Much more frightening than any of the tricks or freaks you’ll encounter this Halloween is the prospect of climate change.

Our friends at the Outdoor Alliance have put together this short video as the energy legislation debate heats up in Congress. “It’s really rather simple,” says OA. “Human-powered outdoor pursuits need a healthy climate. If the climate is out of balance, then our favorite ways to enjoy the outdoors can go from being degraded to actually disappearing.”

The group is calling on the outdoor community to “flex some political muscle and help get the climate back on track.” Take action by clicking here.

Founded in 2006, Outdoor Alliance is a coalition of six member-based national outdoor advocacy groups — Access Fund, American Canoe Association, American Hiking Society, American Whitewater, International Mountain Bicycling Association and Winter Wildlands Alliance — whose mission is to ensure the conservation and stewardship of our land and waters through the promotion of sustainable, human-powered recreation.

Outdoor Alliance serves as the human-powered outdoor community’s voice on “big picture” public lands and waters issues in Washington, D.C. OA’s members, friends and staff testify before Congress, pen editorials and produce films to help the human-powered outdoor community channel its vision of conservation and stewardship directly to national policy makers.

Last month, my awesome friend and kayaker-with-a-cause Andy Maser and I headed up for a weekend of paddling around Timothy Lake in the Mount Hood Wilderness. We were shocked and, frankly, disgusted by the prominent profile of Mount Hood reaching into the sky with no snow. None. Never have I seen that mountain without a snow-capped peak.

Hood’s scarily bare summit is just another reminder that climate change is happening fast, and affecting special wild places in our own backyards. I’m sure those who read this blog have had similar experiences. Well, I don’t know about you all, but I’m not ready to give up my snow-capped peaks just yet.

We have less than two months until environment ministers from about 190 nations will gather in Copenhagen in December to try to seal a U.N. climate pact to take over from the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012.

Andy, a co-founder of the Epicocity Project, is helping to organize River of Action as part of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action. Next Saturday, Oct. 24, people around the world will form “350” to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis. The number 350 represents the number of parts per million scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.

(Buster the Wild Salmon; photo © Ethan Smith)

I work on salmon recovery issues in the West, and salmon need a lot of cold water to survive, so we at Save Our Wild Salmon are always down to help fight climate change. And we’ll be taking action on Oct. 24. How about you? Visit 350.org to find an action in your area.

Emily Nuchols is the communications manager for Save Our Wild Salmon. She is based in Portland, Ore., and runs around in a salmon suit more than she would like to admit.

Today a group of salmon stakeholders from across the nation will take to the halls of Congress to urge representatives to support the Salmon Solutions and Planning Act. The bill would provide Congress and federal agencies with up-to-date, thorough information about how best to protect and restore wild salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia and Snake River Basin.

“We’re talking about much more than a fish here. This is my job and thousands of others. It’s an iconic species and a way of life,” said Jeff Hickman, a Northwest steelhead guide and regional conservation organizer for the Sierra Club. “The Obama administration missed a great opportunity to restore a river, recover healthy salmon and steelhead populations, and protect countless jobs and a strong salmon economy. We’re disappointed, but we have hope and that’s why we’re here. There is strong support in the region for a bold solution to this crisis, and we don’t have the time for more political side-stepping. We need to meet this challenge head on, and that starts with the studies and actions in this bill.”

Hickman joined more than 115 outdoor and fishing business leaders this summer in a letter asking Congress to act on legislation that will help bring about a durable resolution to the longstanding challenge of salmon recovery. Patagonia helped spearhead the letter.

“Conservation is a core priority for the outdoor industry, and wild salmon play an important role in the recreation economy. We simply can’t afford to lose them,” said Lisa Pike-Sheehy, Patagonia’s director of environmental initiatives. “We need updated, comprehensive and unbiased information so we can evaluate, on a level playing field, all potential salmon recovery options, including lower Snake River dam removal. We applaud the members of Congress supporting this bill.” Patagonia has long supported restoring a free-flowing Snake River to recover salmon and steelhead, including sockeye salmon, which the company recently featured in its Freedom to Roam Campaign.

The solutions legislation comes at an opportune time. Last month, the Obama administration adopted a flawed Bush administration Columbia-Snake salmon plan that does nothing to recover endangered fish. While the fate of that plan lies in the hands of a U.S. District Court judge, the salmon community is not waiting to push for Congressional solutions to protect and recover Snake River populations.

Follow Save Our Wild Salmon on Twitter to keep up to date on salmon solutions from Washington, D.C. Save Our Wild Salmon will be live-blogging and tweeting from Capitol Hill next week.

Emily Nuchols sometimes can be found modeling in a salmon suit, but spends the majority of her time working to remove the four lower Snake River dams in eastern Washington to give both salmon and people a river to run in. Visit www.wildsalmon.org.

(Mount Foraker is America’s fourth-highest peak. Photo by Scott Schupbach.)

Word comes from the Access Fund and American Alpine Club that the National Park Service is considering raising the fees climbers pay to attempt some of the marquee peaks in Denali National Park.

The groups say the Park Service may hike the fee from $200 to $500 for climbing Mount McKinley (elev. 20,320) and Mount Foraker (elev. 17,400). The agency’s annual budget for its mountaineering program is more than $1 million.

Will America’s highest peaks be off-limits to all but wealthy climbers? That’s been the worry of advocates like Oregon-based Wild Wilderness since user fees became a prominent fixture in public land management in the late 1990s.

“The increase would make climbing in the national park impossible for some climbers and significantly damage local businesses that provide guiding and other services to visiting climbers,” the Access Fund posted on its news page.

The Access Fund and AAC have joined with the American Mountain Guide Association, guide services and air taxi companies to lobby Alaska’s congressional delegation against a possible fee hike. But with already-strapped land managers facing recessionary budget cuts, don’t be surprised to see more of these fee proposals raised.

And now, some observations from the man himself:

It is an electrifying time in the Capital.

Change is in the air. Even with the economic meltdown and all the other challenges our nation faces, a buzz of excitement permeates the halls of congress. Young and vivacious legislative staffers fill offices and hallways, hustling from meeting to meeting with a Blackberry and a snap in their step. Freshman and veteran legislators know there is a new man in town and things are happening fast. Rumors get texted that by Memorial Day a new Energy Bill will be debated in the House and a Climate Change Bill will be out of Committee. And everyone is equally interested in what these Bills will look like. Anything seems possible.

An Exum Guide testifies to the Sub-committee on Parks, Forests, and Public Lands on why climbers, skiers, and kayakers care about climate change and our federal lands. His new Wyoming Congresswoman asks him about conservation easements for the Path of the Pronghorn. Next to him sits the first American to climb K2 explaining to Chairman Grijalva why we need our public lands for wildlife migration routes. The seats behind them are filled not only with lawyers and lobbyists but hikers, biologists, climbers, botanists, boaters, and the owner of Patagonia. And the Legislators are listening.

The conversation is no longer about is climate change happening or even if we are the cause. The conversation on both sides of the aisle is focused on what we need to do about it. A few statements that our only hope is nuclear or we need to log all our forest as bio-fuel are drowned out by a chorus of phrases that include sustainable, renewable, good science, the carbon sequestration value of protected forests and grasslands, migration corridors, and equal consideration of energy recreation and wildlife.

In the new Secretary of the Interior’s office the staff have not had time to unpack boxes or hang anything on the bare walls. They have been too busy assisting Salazar in rolling back the previous administrations last ditch efforts to sell of swaths of southern Utah to energy development and halting eight imminent energy leases in Wyoming.

There is hope on the horizon.

Forrest McCarthy is the Public Lands Director for the Winter Wildlands Alliance. CLICK HERE for his testimony.

For more information on town, county and state races, check out Planet Jackson Hole’s “Stuff the Ballot Guide”, the Jackson Hole News&Guide’s election section or JH News&Guide features reporter Kelsey Dayton’s election day blog (we’re still waiting for them to add a comments section).

And nationally, while Wyoming will likely go to Senator John McCain, the Casper Star Tribune recently endorsed Senator Barack Obama, so you never know what will happen.

I think everyone at Cloudveil and beyond can agree that it’s important for all of us to exercise our luxurious, amazing American priviledge today.

Go vote!

If you don’t yet know where your polling location is, CLICK HERE!!!!!

TONIGHT’S EVENTS:

*Jay Varley is hosting a party from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary on Jackson Street tonight.

Candidates will meet and greet; party goers will drink free beer and wine and everyone will groove to the band The Rotating Superstructure.

*Pro snowboarder turned restaurateur Julie Zell will host a party at 7 p.m. tonight at her Stone Table restaurant at 850 W. Broadway. DJ Mikey Thunder will drop the beats.

Our radio airwaves ooze political ads (thanks a lot in part to Capt. Bob Morris’ donation), our newspapers feature full page ads from elite athletes and local bloggers can barely post fast enough to keep up with the door-to-door knocking, phone banking and election dance parties springing up in Jackson Hole.

The ads, by athletes such as snowboarders Travis Rice (below) and Rob Kingwill and skier/rodeo queen Crystal Wright (above), are not affiliated with a party or candidate, but simply feature the athletes talking in their own words about the importance of voting.

You may recognize the ad photographs from Heather Erson’s “Revealed” show, that debuted at Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary last winter.

This athlete ad campaign was masterminded by Jim Stanford, whose newly relaunched JH Underground site will be working overtime between now and election night covering the candidates and issues.

Go read, go listen, go ask, go party, go vote!

August 12:
Very hot in the morning.
In the afternoon sudden thunder-storm & very heavy rain.
About 50 yards from the gate the road & pavement flooded a foot deep after only 1 1/2 hours rain.

Blackberries beginning to redden.

The Orwell Prize, Britain’s pre-eminent prize for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s diaries as a blog!

For the next four years, the group will post one diary entry each day exactly 70 years after it was written (from August 9, 1938 to October 1942).

And why should we, in our little mountain towns, care about this?

1. While at first blackberries may seem mundane, readers can see how Orwell’s attention to detail in regular life translated to bigger issues. Any Orwellian fan – or critic – should be interested to learn the thoughts and domestic life of the man who gave us the prescient 1984 (50 years before its time) and poignant phrases (Big Brother) that have integrated themselves into our 21st century vernacular.

2. Everybody blogs these days. The most successful are those who do it daily, constantly. I spend a ton of time surfing the ‘Net, reading about other people’s comings and goings. I’d love to add one of my favorite writers to the mix. His will likely be more interesting than most. (Bonus: His blog is in WordPress, same as ours!)

3. Mountain town folks can relate to the broad spectrum of Orwell’s subjects – plants, animals, woodwork, traveling, government control. …

I just wonder what the man who brought us Big Brother would think of The Matrix that we’re all willingly plugged into, addicted to. What would he think of all our blogging and updating (Big Brother doesn’t even need to watch us, we’re broadcasting ourselves constantly.) And what would he think of people from London to Jackson Hole reading the words he scrawled privately into his diary?

Lauren M. Whaley tries to emulate Orwell by writing every single day and paying attention. She learned about The Orwell Diaries from Syndicated Columnist and photographer David J. Swift

In June I made my first trip to DC to lobby the Senate on behalf of The Conservation Alliance and the Outdoor Industry Association. We went to encourage members to vote in favor of a package of wilderness bills that we hope will see light on the Senate floor before the election. This is an important piece of legislation during a time when many politicians and industry leaders (not outdoor industry leaders) are calling for lifting restrictions on where, when, and how to open up existing public lands to increased extraction.

My fellow lobbyists were John Sterling – Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance, Amy Roberts – Vice President Public Affairs for the Outdoor Industry Association, and Linda Tom – Cause Marketing Manager for Keen Footwear. We had 12 meetings with mostly Republican Senators or their legislative staff from all areas of the country. I can tell you I learned more in two days on Capital Hill than what I can recall from a year of government class in high school. (I think Schoolhouse Rock was my foundation for how a bill becomes a law.)

The package of bills, called the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2008, A.K.A U.S. Senate Bill 3213, is a bipartisan collection of almost 100 provisions for wilderness designation, wild and scenic river designation, and the National Landscape Conservation System Act. All of the provisions are important, but of specific interest to me, representing Wyoming and Cloudveil, were the Snake Headwaters Legacy Act, which would grant Wild and Scenic River designation to 440 miles of the upper Snake River drainage, and The Wyoming Range Legacy Act. I’d like to commend Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) for continuing the progress on the Headwaters Legacy Act that was first introduced by the late Senator Craig Thomas and for introducing The Wyoming Range Legacy Act which would withdraw 1.2 million acres of land from future oil and gas leasing and create a process to buy out certain existing leases.

Companies like Cloudveil and Keen have an important voice to support the work that all of the non-profits and conservation groups are starting at a grass roots level. Especially when meeting with Republican Senators, the economic impact that the outdoor industry provides to the GDP of the country is quite substantial and something that gets attention. It’s a simple message, no place to recreate, no apparel or gear gets sold, and then I have to go work at a bank or something.
There’s definitely no shortage of opinion on both sides of this issue. Wilderness is important, not because of its economic impact or for the profit of any outdoor industry company, or for the selfish benefit of my job, but it’s important for our heritage, our heirs, our sanity and the long term health of our citizens and our planet. Yeah, kind of sappy, but if you still think we’re going to drill our way to energy independence, then I’ve got the proverbial Wyoming beach front property for you – cheap.

Americans are like college students, you know you have a final coming up all semester, but you wait until the night before to cram. Turn down the petroleum spigot, and we’ll get real innovative, real fast.

S. 3213 could use as much public support as possible. If you care to have your voice heard, contact your senator and send them a short note, or phone call saying you support Senate Bill 3213 and encourage them to do so when it comes up for vote. If the ghost of Thomas Jefferson is really keeping you up at night, you can also call Senator Harry Reid’s office at 202.224.3542 and tell him to “Please schedule time for a vote on S. 3213 during the next Senate session.”

A very interesting two days in Washington, and I’d like to thank John and The Conservation Alliance for allowing me to represent the outdoor industry. And, as for those pictures in the tie standing next to important Senators, there’s a certain judge from Park County Wyoming that once said “Son, you’ll never amount to anything.” Well, reap it sucker.