Nez Perce Clearwater Forest

The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest supervisor trumpeted her new forest plan as the best compromise for all, but when it comes to proposed wilderness, both advocates and opponents disagree. When the final draft of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest Plan was released at the end of November, wilderness advocates immediately noticed that the Hoodoo Recommended Wilderness Area on the Idaho side of the Great Burn Proposed Wilderness had shrunk by thousands of acres from what was proposed in 1987. A long section of land extending from Fish Lake northwest to Hoodoo Pass was gone, relegated to regular forest, along with a large lobe on the southeastern edge near U.S. Highway 12 and Blacklead Mountain. Hayley Newman, Great Burn Conservation Alliance executive director, said the loss of the Blacklead area was a likely loss for winter wildlife. Research, including a 2018 Rocky Mountain Research Station study, has shown that wolverines, elk and lynx avoid area...