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Inside…
Check out our website at: www.wildlandscpr.org 
 The Quarterly Newsletter of Wildlands Center for Preventing RoadsSpring Equinox 2003. Volume 8 # 1
— See article on page 3 — 
Cougar Corridors, by Alexandra Koelle. Pages 3-5Depaving the Way, by Bethanie Walder. Pages 6-7Odes to Roads: Roads and More Roads, byRosalie Edge. Pages 8-9
Cougar Corridors
Regional Reports & Updates. Pages 10-11Wildlands CPR 2002 Annual Report. Pages 12-13Get with the Program: ORV and Roads ProgramUpdates. Pages 14-15Biblio Notes: The Impacts of Snowmobiling andCross Country Skiing on Ungulates, by Teresa Elise Welsh. Pages 16-18Activist Spotlight: Lynda Bilbrough. Page 19Policy Primer: Funding for Road Removal, byBeth Peluso. Pages 20-22
Restoring the Missing Linkin California’s Chino Hills
 By Alexandra Koelle
   P   h  o   t  o  c  o  u  r   t  e  s  y  o   f   C  a   l   i   f  o  r  n   i  a   S   t  a   t  e   P  a  r   k  s .
 
 The Road-RIPorter, Spring Equinox 2003
2
© 2003 Wildlands CPR
Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads works to protect and restore wildland ecosystems by preventing and removing roads and limiting motorized recreation. We are a national clearinghouse and network, providing citizens with tools and strategies to fight road construction, deter motorized recreation, and promote road removal and revegetation.
P.O. Box 7516Missoula, MT 59807(406) 543-9551 WildlandsCPR@wildlandscpr.org www.wildlandscpr.org
Director 
Bethanie Walder 
Development Director 
Tom Petersen 
Restoration ProgramCoordinator 
Marnie Criley 
Transportation Policy Coordinator 
Bridget Lyons 
Science Coordinator 
Adam Switalski 
NTWC Grassroots Coordinator 
Lisa Philipps 
Program Associate 
Jennifer Barry 
Newsletter 
Dan Funsch & Jim Coefield 
Interns & Volunteers 
Brooke Hughes, Shay O'Brien-Ugaldea,Beth Peluso, Teresa Welsh 
Board of Directors 
Katie Alvord, Karen Wood DiBari, Dave Havlick,Greg Munther, Cara Nelson, Mary O'Brien,Ted Zukoski 
 Advisory Committee 
Jasper Carlton, Dave Foreman,Keith Hammer, Timothy Hermach,Marion Hourdequin, Kraig Klungness, Lorin Lindner, Andy Mahler, Robert McConnell,Stephanie Mills, Reed Noss,Michael Soulé, Steve Trombulak, Louisa Willcox,Bill Willers, Howie Wolke 
 Wildlands Wildlands Wildlands Wildlands Wildlands CCCCCenter for PPPPPreventing  R R R R Roads
 By Bethanie Walder 
 A
t our annual board meeting last May, Wildlands CPR began a strategicplanning process. After a second meeting in December, and a significanteffort on the part of several board members and the staff, we have justabout finalized a plan for 2003-2005. Through this process we’ve solidified theimportance of our existing work and defined our priorities for the next three years— and we’re very excited about what the future holds.Our new plan affirms the trajectory we’d been moving on for the past year orso. It focuses our proactive transportation planning and restoration goals whilemaintaining and expanding our clearinghouse and activist assistance. Perhapsmore importantly, we defined very specific arenas in which we want to expand ourcapacity - reaching out to new people and developing a more public persona for theorganization.We set two programmatic goals for 2005. First, to see at least 50% of theNational Forests adopt a designated route system for off-road vehicles, and second,to see road removal considered as a major component of restoration projects andpolicies. To help us reach these we adopted a series of commensurate organiza-tional goals that focus on reaching out to new people and empowering our constitu-encies, updating our image and presentations and, of course, improving ourclearinghouse.To this end you’ll start to see some changes at Wildlands CPR. First, we’vechanged some position titles and responsibilities. Marnie is now our RestorationProgram Coordinator - and she will focus almost exclusively on that second goalregarding road removal. Bridget (our newest staffer, see page 23), is our Transpor-tation Policy Coordinator. Get in touch with her for answers to your questionsabout off-road vehicles and road prevention. This change in titles reflects a long-standing desire of ours to integrate our roads and off-road vehicle work moreeffectively. We also think it will help us serve your road prevention, road removaland off-road vehicle needs more effectively.Second, we’re on a major quest to diversify our funding sources. Tommy hasbeen doing an amazing job researching our options, and we’ll have lots of newthings in the works as we look throughout and beyond the foundation community.As we implement additional changes, we’ll let you know. If you have anyquestions about our strategic planning, please don’t hesitate to get in touch withus.
   P   h  o   t  o   b  y   P   h   i   l   K  n   i  g   h   t .
 
 The Road-RIPorter, Spring Equinox 2003
3
— continued on next page — 
Cougar Corridors
Restoring the Missing Link in California’s Chino Hills
 By Alexandra Koelle
O
n the edge of the United States’ mostnotorious example of urban sprawl, aprecedent-setting model of cooperation tosave a critical biodiversity linkage has been set.The place — Coal Canyon — is a 681-acre parcel ofland bisected by the Riverside Freeway (CaliforniaRoute 91). This small area of land within an hour’sdrive of Los Angeles’s 15 million inhabitantscurrently is home to many species, includingmountain lion, deer, bobcat, and the Californiagnatcatcher. As the only remaining viable linkbetween the Puente-Chino Hills State Park in thenorth (40,000 acres) and the Santa Ana Mountainsand Cleveland National Forest in the south (472,000acres), the significance of Coal Canyon’s preserva-tion is far larger than its relatively small size.The ecological value of the Coal Canyon area isnot all that’s significant about this project. In anhistoric precedent, state agencies have alreadybegun removing and revegetating a paved off-rampand underpass of State Highway 91, a 10-12 lanefreeway. The road removal will compliment thestate’s earlier acquisition of neighboring lands torestore a functioning wildlife corridor in CoalCanyon. California State Parks and the CaliforniaDepartment of Transportation (Caltrans) deserverecognition for their commitment to public wildlifeand non-motorized recreation.
 In This Corner: Development Versus Diversity 
In 2000 California State Parks purchased 649acres south of the freeway, which had been slatedfor development of 1,550 new houses (this land iscurrently undisturbed). Then, in 2001, theypurchased an additional 32 acres north of thefreeway, where an industrial park had beenplanned. Plans to restore native vegetation on the32 acres are underway, and a BMX track and horsestables have already been removed.The area is a remnant of California coastal sagescrub ecosystem, widely recognized as one of themost biologically diverse and threatened ecosys-tems in the continental U.S. Seventy to ninetypercent of California coastal sage scrub ecosys-tems have already been lost. Coal Canyon’s 681acres host two federally listed species, the California gnatcatcher andBraunton’s Milk-vetch, and provides nesting habitat to prairie falconsand golden eagles (Hund 2002). Coal Canyon provides a link betweenthe two larger protected areas, which together are home to anadditional 55 sensitive or threatened plant and animal species.Other ecosystems and rare communities in the Santa AnaMountains and Puente-Chino Hills include alluvial sage scrub,grasslands, vernal pools, southern California walnut woodland, tecatecypress forest, big cone Douglas-fir forest, Engelmann oak woodlands,the Santa Margarita River, and San Mateo Creek. The latter is the onlyperennial stream between Santa Barbara and the Mexican border thatremains wild throughout the entire watershed (Noss et. al. 2002).The purchased parcel and the associated road removal willprovide a safe crossing for indicator species such as cougar andbobcat that would otherwise be cut off into separate “islands” by thefreeway. In turn, the mobility of these larger species will provide forgenetic diversity in Puente-Chino Hills and the Santa Ana Mountains,strengthening the chances for survival of smaller animal species andplants on both sides of the highway. Relegation to “island” statuswould have been an especially grim scenario for the Puente-ChinoHills State Park, which is too small to support its current speciesdiversity over time. In this area, up to half of certain classes ofspecies could be lost if the link to the south is not preserved. In theevent of a localized destruction, the corridor may serve as a meansfor the repopulation of connected areas.
 An arial view of the Coal Canyon corridor area and the underpass under  Highway 91 (circled). Also see close-up map on next page. Photo courtesty of California State Parks.
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