Kamas resident Bobbie Williams has a simple motto for her organization, Friends of the Western Uintas, which she thinks summarizes the group’s efforts and attitude about fixing the forest, “don’t bitch, help fix.”
The group was established three years ago with the goal to help preserve the Uinta National Forest so that the members’ kids, and their kids, would be able to enjoy the wilderness, according to Williams. Since then, it has grown to include over 300 members who clean up campsites, maintain trails, and lobby the government to keep the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest accessible for all.
“We want to work with the government, have the government work with the people, and have everyone be on board before they change something,” Williams said. “They changed the Forest booth program fees very arbitrarily and without any input, so now people have to pay $6 for a three-day pass even if they are just going to fish for two hours. Times are tough, some people can’t afford that.”
This summer Williams and the other members are working to change the fee program back to a $3 day pass and make sure the Forest Service’s revenue from day passes sold on Mirror Lake Highway stay in the Uintas instead of being spent elsewhere in the state.
“Those projects are still in the very beginning phases, but once again this year we will be helping to make sure the forest is maintained for multiple uses, whether its four-wheelers, bike riders, horseback riders, cattle, timber, anything, the forest should be for everyone,” she said.
Members help clean the four campgrounds and multiple trails that are not maintained by the Forest Service and teach educational programs on everything from wildlife to weeds.
“The Forest Service can’t do some things, which is where we come in,” Williams said. “The day use fees do allow them to do a lot, but we never come off the mountain without bags of trash. Some people are just naïve when it come to protecting nature, where do they think their shotgun shells or the cans they throw in the fire go?”
The group works closely with the U.S. Forest Service and opposes Utah Governor Gary Herbert’s plan to place federal parks and forests under state control.
“If the state gets the forests, soon it will all become privately owned and that will diminish the voice of the public even more,” she said.
Williams added that another concern the group plans to address this summer is the number of elk grazing on private land around the Uintas that are “eating themselves out of their own habitat.”
The group is open to anyone, free, and only holds two meetings a year, since “people hate meetings,” Williams said.
“Our only requirement is that our members support everybody using the forest. They can’t be against a certain use, because we want everybody to get to know each other and get along better and make the forest better,” she said. Adding that the group even supports the oil and natural gas drilling that takes place as long as they restore the area after they are done.
To learn more, become a member, or find out when the next clean-up day is, visit www.friendsofthewesternuintas.com.