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Golden Trout Wilderness Threatened by Overgrazing Deadline for comments: November 1, 2000 The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public comments in response to its proposal to continue cattle grazing on public lands within the Golden Trout Wilderness and along the South Fork Kern Wild & Scenic River. The agency is trying to determine the appropriate level of commercial cattle grazing that will be allowed in the so-called Templeton and Whitney grazing allotments within the Golden Trout Wilderness just southwest of Mt. Whitney. Currently, the Anheuser-Busch Company grazes 2,695 cows on the public lands in these allotments. This area of the southern Sierra Nevada has been heavily overgrazed for more than 150 years. Continued grazing has denuded streambanks of the South Kern Wild & Scenic River, and made the river wider and more shallow. According to the Forest Service’s own assessment, past and current grazing has also:
And yet, the Forest Service is proposing to continue grazing in the Templeton and Whitney allotments. The agency intends to control grazing by fencing off many streams and wetland areas, and relying on Anheuser-Busch’s ranchers to frequently move cattle out of other sensitive areas.
Environmental impacts would continue, but would be partially mitigated through "watershed and meadow restoration projects." However, the agency’s own assessment indicates that these measures will result in only incremental reduction in pollution and other environmental effects. The agency admits that eliminating grazing from these allotments would significantly reduce pollution and improve water quality. Continued heavy grazing in these allotments—despite increased controls and mitigation measures—violates the National Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. The South Fork Kern was added by Congress in 1987 to the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System to protect its outstanding scenic, recreation, fishery, botanical, and geological values. These federally protected values include its unique population of golden trout, two sensitive plants (Ramshaw sand verbena and Alkali mariposa), extensive recreational opportunities, and highly scenic meadows—all of which the Forest Service acknowledges will be adversely impacted by continued commercial grazing. In addition, the agency’s proposal to build more fences in the area to control cattle would seriously degrade the quality of the landscape for hikers. Fences are an eyesore in the open high country, and an intrusion on the remote landscape that will impede easy travel for hikers. The trail system would also continue to be heavily impacted by cattle. Many areas would look more like somebody’s private feedlot than a wilderness. Chronic water pollution from grazing would fail to meet Clean Water Act standards, and ongoing degradation of habitat for sensitive, threatened, and endangered species would violate the Endangered Species Act. What You Can Do: Send a letter to the U.S. Forest Service by November 1, asking the agency to select Alternative A, the no grazing alternative. This is the only alternative that guarantees adequate protection for the sensitive high country and the South Fork Kern Wild & Scenic River, and the only alternative that would comply with the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. If you have hiked, backpacked, or fished in this area, be sure to include your personal views on the impacts that grazing may have had on your backcountry experience. Insist that new fences not be constructed across the landscape to facilitate ranching activities, and describe in your own words how more fences in this remote, scenic area would affect your backcountry experience. Send your letter to: Luci McKee, District Ranger Written comments must be postmarked by November 1, 2000. You can also telephone your comments to the Forest Service by calling Del Hubbs at (760) 876-6211. You can leave a message at that number if Mr. Hubbs is not available. The text of the Environmental Assessment for the Templeton-Whitney grazing allotment is available on the Forest Service web site in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. For more information concerning this issue, contact: Steve Evans |