Re: Forest official calls Rainbows' effort 'cosmetic'

On Jul 31, 12:27 pm, "spiritrising"
<miketwofeath...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Forest official calls Rainbows' effort 'cosmetic'

By CHRIS MERRILL
Star-Tribune environment reporter
Thursday, July 31, 2008 7:52 AM MDT

LANDER -- Rainbow Family participants are still picking up after this
summer's gathering in the Cowboy State, but a local U.S. Forest Service
official said the crew's effort is purely "cosmetic" and should not be
confused with rehabilitation.

The Rainbow Family has developed a reputation over the years for
meticulously cleaning up after the gatherings, but District Ranger Tom
Peters is concerned there will be some lasting scars from the group's most
recent jamboree on the southwestern slope of the Wind River Mountains.

A Rainbow Family participant, however, said the cleanup procedures are based
on years of experience and -- contrary to what local officials say -- are
based on sound ecology. And the results will speak for themselves in a short
period of time.

"It is cleanup," Peters said. "But it certainly is not rehabilitation by any
stretch of the imagination. And it is not re-naturalization, which is a term
they use and I'm not really sure what that means. But it is cleanup. I would
describe it as cosmetic cleanup. They're taking out the trash."

The strategy employed by the Rainbows so far has been to collect the garbage
and otherwise "cover things up," Peters said.

"They're covering their compost pits with a little bit of soil, which could
attract bears," he said. "They've covered up slit trenches without really
cleaning anything. They've covered up fire pits with branches and trunks of
trees. These folks interchangeably use 'cleanup' and 'rehab,' and they like
to use rehab, but based on what I'm seeing, it's not rehab."

One particular fire pit -- which Peters described as the most "egregious"
example of how the group did not follow the operating plan for the
gathering -- was 42 feet in diameter and dug four feet deep in the center..

The typical rules for fire pits on Forest Service lands are to make the
rings no more than 10 to 12 feet in diameter, and keep them on the surface,
he said.

"I was told they put watermelon rinds underneath, and put soil on top and
then placed pine needles and lodgepole pines on top, and placed on top of
that dead and downed materials like needles and pine cones from the forest,"
Peters said. "It's really nothing more than covering things up."

But one Rainbow participant who helped clean up a few sites in the past said
the procedures Peters described are not simply cosmetic; rather, they serve
a few functions, not the least of which is promoting regrowth of vegetation
down the road.

"The basic procedure is to break it up and re-level the area, and if
necessary you seed it. But the new seeds don't take until the rains come,"
said Sue Bradford of Missoula, Mont.

Bradford spent about a week at this summer's gathering near Dutch Joe. The
congregation drew an estimated 7,000 participants in the first week of July,
but most have since left the area, save the 30 or so people who are cleaning
the site.

The reason for scattering downed trees, leaves, pine needles and branches
over the fire pits, Bradford said, is to prevent cattle and other forest
users from setting up there and trampling the area before it regrows.

"The duff retains moisture and is full of local seeds, and it prevents the
ground underneath from drying out, and it also helps it blend into the
landscape," Bradford said. "It's just like mulching your garden. The natural
mulch is the forest litter under the tree canopy."

Plants and paths

But Peters said one of the pitfalls related to excavating large areas like
the Rainbows did is that it opens the door for invasive plant species to
come in and outcompete the native plants.

"Thistles, for example, move into disturbed areas," Peters said. "It's not a
native plant, but it outcompetes the plants that are native. And we want to
manage the forest for native plants."

Officials with the Bridger-Teton National Forest will monitor for invasive
plants in these areas in the coming years, he said.

Another concern is that the multitude of footpaths that were worn into the
meadow from the several thousand participants could become permanent parts
of the landscape, Peters said.

But Bradford argued the Rainbow Family has tried and true methods for
addressing just that worry.

Before the cleanup crew leaves, it will block all of the entries to the
paths with brush, she said. And the minor foot trails will disappear, as
long as people stop using them.

"We've found over the years that foot traffic doesn't really have a deep
impact," Bradford said. "It doesn't harm the roots, only the grass. It's a
superficial impact that looks usually worse than it is. As soon as it starts
raining, you will see regrowth."

Peters worries, however, that some of the trails are so well-worn they could
become new ATV routes, which would almost ensure their permanence.

Pinedale resident and rock climber Wes Gooch frequents the area where the
Rainbow cleanup is happening, often on his way to climb the famous Cirque of
the Towers. Gooch visited the Rainbow Family camp at the height of the
gathering, helping to look for his friend, Garrett Bardin, who'd gone
missing. Bardin was later found dead of an apparent suicide.

Gooch said it was evident, even during the gathering, that the Rainbow
participants took the importance of cleaning up after themselves to heart..

But some of the construction and excavation they did is bound to leave
lasting scars, he said.

"As far as I'm concerned, they're really good abut picking up trash," Gooch
said. "But those big pits, and some of the structures they built, I don't
see how they'd be able to return those areas back to the way they were. I
saw about five or six pits for drum circles, and lots and lots of campfire
rings."

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