Weiser River Galloway Dam Proposal in Idaho

 We (Mountain Visions) helped Idaho Rivers United produce this Video about "The Weiser River - Idaho's Free-Flowing Gem.  A Google Earth flyover shows the river and the area that would be inundated by the dam.  Some nice photos are included of the Weiser River and trail and wildlife.

 See also this IRU News page about the proposed dam and a meeting in Weiser, Idaho on September 11, 2014.

The Weiser River - Idaho's Free-Flowing Gem from Gary O. Grimm on Vimeo.

Wilderness And Individual Freedom Conference Proceedings, 1976, University of Oregon Outdoor Program

I participated in and have a copy of the proceedings for this unique national Wilderness conference sponsored by the University of Oregon Outdoor Program, Oregon Committee for the Humanities, and   A.S.U.O. Survival Center and Cultural Forum.

The Conference "to examine the public wilderness resource and its implications for the American citizen's future" was held at Mt. Hood, Oregon on March 4-6, 1976.

David Brower, Willi Unsoeld, Edward Abby, Roderick Nash, John Miles , Rick Applegate, Brock Evans, Roger Mellum, Dee Molenar, Roger Robinson and 143 others participated in this national conference organized by active wilderness users participating in the University of Oregon Common Adventure Outdoor Program. Todd True and Katy Flanagan were the conference organizers. 

The 116 page document is apparently available at the University of Oregon.

The following is a quote about the conference found on ERIC Institute of Education Sciences. (I separated the main topic sentences and bolded one section for emphasis.)

"A fundamental statement of the only philosophy that can really lead to protection of wild lands emerged from the proceedings of the March, 1976 Wilderness and Individual Freedom Conference--

there must be more citizen participation in wilderness decisions because there is a great diversity of wilderness users and because we cannot separate what happens in the wilderness from what happens in our lives. 

Some 113 (sic) participants attended the three day conference that featured keynote speakers, panel discussions, small group seminar discussions, and slide presentations. Proceedings of all these events are included in this document. 

The script of the multi-media slide presentation on wilderness and individual freedom is given.

 Personal, management and broad perspectives on the historical and philosophical foundations of the American wilderness dream are summarized from a panel discussion on that subject. 

One keynote address deals with the rights and freedoms that must be protected for the individual citizen's use of wilderness resources and a subsequent seminar discussion lays the foundation for a charter of essential wilderness freedoms.

 Other panel discussions and discussion groups work with the problem of individual freedom and wilderness preservation. 

Proceedings on the final conference day were directed toward the major conference question of "How can we maximize freedom and minimize impact in the wilderness resource?" (DS)"

The "Wilderness" Project Faire included 29 displays and sign up sheets developed by individuals and organizations inviting conference participants to become involved in planning and actualizing public Wilderness projects

Wilderness Use Ethics Conference Proceedings, 1974 - University of Oregon Outdoor Program

I participated in and have a copy of the proceedings of this conference, but until fairly recently I could not find a reference doing a search on the Internet.  Now there are a few search results you can find for it on Google for "Wilderness Use Ethics Conference"  The 74 page document is apparently available at the University of Oregon.

This unique conference was organized by users of wilderness concerned that the vast majority of wilderness environmental energy had been going towards land classification efforts. The problem of wilderness user impact, overcrowding, human waste disposal, noise pollution and other impacts, even in sparsely used areas was on the rise and needed to be addressed.  The conference was organized by the University of Oregon Outdoor Program.  Bruce V. Mason, Conference Coordinator.

The Wilderness Use Ethics Conference held on April 25-28 at Mckenzie Bridge, Oregon brought together a knowledgeable and diverse group of wilderness users, managers and research personnel to discuss these issues and to encourage a management ethic that allows increased public input into wilderness and wild river management plans.

Conference participants developed nine unique model environmental wilderness projects in Idaho, Oregon and Washington that were implemented after the conference. One of these was the Lower Salmon River Cleanup in Idaho that involved over 100 people, took 3 years and received the 1976 National Environmental Award, the highest public service award that can be presented by the U.S. Department of Interior.

Project reports included in the proceedings included the following:

1. Willamette River Cleanup  - Mel Jackson, City of Eugene, Oregon
2. Alpine Lakes Wilderness Cleanup in Washington - Mike Collins, Recreational Equipment, Inc.,  Seattle Washington
3. Three Public Education Projects in Washington - John Miles, Western Washington State
4. Human Waste Disposal Survey - Mike Saul, Sundance Expeditions, Grants Pass, Oregon
5. An Environmental Practices Book - Robert R. Bostick, Oregon State University
6. Public Wild River Environmental Project - Gary O. Grimm, University of Oregon
7. Owyhee River Study Project - Kathleen Howes, University of Oregon
8. Middle Fork Salmon River Environmental Project - Gary O. Grimm, University of Oregon
9. Salmon River Cleanup - Art Pope, University of Oregon

French Pete Wilderness Protest November 18, 1969

After the Wilderness Act was passed in 1964 many people were visiting these unique areas and also surrounding areas that had not been included in the act.  French Pete was one valley that was not included in the Three Sisters Wilderness area and was found to be scheduled for clear cut logging in the near future.

With friends in Eugene I hiked and skied in this area in the late 1960s and, was involved with in what may have been the first public demonstration against national forest policy ever held. In Eugene, an estimated crowd of 1500, composed of students and faculty at the University of Oregon, community citizens and members of environmental groups marched to the headquarters of the Willamette National Forest. An Outdoor Program Common Adventure project called "Nature's Conspiracy" organized the rally.

Author Ken Kesey spoke briefly in support and entertainer Mason Williams gave a free concert later.

After the rally logging was temporarily delayed in the French Creek Valley while appeals were considered.

A Save French Pete Committee and other groups including the Friends of the Three Sisters Wilderness, the Oregon Conservation Council, the Eugene Natural History Society, and outdoor groups like the Obsidians and the Chemeketans kept fighting for Wilderness designation.

At the U.of O Outdoor program we also organized a public "Environmental Meetings" in 1971 and later to continue the dialogue about French Pete and similar Wilderness issues

 Nine Years later French Pete was added to the Three Sisters Wilderness system.

Do a Google Search for "Save French Pete Rally" to find news and historical articles.

Kevin R. Marsh in his book "Drawing lines in the forest: creating wilderness areas in the Pacific Northwest" provided this insight.

"The growing counterculture movement at the time lent support and participants to this this new era of wilderness protests.  Historian Roderick Nash noted in 1973,  'The environmental renaissance of the late1960s and early 1970s paralleled a deep-rooted questioning of established American values and institutions on the part of what some labeled the 'counterculture.' Wilderness and the idea of Wilderness played a key role in both social-intellectual movements.'  Protests in Eugene to preserve French Pete from logging gave that community a national reputation for environmental activism.  Bob Wazeka compared Eugene's role in the wilderness movement of the 1970s to the role of Paris as the center of the Western Literary World of the 1920s."

I also plan to post similar information about personal experiences I have had with the  1964 Wilderness Act issues as time permits.  The following are potential examples. 

• Common Adventure Outdoor Program - University of Oregon 1967
• Denali Clean Climbing and Cleanup 1970s
• Wilderness Environmental Pursuits 1972
• Cooperative Wilderness Adventures 1973-79
• Wilderness Use Ethics Conference - 1974
• Salmon River Cleanup - 1970s
• Wilderness and Individual Freedom Conference 1976
• Selway Bitteroot and River of No Return Wilderness Traverse 1979
• Moonshadow - Total Eclipse of the Sun 1979
• Canoe Expedition entire length of Salmon River in Idaho 1980
• Owyhee Canyonlands video 1993
• Visions of Wilderness video 1993
• 360 degree interactive panoramas of Idaho Wilderness areas 2003- 2014
• Google Earth and Map projects 2006-2016