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JUNE 2019

Resource Scoping Begins at Browns Canyon National Monumentby John Sztukowski

The Arkansas River in Browns Canyon, CO. Photo: Bob Wick

Saving Central Colorado’s Wild Places

Browns Canyon, long renowned for its scenic rivercanyon and rugged backcountry in the Upper Arkansas

River Valley, was designated a National Monument in 2015. The 21,586-acre monument is co-managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the United States Forest Service (USFS), and Resource Management Planning (RMP) is now underway.

The Browns Canyon National Monument RMP scoping period officially began on May 14, 2019, starting a 30-day public comment deadline, which is open until June 13, 2019. The BLM and USFS have only one year to complete this plan from beginning to end. The draft plan, with 90-day public comment period, is expected in October 2019. The proposed RMP will be published shortly thereafter, with a 30-day public review and protest period. The approved RMP and Record of Decision is expected in May or June 2020.

Wild Connections is advocating strongly for a conservation-focused alternative plan and management policies that keep the proposed Browns Canyon wilderness intact with minimal disturbances to wildlife habitat. There are several Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep lambing areas and American peregrine nesting areas in Browns Canyon National Monument.

We urge you to comment on this monument plan in support of conservation, wilderness, and quiet recreation during the initial scoping period, and throughout the one-year planning process. Note that the scoping period does not officially close at the end of the 30-day public comment period, so please do send comments to the BLM comments, even if you miss the June 13 deadline. See WildConnections.org for more information and talking points.

• The BLM Royal Gorge Field Office is expected torelease their Draft Eastern Colorado RMP revision,with 90-day public comment period this summer,shortly following the end of Browns Canyon NationalMonument scoping period. The BLM has stated thatthey are intentionally avoiding overlapping publiccomment periods. BLM’s Eastern Colorado RMPbegan in 2015, with the final plan expected in 2020.This plan will determine the management on 658,000acres of BLM public lands, much of which is in theArkansas River Canyonlands between Salida andCañon City, like Badger Creek and Echo Canyon, andextending north of Cañon City to Upper Red Canyonand Cooper Mountain in the Gold Belt Region.

• The USFS Pike-San Isabel National Forests (PSI)began a Travel Management Plan in 2017. A draft planis expected later this year, 2019, with the final planslated for 2020. An overall USFS PSI managementplan revision will follow completion of the travelmanagement plan.

Wild Connections will be actively educating our constituents about these plans and about public lands, including hosting public hikes to priority areas. Stay tuned with WildConnections.org, and subscribe to our email list, for all of the latest info on our local public lands.

Upcoming Public Lands Planning in 2019

2168 Pheasant Place Colorado Springs CO 80909info@WildConnections.orgwww.WildConnections.org

Mission: Wild Connections, a science-based conservation organization, works to identify, protect and restore lands of the Upper Arkansas and South Platte watersheds to ensure the survival of native species and ecological richness.

Board of Directors, 2019Jim Lockhart,PresidentColorado Springs, Legal writer

John StansfieldVice-presidentMonument, Storyteller/writer

Alison GallenskySecretaryWestminster, GIS expert

Deb OvernTreasurerDenver, Attorney

Misi BallardGreenwood Village, Conservation activist

Karl Ford, PhDDenver, Environmental Scientist

Claude NeumannDenver, Engineer

Kristin Skoog,Colorado Springs, Software Engineer

Ex officioJohn Sztukowski, StaffConservation DirectorSalida

Jean SmithColorado Springs, Nonprofit administration

Landscapes Editors: Lee Patton, Kristin SkoogLayout/Design: Christine Hill

Wilderness Legacy of Browns Canyon

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Browns Canyon National Monument PlanningPage 1-2

Upcoming Public Lands Planning in 2019Page 1

Refrigerator Gulch Climate Education Backpack, A Lost Creek Wilderness Outing June 18-19Page 3

Arkansas Canyonlands Offer Solitude and Discovery Year-roundPage 3

Preserving Biodiversity in a Changing ClimatePage 4-5

Upcoming Volunteer OpportunitiesPage 6

South Park Rosy-Finch UpdatePage 6

Cooper Mountain Ridgetop Trail HikePage 6

President’s MessagePage 7

News Flash: 1 Million Species are ThreatenedPage 8

In this issue... Browns Canyon National Monument PlanningSaving Central Colorado’s Wild Places

The Browns Canyon National Monument is not technically wilderness, because it was designated through the Antiquities Act. However, the monument does have a long history of wilderness documentation and proposals. In 1972, the USFS found tens of thousands of acres within Browns Canyon and surrounding areas to be suitable as designated wilderness. Similarly, the BLM identified wilderness character for Browns Canyon in 1979, and recommended it a Wilderness Study Area (WSA) the following year.

Browns Canyon was first proposed as Wilderness in the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1999, which was formed from the Citizen’s Wilderness Plan. It has been proposed as part of the Colorado Wilderness Act many times since, and again just recently in the 2019 Colorado Wilderness Act, announced by Congresswoman Dianna DeGette on May 6!

Planning process changes and public informationThe expedited one-year planning process is unfortunately the new normal under the current administration. In 2017, Interior Department Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt ordered land managers to limit the duration of environmental analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act to one year. The order further limited environmental impact statements to 150 pages, or to 300 pages for unusually complex projects. Bernhardt is a former oil industry lobbyist and was promoted to Secretary of the Interior in April 2019. Feigning modernization and paperwork reduction, Bernhardt justified the order “in recognition of the impediments to efficient development of public and private projects that can be created by needlessly complex NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] analysis.”

The BLM Royal Gorge Field Office was working on the monument plan prior to the 2017 order. Public envisioning meetings were held in 2016. The RGFO followed up with draft reports and assessments during the last two years. All information was made available to the public, in preparation for the current scoping period. In an unusual move, the BLM unveiled the Browns Canyon National Monument Planning Criteria Report, with preliminary alternatives, in April 2019. This report serves as source material for the RMP that will be developed over the coming year. The report outlines different options regarding special designations, travel management, and general resource management. We applaud the RGFO for circumventing the forced time-crunch, and providing detailed planning information to the public.

Details about the plan are online at BLM’s Browns Canyon National Monument RMP e-planning website or at WildConnections.org. a

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Refrigerator Gulch Climate Education Backpack, a Lost Creek Wilderness Outing, June 18-19By Karl Ford

Arkansas Canyonlands Offer Solitude and Discovery Year-roundBy John Stansfield

As Landscapes readers know, Wild Connections’ con-servation efforts involve the fascinating lower-elevation lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management in the Arkansas River Valley, as well as the higher realms managed by the US Forest Service. Our exhaustive inventory of BLM Land with Wilderness Characteristics and our current actions on the agency’s Eastern Colorado Resource Management Plan revision have heightened our knowledge and desire to protect these lands. Our relation-ship with the Arkansas canyonlands is built on a very basic tool—hiking. Here is a hike description for you that offers solitude and a sense of adventure, with typical year-round access.

Bighorn Sheep Basin: Watch for bighorn, deer, and even mountain lion. From the Five Points campground trailhead hike south mostly off trail on dry, gravelly stream bottoms and stay left where the valley first divides 1/2 mile from Hwy. 50. Within 1 1/2 miles of the trailhead, you will have several scenic valleys to choose from. Hike whichever one you like as long as time and stamina allow. To exit, follow the stream bottoms back downhill northerly to the trailhead. Have a safe hike.

Driving Directions: From US Hwy. 50, turn south into the Five Points campground, opposite the rest area on the north. Park out-side the campsites at the Five Points campground trailhead. You will need a state park pass.

If you would like to join a guided hike in the Arkansas canyonlands, see the trip description on page 6. a

Bighorn Sheep Canyon, Echo Canyon, Table Mountain.Photo: EcoFlight

You are invited to join Board member and environmental scientist Karl Ford for the first ever climate citizen science backpack in Refrigerator Gulch in the Lost Creek Wilderness. You can visit this high elevation of Pike National Forest southwest of Deckers, just over an hour from southwest Denver or Colorado Springs. The Forest Service projects an average 8.5° F annual increase for this area by 2080. The seemingly modest change this has the potential to affect drastically the face of Colorado’s snowpack, forests and wildlife from what exists today.

Citizen scientists like you are making a difference all over the planet by monitoring our environment. You will study how the heavily dissected topography of this area lends itself to cold air pools that scientists are identifying as wildlife and native plant refugia (refuges) and climate corridors. You will record microclimate temperature changes in differing topography locations, and note and photograph the corresponding plant life on a citizen science app for smartphones. Cold air pools serve not only as areas where plants and animals may persist in a warmer, drier climate, but also as climate corridors, where they may migrate northerly or altitudinally.

This moderately strenuous overnight backpack hike will cover approximately 15 miles, with 2000 feet of elevation gain. This hike begins at the Wigwam Creek trailhead and ascends Wigwam Creek and a tributary drainage, then descends 1000 feet to Refrigerator Gulch where we will camp for the night. Day 2 we will return the way we came. Prior backpacking experience is recommended. Expect some snow cover, so waterproof boots, micro spikes and gaiters are recommended. No heavy packs >30 lbs. (not counting water), please. The pace will be moderate. You can also enjoy early wildflowers and great views of Wigwam Park and Peak and of the amazing jumbled topography of the Lost Creek Wilderness. As a special feature of this hike, you will learn how we are conducting our Conservation Plan Climate analysis and see some early results.

Wild Connections’ Climate donors are especially invited but everyone is welcome, and training will be provided. You can help raise awareness among the public and land managers about the climate dangers that public lands face, and how climate corridors can be protected for the refuge they provide. a

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Preserving Biodiversity in a Changing Climateby Alison Gallensky

Animal connectivity. Darker blue areas are more important for animal movement. Analysis by Rocky Mountain Wild.

Rarity ranked species richness. Darker blue areas have more kinds of rare plants and animals. Data from NatureServe.

Last year, Wild Connections kicked off the ambitious new Wild Connections Climate Planning project. Our goal is to identify the most important places to protect in our Central Colorado region in order to preserve biodiversity in the face of a changing climate. We appreciate your enthusiastic support for this new venture.

Why are we doing this? The Wild Connections Conservation Plan that we published in 2006 is an amazing document that was created with the help of many dedicated volunteers. It still forms the basis for much of our work and decision making. However, since the document was created we have added a focus on BLM lands and the rules for Forest Service planning have changed. Even more importantly, we now understand that climate change is a real threat already impacting our region. Fortunately, there are good science-based approaches we can take to figure out how to protect the natural places in our region.

To identify the places most important for biodiversity and most in need of future protection, we are using geospatial modeling (see box). Biodiversity refers to the variety and abundance of plant and animal communities found in a region. In order to sustain biodiversity, our project will identify places where plants and animals thrive now and in the future and wildlife movement corridors (wild connections) that support seasonal migration, dispersal, and movement to new habitats.

Research in conservation planning suggests we combine multiple component models to increase our chances of success. The maps shown here are some of the components that we have created so far. We will combine these components with others to identify climate change refugia, places where biodiversity will persist over time. These may be places where the climate remains relatively stable over time or where other factors such as persistent wetlands make it likely that biodiversity will persist.

While the modeling continues, we will need your help to visit places we think are important to see if conditions on the ground match our model results. Be sure to visit our webpage, WildConnections.org, to learn about our field trips and volunteer events.

We are excited to be working on the Wild Connections Climate Planning project and will keep you up-to-date as our work continues. a

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Modeling is process of making a particular part or feature of the world easier to understand. Science can be defined as the process of creating models that allow us to understand reality. You can model the formation of a star, DNA, the weather or the fluctuations of the stock market. When a model includes information about locations on the earth, it is a geospatial model. Even a map is a model, one that shows interesting features at specific locations. Weather models are geospatial because they include information about the locations of oceans, mountains, wind patterns, and other geographic features.

All models are simplifications of the real world. This is necessary and even desirable. The author Neil Gaiman reminds us that “the more accurate the map, the more it resembles the territory. The most accurate map pos-sible would be the territory, and thus would be perfect-ly accurate and perfectly useless.” The British Statisti-cian George E. P. Box wrote, “all models are wrong but some are useful.” Wild Connections is working hard to make the geospatial modeling for Climate Planning useful.

What is Geospatial Modeling?

Geospatial modeling combines many “layers” of spatial data. Image Credit: Ontario County, NY vis USGS

Public lands unfragmented by roads. Darkest blue areas are designated wilderness. Darker blue areas are more likely to have wilderness characteristics. Data from BLM, University of Montana, and USFS. Analyzed by Rocky Mountain Wild.

Crucial habitat as defined by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Darker areas are more crucial habitats for animals and plants. Data from Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool.

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January and February in South Park , CO can be cold, snowy and windy, which is exactly how the Rosy-Finches love it! So when Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (BCR) bander/bi-ologist, Greg Levandoski, along with support banders Aaron Yappert (UC Santa Cruz) and Meredith McBurney (BCR) returned to the Tarryall Valley for a second winter of banding, they were not disappointed!

All three species of Rosy Finches arrived in great numbers each seven banding days by 7:00 a.m. and were greeted with a steady supply of shelled sunflower seed and a team of volunteers helping the banders. Volunteers Ginni Greer, Jan McCabe, Kristen Meyer, Michael Kiessig and Greg and Diane Ambrose were kept busy recording the scientific data gathered for each bird before releasing them back to the harsh elements.

While the flocks included all three species of Rosy-Finches, this project targets the Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (BCRF), one of Colorado’s most unique avian residents. These hardy birds spend most of their lives above timberline here in Colorado, nesting higher than any other bird species in the US, but will drop down from the tundra for short periods when the snow flies.

The total banding numbers were impressive! A total of 707 birds were banded this year, including 513 BCRF’s, far more than anyone dreamed of capturing. Wild Connections will be leading hikes up to the tundra this summer to see if we can find banded birds on their nesting grounds. Keep your eyes on the Wild Connections calendar as we’ll be scheduling Rosy-Finch hikes when the snow clears from the highcountry. a

South Park Rosy-Finch Updateby Misi Ballard

Wild Connections has two great opportunities for you, your family and friends to get into the high country this sum-mer to have some fun while doing good work. The South Park Alpine Restoration Project got off to a great start in Summer 2018 with the successful completion of the first two volunteer projects located at North Tarryall Creek and Beaver Creek.

July 20 and 21, 2019 will find us in Sheep Creek for another illegal track restoration project. We will work for two days in a gorgeous alpine setting. The project will mirror our North Tarryall project, including some raking, seeding, mulching and small vegetation transplanting to encourage regrowth of the badly degraded hillside. We’ll be camping remotely so come prepared for any kind of South Park weather. Bring your tents and sleeping bags and camp chairs, and all the food and fun will be provided free of charge!

August 16-18, 2019 we will be back in Beaver Creek, just north of Fairplay, on the south side of Mount Silver-heels, in one of our favorite rustic creekside campsites. We will be building a 500’ boardwalk across the exten-sive beaver ponds that have flooded out a single-track trail. This boardwalk will provide an important connection between existing area trails. The boardwalk will feature Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) adaptations, and will provide a great chance for everyone to experience the quiet and beauty of this alpine valley.

Wild Connections’ cosponsors are the US Forest Service, Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative (MRHI) and Wildlands Restoration Volunteers (WRV). Registration is now open on the WRV website https://www.wlrv.net. We look forward to seeing you in the high country soon!

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

Brown-Capped Rosy-Finch. Photo: Misi Ballard

Cooper Mountain Ridgetop Trail Hike

Wild Connections group at Cooper Mountain Overlook. Photo: Kate Spinelli

Friday, June 14 9:00 AM to 3:00 PMJust west of Phantom Canyon stretches a long plateau of for-ests, meadows, and wilderness-quality lands known as Coo-per Mountain. This moderately strenuous hike of six miles and 1,000 feet elevation gain will follow a ridge top trail dating to early ranching and mining days and explore little-visited Milsap Creek. Learn about BLM Lands with Wilderness Character-istics and the Eastern Colorado Resource Management Plan currently awaiting its final draft. For more information and to register, contact John Stansfield, 303-660-5849 or e-mail jorc-stan@juno.com by 5:00 PM, Thursday, June 13. Maximum 15 participants. Because this event is posted on multiple media, participants must contact the leader by phone or e-mail to register. a

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President’s MessageWild Connections was formed to fill a gap. In 1995, there was no regional group focused on protecting the Arkansas and South Platte watersheds, containing Pike-San Isabel National For-est, Comanche National Grassland, and the BLM Royal Gorge Resource Area, as an integrated whole. Nearly a quarter century later, we are still filling gaps: not only by protecting and strength-ening wildlife corridors and connecting links in the landscape, but also refining the data that form the background for our activities.

We are currently working to revise the Wild Connections Con-servation Plan, online at www.wildconnections.org, to reflect the influences of climate change and to update information about routes, trails, wildlife corridors, and public land uses. We look forward to participating in agency planning processes: the BLM’s Eastern Colorado Resource Management Plan and a master plan for the new Browns Canyon National Monument. We take pride in our multi-year role, along with many other environmental organi-zations, in making this National Monument a reality, and we also hope to bring new wilderness to our part of the state.

We are also taking important steps to make our organization stronger. By recent count, we have over 600 active volunteers, donors, mappers, hike and workday participants, and other inter-ested supporters. We are working to engage all of you more effectively as key links in our efforts.

From individual species to particular areas to region-wide preservation, this edition of Landscapes illustrates the scope of our work to save Central Colorado’s wild places. a

Work to close and restore an illegal route. Photo: Misi Ballard

from Jim Lockhart

News Flash: 1 Million Species are Threatened with Extinction

Visit WildConnections.org for information on how to help.

News Flash: On May 6, the UN issued a landmark new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodi-versity and Ecosystem Services. Some sobering news: There are an estimated 8 million animal and plant species on Earth. Up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades. The current rate of global species extinction is tens to hundreds of times higher compared to average over the last 10 million years, and the rate is accelerating. Over 500,000 of the world’s estimated 5.9 million terrestrial species have insufficient habitat for long term survival without habitat restoration. >40% of amphibian species are threatened with extinction. 25% of species are threatened with extinction across terrestrial, freshwater and marine vertebrate, inverte-brate and plant groups. At least 680 vertebrate species have been driven to extinction by human actions since the 16th century. There is >20% decline in average abundance of native species in most major terrestrial biomes, mostly since 1900. 23% of threatened birds have been negatively impacted by climate change. More than 6 % of species of ungulates (hoofed mammals) would likely be extinct or surviving only in captivity today without conservation measures.

Please help Wild Connections’ work to save biodiversity in our corner of Colorado by donating or volunteering!

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Endangered Lynx kitten in a tree. Photo: CDOW

By Karl Ford

2168 Pheasant PlColorado Springs CO 80909

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