Environmental groups team up to encourage public involvement
Two local environmental groups, including the University of Idaho Ecology and Conservation Biology Club (ECB), will host a public lands social event to give insight on the main components of a potential revision plan for the Nez Perce-Clearwater Forests from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, in the Fiske Room of the 1912 Center.
Brett Haverstick is the education and outreach director for Friends of the Clearwater, a local organization working to protect the Clearwater Basin. Haverstick said the intention behind the upcoming event is to give the public an opportunity to learn more about what is involved in the proposed Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests revision, and encourage comments on the issue.
He said the plan is a guideline to what would be allowed within the Nez Perce-Clearwater Forests over the next 10-15 years. The current stage in the revision process is the chance for individuals to voice their concerns and give input.
“This all takes a couple years,” Haverstick said. “But it’s incredibly important, because the forest plan revision is the guiding document that really guides the agency managers and officials of what needs to be done on certain parts of the national forest over the next 10, 15, sometimes even 20 years. So, just a fantastic and really important opportunity for the public to weigh in, and our goal is to do just that.”
Tristen Beaudoin, president of ECB, said co-hosting the event is exciting because it gives people the chance to make a difference in a nearby area.
“One of our main goals, the one I’ve always been focused on in ECB club, is activism, and of course that includes educating the public, spreading awareness and allowing your voice to actually make a change in some way,” Beaudoin said. “This is significant to me, because this is the first time we might make a change in something that affects us.”
Beaudoin said the club is involved in this event primarily in marketing and planning capacities, but looks forward to working with Friends of the Clearwater.
“With our main mission being activism, or one of our main missions being that, we were really excited when I met Brett last year, because it was apparent quickly that Friends of the Clearwater shared the same ideals,” Beaudoin said. “We are really excited to partner up with them at any event, and we look forward to more in the future.”
Haverstick said the public lands social will focus on five components involved in the revision plan: wilderness recommendations, wild and scenic rivers, fish and wildlife habitat, old growth forests and water quality. He said this is a narrowed-down version of what is involved in the plan, to make it easier for the public to give feedback.
Haverstick said an area could become a designated wilderness through an act of Congress, which is also required to designate a wild and scenic river. However, he said the Forest Service could recommend that certain places within a proposal should fall into this category.
“(Wilderness recommendations) are roadless wild lands that the agency themselves have studied and are now recommending for wilderness designation,” Haverstick said. “Similar to designated wilderness, the forest service has an opportunity to study and designate rivers that they feel are deserving of permanent protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.”
Haverstick said the event will also focus on the strength of proposed protection for habitats, old growth forests and water quality.
Daphne Jackson can be reached at [email protected]