The Buzz: With Rainbow Gathering conflict, Scouts pull plug

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Maybe it’s not as bad as the ill-conceived overlap of the Hells Angels’ disastrous presence during the Altamont Speedway Free Festival in 1969, but Boy Scouts of America organizers aren’t taking any chances.

BSA officials said concerns over a scheduling conflict with the Rainbow Gathering, an annual meeting of free spirits and people living on the fringes of mainstream society, has forced them to cancel a major habitat restoration project. The BSA had intended to conduct the project on public lands in Sublette County, just weeks after the freewheeling event is expected to peak in the same vicinity. More than 1,000 Scouts were expected for the week-long project, part of the largest service mission undertaken by the Scouts in decades. The project was scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 2.

The Rainbow Gathering, with no formal leadership or members, is happening this year in the Big Sandy region of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management lands. National Forest Service officials said late Monday as many as 1,100 people, known as the Rainbow Family, already had arrived for the gathering, which is expected to see its largest numbers around July 4 with tens of thousands of participants.
Concerns that the massive cleanup efforts following the gathering would interrupt the Scouts’ original project intentions led BSA officials to pull the plug on the efforts, said BTNF spokeswoman, Mary Cernicek.

The BSA’s project cancellation prompted an emergency visit by U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture, Mark Rey, who met with Boy Scout officials and concerned Sublette County residents in Pinedale last week.

“[The undersecretary] asked the Rainbow Gathering to consider meeting somewhere else,” Cernicek said.

The Scouts were planning about six miles of fence removal to improve wildlife migration corridors near the Dutch Joe guard shack area of Big Sandy, in southeast Sublette County.

Scouts were going to install debris barriers to protect Cutthroat trout habitat impacted by erosion due to sheep grazing and improve Continental Divide trails.
“The forest is going to lose out on a lot of work that we could have had done; wildlife is going to lose out,” Cernicek said. Bridger-Teton officials were trying Monday to identify and plan an alternative project for the Scouts.

Late last Friday, National Forest Service authorities began monitoring campsites in Big Sandy. The monitoring is part of a pre-approved operating plan between public lands officials and some Rainbow Gathering participants, according to a National Forest Service spokesman.

As of late Monday, 30 citations had been given out for unauthorized cutting of trees, possession of marijuana and LSD, and nudity, said NFS spokeswoman, Rita Vollmer.

Photo by Andrew Wyatt
The Jackson Hole Fire Festival brought a celebration of Japanese tradition to Jackson.

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The Buzz: With Rainbow Gathering conflict, Scouts pull plug | Planet JH News Article: General News

Reader Comments
I read the letter from Brad Mariner about the Rainbow Gathering. There is a little bit of truth in what he warns about. It's not a party. Alcohol is discouraged. Last year at the Colorado Regional a bunch of kids came up from a neighboring town with a keg of beer and had to be told that they were not welcome with their keg of beer and if they wanted to stay they had to go to a special area, "A camp" set aside for alcohol users. I can still remember their response, "What kind of party is it, if a keg is not welcome?" Well, not a party at all, although people have fun. It's a prayer meeting... Pray for peace and all that. Everyone is welcome, but young people just coming out to drink and party is not good and responsible parents and peers should discourage that kind of behavior. Think of it as church in the woods, and consider whether what you have in mind when you visit fits into church. Another matter, everyone who is in touch online and on the conference calls from the Forest Service and the Rainbow Family is trying in good faith to resolve the conflict between the planned Boy Scout activities and the Rainbow Gathering. It may not be resolved to everyone's satisfaction, but it will not be for lack of trying. It would be a very poor outcome if the Boy Scout project has to be canceled, but it may be impossible to talk the people who are already on the site into moving. I hope your readers will understand that in an organization with no leaders, it is not possible to order people around. It takes time and patience and there may not be enough time. So, if it does not turn out well, we beg your forgiveness. Fred Bauder Crestone, Colo. COLO
Maybe you should get your fact right. According to the links at this web site: http://www.event.oa-bsa.org/events/arrowcorps5/index.php?p=bridger#project "about 80" scouts (see "Dutch Joe Fence Removal") were to have worked near the Dutch Joe Guard Station. 650 were to camp at Jackson Hole, and 200 at the goosewing guard station -- neither place near the gathering. Further, according to this FS map: http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/btnf/news/OA_BT/Maps/dj/BSA08_DutchJoe_final.pdf , and the above website, there seems to be plenty for the Scouts to do without having to step foot in the gathering site. The Dutch Joe Guard Station, intended to be their base camp (kitchen), IS very close to the gathering site, but most of the gatherers will have left by the time the scouts were going to get there. It seems an extreme over reaction if all "more than 1000" scouts are sent home, and an over reaction if the 80 scouts affected are reassigned to the other two projects (as I understand is happening). Don't take my word for it
Please! The American public isn't that stupid. These fluffy comments come from the disinformation campaigns of the rainbows themselves. It's pure rainbow propaganda. If you read the FULL forest service reports you can see that there is lots of illegal drug use, lots of alcohol, lots of teenage runaways and panhadlers - it's not going to be just a few peaceful people smoking pot and dancing around in the nude. And by the way, pot is illegal in Wyoming. There will be violence, theft, drug overdose, vehicles blocking road so emergency vehicles can't get in to fight the fires they'll start, and thousands of people trampling OUR public lands. It's ridiculous to think that an invasion of thousands of people who don't have any respect for authority won't have a negative impact on our communities! THINK! The rainbows have NEVER left an area the way they found it. They always tell the press they did, but the forest service and the taxpayers always have to foot the bill for their irresponsibility. THINK! FACT: the rainbows will deposit over 72 tons of human feces on OUR public lands over the next 6 days and they will not take full responsibility for it. How can they? Their waste will get into the water and the soil and it will be there for years. The vegetation they destroy doesn't grow back immediately. The ruts in the roads won't be repaired for years and what if it rains? What a mess! The Forest Service will have to spend money cleaning up after them that could have been put to better use. The rainbows will create trails with their feet and ruts with all those gas guzzling vehicles that need not be there. How do you think these concerned environmentalists are going to get here? They will have to DRIVE here! They always stick the community they invade with a huge unpaid medical bills and clean out the food banks. Google it! Don't blindly accept their propaganda or rely only on info from a rainbow site. The rainbows are NOT above the law they are EQUAL to every other citizen in this country. They should be treated EQUALLY as any other citizen who breaks the law and disturbs our beautiful environment. Any elected officials who don't take appropriate action on this are going to find themselves recalled. And I want to see pictures in the media that show the real condition that they leave our public lands in! No more puff pieces! Get with the progam are you journalists or are you lobbyists for the naked hippies? Ray White
Ray White You are full of hate and misinformation. The truth of this Nazi style tactics will be all over the Net as there was plenty of cameras recording these spineless Fed. agents sick actions. Sorry to say this Ray but its time we peaceful and responsible people to start shooting back ! Chas_eric
While I hate to be on the side of a bunch of hippies, I have to admit that they were great (if unintended) neighbors when my family and I were camping a couple of years ago. Trust me, I had my reservations... But they won me over with their behavior. While it is odd to see a bunch of hairy, semi-clothed people en mass, they were very neighborly and considerate. I guess my grandmother was correct when she said, "it's not what someone looks like, it's what they do." While I would not plan to camp out near a rainbow gathering, I wouldn't change my plans to avoid them either. Kristen
Ok Ray White! First of all I just left the rainbow gathering. Although most of the family has left there is still hundreds who will stay behind to clean up and plant seeds and restore. The thing is though there is not all this distruction that you account for . No vegetation is greatly mdistroyed. We build off of the dead wood on the ground. Our feces that you are so obsessed with is in trenches covered by ash and then dirt and is no differant than any other animal feces. Our latreens are dug for away from water and with thousands of people and dogs I never see trash or feces any where! The whole gathering I saw one pile of dog feces , I asked my rainbow brother whose it was and he said he was cleaning it up , which he did. When I left and when I was there There was no trash!I spend about 300.00 to feed me and my daughter for 2 weeks that money was used and it fed 50 people in my camp for the same ttime. I could go on for days about what the gathering was realy about but a liar like you would never understand or care! There is no Alcohol except far away at A camp. We share our food our hardwork our entertainment and some of us share our ideals , and most of share our love. It's not a recreation of some 60's woodstock event but a collective beuatiful change and movement by a huge group of people who want tolerance , equility and peace to exist. It is a family where our children are encouraged to be who they are and to resolve disputes peacfuly and to share equally in the hard work and therewards of a true community. These ideals even though they are celebrated Annual, are carried on into our greater world by our children and it shines truth very britly. As you may critisize our ways of celebrating, it is called freedom. The fourth of luly for most Americans was spent drinking until your words are slurred , spending million on explosive fire works and junk food, and celebrating war, millions probally drunk driving, But that's not considered chaotic , that's just good old American fun, right. My daughter's 4th of july was spent praying for peace(even if you think it's pointless, it's a part of how she views the world, so not so much huh!)until she was surrounded by thousands of people holding hands accepting and loving eachother, then she hula hooped , played soccer, got her face painted and ate water melon in a meadow surrounded by the nation forest , snow capped mountains and peacful people. I spent mine praying while watching the sun come up and dancing to the most beautiful drumming and the vibration of pure joy and true life. Yes we drove to the gathering just like everbody else that's just a reality , where fairy like butwe don't have wings. People can come together and want change but you still have to get there , that's just stupid. I learned how to run my car on water with just spending a couple thousand to do it! What we stand for is beautiful.We have no leader because we collectivaly decide and if someone doesn't agree , well there do what they want! Sometimes it is not what we as a majority agree with but that's there freedom. When you keep it simple Peace foood love healing caring creating sharing music laughter life and love thing s work ou tbeautifully , I am so sorry that you don't share our vision, Peace be on to you ! KadijahMa!

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The Buzz: With Rainbow Gathering conflict, Scouts pull plug

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Reader Comments