June 30, 2006
Dear CalUWild friends –
Summer has arrived here in the West, making it the perfect time to get out and
enjoy the lands we own in the national forests, parks, and managed by the BLM.
The thing to remember is that those lands will remain for our enjoyment only if
people take the time to act on their behalf. That's what CalUWild is all about:
encouraging and facilitating citizens' involvement in the management of our
public lands.
Thanks for your interest
and support!
There was some good news
earlier this month when Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne reversed the
administration's proposals for revamping the management policies for the
national parks. See CalUWild's Updates from September
2005, October 2005, and February 2006 for
the details. The secretary was quoted as saying: "Where there is a
conflict between conserving resources unimpaired for future generations and the
use of those resources, conservation will be predominant." This
announcement reflects the nationwide outcry after the administration made its
proposals last year. The Park Service received over 50,000 comments from
concerned citizens around the country.
It seems like this Spring
there have been fewer opportunities than usual for writing comments and
letters. However, a few things have come cross my desk and are discussed below.
Please take the time to write about one or more of them.
Finally, an
administrative note: CalUWild dues notices have been slow going out this
Spring, but will mailed in the next few weeks. You can save us some postage by
sending in a contribution now if you haven't contributed in a while. Click here for a printable form. Or when you do
receive a letter from us, please consider renewing your support or contributing
for the first time. We can't keep up our work without your help. Our thanks to
all who have so generously supported CalUWild over the years.
Best wishes,
Mike
IN UTAH
1. Washington County Bill to
be Introduced Soon
(ACTION ITEM)
IN CALIFORNIA
2. Yosemite National Park:
Tuolumne Meadows
Area Planning
(ACTION ITEM)
IN GENERAL
3. User Fees on Public Lands
(ACTION ITEM)
4. Predator
Management in Wilderness Areas
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: August 7,
2006
(ACTION ITEM)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
IN UTAH
1. Washington County Bill to
be Introduced Soon
(ACTION ITEM)
CalUWild's April Update had an
item regarding a proposal by Utah's Sen. Bob Bennett (R) and Rep. Jim Matheson
(D) for a public lands bill for the southwest corner of Utah, Washington
County, where St. George is located. Legislation has not been introduced yet,
but the proposal is the object of increasing concern from the citizens and
various groups in and outside of the state of Utah. Sen. Bennett and Rep.
Matheson held a single Open House in St. George a while ago, but people from
around the state were left out, unless they wanted to travel.
A recent poll by the Utah
Wilderness Coalition showed that 89% of respondents thought it was important
that there be more public input into the process before the legislation is
introduced. But the senator and congressman refused to schedule any. To fill
the void, the Utah Wilderness Coalition hosted a public meeting yesterday in
Salt Lake City. Articles on the meeting ran in both today's Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News.
Sen. Bennett and Rep.
Matheson claim that they still want public input before the bill is introduced,
possibly in July, so there is still time to let them know what you think.
CalUWild's major concerns are with the proposed sale of 25,000 acres of BLM
land for private development, the designation of an inadequate amount of
wilderness, and the proposed water pipeline to Lake Powell.
Because mail to Congress
is still being irradiated, I'm only including telephone and fax information for
the two. Both have e-mail forms on their websites, but it looks like you need
to be a resident of Utah to use those.
Contact Sen. Bennett:
202-224-5444
(phone)
202-228-1168 (fax)
Contact Rep. Matheson:
202-225-3011
(phone)
202-225-5638 (fax)
IN CALIFORNIA
2. Yosemite National Park:
Tuolumne Meadows
Area Planning
(ACTION ITEM)
This week, Yosemite
National Park announced it would begin preparing a Wild & Scenic Tuolumne
River Plan as well as a management plan for Tuolumne Meadows. The Tuolumne
River for the most part flows through designated wilderness in the Park, and
the Tuolumne Meadows area is a highly loved and used area. Therefore, we think
it's important for our members to be informed of this planning effort.
Comments from people who
are familiar with Tuolumne Meadows/River are particularly useful, as they can
provide factual information and analysis that the Park Service may not be
considering or even aware of.
To begin with, the Park
is undertaking "scoping," a process to identify the issues it should address in
its plan and to take suggestions on what it should include in its "preferred
alternative." CalUWild will submit its own comments as more information become
available, but the most important overall issue is minimizing the impacts to
the landscape caused by overuse: trail maintenance and meadow restoration and
water quality in the Tuolumne River being at the top of the list.
The announcement has not
appeared in the Federal Register yet, and we will get more information to you
as the process continues.
Here is the Park
Service's announcement:
Yosemite National Park Announces Opening of Public Scoping for Tuolumne
Planning Effort
Yosemite National Park is
announcing public scoping in preparation of the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River
Comprehensive Management Plan/Tuolumne Meadows Plan and Environmental Impact
Statement.
The National Park Service
will prepare two plans for the Tuolumne area in a consolidated document: a
Comprehensive Management Plan for the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River
("Tuolumne River Plan"), and an implementation plan for Tuolumne
Meadows ("Tuolumne Meadows Plan"). These will be accompanied by an
environmental impact statement (EIS) that analyzes the environmental effects of
a range of management approaches.
Two factors contribute to
the timing of this planning effort. First, the National Park Service is
mandated by Congress to prepare a management plan for the Tuolumne Wild and
Scenic River corridor. Second, there are facilities issues that need immediate
attention in the Tuolumne Meadows area. Before moving forward to repair,
upgrade, or remove infrastructure, the National Park Service is looking to the
public for input as it works to clearly define the management goals for both
the Tuolumne River and Tuolumne Meadows areas.
The Tuolumne River Plan
will provide broad management guidance and establish the overall goals and
vision for the river corridor. Its policy directives will guide future
management and amend the Yosemite National Park General Management Plan for the
Tuolumne River area. The 54 miles of the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National
Park was federally designated as a Wild and Scenic River in 1984.
The Tuolumne Meadows Plan
is an implementation-level plan. It will focus on the types and levels of
visitor services and activities offered in the vicinity of Tuolumne Meadows. It
will also delineate which areas may be targeted for restoration.
Public ideas and concerns
are sought to help identify the range of issues that should be addressed in
this planning effort. Involvement of the public is needed to insure that future
actions are consistent with the National Park Service mission, enabling
legislation, and other relevant laws and policies.
The public scoping
process for this project will be open until 60 days from the publication of a
Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS, as listed in the Federal Register.
The NOI is expected to be published soon, and a link will be posted on the
park's website at www.nps.gov/yose/planning.
Scoping is an opportunity early in a planning process for the public, gateway
communities, partner organizations, culturally-associated American Indian
tribes, and other local, state and federal agencies to suggest issues to be
considered in the proposed draft EIS.
Written scoping comments
should be postmarked no later than 60 days after publication of the NOI in the
Federal Register. Comments can be submitted at public meetings, by mail, fax,
and email. A draft document should be available for public review in summer
2007. To request a hard copy or CD ROM version of the Draft EIS and to submit
written comments:
U.S. Mail:
Superintendent,
Yosemite National Park
Attn: Tuolumne
Planning
P.O. Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389
Fax: 209/379-1294
Email: YOSE_planning@nps.gov
For information on this and other planning efforts in Yosemite National Park,
go to www.nps.gov/yose/planning.
Talk With Us at Upcoming
Open Houses and Public Meetings
These events will take
place from 4:00 to 8:00 pm (unless otherwise noted) at the following locations:
July 12: Modesto Junior
College
July 13: San Francisco's
Fort Mason Center
July 18: Tuolumne Meadows
at Parsons Lodge
July 19: Lee Vining
Community Center
July 26: Yosemite Valley
(1-5 pm)
August 7: Mariposa
Government Center
August 14: Oakhurst
Community Center
August 15: Sonora at
Columbia College
August 17: Groveland
Public Library
For information on this
and other planning efforts in Yosemite National Park, go to www.nps.gov/yose/planning.
IN GENERAL
3. User Fees on Public Lands
(ACTION ITEM)
The battle against user
fees on our public lands continues. There is a nationwide effort to let
Congress know about the impact these fees are having and how the Forest Service
and BLM are implementing last year's legislation authorizing some fees. Please
send a quick fax or make a phone call as outlined in the alert below, which
comes from our friends at Keep Sespe Wild. It is slightly edited for our membership.
Dear Public Lands Supporter,
It is extremely important that your legislators in Washington DC hear from you
NOW about the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, the FLREA. They need to
hear that the Forest Service and BLM continue to charge citizens for simple
access and use of our public lands in blatant violation of the provisions of
the law. They need to take action to see that that this law is repealed.
Fee opponents are
continuing to work with members of Congress to roll back the FLREA. This
summer, as Americans head outdoors to enjoy their priceless public lands, is a
key time. Please act now to protect this irreplaceable heritage, not only for
yourself but also for your children and grandchildren!
This election year is
also a vital time to remind key Committee chairmen in DC—as well as those
legislators representing you there—why we still strongly oppose the FLREA
and want it scrapped. Please contact all those running for office to make
repeal of the FLREA a campaign issue.
The FLREA imposes
multiple layers of fees on visitors to America's public lands. Congress
attached it as an earmark on a spending bill in December 2004, replacing the
previous Fee Demo program. The
U.S. Senate's Public Lands & Forests Subcommittee held a public hearing in
October 2005 to review Forest Service and BLM implementation of the FLREA.
Numerous agency abuses were identified, but no action has yet been forthcoming
to amend or overturn the FLREA.
Scroll down to find
contact info for calling and faxing key legislators in DC, the main points to
include in your messages, and a sample letter. Please contact the committee chairs as well as your own
senators and representative.
Please keep calling
and faxing through June and July!
Contact all those
running for office to get their stand on public land access fees. Get them to
make opposition to fees a part of their platform!!
Who else can you forward
this action alert to, who will respond? This is a genuine grassroots campaign,
depending on a diverse and expanding network of public lands users across the
nation.
Please mention these
points (in your own words):
¥ Ask first that the Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancement Act be repealed.
¥ Say you want the Forest Service
and BLM to scrap the High Impact Recreation Areas (HIRAs) and Special
Recreation Permits that are being used to charge fees for access to hundreds of
thousands of acres of undeveloped backcountry.
¥ Let them know the Forest Service
and BLM are implementing many new fee sites without the public participation
process clearly spelled out in the FLREA.
¥ Protest the FLREA's authorization
of fines of tens of thousands of dollars and/or jail time for visiting your
public lands without paying the fee.
¥ Tell them that candidate positions on
fees will effect how you vote.
Whom To Contact (Faxes are
still much quicker than letters to DC and much more effective than phone calls
or emails):
Everybody should contact the following:
Sen.
Larry Craig (R-ID)
Chair, Senate
Public Lands & Forests Subcommittee
Phone: 202-224-2752
Fax: 202-228-1067
Rep Richard Pombo
(R-CA)
Chair, House
Resources Committee
Phone: 202-225-1947
Fax: 202-226-0861
Rep. Nick Rahall
(D-WV)
Ranking Member,
House Resources Committee
Phone: 202-225-3452
Fax: 202-225-9061
Senator Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA)
Phone: 202-224-3841
Fax: 202-228-3954
------------
Thank you all for participating in the summer of 2006's Big Push to communicate
opposition to the FLREA to key legislators in DC. Together we can make a
difference, as we have before.
Yours,
Alasdair Coyne,
Keep Sespe Wild
4. Predator Management in
Wilderness Areas
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: August 7,
2006
(ACTION ITEM)
On occasion we alert our members to important wildlife issues, especially when
they conflict with the purposes for which wilderness is designated. Such is the
case with the following, where the Forest Service is proposing to make changes
in regulations regarding the control of predator species in wilderness areas.
There are two main points
involved in this issue that specifically impact wilderness: Wilderness is
supposed to be "untrammeled," meaning unmanaged, allowed to function on its
own. Therefore, wildlife in wilderness areas should be left alone, except where
human health and safety are concerned—and then it should be dealt with on
a case-by-case basis. Secondly, the new regulations "provide authority for the
Regional Forester to permit the use of aircraft, motorized equipment and
mechanical transport, and pesticides in wilderness areas under certain
conditions." None of these uses ought to be allowed in wilderness.
You can read the entire
Federal Register Notice here.
The following information
is excerpted from an alert on the website of the Center for Biological Diversity.
Predator Poisoning and Killing Planned In Wilderness Areas
The U.S. Forest Service just
announced plans to relax rules that govern "predator control" in
federal Wilderness areas and Research Natural Areas of our National Forests.
The move would greatly expand the ways that wolves, coyotes, cougars, bears,
foxes and other predators can be killed in these areas, and it signals a very
disturbing shift in the way our public land is managed.
The proposed rule would
permit aerial gunning and motorized vehicles in Wilderness areas to trap and
kill predators and meet nebulous "wildlife management" objectives,
which would be created by industry-driven "collaborative groups." The
rule would also allow notoriously dangerous "M-44" cyanide guns to be
used in Wilderness areas, even though these devises have accidentally killed
thousands of family pets and non-targeted wildlife. Please take a minute to
write the Forest Service and demand that it reverse this disastrous plan—and
instead put its energy and resources towards ensuring these animals continue to
grace the wild.
Wilderness areas are
intended to be places where humans are visitors who do not remain, where nature
and natural systems are permitted to run their course. Similarly, Research
Natural Areas are places of particular biological interest where
"unmodified conditions" are to be maintained.
But the Forest Service
has proposed to stray from these fundamental principles and dramatically
increase the ways that wolves, coyotes, cougars, bears, foxes and other
predators can be trapped, shot and poisoned in Wilderness areas and Research
Natural Areas. Current rules require that wilderness values not be impaired by
such activities, and expressly prohibit poisons like M-44s. The current rules
also allow predator killing in Wilderness areas only in very limited
circumstances, such as to protect human safety.
In stark contrast, the
new rules would require predator control to meet undefined "wildlife
management" objectives, and they would also permit local working groups to
formulate those objectives—even in Wilderness areas! This would put
groups that are dominated by the livestock industry—and hostile to both
Wilderness and predators—squarely in the driver's seat when it comes to
predator control. Wilderness areas would be opened to expensive and
ecologically devastating aerial gunning and poisoning of predators who belong
in Wilderness areas and are a big part of what makes them so special.
Talking points:
¥ The Forest Service has proposed
dramatic changes to Forest Service Manual Sections 2320 and 2650. These changes
would reverse protections that are currently in place for Wilderness areas and
Research Natural Areas by relaxing the restrictions on motorized use, aerial
gunning and placement of motion-triggered cyanide guns to trap and kill
predators. I strongly oppose these
changes, and urge the Forest Service to uphold the Wilderness Act and its
mandate to protect wildlife on all Forest Service lands.
¥ Predators are a key component of
intact ecosystems, an important presence in the wilderness, and an emblem of
the wild. They should be protected
wherever they are, but in Wilderness and Research Natural Areas most of
all. The proposed changes to the
rules amount to a devastating attack on both predators and wilderness values.
¥ Predators like wolves, coyotes,
bears, cougars and foxes belong in our forests and deserts, as the current rule
recognizes when it states, "predacious mammals and birds play a critical
role in maintaining the integrity of natural ecosystems." Unfortunately, the proposed new rule
discards such language in favor of permitting ill-defined "collaborative
groups" to decide when and how predators will be trapped and killed. The new rule also permits cyanide guns
to be used—even in Wilderness areas—contrary to the language and
spirit of the Wilderness Act.
¥ The new rules regarding predator
control in Wilderness and Research Natural Areas should be discarded; if
anything, predators deserve more, not less, protection on our public lands.
Comments must be received in writing by August 7, 2006.
Send written comments to:
Forest Service,
USDA
Attn: Director,
Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Resources
201 - 14th Street,
SW
Washington, DC 20250
By email: PDM@fs.fed.us
By fax: 202-205-1145