October 31, 2005
Dear CalUWild friends --
There are several items
this month with very short deadlines, requiring immediate attention. I
apologize for the short notice, but all are important, so please take the time
in the next few days to send off a letter or make a phone call. Thanks!
One of our fellow
wilderness organizations, Great Old Broads for Wilderness is having an online auction to help raise funds. They are a
wonderfully effective group, a joy to work with, and definitely worth
supporting. Please check out their auction
web site. It won't be ready to bid on until November 1, but you can go
there and check it out now.
Speaking of
fundraising, all nonprofit organizations are in constant need of support, and
CalUWild is no exception. We do not engage in direct mail solicitations -- all
funding comes from current members, foundations, and a company or two. Dues
have always been voluntary for members receiving our Monthly Update via e-mail. When you receive a dues
reminder, please consider making a contribution. Large or small, it will help
us help you protect the lands we all love.
Thanks,
Mike
IN UTAH
1. R.S. 2477 Lawsuit Filed
IN CALIFORNIA
2. Governor Signs Cache
Creek Wild & Scenic River Bill
3. E-mails Needed on Plan
Revisions for
Four
Southern California National Forests
DEADLINE:
November 10
(ACTION ITEM)
IN ALASKA
4. Senate Includes Arctic
Drilling in Budget Bill
Deadline:
Wednesday, November 2 in the Senate
Monday,
November 7 in the House
(ACTION ITEM -- URGENT)
IN NEW MEXICO
5. Ojito Wilderness Bill
Signed
IN GENERAL
6. Fee Demonstration Hearing
E-mails
Needed
Deadline:
November 4, 2005
(ACTION ITEM)
7. Park Service Rules
Revisions Get New Draft
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
IN UTAH
1. R.S. 2477
Lawsuit Filed
In mid-October, the Wilderness
Society and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed suit in Utah federal court
against Kane County for opening up routes to off-road vehicle (ORV) use after
the BLM had closed them. The disputed routes include 100 or more in Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Earthjustice attorney
Ted Zukoski of Earthjustice said in a written statement: "We're filing
this lawsuit because Kane County is attempting to seize control of the
management of some of America's most spectacular public lands. The Constitution
and federal law require that these lands be managed for all Americans, not by
local counties for the benefit of a few ORV enthusiasts. Kane County's bluster
and bullying don't give it the right to trash national parks and other lands by
turning them into dirt bike and ATV playgrounds."
Earlier this year, the
Utah BLM director threatened to sue the county over the road signs but so far
has taken no action. Perhaps this lawsuit will encourage BLM to move.
IN CALIFORNIA
2. Governor Signs Cache
Creek Wild & Scenic River Bill
On October 6, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Davis)
designating 31 miles of Cache Creek in Lake and Yolo Counties "Wild and
Scenic." This issue has been at the top of the list of California
conservationists for several years and has been the subject of several CalUWild
Update items.
The bill protects the
creek (actually a small river) from new dams and thus preserves the many
recreational opportunities in the BLM-managed lands through which it flows, as
well as rafting and other recreation on the creek itself.
Please write the
Governor and thank him for signing the bill.
Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
3. E-mails Needed on Plan Revisions
for
Four
Southern California National Forests
DEADLINE:
November 10
(ACTION ITEM)
The four national forests
-- Los Padres, Angeles, Cleveland, and San Bernardino -- are among the jewels
of the southern part of the state. They are beautiful and very heavily used for
recreation. They also provide important reservoirs of plant and wildlife
habitat in an area that is growing rapidly.
The Forest Service
recently released a Final EIS and Management Plan for the four forests. Two
organizations with which CalUWild works closely, the California Wild Heritage
Campaign and the Sierra Club, have serious concerns about the final plan, and
they are mounting a public letter writing campaign to improve the decisions that
will be made under the new plan.
The request below is,
therefore, different than most of our calls for letters or comments, because
the plan in question has been released in its final form. Although we are
asking you to write Mr. Weingardt, the Regional Forester, we are asking you to
please e-mail them to Holly Owens, the CWHC organizer for Southern California.
CWHC and the Sierra Club will personally deliver the letters to Regional
Forester Bernie Weingardt.
Holly assures me that she
will not collect e-mail addresses to add to other distribution lists.
***The Forest Service
Needs To Hear From You!***
See below for an
easy-to-email letter to the Forest Service
Dear friends of wild
places:
The Forest Service has
recently issued new management plans for the four Southern CA Forests: the
Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres and San Bernardino. These plans are the
blueprints for how our forests will be managed for the next 15-20 years,
guiding decisions on everything from recommending areas for wilderness to
protecting wildlife and deciding where development can occur. Concerned people
like yourselves have worked hard for years to share ideas for how the forests
can be protected and restored as the Forest Service wrote the new plans.
Unfortunately, the resulting
plans are out of balance with the needs of most people who value and visit
these national forests. For example, the Forest Service acknowledges they
cannot meet people's demands for wilderness recreation, yet the plans recommend
only an additional 2% of our forests for wilderness designation, leaving out
thousands of acres of land eligible for consideration as wilderness.
The new plans also
fail to adequately address rapidly growing development and off-road vehicle
damage. The LA Times editorialized about its disappointment in the new plans,
noting that they "open up more forest land to off-road vehicles, even
though the Forest Service admits it cannot police the areas already
open." The plans will expand
harmful, polluting off-road vehicle use while offering few improvements for the
90% of visitors who don't use off-road vehicles.
The plans do not
address challenges that threaten the natural and recreational values in the
four forests:
- The Cleveland National Forest is
confronted with proposals to flood Morrell Canyon, a popular oak-filled canyon
for a hydroelectric plant, to build a toll road through wilderness-quality
lands, and to construct massive power transmission lines along a spectacular
scenic vista.
- A plan to drill for oil in condor
habitat and ongoing off-road vehicle damage are key threats on the Los Padres
National Forest.
- A toll road has been proposed through
the Angeles National Forest, where visitors often suffer inadequate facilities
and services, and major new developments are gradually encircling the forest,
threatening vital wildlife migration trails, increasing the risk of fire and
impacting recreation opportunities.
- The San Bernardino National Forest
faces similar development risks, particularly from growth pressures on
communities surrounded by national forest land.
The four Southern CA
forests are visited by over eight million people a year - twice the number of
visitors to Yosemite National Park. These forests are where many children play
in snow for the first time, see their first pinecones and deer, and wade in
their first sparkling creek. For millions of residents, a personal link with
our natural world begins and is sustained in these forests.
"Four years and
millions of dollars have been spent on a plan that will only lead to a further
decline in the quality of visitors' experiences and the health and beauty of
the forests. Now those who love and value our forests must continue to champion
a positive vision that will serve the public and protect the forests in ways
the Forest Service plans fail to do." - Bill Corcoran, Sierra Club Senior
Regional Representative [and CalUWild Steering Committee member].
Although there is no
official comment period on the new forest plans, it is important that we let the
Forest Service know how the plans can be improved as we continue to advance our
efforts to protect the wild places of our national forests in the weeks, months
and years to come. The Forest Service needs to hear from you.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Please take a few
minutes to write a letter to the top Forest Service official in CA, Regional
Forester Bernie Weingardt. Your letter, along with hundreds of others from
people who care about our forests, will be hand delivered to Mr. Weingardt.
Please send me your letter by November 10.
Instructions:
1. ** Customize the letter - include
your own personal experiences and concerns by adding in your desire to protect
specific places, your concerns about development and other damage to the
forest, etc., and add the date and your contact information **
2. Email the letter to: holly@californiawild.org
Address the letter
to:
Mr.
Bernie Weingardt
Regional Forester
Pacific Southwest
Region
1323 Club Drive
Vallejo, CA 94592
Suggested comments:
- Recommend more
wilderness and wild rivers for permanent protection. Unlike the Back Country
zones, wilderness permanently protects resources like water and wildlife while
providing high quality and sustainable recreation opportunities to a
continually growing number of forest visitors. These areas include, Morrell
Canyon and the Eagle Peak in the Cleveland National Forest; Pleasant View Ridge
and Condor Peak in the Angeles; and Cahuilla Mountain and South Fork San
Jacinto River in the San Bernardino. Deserving rivers include, the San Antonio
Creek and Lower Piru Creek in the Angeles Forest; Pine Valley Creek in the
Cleveland Forest; North Fork San Jacinto River and Deep Creek in the San
Bernardino Forest; and the South Fork Little Sur in the Los Padres Forest.
- Do not allow an
expansion of off-road vehicle trails and do not legalize illegal trails.
Trespassing, erosion, fire risk, loss of wildlife, pollution and noise make poorly
managed off-road use one of the key threats to our forests.
- Provide real
commitments to better serve the 90% of visitors who do not use off-road
vehicles. We need improved trails, better facilities, and more field staffing
to provide public outreach and education.
- Please take a
leadership role in protecting our forests and better serving the majority of
forest visitors.
Your voice is
important in protecting our national forests' wild places for future
generations. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you for your
time and for taking action,
Holly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Holly Owens
Regional Organizer
Sierra Club / CA Wild
Heritage Campaign
P.O. Box 638
Idyllwild, CA 92549
951-303-7922
IN ALASKA
4. Senate Includes Arctic
Drilling in Budget Bill
Deadline:
Wednesday, November 2 in the Senate
Monday,
November 7 in the House
(ACTION ITEM -- URGENT)
The information in the
alert below comes from CalUWild's co-coordinator Vicky Hoover of the Sierra
Club. California's senators will not vote to open up the refuge, but we are
mounting a campaign to convince senators from other states to vote against
drilling as well. So if you have family or friends in Arizona, Maine,
Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, or Rhode Island, please take a moment to call them or
e-mail them. Ask them to contact their senators urging a NO vote on the Budget
Reconciliation Bill. To make it easier for you, contact information for those
key senators is given below.
REUTERS: Updated: 2:26
p.m. ET Oct. 19, 2005
WASHINGTON - The
Senate Energy Committee voted Wednesday to open the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling as part of a broad budget bill to fund the
federal government.
Within weeks, the
measure could become law. By attaching the language to the budget bill,
Republicans have made it impossible for Democrats to block it with a
filibuster. And the House of Representatives has repeatedly voted in favor of
opening the refuge to energy development.
Tapping the refuge's
billions of barrels of crude oil is a key part of the Bush administration's
national energy plan. Environmental groups and most Democrats oppose drilling,
saying that instead of threatening the habitat of wildlife in ANWR, lawmakers
should look at ways to cut oil consumption with more fuel-efficient vehicle
standards.
__________________
We Need Your Help
Please take a moment
to tell Congress to keep the oil industry out of the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.
Conservationists are
not alone in opposing the Reconciliation bill. A broad and growing coalition of
progressive organizations -- operating under the banner of the Emergency
Campaign for America's Priorities (ECAP) – has added its voices to the
chorus demanding that Congress reject the Reconciliation Bill's draconian cuts
to Medicare and Medicaid, student aid, and other vital programs.
Now, after this
ominous Committee action, final round of calls to key swing legislators in BOTH
House and Senate assume extra urgency and importance:
No matter what state
you live in, contact your own representatives and contact people you know in
the states listed below, urge them to ask the relevant Senators and
representatives to vote AGAINST the budget when both Houses hold their votes,
which could be as early as Thursday. The House is expected to vote the week of
November 7.
Phone numbers and fax
numbers for these key votes are given below.
SENATORS (liberal
Republicans who have voted previously to protect the Arctic) Phone number is
listed first, then fax
John McCain, Arizona
(202)
224-2235 (202)
228-2862
Olympia Snowe, Maine
(202)
224-5344 (202)
224-1946
Susan Collins, Maine
(202) 224-2523 (202)
224-2693
Norm Coleman,
Minnesota
(202)
224-5641 (202)
224-1152
Mike DeWine, Ohio
(202)
224-2315 (202)
224-6519
Gordon Smith, Oregon
(202)
224-3753 (202)
228-3997
Lincoln Chafee, Rhode
Island
(202)
224-2921 (202)
228-2853
IN NEW MEXICO
5. Ojito Wilderness Bill
Signed
Pres. Bush signed the
Ojito Wilderness Bill last Thursday, designating about 11,000 acres in Sandoval
County, New Mexico as the Ojito Wilderness. South of San Ysidro, the new
wilderness area is rich in archaeological resources, rare plants, and
spectacular scenery. The area is on BLM-managed lad and had been a wilderness
study area since 1991. This was the first wilderness designation in New Mexico
since before 1990.
The bill also transferred
adjacent ancestral lands to the Zia Pueblo, to also be managed as open space.
Grazing will be allowed in the wilderness area, but mining, ORVs, and mountain
biking will not be allowed.
IN GENERAL
6. Fee Demonstration Hearing
E-mails
Needed
Deadline:
November 4, 2005
(ACTION
ITEM)
The alert
below comes from Keep Sepse Wild in Southern California. Sen. Dianne Feinstein
is on the Public Lands Subcommittee that held the hearing discussed. If there
is an example of a non-compliant fee area near you, tell her about it. It
wouldn't hurt to send Sen. Barbara Boxer a copy of your comments as well.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
(ph) 202-224-3841
(fax) 202-228-3954
Sen. Barbara Boxer
(ph) 202-224-3553
(fax) 415-956-6701
The Senate
Subcommittee hearing held on Wednesday, October 26th to review implementation
by the US Forest Service and the BLM of the new fee law, the Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), presented plentiful evidence of agency
overreach beyond the letter and the intent of the law.
Invited witnesses
Kitty Benzar, Western Slope No Fee Coalition, Marv Stalcup, Arizona No Fee
Coalition, and Lance Young, World Outing Club, Seattle, testified that few or
no changes have occurred at fee sites since the FLREA was signed into law 10
months ago - though the FLREA specifically restricted fees to "areas"
with six amenities present (trash can, picnic table, toilet, interpretive sign,
designated parking and security services), prohibited entrance fees for Forest
Service and BLM lands, and banned fees for access to backcountry, parking, or
passing through public lands without using any facilities.
Further, the agencies
have created a new fee category (nowhere mentioned in the FLREA), the
"High Impact Recreation Area," or HIRA, which often extends for up to
tens of thousands of acres around the core site where the six amenities are
present.
YOUR HELP IS
NEEDED: The Senate Subcommittee
on Public Lands and Forests chaired by Senator Larry Craig, (R-ID) has
demonstrated a keen interest in Forest Service and BLM implementation of the
FLREA, simply by holding this hearing and by inviting three fee opponents to
testify.
What happens next is
not immediately clear, however. Will the Senate introduce legislation to
tighten the poorly-defined language of the FLREA? With your help, this CAN be
accomplished!
On our side is the
fact that the Senate unanimously passed Sen. Craig Thomas's (R-WY) bill in
2004, which made permanent Park Service fees ONLY, and would have allowed US
Forest Service, BLM and US Fish & Wildlife Service recreation fees to
lapse. Key Senators were extremely upset when the FLREA was foisted on them
instead, with no opportunity for debate, amendments, hearings or a vote, as a
rider attached to a must-pass spending bill in Dec 2004.
But vital to the
success of our efforts to curtail the agencies' overreach in the implementation
of the FLREA is YOUR INPUT to Washington DC! Written public testimony is being
accepted into the official record of the hearing until November 4th. Quite
simply, more will happen, and faster, if an unprecedented number of emails are
received at the offices of the Subcommittee.
WHAT TO DO: Please email the Subcommittee that held the
hearing. Deadline for comments to be entered in to the public record (this is
important) is Friday November 4th, 5 pm Eastern time.
We are not providing a
sample letter, as brief comments are OK and we want to avoid the sample letter
being seen as a form letter (which carries much less weight).
EMAIL TO: kristina_rolph@energy.senate.gov
In order to be
accepted into the record you must
1. Begin your email with the
following statement: "Please include this in the public record for the
10/26/05, 2 pm hearing before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests on
the implementation of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act."
2. End your email with your name and complete regular mailing
address.
Your testimony WILL
NOT be accepted without these TWO inclusions.
Please also mention
facts about agency overreach in your area, such as the following:
(a) High Impact
Recreation Areas (HIRAs) which illegally extend fee authority beyond a core
site that contains the six amenities (toilet, trash can, interpretive sign,
designated parking, picnic table and security services) and which also include
undeveloped trailheads under fees, when the FLREA says they should remain free.
(b) Special Recreation Permits. These used to be for commercial outfitters and
guides, but are now being required by the agencies for individual uses of
public lands (i.e. Wilderness access, ORVs, mountain biking and horseback
riding). If you are now being required to buy one, give the details. (c)
Trailhead parking fees, which are using fees to control access to dispersed,
undeveloped backcountry areas despite language in the law prohibiting fees for
backcountry use.
For further details on
agency fee overreach and examples of non-compliant fee sites, check out the
WSNFC's Oct 2005 Survey Report to Congress at their NEW website, http://www.WesternSlopeNoFee.org.
We don't often have
the opportunity to submit testimony for the official congressional record,
especially via email. Emails are easy to generate! Please help further by
contacting friends and family who will send an email similar to yours.
This may be 2005's
MOST IMPORTANT opportunity to give input to the public record of a fee hearing
in DC. Please help deluge the congressional record with testimony from
concerned citizens!
Thank you.
Alasdair Coyne,
Keep Sespe Wild
(805) 921-0618
P.O. Box 715
Ojai, CA 93024
7. Park Service Rules Revisions Get
New Draft
As we reported in the
September Update, the
Department of the Interior in August released a revision to the Department's
park management policies. These revisions were prepared by a political
appointee, Paul Hoffman, and would have allowed more commercial and
recreational activities in parks, including opening many trails to ORVs. The
Park Service rejected these changes.
Mr. Hoffman said that his
draft was meant to stimulate discussion. However, it is not clear why the
policies needed revision, as they were just revised in 2001. In any event, this
month the Department issued a new draft which stepped back from many of the
more controversial provisions.
However, conservationists remain concerned. The new rules are undergoing
a 90-day public comment period and CalUWild will try to provide more
information next month for our members.
Stay tuned.