Elkhunter
New member
Drought taking its toll even on sagebrush
By Doug Alden
Associated Press — June 3, 2004
PRICE, Utah — The topsoil is dry dust for the first 3 or 4 inches until finally there's enough moisture to give it some substance.
The surface has the look and feel of sand with scattered vegetation poking through. Small sagebrush shrubs that should be bushy and green are mostly a tangled mess of drab and dead, or dying, branches, only a few clinging to the small leaves that show the plant is still alive.
One of the most durable plants in the West, sagebrush is steadily succumbing across parts of Utah, another consequence of a six-year drought that has no end in sight. Utah alone has an estimated 600,000 acres filled with sagebrush that is either dead or dying, threatening a key piece of the ecosystem that benefits deer, sage grouse and the water table.
"I don't think that the average citizen has an idea of what's going on in their environment and how it's going to affect them," said Rory Reynolds of the Utah Division of Wildlife.
Sagebrush provides food for some species, like mule deer in the winter; shelter for others, like the sage grouse; and helps stabilize the water table. Besides reversing those benefits, any die-off could also clear the way for invasive species and massive wildfires.
A wide cooperative ranging from state and federal officials to private land owners is trying to help where they can to save the sagebrush.
The wildlife division's responsibility in the state is animal life, but it's one of many groups hoping to avoid further decline of sagebrush. The federal Bureau of Land Management, the Utah State University Extension and the National Park Service are among the organizations that make up the Utah Partners for Conservation Development.
By working together, the group shares resources and decides where the most help is needed. Saving more than just a small portion is impossible because the area is so vast, but conservationists can target where they feel they can help the most.
"Mother Nature can't do it now," said A.J. Martinez of the BLM, who is co-coordinator with Reynolds. "We owe it to ourselves as a species to take care of this stuff."
The options are limited and efforts can only be made on a fraction of the vast, damaged areas, but the cooperative plans to try.
Depending on the terrain, among the methods used to prepare the land for reseeding with the hope that the sagebrush can make a comeback are aeration, sweeping the plot with a heavy chain to wipe out the dead plants, and controlled burns.
It's not just a lack of water that is hurting the sagebrush. In many areas plants have been able to grow older, thanks in part to advances in wildfire prevention.
That means there hasn't been the natural cycle of burn off, and now the plants that are pushing a century aren't strong enough to handle the conditions.
"What we're seeing now is as they're getting older," said John Fairchild, a habitat coordinator with the Division of Wildlife. "It's kind of like the final straw."
Organized by environmental groups, Oregon-based Nike, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear and others sent a letter this week to Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey urging him to retain the Roadless Area Conservation Rule put in place by the Clinton administration that bars logging on 60 million acres of undeveloped national forest.
The Bush administration has exempted the Tongass National Forest from the rule to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of Alaska and has proposed giving governors power to exempt their states from the rule.
"The modifications to the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule have the potential to negatively impact our nation's natural resources, our citizens' outdoor experience and ultimately, our industry's financial health," Friday's letter said.
The letter to Rey came on the heels of a similar campaign by the Outdoor Industry Association of Boulder, Colo.
"The economic issue is very real for our industry," said Menno van Wyk, CEO of Montrail, a hiking shoe company based in Seattle. "We are an $18 billion industry. We have over 1,000 companies distributing, manufacturing, supplying and or retailing our products to millions of consumers.
"The reason we are a big and growing industry is a reflection of the fact that people are choosing to spend a significant amount of their free time enjoying these wild places."
Nike manager of corporate responsibility communications Jill Zanter said signing onto the letter to Rey represented the continuation of a longstanding commitment to the environment.
"This for us is an opportunity to use, we hope, the power of the brand, but also the real inspiration Nike brings to people to enjoy the outdoors," she said.
Jay Ward, conservation director of the Oregon Natural Resources Association, one of the organizers of the Rey letter, said from Portland it represents a broadening of the environmental lobby.
"The Bush administration at its base is interested in listening to corporate America," Ward said. "It is interested in doing things it views as reinvigorating the economy. Heretofore, that has been mostly viewed as a way to produce more two-by-fours and plywood."
Vocal support for the roadless rule represents a new direction for outdoor gear companies, said Paul Gagner, vice president of sales and marketing for Gregory Mountain Products, a backpack manufacturer in Temecula, Calif.
"What we are recognizing as an industry is that we need to have a concerted voice in politics," he said. "In the past we've had a fractured voice."
Gagner noted that some in his industry wanted to flex their economic muscle by yanking their trade show out of Salt Lake City, Utah, to voice dissatisfaction with former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reduce protection for wilderness study areas.
By Doug Alden
Associated Press — June 3, 2004
PRICE, Utah — The topsoil is dry dust for the first 3 or 4 inches until finally there's enough moisture to give it some substance.
The surface has the look and feel of sand with scattered vegetation poking through. Small sagebrush shrubs that should be bushy and green are mostly a tangled mess of drab and dead, or dying, branches, only a few clinging to the small leaves that show the plant is still alive.
One of the most durable plants in the West, sagebrush is steadily succumbing across parts of Utah, another consequence of a six-year drought that has no end in sight. Utah alone has an estimated 600,000 acres filled with sagebrush that is either dead or dying, threatening a key piece of the ecosystem that benefits deer, sage grouse and the water table.
"I don't think that the average citizen has an idea of what's going on in their environment and how it's going to affect them," said Rory Reynolds of the Utah Division of Wildlife.
Sagebrush provides food for some species, like mule deer in the winter; shelter for others, like the sage grouse; and helps stabilize the water table. Besides reversing those benefits, any die-off could also clear the way for invasive species and massive wildfires.
A wide cooperative ranging from state and federal officials to private land owners is trying to help where they can to save the sagebrush.
The wildlife division's responsibility in the state is animal life, but it's one of many groups hoping to avoid further decline of sagebrush. The federal Bureau of Land Management, the Utah State University Extension and the National Park Service are among the organizations that make up the Utah Partners for Conservation Development.
By working together, the group shares resources and decides where the most help is needed. Saving more than just a small portion is impossible because the area is so vast, but conservationists can target where they feel they can help the most.
"Mother Nature can't do it now," said A.J. Martinez of the BLM, who is co-coordinator with Reynolds. "We owe it to ourselves as a species to take care of this stuff."
The options are limited and efforts can only be made on a fraction of the vast, damaged areas, but the cooperative plans to try.
Depending on the terrain, among the methods used to prepare the land for reseeding with the hope that the sagebrush can make a comeback are aeration, sweeping the plot with a heavy chain to wipe out the dead plants, and controlled burns.
It's not just a lack of water that is hurting the sagebrush. In many areas plants have been able to grow older, thanks in part to advances in wildfire prevention.
That means there hasn't been the natural cycle of burn off, and now the plants that are pushing a century aren't strong enough to handle the conditions.
"What we're seeing now is as they're getting older," said John Fairchild, a habitat coordinator with the Division of Wildlife. "It's kind of like the final straw."
Organized by environmental groups, Oregon-based Nike, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear and others sent a letter this week to Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey urging him to retain the Roadless Area Conservation Rule put in place by the Clinton administration that bars logging on 60 million acres of undeveloped national forest.
The Bush administration has exempted the Tongass National Forest from the rule to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of Alaska and has proposed giving governors power to exempt their states from the rule.
"The modifications to the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule have the potential to negatively impact our nation's natural resources, our citizens' outdoor experience and ultimately, our industry's financial health," Friday's letter said.
The letter to Rey came on the heels of a similar campaign by the Outdoor Industry Association of Boulder, Colo.
"The economic issue is very real for our industry," said Menno van Wyk, CEO of Montrail, a hiking shoe company based in Seattle. "We are an $18 billion industry. We have over 1,000 companies distributing, manufacturing, supplying and or retailing our products to millions of consumers.
"The reason we are a big and growing industry is a reflection of the fact that people are choosing to spend a significant amount of their free time enjoying these wild places."
Nike manager of corporate responsibility communications Jill Zanter said signing onto the letter to Rey represented the continuation of a longstanding commitment to the environment.
"This for us is an opportunity to use, we hope, the power of the brand, but also the real inspiration Nike brings to people to enjoy the outdoors," she said.
Jay Ward, conservation director of the Oregon Natural Resources Association, one of the organizers of the Rey letter, said from Portland it represents a broadening of the environmental lobby.
"The Bush administration at its base is interested in listening to corporate America," Ward said. "It is interested in doing things it views as reinvigorating the economy. Heretofore, that has been mostly viewed as a way to produce more two-by-fours and plywood."
Vocal support for the roadless rule represents a new direction for outdoor gear companies, said Paul Gagner, vice president of sales and marketing for Gregory Mountain Products, a backpack manufacturer in Temecula, Calif.
"What we are recognizing as an industry is that we need to have a concerted voice in politics," he said. "In the past we've had a fractured voice."
Gagner noted that some in his industry wanted to flex their economic muscle by yanking their trade show out of Salt Lake City, Utah, to voice dissatisfaction with former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt's agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reduce protection for wilderness study areas.
Good find, and thanks...
