Dear CalUWild Friends –
There are a few Action Items
this month, so please take a few minutes to write a letter or make the phone
calls needed. Your letters and phone calls don't have to be long; keeping
things simple is easier for you and the person receiving your
message. All the information you need is below. If you have any questions,
please contact me by phone (415-752-3911) or email.
At a wilderness hearing last month, Arizona representative Raul
Grijalva, the chairman of the House subcommittee on National Parks, Forest and
Public Lands, reminded us why it's important:
In the end, wilderness is not defined by the
absence of certain activities but rather by the presence of certain unique and invaluable
characteristics. The answer to the often-asked question: ÒWhy do you want this
area to be wilderness?Ó is: ÒThese areas already are wilderness; we simply want
to preserve them as they are and as they have been for generations.Ó
CalUWild needs a volunteer: Our webpage with contact information for California's
congressional delegation, administration officials, and the press is somewhat
out of date for a few entries. If you would be willing to spend a few hours
checking the information and correcting it where necessary, it would be a big help. Please send me an email or give me
a call.
As always, thank you for your interest and involvement!
Mike
IN UTAH
1. SIGN-ON LETTERS IN CONGRESS
REGARDING
PROTECTION OF
UTAH'S BLM WILD
ROADLESS AREAS
CALLS
NEEDED
(ACTION ITEM)
IN CALIFORNIA
2. OIL EXPLORATION COMING TO THE
CARRIZO PLAIN?
LETTERS
NEEDED
(ACTION ITEM)
3. PUBLIC MEETINGS ON PROPOSED
STATE PARK CLOSURES
IN GENERAL
4. NO-FEE BILL IN THE U.S. SENATE
CALLS
NEEDED
(ACTION ITEM)
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
5. TULEYOME CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR
BLUE RIDGE SNOW
MOUNTAIN NCA CAMPAIGN
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
IN UTAH
1. SIGN-ON LETTERS IN CONGRESS
REGARDING
PROTECTION OF
UTAH'S BLM WILD
ROADLESS AREAS
CALLS
NEEDED
(ACTION ITEM)
Very often, our focus is on legislation to safeguard
wilderness areas, because designation offers the strongest, most permanent
protection. However, as we've seen with America's Red Rock Wilderness Act in
Utah, the legislative process can be slow and drawn out. Fortunately, there are
other tactics can be used to protect wildlands at some level in the interim.
Congressional pressure on federal land management agencies is one of them.
As we have been writing for the last six months or so, the BLM in
Utah has been revising many of its resource management plans for Utah. These
documents guide the actions of BLM for 10-15 years after their adoption. So far
in these plans, BLM has given short shrift to the notion of protecting
wildlands from oil & gas exploration or off-highway vehicle use, despite
the fact that some 3 million acres have been identified by BLM itself as having
wilderness character.
Therefore, the Senate and House sponsors of America's Red Rock
Wilderness Act, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) have
each drafted a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and BLM Director
Jim Caswell. They are currently collecting co-signers in their respective
chambers.
California's congressional delegation has long been strong
supporters of Utah's wilderness. As many as 31 representatives and both
senators have been cosponsors of the Red Rock bill at one time or another
(although Sen. Feinstein dropped off again). Therefore, they are likely to sign
on to these letters if they hear from their constituents.
Neither Sen. Boxer nor Feinstein has signed on to Sen. Durbin's letter
so far, but the following California congressmen/women have signed on to Rep.
Hinchey's letter. If your representative is on the list, please give them a
call of thanks. If their name is not on the list, please call them and ask them
to sign on.
George Miller
(D-07)
Pete Stark (D-13)
Sam Farr (D-17)
Lois Capps (D-23)
Howard Berman
(D-28)
Henry Waxman (D-30)
Diane Watson (D-33)
Grace Napolitano
(D-38)
Contact information for California's congressional delegation can be found on
our website.
IN CALIFORNIA
2. OIL EXPLORATION COMING TO THE
CARRIZO PLAIN?
LETTERS
NEEDED
(ACTION ITEM)
With the skyrocketing price of energy supplies, exploration
is suddenly potentially profitable in places where is hasn't been before. One
such place is Carrizo Plain National Monument in the southern Central Valley.
Inholdings in the Monument as well as privately-held subsurface mineral rights
continue to be a threat. The Carrizo Plain is home to numerous threatened or
endangered species. The Wilderness Society has a webpage with
further information on the issue.
Cal
French, chair of the Sierra Club's California Nevada Regional Conservation
Committee, recently sent out a list of suggested actions concerned citizens
could take to help ensure the continued preservation of the Monument.
1.
Write a letter to:
Tim Smith
Field Office
Manager
Bureau of Land
Management
3801 Pegasus Drive
Bakersfield,
CA 93308
Ask
that he carefully scrutinize all applications for testing and drilling by oil
companies on the Carrizo Plain National Monument to make sure that the least
possible harm is done to the objects that legally protected by the proclamation
that created the monument. To read a copy of that proclamation go to http://clinton5.nara.gov/library/hot_releases/January_17_2001_13.html and feel
free to quote from it. Point out that you will support Congressional
appropriations to acquire the subsurface mineral rights on the Monument and
urge the BLM to try to acquire funds to acquire those rights.
2.
Send copies of your letter, or separate messages (could be the better option)
to the following members of Congress:
Kevin
McCarthy (R-22), whose Congressional district includes all of the Monument.
U.S. Mail is best sent to his Bakersfield Office:
4100
Empire Drive, Suite 150
Bakersfield,
CA 93309
Or
send an email through his website at:
http://kevinmccarthy.house.gov/showpage.asp?ID=69
Rep.
Lois Capps (D-23), whose district used to include the Monument.
101
W. Anapamu St., Suite C
Santa Barbara,
CA 93101
Or
send an email through her website at:
http://www.house.gov/capps/contact/send_an_email.shtml
She
may be the only member of Congress who has actually been to the Monument—and
more than once. Her late husband Walter Capps (former Congressman) has a lot to
do with the CPNM's creation.
Rep.
Raul Grijalva, Chairman, Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public
Lands is a champion of the National Landscape Conservation System.
Rep.
Grijalva's webpage says he doesn't respond to letters received from
non-constituents, so it might be best to fax him a letter c/o the Natural
Resources Committee.
fax:
202-225-1931
For
info on the NLCS (the BLM's "crown jewels," go to http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/NLCS.html and feel
free to select quotes from this source to use in your letters and messages to
the BLM and members of Congress.
3.
Write a letter to your local newspapers about this oil prospecting proposal on
the CPNM. Phrase it so that it is pithy and accurate.
4.
Send copies of your letters, or semi-original letters, to:
The
Nature Conservancy
201 Mission Street,
4th Floor
San Francisco,
CA 94105
email: calweb@tnc.org
and to:
California
Department of Fish and Game
1416 9th Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
TNC
and CA DFG are partners in the management of the Monument with the BLM (which
has the final say on most issues). They can influence what the BLM does on the
Monument.
3. PUBLIC
MEETINGS ON PROPOSED STATE PARK CLOSURES
CalUWild generally deals with federal land issues, but once in a
while, a state issue comes along that is important and of interest to our
members. As everyone knows, California is facing a budget shortfall, and Gov.
Schwarzenegger has proposed closing 48 state parks to help close the gap, much
to the dismay of many citizens. A statewide campaign against the proposal is
developing. Information can be found at savestateparks.org
The California State Park and Recreation Commission will be holding
two public hearings on the proposal:
San Jose
Tuesday, April 15,
6 p.m.
Board Chambers
Santa Clara County
Government Center
70 West Hedding
Street
Santa Monica
Wednesday, April
16, 6 p.m.
East Wing Meeting
Room
Santa Monica Civic
Auditorium
1855 Main Street
Santa Monica
(corner of Main
Street and Pico Boulevard)
Please attend one of these meetings if you can. You will be able to speak and
also submit written comments. Please also spread the word as widely as
possible.
IN GENERAL
4. NO-FEE BILL IN THE U.S. SENATE
CALLS
NEEDED
(ACTION ITEM)
As we reported in the January Update, the U.S.
Senate will be considering legislation to repeal the access fees instituted by
Congress for National Forest, BLM, National Park and Fish & Wildlife
Service lands. The bill (S.2438) needs more cosponsors to help it move promptly
through the Senate.
CalUWild's cofounder, Vicky Hoover of the Sierra Club, has prepared
the following information sheet and alert.
Your calls to Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein will
demonstrate that citizens of California support an end to fee programs such as
Southern California's "Adventure Pass," for access to large parts of
our four National Forests. (Contact info for Senators is listed below.)
BACKGROUND:
S. 2438, the Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act (the FREA Act), will terminate
access fees for all lands administered by the US Forest Service, BLM, US Fish
& Wildlife Service and Bureau of Reclamation. (These fees began in 1996
with the "Fee Demo" program and were extended in 2004 by the current
fee legislation, which was attached as a rider to a must-pass appropriations
bill.)
For National Parks, S.2438 will require Congressional approval of
entry fee increases, and terminate second layer fees such as those for
backcountry access and interpretive programs in National Parks. The new $80
America the Beautiful Pass will be scrapped, and replaced by the former $50
National Parks Pass.
Senator Barbara
Boxer
(202) 224-3553
Senator Dianne
Feinstein
(202) 224-3841
Please make calls through the month of March.
Can you ask family and friends also to make these brief calls? This no-fee campaign is entirely a
grassroots effort; the success of S.2438 depends on all of us.
WHAT TO SAY
When somebody answers the phone at the Senator's office, simply leave a message
asking the Senator please to cosponsor S.2438. Leave your name and the city or
county you live in.
You may also add a brief reason why the Senator should support
S.2438, (such as: fees discriminate against lower-income Americans; or, fees
are double taxation; or, fees change the historical relationship of Americans
to our unique public lands; or, fees force lands managers to prioritize
developments that make money. but it's not necessary to go into much detail.
S. 2438 was introduced by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Mike Crapo
(M-ID), and has been cosponsored by Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Ken Salazar
(D-CO). This bill seeks to end a failed fee experiment that for 10 years
burdened Americans with a double tax and kept many away from public lands they
had once enjoyed.
Passage of S. 2438 would help derail the alarming trend of the land
agencies and motorized recreation industry to promote public lands recreation
as a "commodity", for which citizens, like "customers" of a
business, must shell out payment. Passage will give us time to persuade our
land managers that recreation is NOT a "product" that we
"buy" from them; we are NOT their "customers".
S 2438 would repeal the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of
2004, sometimes called Recreational Access tax (RAT) and reinstate legislation
dating back to the 1965 Land and Water Conservation Act that limits the use of
fees on public lands. National park fees can continue at present levels.
The ultimate solution to the problem of agency recreation management
will be to provide adequate Congressional appropriations to our land managers.
Fee opponents have waited over ten years now for legislation with a
good chance of ending fees for access to the public lands we love to visit. Now
that it's here, S.2438 needs our determined and consistent support.
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
5. TULEYOME CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR
BLUE RIDGE SNOW
MOUNTAIN NCA CAMPAIGN
Tuleyome is seeking
a Campaign Director to head up the Blue Ridge Snow Mountain National
Conservation Area Campaign. Since 2002 Tuleyome has been protecting the wild
heritage and agricultural heritage of the Putah Creek and Cache Creek
Watersheds for existing and future generations. Tuleyome's Blue Ridge Snow
Mountain National Conservation Area Campaign will protect nearly 500,000 acres
of vital wildlands that are part of the California Floristic Province
biological hotspot that provides habitat and critical migration corridors for
many species of plants and animals.
JOB TITLE: Campaign Director
LOCATION: The Tuleyome
office is located in Woodland, California, and field work throughout Lake,
Napa, Colusa, Solano and Yolo Counties
POSITION DESCRIPTION:
The Campaign Director is
responsible for coordinating the organization's national conservation area
campaign. This program will inspire Congress to designate the region as a
National Conservation Area. The designation will provide a better framework to
coordinate the management of public lands within the region and national
recognition will also assist in the development of conservation funding that
will protect the regional landscape. This will be accomplished by building
broad public support for the designation. Support includes facilitating
campaign planning processes, networking land use groups around the region which
includes the conservation, recreation, and agricultural communities; businesses
and public decision makers through outreach, education and community activism.
The Campaign Director reports to the Executive Director and they are the lead
person designing and implementing the campaigns work plans, budgets, and
projects.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACTIVITIES:
1. Build broad public support for
the designation of the Blue Ridge Snow Mountain NCA among the conservation,
recreation, and agricultural communities; businesses and public decision makers
through outreach, education and community activism.
2. Work effectively with our partners to build this support by establishing and
maintaining consistent lines of communication and working relationships with a
network of conservation groups and leaders focused on this project.
3. Build coalitions and
partnerships with communities, organizations, and key leaders to support
protecting the NCA.
4. Fundraising, including
researching and writing grants and event organizing.
5. Communicate effectively with the media, through a variety of activities and
events.
6. Prepare press releases, newsletters, and articles to promote the campaign.
7. Participate in speaking engagements designed to raise public awareness of
Tuleyome's activities and mission with special emphasis on the NCA Campaign.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE POSITION:
* Clearly demonstrated experience
and skills related to the performance of the above responsibilities.
* Willingness to travel throughout the region.
* Demonstrated experience in campaign and/or political organizing.
* Demonstrated experience with national forest, park, or river related issues
and/or with public lands, natural resource, conservation, and environmental
issues.
* Excellent writing and editing skills and experience developing public
information materials.
* Strong telephone skills.
* Demonstrated understanding of and familiarity with environmental issues.
* Demonstrated ability to work cheerfully and constructively with all kinds of
people, in a variety of situations.
* Demonstrated ability to be a "self-starter" - to be
someone who does not require constant supervision -- and to show great
initiative in the performance of the position, while still maintaining regular
contact with Tuleyome.
* Knowledge of the organization's basic programs.
* Ability to work with a diverse group of people.
* Ability to organize events.
* Demonstrated ability to layout work tasks, identify resources to complete
projects, leverage human and financial resources, focus his/her own work,
complete tasks on time, on budget and of a high quality.
* Skill in managing and retaining qualified staff to achieve program goals and
represent the organization well.
* Ability to handle multiple projects and manage time and schedule.
* Independent, highly motivated, able to work under pressure with frequent
deadlines and limited supervision.
* Knowledge and ability to write grants and conduct foundation fundraising.
* Bilingual English/Spanish preferred, including ability to translate Tuleyome
materials, both orally and in writing.
* Passion for Tuleyome's natural environment and rural communities.
* Proficiency using personal computers and the Internet.
* Ability and willingness to travel throughout the region via automobile up to
40% of time each month.
* Must have a valid California State Driver's license.
* Occasional lifting (office supplies, etc.) of 25 pounds.
* Computer use and keyboard entry up to 8 hours per day.
EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Full
time/permanent position dependent on grant funding. Salary commensurate with
experience with paid vacation and sick time. Tuleyome observes most State and
Federal holidays.
Tuleyome Is An Equal Opportunity Employer.
Send a cover letter and rŽsumŽ via email to Debra
Chase, Tuleyome's Executive Director.