It’s hard to explain the importance of intact ecosystems, wilderness and habitat conservation land planning to folks these days. Environmental education is weak, and so few of us have real relationships with the great outdoors.

We have all forgotten that we are key members of an ecosystem that sustains all life; charged with maintaining balance and order.

In truth; “Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” – Stewart Udall

It is now time to stand up – and do your part. We cannot remain idle while the last of our wilderness is destroyed.

Earth Day 2012 is on Sunday, April 22nd – Click here to find an event to participate in

Help Protect Earth Everyday in 2012

Take every opportunity to preserve what’s left of our roadless lands. Stand against invasive mining, logging and road building in every way, shape and form.

Support organizations, local and national, that fight the good fight by spreading their word, signing petitions and contacting elected officials.

Be conscious of where you spend your money. The ONLY voice we have as individuals is where we spend our money. Continuing to support corrupt corporations needs to stop. If Chase Bank is in fact the leader of ecosystem-obliterating mountain top removal mining then stop supporting Chase Bank with your business. This is the only language that carries impact until we, as a people, are able to unite in larger numbers.

Eat local food and less or no meat. Support ethical, local farmers. Everything has a transportation cost attached. A pound of beef typically equals a pound of oil. Did you hear that? – All of you rabid anti-veggies out there? The oil comes from transport, antibiotics, hormones (to make the beef bigger, faster, in unsanitary factory farm conditions), fertilizers, pesticides, plastics (styrofoam tray) and of course the energy to make them all. Each and every one of these uses of carbon is unnecessary and directly contributes to global warming. Every meal you eat that doesn’t contain any meat is far better for the environment in every way. Eating less or no meat also helps the last herd of genetically pure bison left in Yellowstone…

Defend the Endangered Species Act, Endangered Species and threatened wildlife vital to healthy ecosystems, take action now! Join the national outcry to Save Wolves! And, understand that fear mongering, ignorant cattle ranchers and politicians lead the charge against educated hunters, wildlife activists and scientists. Wolves are not responsible for declining deer and elk herds, human developments are in fact the culprit. As science has proven over and over again – wolves boost deer and elk populations and help maintain balance within healthy ecosystems.

Always pick up trash and leave a light footprint when visiting the great outdoors.

Keep good stuff out of landfills, take advantage of websites like freecycle and craigslist.

Unplug electronics and appliances. Computers, coffee makers, TVs, cell phone chargers etc. all have one thing in common. They suck power even when turned-off. Unplug ‘em, and pick up a special green surge protector.

“Keep close to Nature’s heart…and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” – John Muir

Take Action for Wolves!

Your tax dollars could be used to pay for an awful aerial wolf cull in Northeastern Idaho, an ill-conceived plan to boost game populations that could kill as many as two thirds of the wolves in the Lolo District of the Clearwater National Forest.

President Obama can stop this unscientific plan, but he needs to hear from us. I just signed a petition to the President to stop the use of federal tax dollars to kill these wolves and I hope you will too.

Sign the Petition Online Now!

Earth Hour – One Hour No Power 2012

8:30pm Local Time – Saturday, March 31st

It’s almost that time of the year again; a time at which a coordinated effort is made in support of the environment across the globe. A time during which everyone is encouraged to turn their power off, for one hour… Earth Hour – One Hour No Power.

In 2011, all seven continents joined the Earth Hour – One Hour No Power movement, even the Cartoon Network halted transmissions for one hour. In 2010, a record-breaking 126 countries helped raise awareness for climate change, including destinations like the Las Vegas Strip, Mount Rushmore, The Empire State Building and Niagara Falls. Learn more about the history of Earth Hour…

Scheduled Downtime

So, setup and turn-on that reminder alarm on your phone, calendar and project management app for 8:30pm, March 31st and Shut. Down. Everything!

If you have a WordPress powered website or blog, grab a nifty plugin right here. This will automatically take your site down for one hour and display a message and links in support of the Earth Hour movement.

Don’t have WordPress? No worries! There are plenty of banners, posters, logos and videos available for placement on your website, blog and/or social network right here.

Earth Hour Flickr Global Stream

One of Idaho’s most stellar soaks, which has been around for years, is no more. Portions of the lip from the overhang (above the pool) were broken off and are among the rest of the ruins once known as Loftus Hot Springs. I’ve heard rumors over the last few days it was destroyed and was sent the following pictures (thank you Heather!).

Learn more about Loftus on IHS

Still not sure who the responsible party is… I’ve heard it was the FS and have also heard that someone is attempting to redesign the pool.

Judging by the pictures it looks like Jackholes have visited recently, or are potentially involved. Could a pick-ax really cause that type of damage? Were explosives involved?

Please chime in if you’ve got some intel! I’ll post here and on the Facebook page for Idaho as information becomes available.

Video Clip of Loftus Hot Springs

Hunters Hot Springs may soon no longer be available for soaking, as it is currently under threat from the Town of Lakeview and PacificCorp by geothermal power generation development.

Please see http://www.savehuntershotsprings.org

You comments to the Environmental Assessment need to be received by February 18, 2011.

We need your help to keep this geothermal basin alive.

- Courtesy Chris Zinda

Sadly, the log-dammed pool at mighty Vulcan is no-more due to a wildfire that rampaged the area. In fact, the entire surrounding area has been closed for the last 3 seasons due to wildfire restoration efforts. Basically, the wildfire super-heated the earth around Vulcan… flattening the area where the old log-dammed pool used to snugly fit. New pool designs will have to be creative to say the least.

The video below shows Vulcan in all of its former glory, in addition to the surrounding area – which has since mostly burned.

More Vulcan Hot Springs

• Vulcan Pictures
• Vulcan Blog Posts
• Vulcan on IHS

After reading the hotspringsguy’s post on Skinnydipper it is hard to not want to go clean it up! Boise River Volunteers will be having a clean up on Tuesday 4/6/10- we will meet at 10am and clean then soak- plan for this to be an all day event. Tons of trash along with tons of fun, bring food, warm enough clothes for the weather, and money to chip in on gas if you can. Sign up at riverhelpers or comment for assistance in getting signed up. We are always glad to accept new volunteers!

- Amber

This saturday we plan to go up to Hot Springs Campground for a clean up. We do plan to bring some children, and encourage others to feel free to as well. With that we will have a bathig suits mandatory soak at the end and also discourage drinking after the clean up. We plan to meet at the Home Depot on State St. at 10am. To sign up visit www.riverhelpers.com

Post Author: Amber Hoid

I’m getting a little tried of this anti-wolf business. The Idaho Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (see how they are trying to sound all official with their name resembling Idaho Fish and Wildlife) is having an animal killing derby featuring, you guessed it, wolves.

This deceptive group of ultra-rich cattle ranchers is primarily based/funded out of state, and is the very same group that Idaho Governor Butch Otter supports… remember his epic FAIL anti-wolf speech? Say, isn’t that Butch Otter a cattleman?

The Idaho SFW wants your money because (they say) they represent hunters, and that to be pro-wolf is the same as anti-hunting. The problem is, educated hunters know that wolves keep their game healthy and mobile (less wasting disease and environmental impact).

Why Idaho SFW is FTL (for the lose):

• There’s this thing called … an ECOSYSTEM. Wolves need to be a part of it. Idaho SFW support anti-science, anti-environment, anti-wildlife and ultimately anti-hunting agendas.
• The Idaho SFW is composed of a bunch of ultra-rich cattle ranchers that provide disinformation in order to rally support for their hidden, true cause. Most of these guys don’t even live in Idaho.
• The Idaho SFW, instead of being straightforward about wanting to protect their cattle the cheapest way possible, mislead hunters into thinking that wolves are killing all of the deer and elk, when in fact, their return has increased deer and elk populations.

While we can continue to voice our opposition against the wolf hunt and support agencies like Defenders of Wildlife (which also compensate ranchers for cattle loss from wolves, which is much less than the number of cattle lost to disease every year), we can completely put an end to this Idaho SFW madness by not supporting them. Period.

The following trip report is from a mid-July Boise and Payette National Forest venture, that took place northeast of Cascade, Idaho in the Krassel Ranger District.

Trail Creek = ultra slammed! A brief stop revealed less trash in the pullout than my last visit. On down the road.

Forest Service Road (FSR) 474 South was under heavy construction. ALL official and primitive camping areas are still off-limits due to area restoration efforts. Why the National Forest doesn’t just close the road to recreation traffic, or AT LEAST post 474 S as being under construction (massive mud/rocks) and that no camping is allowed, is beyond me. You would think they could work more efficiently with less traffic. Plus, aside from visiting (not camping) Vulcan (only roadside parking), Molly’s and Molly’s Tubs all other areas are off-limits.

The tubs at Molly’s Tubs are really, truly … gone. And, (big surprise) so is the trash. I recently received a trip report about the formation of two natural pools, however.

In regard to Molly’s Hot Spring… red spider mite alert! More and more people have been letting me know about this, and a recent email entailing of a spider mite infestation got me thinking it was time to ring the alarm. Why are so many of Idaho’s hot springs afflicted by the mites? Here’s the complete list of hot springs that have reported red spider mite activity… if you have more to add – please comment!

FSR 474 North was under pending construction. Nothing was going on, but the signs stated that construction would begin soon and would completely shut down the south fork road for about a month. They are going to replace all of the main culverts that run underneath the road.

Also worth noting, 474 N currently does not grant access to Yellow Pine and the Mule Hill trailhead to hot soaks in the Frank Church Wilderness (Kwis Kwis and the Middle Fork hot springs). Bridge out. To reach the afore mentioned destinations, take the Stanley-Landmark Highway instead. Drive past the 474 N turnoff towards Warm Lake and look for it near the lake heading north. There are plenty of signs to help you along.

This brings me to the title of this post. After turning onto FSR 474 North (AKA the South Fork Road) I began to notice a trend that made me feel very uneasy. Trash. Everywhere. Yep. Animals got into it.

I’ve been coming up here for almost a decade and have never seen it this trashed. Not even close. Not even after (or during) a fourth of July weekend. Campsites, both primitive and official – trashed. Garbage on the roads, trails and riverside. Fish entrails everywhere.

Apparently, this week a particular tribe is granted access to this area for fishing rights and free camping. Sadly, this type of behavior was something I’m accustomed to from other groups. I know so few fishermen that respect the land these days. Gotta give the Krassel crew a pat on the back for the cleanup. I picked up a ton of trash myself… it’s a compulsive habit nowadays. It barley made a dent though.

This was also the first time I have witnessed pimped-out cars bumpin gangsta rap in this area. Lovely to say the least. It was especially fun having a car pull into my campsite late at night just to be rudely asked “where are the hot springs?”. Oh joy. You can guess what I did. Played dumb.

Keep in mind, great soaks under the stars were had along with excellent mild-weathered hiking during the day. Wildlife was abound everywhere. Including the bugs. Even with bug juice on they ate me alive. Mosquito bites on my hands and face, a big (itchy) spider bite on the inside of my palm (still visible) and a mutant bug bite on my belly that left a scar! After a trip like this I’ve decide to look into garlic tablets.

“Keep close to Nature’s heart…and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” –John Muir

It’s hard to explain the importance of intact ecosystems, wilderness and habitat conservation land planning to folks these days. Environmental education is weak, and so few of us have real relationships with the great outdoors.

In truth; “Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” – Stewart Udall

Protect Earth Everyday:

1. Take every opportunity to preserve what’s left of our roadless lands. Stand against invasive mining, logging and road building in every form. Sign the No Dirty Energy and No Dirty Gold pledges.
2. Eat local food and less or no meat. Everything has a transportation cost attached. A pound of beef typically equals a pound of oil. The oil went for transport, antibiotics, hormones (to make the beef bigger, faster, in unsanitary factory farm conditions), fertilizers, pesticides, plastics (styrofoam tray) and of course the energy to make them all. Each and every one of these uses of carbon is unnecessary and directly contributes to global warming. Every meal you eat that doesn’t contain any meat is far better for the environment in every way. Eating less or no meat also helps the last herd of genetically pure bison left in Yellowstone…
3. Defend the Endangered Species Act, Endangered Species and threatened wildlife vital to healthy ecosystems. Join the national outcry to Save Wolves before May 4th!
4. Always pick up trash and leave a light footprint when visiting the great outdoors.
5. Keep good stuff out of landfills, take advantage of websites like freecycle and craigslist.
6. Unplug electronics and appliances. Computers, coffee makers, TVs, cell phone chargers etc. all have one thing in common. They suck power even when turned-off. Unplug ‘em, and pick up a special green surge protector.

“Keep close to Nature’s heart…and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” – John Muir