Mountain bikers would continue to have access to Ants Basin
and Castle Divide in a Boulder-White Clouds national monument under a
pact that, at least for now, ends a clash between conservationists and
the growing legion of backcountry bikers. Representatives of the
Idaho Conservation League, Wood River Bicycle Coalition, International
Mountain Bicycling Association and The Wilderness Society worked for
months on a proposal that they will present to the Obama administration
to designate 500,000 acres of roadless area as a national monument under
the 1906 Antiquities Act. On Tuesday the president designated the
1,665-acre Point Arena-Stornetta nature preserve on California’s coast
as a national monument. The Washington Post said the move signals a more
robust environmental agenda, and specifically cited the
administration’s interest in Idaho’s Boulder-White Clouds as a potential
area for protection. The mountains lie east of Stanley and Idaho 75,
and north of Ketchum. The deal creates zones where wilderness
characteristics would be preserved while continuing mountain bike access
in the popular area north of Sun Valley. The groups’
recommendation to Obama takes as its primary goal preserving public use
“in largely the same way and in the same condition that it is today.” The deal recommends a mix of wilderness-level protections for
important watersheds in high alpine lake basins and the high peaks of
the White Clouds Mountains. Wilderness protection, in general, prohibits
machines and mechanized travel, including bicycles. Areas that
would not have wilderness-level protection are travel corridors such as
Castle Divide — which has views of Castle Peak — and Ants Basin, which
leads to Born Lake. The groups noted that they are pushing for monument status “in the absence of action at the congressional level.”...
more
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/03/12/3075278/a-pact-for-boulder-white-clouds.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/03/12/3075278/a-pact-for-boulder-white-clouds.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/03/12/3075278/a-pact-for-boulder-white-clouds.html#storylink=cpy
No comments:
Post a Comment