February 17, 2005
Dear CalUWild friends-
With the 109th Congress having started there's a LOT to report on this month
in many states around the West, so we won't spend time on lengthy introduction
and get right to it. A few of this month's UPDATE items concern legislation
that has been re-introduced in Congress and other topics in the news. But agency
planning as important impacts on the ground, and the public has the opportunity
to participate in the process. So please take the time to comment on at least
one or two of the following items.
Thanks,
Mike
IN UTAH
1. 10th Circuit Court Dismisses Wilderness Appeal
2. R.S. 2477 Appeal Heard in 10th Circuit
IN CALIFORNIA
3. North Coast Wilderness Bill Reintroduced
Passes First Senate Test Governor Supports It
(ACTION ITEM)
4. John Muir - Ansel Adams Wilderness Planning
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: February 23
(ACTION ITEM)
5. Anza Borrego State Park Wilderness Protected
(ACTION ITEM)
IN ARIZONA
6. Grand Canyon National Park Cut Off Comments
Prematurely
(ACTION ITEM)
IN COLORADO
7. Roan Plateau Draft Plan
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: March 4
(ACTION ITEM)
IN NEW MEXICO
8. Ojito Wilderness Bill Reintroduced
IN WASHINGTON (STATE)
9. Wild Sky Wilderness Bill Reintroduced
IN WYOMING
10. Great Divide Resource Management Plan
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: March 17
(ACTION ITEM)
IN GENERAL
11. Wilderness Job Opportunities
A. California
Wild Heritage Campaign (3 positions)
B. The Wilderness
Society/Nevada
C. Idaho
Conservation League
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
IN UTAH
1. 10th Circuit Court Dismisses
Wilderness Appeal
Two years ago Utah's then-governor Mike Leavitt (also former head of the U.S.
EPA and now Secretary of Health & Human Services) and the Department of
the Interior attempted to reach a settlement of the state's lawsuit against
the BLM regarding creation of new wilderness study areas. They agreed that many
WSAs that BLM had created were illegal and that BLM did not have the authority
to do any more wilderness inventories on lands under its jurisdiction. Conservation
o organizations filed to intervene and appealed the settlement to the 10th Circuit
Court of Appeals in Denver.
On February 8, the court dismissed the appeal on the technical ground that the
appeal was premature since the trial court had not issued a final order. So
for the time being, the case is back in the lower court.
The 10th Circuit had previously overruled the trial judge on seven out of eight
of the original claims. Because the eighth claim was still alive when the Bush
administration came in, it gave the BLM (under new management) the opportunity
to settle and basically validate all of the state's claims.
The BLM has been issuing oil and gas leases in areas previously inventoried
and found to possess wilderness character. This leasing will now be free to
continue.
2. R.S. 2477 Appeal Heard in 10th Circuit
San Juan, Kane and Garfield counties in Southern Utah have claimed for years
that many routes in their counties are "highways," objecting to the BLM's attempts
to control development and use of those routes. These claims have been made
under Revised Statute 2477, an 1866 law which states in full: "The right of
way for the construction of highways over public lands, not reserved for public
uses, is hereby granted." This law was repealed in 1976 with the passage of
the Federal Land Policy Management Act, but rights of way established before
that date are still valid.
So, in order to assert local control over federal lands, jurisdictions all over
the West have been claiming rights of way on all sorts of routes: mining roads,
game paths, wash bottoms, etc. Many times this has been done to defeat potential
wilderness claims.
In Utah, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the Sierra Club went to court
in effort to stop the BLM from acknowledging these claims. The trial court judge
ruled clearly and forcefully in favor of the conservation groups.
The counties appealed, and arguments were heard last week in the appeal. We'll
let you know the appellate court's decision when it comes out.
The State of Utah recently filed applications with the BLM for disclaimers of
interest for 6 alleged R.S. 2477 rights-of-way. If granted, the federal
government would be stating that it has no interest in the route any more and
that the state and county could use the route as a highway. You can view the
applications on-line at BLM's Utah web page:
http://www.ut.blm.gov/rs2477/claims.htm
IN CALIFORNIA
3. North Coast Wilderness Bill
Reintroduced, Passes
First Senate Test,
Governor Supports It
(ACTION ITEM)
The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act was re-introduced by its principal
sponsor Mike Thompson (D-1) in the House and by Sen. Barbara Boxer in the Senate
last month. The bills would designate over 300,000 acres of land as wilderness
and some 21 miles of rivers as "wild and scenic" in the counties in Rep. Thompson's
district (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, and Napa). The bill was passed
by the U.S. Senate in the closing days of the 108th Congress, but the House
of Representatives never took it up.
On Tuesday of this week, the Senate Energy and Resources Committee held a hearing
on the bill, numbered S. 128, and passed it on to the full Senate for consideration.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein is an influential member of the Committee and her support
was vital to the bill's passage at the hearing.
House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-11) has again promised to
hold a hearing on the bill. It is not clear whether that hearing will be in
Washington, DC or in Northern California. If it is held in Rep. Thompson's district,
we will notify you and hope you can attend. The Wild Heritage Campaign is planning
to arrange for several vans to transport interested people from the Bay Area
to the hearing.
In another development, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced his support
for the bill. California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman sent a letter to
House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, expressing the administration's
support for Rep. Thompson's bill. If you sent the governor a letter, e-mail,
or fax or made a phone call to him last year asking for his support, your efforts
are showing results. Thank you!
It's always good to have an opportunity to thank our officials for their efforts,
so now is the time to thank the governor.
Send a letter to:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax:
916-445-4633
The Governor's website:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov/
(Be sure to choose Federal Wilderness for the subject line.)
Or phone:
916-445-2841
The California Wild Heritage Campaign mentions the following points to include
in your comments:
Send an email message by Wednesday February 23 to:
comments-pacificsouthwest-inyo@fs.fed.us
Also, send a cc: of your message to
mhennessy@fs.fed.us
Comments may also be sent to:
John Muir/Ansel Adams
Wildernesses
Commercial Pack Stock
CEA EIS
Inyo National Forest
351 Pacu Lane, Suite
200
Bishop, CA 93514
For more information, call the Forest Service at:
760-873-2400
5. Anza Borrego State Park Wilderness Protected
The following came from the California Wilderness Coalition:
Last Friday, the State Parks and Recreation Commission received a huge round
of applause when they unanimously approved the Anza Borrego Desert State Park
General Plan. In doing so, they designated nearly 56,000 acres in the Park as
wilderness and 440 acres as a cultural preserve, which will go far in protecting
the sensitive natural and cultural resources of this international jewel. State
parks are receiving increasing pressure from off-road vehicle groups and anti-conservation
forces to open lands up to destructive activities. By approving the plan, the
Commissioners sent a clear message that State Parks are places that deserve
strong measures of protection and set a good precedent for plans not yet approved,
like Red Rock Canyon State Park.
The General Plan is visionary in many ways. It appropriately focuses on management
of Park resources within natural boundaries, such as watersheds and air basins,
rather than solely within property lines. The plan encourages Park staff to
be a voice in planning processes outside the boundaries of the Park when a proposal
may impact resources within the boundaries. It also encourages the acquisition
of lands outside the Park from willing sellers to foster habitat connectivity
and landscape linkages and minimize negative effects and conflicts from adjacent
land uses.
State Park and Recreation Commissioners should be thanked for approving a solid
general plan that will provide long-awaited guidance to Anza Borrego
Desert State Park management in balancing the needs of people and protection
of desert resources. State Park staff should also be commended for the years
of study and public input that was put into creating this plan.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please send a letter to the members of the State Parks and Recreation Commission
thanking them for their good decision. You can send it to:
Louis Nastro
State Park and Recreation
Commission
Box 942896
Sacramento, CA
94296-0001
E-mail: LNastro@parks.ca.gov
FAX: 916-653-4458
Please also send copies to:
Ruth Coleman
Director of California
State Parks
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento CA 94296-0001
Fax: 916-654-6374
and
Mark Jorgensen
Superintendent
Anza Borrego Desert State
Park
200 Palm Canyon Drive
Borrego Springs, CA
92004
Fax: 760-767-3427.
For more information, please contact:
Bryn Jones
Desert Program Director
California Wilderness
Coalition
951-781-1336
E-mail: bjones@calwild.org
IN ARIZONA
6. Grand Canyon National Park
Cut Off Comments Prematurely
(ACTION ITEM)
The deadline for comments on the Draft Colorado River Management Plan in Grand
Canyon National Park was February 1, 2005. Normally, this means that
comments should have been postmarked by that date. Faxes, e-mails, or submissions
to the Park's comment web site should have been accepted until midnight on Feb.
1.
However, the Grand Canyon Wilderness Alliance, of which CalUWild is a member,
has received reports that some people who tried to submit comments via the web
site the evening of Feb. 1 received a message on their screens saying that the
deadline had passed and the Park Service was no longer accepting comments.
I haven't heard from any CalUWild members who were affected, but if you were,
please e-mail your comments to <grca_crmp@nps.gov> and state that you
were denied access to the web site on February 1, even though it was before
the deadline.
The law requires agencies to base decisions on all information available to
them pretty much up to the time a decision is made, regardless of any deadline.
Therefore, you should always submit comments on an issue, even if the deadline
is past. For the Park to close down its web site, especially on the day of
the deadline, gives the public the distinct impression that it doesn't really
care what the public has to say about the issue. And that is too bad, because
as we state over and over, the public is the owner of these lands and the agencies
who manage them are our employees, not the bosses.
IN COLORADO
7. Roan Plateau Draft Plan
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: March 4
(ACTION ITEM)
The following information comes from the Colorado Environmental Coalition and
is slightly edited.
The BLM has released a draft management plan for Western Colorado's Roan Plateau,
which lies about 30 miles west of the City of Glenwood Springs. The plan has
long been controversial because of the important natural resources in the area
at stake from the Bush Administration's push to open the area to massive energy
development.
Roan Plateau is one of Colorado's most biologically rich places with pure strains
of native trout and sensitive plants that occur nowhere else on earth. In the
region around Roan Plateau and even at its base, inside the Planning Area, natural
gas drilling is proceeding at record rates. But the undeveloped lands on top
and the scenic cliffs that frame Roan Plateau remain as some of the last undeveloped
public land in the area, creating an important natural island in a rapidly growing
sea of industrial development.
Locals love the area for its unique recreational offerings and undeveloped backcountry,
and nearby communities depend upon the Plateau and the business it attracts
from hunting, recreation and an open, Western landscape. That is why citizens
and local governments have called for a compromise plan that would allow oil
and gas development in about 2/3 of the Planning Area and protect about 1/3
for other public uses.
But although energy development is happening all around, and will continue on
most of the lands inside the Planning Area under this compromise plan, the oil
and gas industry and its friends in the Bush Administration have their eyes
set on all of the Plateau.
And, unless citizens rally to protect this public land treasure, the BLM is
moving to turn the area into a giant natural gas industrial zone, jeopardizing
or eliminating its wilderness-quality areas, sensitive habitats, and best recreational
lands.
In spite of the BLM's apparent reluctance to consider a real community-supported
plan, a diverse alliance of citizens, local communities, and conservation groups
is working hard to win just such a solution: the Community Alternative for Roan
Plateau. And against long odds, these citizens' efforts are making a difference!
Please help in this effort by submitting comments today.
Talking points for comments (please use your own words):
Comments may be submitted in several ways:
Through the BLM's web site at:
http://www.roanplateau.ene.com/comments_add.asp?varaction=1
Through the Roan Plateau Coalition's web site at:
http://www.saveroanplateau.org/commentform.htm
In writing, to:
ROAN PLATEAU DRAFT COMMENTS
Attn: Greg Goodenow
BLM Glenwood Springs
Field Office
P.O. Box 1009
Glenwood Springs, CO
81602
By fax, to the BLM at:
Fax 970-947-2829
For more information contact:
Pete Kolbenschlag, Colorado
Environmental Coalition, 970-527-7502
Steve Smith, The Wilderness
Society, 303-650-5818 x 106
http://www.saveroanplateau.org
BLM: 970-947-2800
IN NEW MEXICO
8. Ojito Wilderness Bill Reintroduced
Our 2004
March UPDATE and October
Interim UPDATE briefly discussed the Ojito Wilderness Bill for New Mexico.
The bill passed both the House and Senate, although in slightly different versions.
There was not time to reconcile the two bills before adjournment, and so the
bills died.
Now the bill has been reintroduced with bipartisan support as the Ojito Wilderness
Act of 2005, In the House it is numbered H.R. 362, and in the Senate, S. 156
The bill, which would designate over 11,000 acres of wilderness, has broad support
in New Mexico from the Zia Pueblo, citizens, Governor Bill Richardson, county
commissioners, and business leaders. For more information on the Ojito area
please visit:
http://www.ojito.org
IN WASHINGTON (STATE)
9. Wild Sky Wilderness Bill Reintroduced
Washington's Sen. Patty Murray has introduced the Wild Sky Wilderness Act, S.
152, for the third time. It has passed the Senate in each of the two previous
Congresses, but never the House.
The bill would protect 106,000 acres in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National
Forest, an area rich in forests, river valleys, lakes, and mountains. The area
is close to Seattle and very popular with recreationists from the area.
The bill was passed out of the Senate Environment and Resources Committee this
week along with the California North Coast bill.
IN WYOMING
10. Great Divide Resource Management Plan
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: March 17
(ACTION ITEM)
Wyoming is one state that CalUWild has covered infrequently, mostly in regard
to the snowmobile controversy in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.
But there are large desert areas of the state under the jurisdiction of the
BLM. As you know, the Bush administration continues its efforts to open many
of our last remaining wild places to energy exploration, and Wyoming is no exception.
BLM is preparing a new Resource Management Plan for the Rawlins area, and it
proposes to open upwards of 90% of the land to leasing. We need to help protect
these areas, by letting the BLM know that citizens outside of Wyoming are watching
what is going on. If you've been to the Red Desert, plan to go, or have any
special interest in the area, please mention that in your comments.
To help you write your comments, we include the following from the Biodiversity
Conservation Alliance and Friends of the Red Desert, a coalition to which CalUWild
belongs.
Help Protect Wyoming's Great Divide from Excessive Drilling!
Desert wildlands with sculpted badlands, island mountain ranges, and important
habitats for wild horses, ferruginous hawks, mountain plovers, elk, and black-footed
ferrets can all be found in the Great Divide region of south-central Wyoming.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently manages 4.7 million acres
of public lands and minerals in this area under the Great Divide Plan. It includes
spectacular wilderness like the pillars and battlements of Adobe Town and the
uplands and canyons of Wild Cow Creek. Over the past decade, the BLM has managed
these lands almost exclusively for oil, gas, and coal extraction, and has done
little
to protect its natural wonders.
But the Rawlins office of the BLM is now revising its Resource Management Plan
for the area, which includes the eastern half of the fabled Red Desert. This
long-term zoning plan will designate lands to be protected for recreation and
wildlife, and will also determine where oil and gas development is allowed to
continue to dominate land use in the area. Furthermore, the revised Plan will
determine what kinds of protective measures the BLM will require of the oil
and gas industry in the future to protect wildlife and wild places, as well
as air and water quality.
In its preferred alternative, the BLM proposes to open over 90% of these public
lands to industrial-scale oil and gas drilling, and drill over six times as
many wells under the new plan as are allowed under the existing one, when drilling
is already proceeding at a record pace. Sensitive big game winter ranges and
migration corridors, as well as important habitats for rare wildlife would continue
to get only the token protection of seasonal restrictions, which allow industrialization
of the most fragile areas as long as construction occurs during less sensitive
times of year.
And under the agency's preferred alternative, important parts of Adobe Town
would be opened to drilling, while potential wilderness in the Pedro Mountains
and Wild Cow Creek would not even be considered for protection. The plan also
fails to protect almost 3,000 identified respected places that are important
to Native Americans, archeologists, and trails enthusiasts, hundreds of which
are eligible for designation on the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally,
air pollution in the Great Divide area would double, threatening air quality
in protected areas and increasing levels of acid rain. Water quality would be
degraded in many areas due to surface discharge of toxic coalbed methane wastewater,
and many of the wide open spaces that characterize this heart of the Wild West
would be industrialized. In essence, the agency proposes to endorse the same
heavy-handed drilling methods as always, with six times as much drilling.
The plan revision offers the public a great opportunity. It provides you (as
American citizens and owners of these wildlands) the chance to demand sensitive
lands and wildlife receive the protection they deserve while permitting oil
and gas development to proceed in a balanced and responsible way.
Write a letter, and ask the BLM to adopt the Western Heritage Alternative, which
protects sensitive landscapes in the Great Divide and ensures that development
is managed in an environmentally responsible manner. Comment letters must be
postmarked by March 17th.
Talking Points