05/06/2002

Associated Press

A Montana watchdog group has challenged a decision by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to allow long-distance runners to pass through parts of the federally protected Steens Mountain Wilderness Area.

Supporters of the 27-year-old Steens Mountain Running Camp insist the high school runners have little impact on the wilderness and come away with greater respect of nature.

Steens Mountain (Photo courtesy BLM)

"It's really a pretty extraordinary request to be doing something like this in the wilderness," said George Nickas, the group's executive director.

As part of the camp, students spend one day inside the wilderness boundary. The camp will operate two weeklong sessions this year for high school long-distance runners.

"For a person coming to the Steens Mountain Running Camp and not being able to experience what is now labeled wilderness is kind of like going to Arizona and getting only a quarter-mile from the Grand Canyon," said Harland Yriarte, the camp's founder and athletic director at Lane Community College.

Wilderness Watch wants the BLM, which manages the Steens wilderness, not to issue a special-use permit that allows the camp to lead students through the boundary area about 65 miles south of Burns.

"To make an exception for one camp doesn't seem right to us, and we're concerned it may become a precedent," Nickas said. "If we allow one camp to do it, how can we tell others they can't without appearing arbitrary?"

One of the trade-offs for removing livestock from the Steens wilderness was to recognize other traditional uses, including the running camp, said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore.

"It was exactly the kind of purpose we were trying to protect under the historic recreational use," he said. "If you want to think of it as just your grandfather's wilderness area, it's not. This is the first cow-free wilderness area in the nation."

The BLM's Burns District is studying what impact the camp has on the wilderness and will issue a report later this month. It will decide in July whether to issue the permit, after a 30-day public comment period.

If the BLM approves the permit, Wilderness Watch could appeal or file a lawsuit.

"I think if Wilderness Watch had their way they'd have us on a stair-stepper out in the sagebrush," he said. "We all know that it's the atmosphere and environment and beauty that allows for a really holistic experience."

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)