New CDT DVD - "Overexposed"
Lynne Whelden's latest DVD is a memoir of
"My Strange Life on America's Toughest
Trail." The three-hour documentary provides a day by day account of Lynne's
border to border adventure on the CDT. Each section of the trail is captioned
with its start and end points so that you can associate the scenes, which are
shot with a high-definition video camera, with their locations. While the Trail
may not be as "untamed" and difficult to follow as Lynne at times suggests, many
of its challenges illustrated in the DVD are real. Lynne's introspective
comments on his life and experiences add another dimension to the film, which is
available in regular widescreen format or as blu-ray. (Lynne's How To Hike
the CDT is also available through our Marketplace)
Wyoming Wind Farms [added December 6, 2011]
The development of wind turbines on BLM-administered lands in southern Wyoming threatens the scenic quality and unspoiled setting of the Trail between South Pass City and the Medicine Bow National Forest.
As described in our latest newsletter, the proposed Chokecherry/Sierra Madre project south of Rawlins "shortchanges" the CDT. The project (in the Rawlins Field Office) would include the construction of a thousand 100-meter wind turbines, many of them clearly visible from the Trail -- potentially "dominating the view" and being "the major focus of viewer attention." Our comments on BLM's plans and draft environmental impact statement identified an alternative that would eliminate some of the towers closest to the Trail and relocate some sections out of the project's viewshed. (Our comments are available on request. The BLM documents are at: www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/rfo/Chokecherry.html )
The Lander Field Office, which encompasses the CDT in the Great Divide Basin, is developing a resource management plan. Its DEIS identifies a preferred alternative that would assure a high degree of protection for the Trail between South Pass City and Crooks Gap. In the comments we are preparing, our primary focus will address the eastern portion of the Field Office -- an area where visual resources might be "dominated by wind turbines, transmission corridors, gas development facilities, and associated roads." That is far from our vision of a national scenic trail. The BLM documents for the proposed Lander Resource Management Plan are at: www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/planning/rmps/lander.html Comments may be submitted through January 20, 2012.
Miner-Berry-Goldstone [added March 25, 2011]
In February 2011, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest announced its long-awaited decision for relocating the Miner-Berry-Goldstone segment of the Continental Divide Trail in western Montana. The selected route, as well as several alternates that were considered, would remove the Trail from roads in the Berry Creek and Darkhorse Creek drainages.
As reported in March in this space, the agency decision documents were ambiguous with respect to other portions of the segment, notably the existing Jahnke drainage road. We expressed our concerns to the Forest Service, which then reissued its decision with clear language directing that summer travel on the entire trail from Miner Creek to Goldstone Pass will be nonmotorized.
(The traditional route, as described in Part 2 of the Southern Montana and Idaho guidebook, is 25 miles in length. The selected route, including a couple of miles along the boundary of Idaho's Salmon National Forest, would be a few miles shorter. Big Hole Section 4, as shown on Map 19 in the guidebook, covers the area under study. The dotted line on the map was not chosen; the selected route remains farther east as far as Jahnke Creek. Also, the new route would be on the Continental Divide on the approach to Goldstone Pass, bypassing Cowbone Lake.)