.org
OFFICERS
P r e s i d e n t
Jon Libby I jon@ventanawild.org
V i c e P r e s i d e n t
Tom Hopkins I tom@ventanawild.org
S e c r e t a r y
Dennis Palm I dennis@ventanawild.org
T r e a s u r e r
David Jacobs I david@ventanawild.org
BOARD MEMBERS AT LARGE
Julie Anne Delgado I julieanne@ventanawild.org
Boon Hughey I boon@ventanawild.org
Rich Popchak I rich@ventanawild.org
The Ventana Wilderness Alliance is an IRS
501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Dues and
donations are tax deductible.
NEWSLETTER PRODUCTION
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Assistant I Peggy Dilfer
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Address Service Requested

R eminder

The VWA Annual Membership

Business Meeting is back by popular
demand. The meeting will take place
on January 20, 2007. This event will
be an interactive meeting with VWA
volunteer reports and membership
feedback and involvement. Details to
follow via the listserv.

See www.ventanawild.org/events for details.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

The VWA Presents Hannah Schoenthal-Muse, the campaign

has recently drafted a proposal that identifies
Wilderness through Landels-Hill Big Creek
State Reserve to the coast.
each river targeted for designation. The Recently, representatives of the VWRC
The Sierra Club California/Nevada
proposal specifies the outstanding values and met with Rep. Sam Farr’s office to present the
Wilderness Committee convened at the French
proposed classification of each segment of each draft proposal and ask him to lead the fight to
Ranch, near Paso Robles, on October 21, 2006.
river, and a detailed map accompanies each protect our waterways. Rep. Farr expressed
The weekend event featured discussion of hot
river description. We plan to post the full interest in introducing federal Wild and Scenic
topic wilderness issues and agency presentations
proposal on the VWA website very soon. designation for the Arroyo Seco River and
by the California Coastal National Monument
The VWRC proposal includes the follow- possibly others after the 110th Congress
staff and Los Padres National Forest staff. The
ing rivers and streams: the Arroyo Seco River convenes next year.
day’s events also included local field trips.
and its tributaries, Tassajara Creek and Church In upcoming months the VWRC will
The Ventana Wilderness Alliance was
Creek, Big Creek, Carmel River and Miller continue to work with Rep. Farr’s office and
invited to address central coast land issues.
Fork, Little Sur River, Nacimiento River, San will actively work with volunteers to educate
Dennis Palm, VWA Board Member, gave an
Antonio River and its tributaries, San Carpo- the public and mobilize support for the
overview of the VWA mission, trail crew
foro Creek and Willow Creek. Big Creek, campaign. If you are interested in joining the
activities, and local grazing issues in the
which was most recently added to the proposed VWRC’s efforts, please contact Hannah
wilderness. Of particular interest to the commit-
list, provides a unique opportunity for Schoenthal-Muse at (831) 5353-8304 or
Hannah@friendsoftheriver.org. d1
tee was the PowerPoint presentation on the
protection. If designated, Big Creek would be
Ventana Wild and Scenic Rivers Campaign.
protected from its source in the Ventana
If you are a member of a community group

Reuse I Rather Than Recycle This Newsletter

that may be interested in a presentation on
wilderness, or the Ventana Wild and Scenic
Rivers Campaign, please contact Dennis Palm,
at Dennis@ventanawild.com. d1
Do you ever feel guilty recycling your old copies of Ventana Wilderness Watch because they
have only been read once? Why not reuse them rather than recycle them? Next time you visit your
doctor, dentist or other professional with a magazine-laden waiting room, take your old VWWs along
and leave them behind for others to read. d1

Look for news of upcoming VWA gatherings and other events on the VWA website, www.ventanawild.org