Jason and jenn

ABC news was in town to shoot a story. They got footage of me on my scooter, and some of the Aquatic Center. Apparently we have the best economy in the nation. Oh boy! Watch for me this week on my red bike… i’m going nationwide! HA!

http://www.sublette.com/roundup/v106n17/v106n17s1.htm

I am a fan of wilderness. I love the feeling of being in a place where – outside of what I bring with me – there is no way to tell which year, decade, or even century I’m in. I fight for wilderness, find that even properly managed forests do not provide the purity and necessity of unmitigated wild places.

That said, and realizing that I may have lost the majority of readers, I do not support all areas to be designated Wilderness. I support people more than wildlife, and I support the “greatest good” more than the most pristine. I believe that our public lands should allow for a great number of uses, including motorized recreation and development, balanced with the delicate conservation and even occasional preservation of our lands for the future.

This is hard. Land managers have a ridiculous number of things to consider when attempting to make decisions. Special interest groups such as the Sierra Club and Off Road Vehicle Association are just two out of hundreds who demand different things. Then there are the federal laws that must be followed and considered in every decision. It is a cumbersome challenge that is presided over by people who have their own interests and own opinions as well. This entire process is political, highly charged, emotional, and difficult. To blame things on one person, one political party, or one group is shallow and uneducated.

Conservatives like to point out the scare tactics used by liberal environmentalists. But those tactics run both ways. Recently, Pinedale Online ran a story about the proposed wilderness designation for the National Forest lands in Sublette County. This included some incredibly inept and manipulative writing. The writer said that if the bill passed, fishing would not be allowed on Fremont lake. This is a lie. There is nothing in the Wilderness Act that bans fishing. In fact, the Wilderness areas around here have some of the best fishing in the world, precisely because they are not easily accessed by motorized vehicle.

The article also says that if the bill passes, certain things “would” happen. This is also a falsehood. The list provides what “could” happen.

Worst of all, the overly emotional writer gives a list of “unclear” items, which are simply unclear to her, and only worst case scenarios are listed. These are the result of poor journalism, writing sensationalistic material without first researching the facts. The “unclear” items, as listed, may cause some to think that Lakeside Lodge, White Pine Ski Area, and Half-Moon Lake Lodge will all be torn down and the road to Elkhart park removed. What is equally possible (and more likely) is that those areas will all continue and that wilderness designation of land around them will bring about better fishing, hunting, and recreational opportunities… things which this county will sorely need when our bread and butter industries collapse.

And the fear tactics are working. People are scrambling to form anti Wilderness coalitions, talking of bringing a law-suit on the federal government, and starting letter writing campaigns citing an article on Pinedale Online as fact. I can imagine a letter to our decision makers stating “I do not support making Fremont lake a Wilderness area since that means I can’t fish there anymore”. This kind of ill-conceived letter will carry exactly zero weight with land managers. In fact, it just makes us look bad.

So, Pinedale Online, I join you in the opposition of wilderness designation for Big Sandy opening, the Green River lakes area, and Fremont Lake, because Sublette county needs those areas to be open for multiple use and because I educate myself on facts in order to make decisions, not because of the fear mongering you employ.

The sandhill cranes, blue herons, robins, geese, and ducks have returned and are finding open water not only in the New Fork and Green rivers, but in ponds of snowmelt in fields. The pronghorn have returned from their winter range to the south, and the deer are everywhere - in our yard, the road, crossing main street, on the moraines - great big herds of them.

The temperature warmed to the low 40s today, nice and warm. We woke up to 4 inches of snow in town on Thursday and I skinned up at the local ski hill this morning. Their last day of lift operations was Easter, but there is still plenty of snow, and I made some good turns in light powder. The snow in town is wet and heavy, reminding us of Kentucky snows. It also melts just about as fast.

Next week the forecast calls for highs in the low 60s here, and pushing 70 in Lander. I see a climbing trip coming with shorts and t-shirts. But the cool thing is that we can drive up toward Elkhart Park and ski for the next couple months as well.

Our time in the desert was great. We got to see old friends and places, had some wonderful weather, celebrated jenn’s 26th birthday, and then were able to be happy to come home as well. Jenn had several interviews for jobs this week, so the next couple weeks should be interesting.

After skiing today, I did some tune-up work on the scooters, getting them ready for riding season. Weezer is a champ and simply needed a new seat. Windy (the red Trail 90) needed a bit more attention, including a battery charge, new plug wire, new seat cover, and new tail-light lens. Got her running though, and took a short ride. I still need a left side mirror to get her in road-worthy shape, but that’s coming soon.

EKU posted a job in Campus Recreation a couple weeks ago, and I didn’t even consider applying, something that I would have been incredibly anxious to do just a short year ago or so. Pinedale feels pretty much like home for the foreseeable future. And that is a good feeling.

This morning it’s snowing and cool in Escalante, Utah. Escalante Outfitters is hopping because of it. Still, the weather is beautiful and the last two days of playing have been wonderful. We did a tour of Red Breaks canyon, which we first visited with Brandon in 2007.  The last time, we did the canyon as a “short” evening hike and ended up exploring for 6 miles or so. On Thursday we did about 12 miles and it was just as good as last time. It was also 73 and sunny with only a light wind.  Friday was exploring the Burr trail and looking at land in the area.  We attempted a climb in Long Canyon, but I wailed, flailed, and bailed, kicking off rocks the size of oranges and trying to smear on dust. I finally gave up on the upper fist and forearm crack since I foolishly trusted the guidebooks appraisal of taking gear up to a #2 camalot. Ah, climbing in the desert. You’d think I’d know better by now.

Now we’re off toward Zion. Easter is tomorrow and so is jenn’s birthday! We’ll fight the throngs of people in Zion and hopefully see some friends! Here’s a handful of pictures from the trip so far… with more to come.

Well, we aren’t waiting for the snow to melt to act like it’s spring! Since the first day of the season, we’ve gone skiing, fishing, climbing, biking, rode the scooter, worn sandals, and jenn even went swimming outside. Kind of.

We’re also getting used to the inability of the weather to make up it’s mind… and we’re learning that every populace in the world thinks that the phrase “If you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes” was invented for them. We’ve heard it in everywhere… except maybe California. There my motto was “if you aren’t currently mad at someone, wait 5 minutes.”

Okay, back to jenn swimming in Fremont Lake… which by the way is still frozen enough to walk on, ride a snow-machine on, etc.  She’s joined the local Search and Rescue team and they had an ice rescue training where they donned thick dry-suits, pursposely put themselves in the freezing water, and rescued one another looking like a bunch of red oompa-loompas. She also was called out on a SAR yesterday morning and was still up for some Salsa dancing last night.  The SAR went well, and the salsa dancing, well… she did great.

Josh and I have hit the local boulders in the snow, and I hiked myself to the spillway on Pine Creek and caught my first fish of the year on my new fancy fly rod.  We’re climbing inside a bunch… trying to get tuned up for the coming climbing season.  The afore-mentioned trip to Lander was spectacularly warm in the afternoon. I was actually hot in the sun. That hadn’t happened since October. Then it started snowing again, and the Tetons got 3 feet in as many days. So we headed over to the Grand Targhee resort to ski fresh powder.

Still, we are ready for a trip to the desert. I remember specifically noticing that April in Zion seemed to be tourist season for Montana and Wyoming. It’s as if the cabin fever drove everyone south for a week. Spring breakers and spring vacationers needing a bit of southern Utah sun. We are now included in those throngs making a migratory trip south for a week before coming back to more snow and cold. Oh how we tease ourselves.

Work is going well. We’re happy. What more can we ask for?