Group Identifies Endangered Wildlands

WASHINGTON —  The threat of oil and gas exploration has raised the stakes for wildland protection nationwide, an environmental group said Friday.

The Wilderness Society released its list of the 15 most endangered wildlands, which includes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, the area surrounding Yellowstone National Park and three areas in Utah, Arizona and Colorado.

“Overall the fate of all of our public wildlands is more precarious because of the change in administration,” said Suzanne Jones, spokeswoman for the group’s Four Corners office in the Southwest. “Based on what the administration has been saying they want to do, we take them at their word. We have a lot to worry about.”

The 19.6 million-acre refuge in northeastern Alaska is the nation’s largest and ended up on the list because of “the Bush administration’s relentless push for drilling,” the organization said. Protection of the refuge has become a leading cause for environmentalists in Congress.

“Drilling in the Arctic refuge will destroy the wilderness and harm wildlife, while doing almost nothing to address the nation’s energy situation,” Allen Smith, The Wilderness Society Alaska regional director, said in a statement.

The Copper River Delta in the Chugach National Forest and Denali National Park and Preserve, both in Alaska, were also on the list.

The group said other areas were jeopardized by the push for expanded energy exploration.

An Interior Department draft report made public earlier this month suggested opening federal lands for drilling. Interior Secretary Gale Norton has also sought input from local leaders on how to best manage 15 national monuments created by the Clinton administration.

Among the Clinton-era monuments the Wilderness Society said was in danger is the new Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument in Montana, and the ecosystem around the Grand Canyon National Park.

Lisa Atkins, spokeswoman for Rep. Bob Stump (R-Ariz.), whose district includes the Grand Canyon monument, said there are areas of the strip that need to be protected, but he believes the Bureau of Land Management has the flexibility to manage the area appropriately without monument designation.

Low-flying aircraft are also threatening the ecosystem in the Grand Canyon area, the group said, while snowmobiles threatened Yellowstone’s air, and the forests surrounding Yellowstone are targeted by oil and natural gas exploration.

The Wilderness Society list also included the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Book Cliffs in Utah and the White River National Forest in Colorado.

Utah Republican Reps. Jim Hansen and Chris Cannon have been pushing for adopting less restrictive management rules and chaning the boundaries for the 1.7 million-acre monument.

The environmental group said that would damage the pristine quality of the land.

The Wilderness Society also called for 9 million acres of Utah to be protected as wilderness, a figure Cannon said was absurd.

“Their numbers for wilderness for Utah are ridiculous,” Cannon said. “If they want to be reasonable, then we’ll have something to talk about.”

The organization also listed the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana and the adjacent Badger-Two Medicine roadless area, a sacred site to the Blackfeet Indian tribe. The Front was put off limits to oil and gas exploration during the Clinton administration, but Norton has said that decision is being reviewed.

In Colorado, the group warned that a management plan for the White River that is being revised could open the area up to energy exploration, off-road vehicles and ski resort expansion. The Northwest’s Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge and parts of the Colville National Forest also were listed.