Jay Cassell

Guest Blog: An Update on Nevada's Blue Lakes and Alder Creek Wilderness Study Areas

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:19:45 -0500

by Jay Cassell

Last fall, I traveled to northwestern Nevada to report on what was going on with the Blue Lakes and Alder Creek Wilderness Study Areas, as part of Field & Stream’s last Best Wild Places reports, done in conjunction with Trout Unlimited.

While in Nevada, I spent considerable time with Jim Jeffress, the backcountry lands coordinator for the Sportsmen’s Conservation Project of Trout Unlimited. Jeffress, Greg Moore (communications specialist for TU’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Projects), and I flew over the area, then did some on-the-ground inspections.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 directed the Bureau of Land Management to inventory and/or study all roadless areas of 5000 acres or more to see which ones have true wilderness characteristics. In 1977 the BLM started to inventory almost 49 million acres across the country. By 1979, 34 million acres were dropped from the inventory; the remaining 15 million were divided up into intensive wilderness inventory units. In Nevada, the BLM designated 110 wilderness study areas, covering 5.1 million acres, in a report sent to Congress. Until Congress moves forward with a permanent designation or drops any WSAs, these areas will be managed as wilderness.

The study group’s recommendations were approved by the Humboldt County Commission on October 18. With those approvals, the next step is for the Nevada Congressional office to present the recommendations to Congress. There is no guarantee of anything at this stage, but things are definitely moving in the right direction. Click here to read the full story published in a recent edition of the Humbolt Sun.

Jay Cassell Picks The Coolest New Hunting and Outdoor Gadgets, from Survival Kits to Flashlights, from SHOT Show 2011

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:38:17 -0500

Guest Post: Hunting Blacktail and Avoiding Bears on Kodiak Island

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:51:53 -0500

by Jay Cassell

Field & Stream predicted Nov. 1 to be one of the top seven days to hunt the rut this year. Being a dutiful staff member, I took it upon myself to hunt that day. That Monday, I found myself hiking up an almost vertical cliff off Uyak Bay on Kodiak Island, Alaska. My quarry: blacktail deer. And as you can see, I got a good one: a 185-pound 10-pointer that came out of a thicket, crossed a small meadow, tore up a couple of saplings with this rack, then made the mistake of walking within range of my Model 700.

He was alone, but there’s no doubt he had mating on his mind. Check out the size of his neck!

When you shoot a deer, the drill on Kodiak is to take your photos and then gut and drag your animal fast. Once the magpies and ravens find the gut pile, which they always do, their activity will draw any Kodiak bears within sight or smelling range. And there are bears everywhere: That’s Doug Jeanneret checking tracks on the beach.

With help from Joe Arterburn of Cabela’s, we dragged this buck in record time – no mean feat when you have to go through a mile of hummocks, bogs, mud and downed trees – all of which ended with us taking the buck down a long, cascading waterfall that ended on the beach. I think I lost five pounds on that 45-minute drag—a memorable hunt, in many ways.

Best Wild Places: Exploring the Blue Lakes (Day 3)

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:29:10 -0400

Deputy Editor Jay Cassell and Greg Moore (Trout Unlimited’s communications specialist for TU’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Projects, spent three days with Jim Jeffress, TU’s Nevada backcountry coordinator, exploring the Blue Lakes – Pine Forest Range in the far northwest corner of Nevada, close to the Oregon line. Here's the report from Day 2.

Blue Lakes are four alpine lakes in the Blue Lakes WSA. It’s an 18-mile off-road drive to reach the parking area, followed by a mile-long mostly uphill hike.

They are incredibly beautiful, with little sign of man using the area. The Pine Forest Working Group’s land-management proposals were unanimously approved by the Humboldt County Commission on October 18, so now it’s up to Nevada’s congressional delegation to take the proposal to Congress for official designation as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

The plan is to combine the Blue Lakes WSA with the Alder Creek WSA, add almost 1800 acres from area ranchers in exchange for land that they can use.

Click here to see more photos from Day 3 of the Blue Lakes Adventure.

Exploring the Blue Lakes: Day Three

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:25:29 -0400

Deputy Editor Jay Cassell and Greg Moore, Trout Unlimited’s communications specialist for TU’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Projects, spent three days with Jim Jeffress, TU’s Nevada backcountry coordinator, exploring the Blue Lakes – Pine Forest Range in the far northwest corner of Nevada, close to the Oregon line.

Best Wild Places: Exploring the Blue Lakes (Day 2)

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:50:38 -0400

The second day of the tour was two-fold: chukar hunting in the McGee Mountain multiple use area, a 5000-acre piece of property near the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge; then going to Knott Creek Reservoir for some more trout fishing. Yesterday, I was told that the BLM’s original wilderness inventory was 49 million acres across Nevada.

I had a tough time wrapping my head around those figures until Moore told me that more than 76 percent of the state is public land managed by the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service, with the vast majority of it in BLM hands. Add land controlled by the military, and almost 85 percent of the state is owned by the Federal Government. When you’ve got so much land, proper management, with input from all involved parties, is critical.

McGee Mountain was a typical example of land used by a variety of interests, from sportsmen to ranchers to miners.

--Jay Cassell

Click here to see more photos from Day 2 of the Blue Lakes Adventure.

Exploring the Blue Lakes: Day Two

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:45:45 -0400

Best Wild Places: Exploring the Blue Lakes (Day 1)

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:12:55 -0400

The first day involved flying over this vast area, with Jeffress pointing out the bodies of water in question, as well as showing us where the current roads and boundaries are.

As we did our fly over, Jeffress explained that the Pine Forest Range holds a combination of wildlife study areas (WSAs). The Wilderness Act of 1964 directed the Bureau of Land Management to inventory and/or study all roadless areas of 5000 acres or more to see which ones have true wilderness characteristics.

In 1977 the BLM started to inventory almost 49 million acres across Nevada (which is the seventh largest state in the U.S.). By 1979, 34 million acres were dropped from the inventory; the remaining 15 million were divided up into intensive wilderness inventory units. In Nevada, the BLM designated 110 wilderness study areas, covering 5.1 million acres, in a report sent to Congress. Until Congress moves forward with a permanent designation or drops any WSAs, these areas are managed as wilderness.

That’s Knott Creek Reservoir below – it borders the 5,142-acre Alder Creek WSA. Much of the east shore is actually within the WSA, but a local county commission-sanctioned WSA review committee has recommended a realignment of the boundaries, so people can use the area.

My take as an outsider, looking in? These WSA’s have basically been just sitting there since 1977, waiting for someone to come along, study them, then make the recommendations needed to move them into wilderness or some other type of designation.

Jeffress and the Pine Forest WSA working group have finished studying the two WSAs in this area, and are making recommendations on how the resources may be best used to everyone’s advantage. It’s quite the complicated issue, involving suggestions to move or close roads, alter boundaries so some areas are whole, so people currently camping in areas where they shouldn’t be will now be legal, and more – including water and grazing rights, which are always complicated in the West.

—Jay Cassell

Click here to see more photos from Day 1 of the Blue Lakes adventure.

Exploring the Blue Lakes: Day One

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:03:11 -0400

Photos of New Gear from the 2010 Outdoor Retailer Show

Online Editors — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:52:15 -0400