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By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
3-24-2009 During an unprecedented era of issues dealing with access to the backcountry, such as the Forest Service Travel Management Plan that could potentially close hundreds of miles of backcountry roads, one man is succeeding in opening up areas previously closed to hikers and climbers.
The Mount Williamson/Baxter Bighorn Sheep Zoological Study Area near Independence has closed approximately 41,000 acres to backcountry travel since 1971, save for a few months out of the year, as a preventative measure to restrict human/sheep interaction.
Richard Poedtke, avid hiker and climber from Hilton Creek, has taken it upon himself, with the help of supporters via Internet sites like summitpost.org, to get the Forest Service to lift the, according to Poedtke, “non-legally binding restrictions.”
The ban is not officially enforceable, according to ranger station staff, however overnight permits are not granted during the times the area is closed.
Some areas within the study area are closed year-round and some are open for short periods, like Dec. 15 through Jan. 15 and April 15 to May 15; some areas are open longer, from Dec. 15 to July 1.
So it would be an enforceable offense to be caught camping overnight in the area without a permit.
Poedtke said he has met with bighorn sheep biologists and Forest Service officials and that they seem to be on his side.
He said that after meeting with District Ranger Margaret Wood, she said she would approved the opening. He said there will first be a 45-120 day “administrative process” that will include a public comment period the Forest Service has to undertake before officially lifting the unofficial ban.
Wood said Friday that the process is not quite under way. She explained that the Sierra Nevada bighorn are listed as endangered, and so any decision concerning these animals “will require thoughtful analysis and consultation with the recovery team and the Fish and Wildlife Service.”
Poedtke and several others believe the restrictions are outdated and have “outlived their usefulness.” This includes John Wehausen, one of the original authors of the study area restrictions and acclaimed bighorn sheep researcher working for the Department of Fish and Game.
Wood said that these are valid concerns, but “not analysis.” She also said she would be “happy to reduce the restrictions, but not without consulting the bighorn sheep recovery team.
“If it doesn’t make sense to keep the restrictions in place, or if the recovery team deems it as no longer useful,” Wood said, then the process of moving forward with lifting the restrictions can progress.
She said she expects the process to take some time as the bighorn sheep habitat and members of the recovery team are from the Humboldt-Toiyabe and Inyo national forests as well as members of FWS.
And, she retiterated, any action regarding the endangered bighorn will take a lengthy environmental review and public comment period.
Poedtke said that if and when the restrictions are lifted, the area will then be treated like any other backcountry destination with trail quotas and overnight permit requirements.
The area is extremely difficult to access. Some of the trails have not been maintained, or were never maintained and the approach usually involves a burly hike of thousands of vertical feet, starting at the valley floor and climbing to the Sierra Nevada crest.
Because of these accessibility issues, the area is not expected to be flooded with hikers and anglers.
The George Creek trail south of Mt. Williamson, for example, is a steep, faint deer trail that meanders along the side of a sandy hill and crosses creeks surrounded by tick-infested thickets. It has been described as one of the classic bushwhacks in the Sierra Nevada.
However, the trail is the gateway to mountain and rock climbing potential on Mt. Carl Heller, the Shaw Spire on Mt. Bernard and is the easy way up Mt. Williamson, the second tallest and arguably the biggest mountain in California, rising some 9,000 feet from the valley floor.
So the area will be open, but will still see little traffic, Poedtke predicted.
Poedtke said that the year-round access to the area may deter some criminal activity, specifically marijuana cultivation. In June 2007, some 50,000 pot plants were seized in the area.
Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze said Friday that he did not want to take sides on access issues into restricted areas, but he said that an increase in traffic “could potentially keep people from growing.”
He said that next to water and sunlight, isolation is the other prime ingredient marijuana growers need for a successful crop.
Lutze also said that law enforcement currently hikes isolated canyons in search of grow sites.
He added that anyone who comes across a grow operation should turn around and notify law enforcement and not try to interfere with the operation for safety reasons.
Poedtke said that he was going to be “a thorn in Woods’ side” asking for weekly updates on the progress.
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