January 31, 2007
Dear members, friends, and supporters of CalUWild—
As you’ve probably noticed, the new year is moving along quickly. A new Congress—the 110th—began in Washington on January 4, with San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi being sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives. California’s Sen. Barbara Boxer will be the chairman of Environment and Public Works Committee in the Senate. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is on the Judiciary and Appropriations Committees. All are in good positions to help protect America’s public lands from needless exploitation.
We’re sorry that two of the Action Items below (ITEMS 2 & 3) have such short deadlines, but please do your best to write quickly!
As CalUWild enters its 10th year, we will do our best to keep you informed of developments and ways that you can influence decision-making in timely and effective ways. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or critiques, please feel free to let us know. You can reach us by phone (415-752-3911), email (info@caluwild.org), or U.S. Mail (P.O. Box 210474, San Francisco, CA 94121-0474).
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who responded to our end-of-the year dues drive. We appreciate your generosity. If you haven’t sent in your membership, please do so. Although we operate on a shoestring, we still need funding. A membership form is available online for printing and mailing.
Thanks for all your interest and efforts!
Mike Painter
Coordinator
IN UTAH
1. America’s Redrock Wilderness Act
To be Reintroduced
Congressional Cosponsors Needed
(ACTION ITEM)
IN CALIFORNIA
2. Fish Poisoning in Sequoia-King’s Canyon
National Park Wilderness
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: February 6, 2007
(URGENT ACTION ITEM)
3. Effort to De-Designate Wilderness in California
Letters Needed
DEADLINE: February 7, 2007
(URGENT ACTION ITEM)
4. Environmental Groups Petition to Join
Lawsuit over R.S. 2477 Claims in Death Valley National Park
5. Wilderness Conference at San Francisco State
April 5-7, 2007
IN OREGON
6. Public Interest Environmental Law Conference
University of Oregon School of Law
Eugene
March 1-4, 2007
IN GENERAL
7. User Fees on Public Lands
Write to Congress in Opposition
(ACTION ITEM)
8. Investigations in Washington, DC
Target Former Interior Official and
Oil & Gas Royalties
9. New Chief of the Forest Service
10. Job Opportunities with the BLM
In California & Nevada: Weed Warriors
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
IN UTAH
1. America’s Redrock Wilderness Act
To be Reintroduced
Congressional Cosponsors Needed
(ACTION ITEM)
Because of the national and international importance of Utah’s wildlands, citizens from around the United States have campaigned tirelessly for their permanent protection. We are expecting that Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) will once again introduce America’s Redrock Wilderness Act in the 110th Congress. One way of showing support for the bills is through congressional cosponsorships. This simply means that senators and representatives add their names to a bill as if they were the original authors.
Cosponsorship is a powerful sign to the rest of Congress and to the Bureau of Land Management that the issue is important. It also signals to BLM that people are looking over its shoulder make sure it acts appropriately and in the best interest of all citizens.
The Redrock Cosponsor drive is CalUWild’s major lobbying effort every Congress. We begin shortly after the new Congress begins, asking our members to contact their senators and representatives to become cosponsors. With our limited resources, however, we do not spend much time or effort trying to convince members who are rarely if ever in favor of environmental protection to become cosponsors.
The cosponsorship campaign uses two primary tactics: office visits and letters. Every year CalUWild, as a member of the Utah Wilderness Coalition, looks for a few Californians who might be interested in Wilderness Week: a trip to Washington, DC, visiting offices on Capitol Hill and asking for cosponsorship. It’s a fun and educational undertaking. You get to see government “up close and personal,” and you are part of a team of people from all over the country engaged in the shared undertaking. No experience is necessary, and you receive all the training you need once you’re there.
If you can’t make it to Wilderness Week, the next best thing is to write your representatives and senators. If you can get your letters to CalUWild before March 13, we will be happy to deliver them. Otherwise, fax them to DC or mail them to your representatives’ local offices. Contact information is on CalUWild’s website. (This information has not been updated for the 110th Congress yet, so you might want to check it on your representatives’ pages at http://www.house.gov.)
In your letter, ask them to cosponsor America’s Redrock Wilderness Act and tell them why the issue is important to you. If you receive a noncommittal or nonresponsive reply, write again. It gives you another chance to bring the issue before their eyes. After a short while, they begin to notice. Staff in Washington has said that it only takes six or seven letters on a given issue to make that issue move up the “totem pole” in the office. That is not very many.
IN CALIFORNIA
2. Fish Poisoning in Sequoia-King’s Canyon
National Park Wilderness
Comments Needed
DEADLINE: February 6, 2007
(URGENT ACTION ITEM)
Issues surrounding wildlife management are important in wilderness areas. Where introduced, non-native, and/or invasive species are found or stocked, there is always a debate on how best to manage them to keep within the Wilderness Act’s requirement that Nature be “untrammeled” (left to its own processes).
In the Sierra Nevada there is a long history of stocking lakes with Rainbow Trout. In recent years, amphibian populations have plummeted across the Sierra. Of particular interest is the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog, and the non-native trout have been implicated as one cause of the decline. In an attempt to solve the problem, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are proposing to poison up to 85 lakes, most of them in designated wilderness areas, without doing a formal environmental impact statement (EIS). At a minimum, a project of this size should require a full EIS and not be fast-tracked.
Our friends at Wilderness Watch have prepared the following Action Alert.
National Park Service Proposes to Poison Numerous Lakes Within the Sequoia and Kings Canyon Wilderness
Comments Needed by Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Background: On January 17, 2007, the National Park Service announced a stunning proposal to poison as many as 85 lakes within Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) to remove non-native trout. Virtually all of the lakes proposed to be poisoned lie within designated wilderness. Despite the impacts of chemical fish poisons on numerous non-target animals, SEKI has not prepared an environmental impact statement (EIS) as required by law, and has stated its intention to fast-track the environmental review process so poisoning may begin this summer.
SEKI is allowing only a brief “scoping” period for public comments. It is imperative that the Park Service be flooded with comments by February 6, 2007 demanding the preparation of an EIS.
SEKI claims that the poisoning of up to 85 lakes and ponds is necessary to “preserve and restore populations of mountain yellow-legged frogs and other native animals in high elevation lakes and streams.” However, while the precipitous decline in mountain yellow-legged frog (MYLF) populations is cause for great concern, there are many reasons to oppose the poisoning of waters within the SEKI Wilderness:
Chemical fish poisons are toxic to all gill-breathing animals, and thus kill not only fish, but also the tadpoles of frogs and toads, as well as aquatic invertebrates that form the base of the food chain.
SEKI falsely characterizes the adverse effects of fish poison as “temporary.” Recent studies at other poisoned sites in the Sierra Nevada have shown that populations of rare stoneflies and other stream-dwelling fauna have failed to recover after many years. Despite SEKI’s wishful thinking that the effects are “temporary,” the available data clearly indicate that fish poisons create significant long-term (and possibly permanent) effects.
While fish predation is clearly responsible for at least some of the MYLF’s decline in recent decades, it has recently been documented that frogs have been declining world-wide due to widespread fungal infections. The reason(s) why so many frogs are now dying from fungus is unclear, but the latest research and computer models have shown that the decline of MYLF’s in the Sierra Nevada (including SEKI) is strongly correlated with pesticide drift from California’s Central Valley. It is entirely possible that pesticides or other environmental contaminants have made the frogs more susceptible to fungal infections. Thus, it is highly uncertain whether the MYLF will survive in the long-term even if fish were removed using poison, as proposed. The poisoning of wilderness lakes and streams may only add insult to injury. At minimum, an EIS must be prepared to analyze and disclose all of the possible reasons for the MYLF’s decline, to objectively assess the scientific uncertainty and controversy, and to honestly evaluate the chances that poisoning up to 85 lakes can save the MYLF.
Chemical fish poisons contain solvents, emulsifiers, dispersants, synergists, and other additives that are potentially harmful to human health. These chemicals are known to persist for months, possibly even longer, in cold mountain lakes and many of their effects have not been tested.
Poisoning of wilderness lakes would require tons of equipment and personnel, and the Park Service would likely propose using helicopters. The wilderness character would be adversely impacted by noise, chemicals, warning signs, closures, and the deliberate killing of native, non-target animals.
The waters to be poisoned have never been fully surveyed. It is possible, and perhaps even likely, that undiscovered endemic species of invertebrates may exist in the lakes/ponds/streams that would be poisoned. The act of poisoning these waters could thus wipe out new species before they are even discovered.
Non-chemical alternatives are readily available. Manual gill-nets and “electrofishers” have been shown to be very effective at eliminating non-native trout from lakes/ponds.
What You Can Do
Send a letter or e-mail, postmarked by Tuesday February 6, 2007, to:
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Attn: Compliance Office – Lake Poisoning
47050 Generals Highway
Three Rivers, CA 93271
Email address: SEKI_Superintendent@nps.gov
cc: wendy_koelfgen@nps.gov
Subject: Scoping Comments – Lake Poisoning
Suggested Comments:
1) State that you are commenting on the Scoping Notice titled: “Restoration of Mountain Yellow-legged Frogs and High Elevation Lakes and Streams, January 2007.”
2) Express support for Alternative 3 (Physical Treatment Only) which would remove non-native trout using manual methods only (i.e., gill nets, electroshockers).
3) Raise any or all of the issues mentioned above. If you have time, it is best to re-state them in your own words.
4) Express opposition to any use of chemical fish poisons in the SEKI Wilderness without detailed environmental analysis and more opportunities for public comments. Insist that an EIS must be prepared before SEKI considers any use of fish poisons.
For an electronic copy of the 6-page scoping notice contact TinaMarie Ekker at Wilderness Watch: tmekker@wildernesswatch.org
For more information contact:
Wendy Koelfgen (SEKI’s NEPA specialist) (559) 565-3102
e-mail: wendy_koelfgen@nps.gov
Alert Prepared By:
Wilderness Watch
P.O. Box 9175
Missoula, Montana 59807 U.S.A.
phone: (406) 542-2048
http://www.wildernesswatch.org
3. Effort to De-Designate Wilderness in California
Letters Needed
DEADLINE: February 7, 2007
(URGENT ACTION ITEM)
California has much federal land designated as wilderness. It also has a system of wilderness on state-owned lands. A large chunk of that is in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, east of San Diego. San Diego Gas and Electric Company is proposing that the state de-designate a corridor through the park to construct a power transmission line.
The California Wilderness Coalition, the one organization focusing only on the Golden State’s wilderness, has prepared the following Alert. Please write (but use your own words)!
PLEASE FORWARD THIS ALERT FAR AND WIDE!
Dear lovers of California’s wild places:
San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDGE) has proposed to erect a gargantuan powerline called the “Sunrise Powerlink” in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and, even more shockingly, to plunge the line through a designated Wilderness area!
When either the federal or state government protects fragile wild lands as wilderness the protection is supposed to last forever, or at least as close to forever as something can get under our nation’s laws. Sadly, a loophole exists that allows wilderness or portions of wilderness to be de-designated under some circumstances. SDGE is trying to exploit this loophole by de-designating wilderness for the first time in California’s history. If SDGE is successful at Anza-Borrego, then no designated wilderness is safe anywhere!
The California State Park and Recreation Commission has been given the utterly unenviable task of voting on this heinous proposal because under state law they have the authority to de-designate state park wilderness. Commission members absolutely must hear from you before they vote on the issue on 2/8/07!
There are two ways you can contact the Commission and stand up for California’s wilderness:
1) Attend the next meeting of the California State Park And Recreation Commission on Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the De Anza Ballroom of the Borrego Springs Resort, 1112 Tilting T Drive, in Borrego Springs, California. Come prepared to speak, even if it’s just to express in a few simple words your opposition to wilderness de-designation and the idea of building massive powerlines through state parks.
2) If you absolutely can’t attend the meeting, then write a letter to the commission in time for them to get your comments by 2/7/07!
Please address your letters to:
The Honorable Bobby Shriver, Chair
California State Park and Recreation Commission
C/O Louis Nastro, Assistant to the Commission
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
Via email: LNastro@parks.ca.gov
Please provide your full name and address in your letter, even if you send your comments by e-mail.
SAMPLE LETTER:
The Honorable Bobby Shriver, Chair
California State Park and Recreation Commission
C/O Louis Nastro, Assistant to the Commission
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
Dear Mr. Shriver and other members of the Commission:
I strongly oppose the construction of the Sunrise Powerlink through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I also oppose the shocking proposal to de-designate wilderness inside the park. If the Commission approves the de-designation, it will establish an extremely harmful precedent that will threaten wilderness areas not only in California, but across the nation.
The Commission has shown itself to be a friend of our parks and wilderness areas over the years. Please continue to stand up for our wild places by voting against Sunrise Powerlink.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
4. Environmental Groups Petition to Join
Lawsuit over R.S. 2477 Claims in Death Valley National Park
Inyo County has long threatened action over its road claims on federal lands within its jurisdiction. Last Fall it initiated a lawsuit against the National Park Service, seeking title to routes inside Death Valley National Park. It claims that these roads belong to them under R.S. 2477, the Civil War-era statute granting rights of way for the construction of highways over federal lands. The statute was repealed in 1976, but valid existing claims were grandfathered in.
Over much of the West, counties have claimed rights of way in order to defeat wilderness proposals or to demonstrate opposition to the federal government’s management of public land. Very often the “roads” are nothing more that dirt tracks or even game trails, and they often lead nowhere. The Bush Administration developed new rules regarding claims several years ago, and the issue continues to be the subject of controversy, in court and out.
Six groups, represented by Earthjustice, have petitioned to intervene in Death Valley litigation in support of the Park Service againstof Inyo County’s claims. They are: the Sierra Club, Friends of the Inyo, California Wilderness Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, The Wilderness Society, and the National Parks Conservation Association. A hearing is scheduled for March 12.
We’ll keep you posted.
5. Wilderness Symposium at San Francisco State University
April 5-7, 2007
Eco-Students at San Francisco State and other organizations are organizing a free three-day symposium that will take a look at current attitudes toward wilderness and seek ways to enlarge the community of people that value wilderness. CalUWild is one of the sponsoring organizations.
For more complete information on the schedule, visit www.bawt.org/symposium.
An event to help raise funds for the conference will be held in San Francisco on February 10 at Space 180, 180 Capp Street, 6-11p.m. Featured will be Samantha Chase, standup comedienne, and music by Shake Your Peace, Lumaya, Bantercut, Tyler Smith, and Chris & John Kelly.
For more information on either the symposium or the fundraiser, contact Mike Yoshioka, 530-277-5940.
IN OREGON
6. Public Interest Environmental Law Conference
University of Oregon School of Law
Eugene
March 1-4, 2007
Every year, the law students at the University of Oregon organize the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, sometimes called E-LAW or Land-Air-Water. 2007 marks the 25th conference. It has grown to attract over 3,000 participants annually. Although billed as a “law conference,” it is open to anyone with an interest in environmental issues, and activists of all stripes converge on the law school in Eugene for four days of panels, workshops, keynote addresses, and other activities.
In addition, the hallways of the law school become a giant information fair, where organizations put out literature and set up displays. CalUWild is a frequent participant, and in fact, every year we recruit the largest number of new members of any event we take part in.
For students and job-hunters it is the best place to meet people in almost any field. And for the general public, it holds the widest variety of discussions on a multitude of topics, often at the cutting-edge of environmental thinking and developments. Attorneys can earn continuing education credit by attending.
This year the Conference will be held March 1-4. For full details, including online registration, visit the Conference website.
IN GENERAL
7. User Fees on Public Lands
Write to Congress in Opposition
(ACTION ITEM)
Last year, the Department of the Interior quietly eliminated the National Parks Pass, which for $50 gave the holder unlimited entrance to the national parks. For an additional $15 entrance to other federal fee lands was covered as well. Now, for $80, purchasers get an “America the Beautiful” pass, covering all public lands in the country.
At the same time, budgets for the land management agencies are being slashed. The Forest Service is closing many campgrounds and other facilities. Those that aren’t closed are being leased to concessionaires who often only keep them open during the Summer. Visitation to National Parks and other areas is decreasing.
Congress needs to take a hard look at the situation and fund our public land management agencies at a level adequate to do the job needed. This point needs to be stressed in every communication to Congress.
With a new Congress beginning, and new committee chairmanships, the information in the following Alert is especially relevant. The information in it comes from Keep Sepse Wild in California and the Western Slope No Fee Coalition in Colorado. It is edited for this Update.
Help Turn The Tide in Washington on the Issue of Public Lands Access Fees and Closures!
Please Contact Your Elected Representatives Today. [Contact Information Below.]
Skyrocketing entrance fees in National Parks, widespread recreation site closures by the Forest Service and widespread implementation of fees are attracting bipartisan opposition in Congress. The change from Republican to Democratic control and the subsequent shakeup of Committees and their Chairmen has opened a window of opportunity for a top-to-bottom review of national recreation policy. It’s up to us, the American People, to take advantage of that opportunity and act now to persuade Congress to put the “public” back in public lands.
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) has taken a strong stand against the Forest Service’s “Recreation Site Facility Master Planning” policy that is already resulting in new fees, increased fees, site closures, and other changes to recreation programs on National Forests.
Nor, we would add, on the backs of public lands users in any other state!
Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY), outgoing Chair of the Senate’s National Parks Subcommittee, is criticizing the new $80 “America the Beautiful” pass that is pricing Americans out of their National Parks and other federally managed public lands. According to Thomas, “An $80 fee is certainly higher than what folks should have to pay to recreate on federal lands.” He went on to say he opposes expanding the recreation fee beyond National Parks to other federal land management agencies, which will result in higher fees with no guarantee of improving the impacted recreation sites. “If there’s a budget problem in our land management agencies, let’s get to the root of it, address it head-on, and not put budget shortfalls on the back of recreational visitors.”
Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) recently sent an open letter to Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne urging him to veto the planned entrance fee increases at Crater Lake National Park and Lava Beds National Monument.
Now is the time to urge your representative and senators to weigh in and protect the public’s interest in public lands!
Congress must take a long, hard look at where these “Full Cost Recovery” recreation policies are heading. Individuals, organizations, and local governments must contact their Congressional representatives and ask them to hold oversight hearings and take legislative action to:
– Roll back the Recreation Site Facility Master Planning (RSFMP) process in the Forest Service. This program will eliminate thousands of recreation sites, reduce operating seasons, increase fees, create new fee sites and turn hundreds more sites over to concessionaires. The RSFMP turns the Forest Service recreation programs into a taxpayer funded “For-Profit” venture that forces Americans away from the forests and damages local economies.
[Read Western Slope’s report on RSFMP.]
– Repeal the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA) for the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish & Wildlife Service and National Park Service, including the new $80 “America The Beautiful Pass” which is pricing the public out of visiting our Parks and other public lands. Fee policy remains extremely contentious, yet the agencies continue to charge the public fees that are well outside of the authority of the FLREA. Incentives created by the FLREA are the driving force behind policies such as the RSFMP.
[Click here for more on BLM and Forest Service FLREA Implementation]
– Limit the cost of National Park entrance fees. Park visitation is down across the board since the late 1990s when Fee Demo caused a round of substantial entrance fee increases. Under the FLREA the NPS is raising fees yet again, by 100% in many cases.
– Audit the agencies’ budgets and mandate that 75% of Congressionally appropriated recreation funding gets to the ground. The Forest Service, for instance, has had its national recreation funding increased by 22% over the last decade while, according to local FS managers, local funding has decreased by as much as 50%. The WSNFC currently estimates that, at best, as little as 18% of Congressionally appropriated funding for Forest Service recreation actually gets to the ground.
It’s been two years since the FLREA was attached as a rider on a spending bill. All the public has to show for it is agency policies that are pricing the public out of their public lands, policies that replace appropriated funding with fees at the local level, agencies that think they are above the law in charging fees outside the FLREA’s authority, and the decommissioning of thousands of campgrounds, picnic areas and trails.
Whom to contact:
Call and/or fax your own representative and senators, as well as the new committee chairs below.
There is no deadline for these contacts – please keep calls and faxes going to DC through mid-February or later.
House and Senate Committee Chair Contact Info:
Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM) – Chairman Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Phone: 202-224-5521
Fax: 202-224-2852
Senator Ron Wyden (OR) – Chairman Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee
Phone: 202-224-5244
Fax: 202-228-2717
Senator Daniel Akaka (HI) – Chairman National Park Subcommittee
Phone: 202-224-6361
Fax: 202-224-2126
Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) – Chairman Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
Phone: 202-224-3841
Fax: 202-228-3954
Rep. Nick Rahall (WV) – Chairman House Natural Resources Committee
Phone: 202-225-3452
Fax: 202-225-9061
Rep. Norman Dicks (WA) – Chairman House Interior Appropriations Committee
Phone: 202-225-5916
Fax: 202-226-1176
Please forward this alert to others who might be interested.
8. Investigations in Washington, DC
Target Former Interior Official and
Oil & Gas Royalties
In the past, we wrote about J. Steven Griles, the former Deputy Secretary of the Interior who had formerly been a lobbyist for oil & gas and mining companies. He was the subject of an ethical investigation while at the Department and had promised not to have contact with his former clients.
On January 10, the Washington Post reported that Mr. Griles had been informed that he was the subject of an investigation in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal investigation. The subject of the investigation appears to be job offers from Mr. Abramoff to Mr. Griles as well as contributions to an advocacy group run by a personal friend of Mr. Griles.
Another investigation, this one by the Inspector General at the Interior Department, has found that officials there possibly covered up irregularities in the collection of oil & gas royalties. Leases in the Gulf of Mexico should have brought in an estimated $10 billion, but the Minerals Management Service left out standard language in the leases to trigger the payment of those royalties.
One is left wondering if the resignations of Interior Secretary Gale Norton and more recently BLM Director Kathleen Clarke were mere coincidences. (It was recently announced that Ms. Norton has found new employment with Shell Oil Company.)
9. New Chief of the Forest Service
Earlier this month, Dale Bosworth announced he was retiring as Chief of the Forest Service. Mr. Bosworth was instrumental in overturning the Roadless Rule and opening forest lands to oil & gas development and increased timber sales.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns appointed Gail Kimbell to be the 16th Chief of the Forest. Ms. Kimbell was in charge of forest in northern Idaho, Montana, and North & South Dakota before her appointment. She is also the first woman to be appointed Chief.
10. Job Opportunities with the BLM
In California & Nevada: Weed Warriors
BLM Announces Openings for Summer “Weed Warrior” Jobs
The Bureau of Land Management has announced summer job openings for “weed warriors” who will work to combat the spread of invasive and noxious weeds on public land in northeast California and far northwest Nevada
The BLM’s Alturas, Surprise (Cedarville) and Eagle Lake (Susanville) field offices plan to fill nine positions for a work season that begins in mid May and runs for up to six months. The agency expects to fill five jobs in Susanville and two each in the Alturas and Cedarville locations.
Applications must be filed via the internet by Friday, Feb. 23.
Job descriptions and applications are available at https://jobs1.quickhire.com/scripts/BLM.exe . Jobs are listed under the title Range Aid/Technician (Weeds), under the announcement number NHRMC-2007-0016.
Weed warriors work in rugged back country locations to locate, map and apply treatments to weeds that threaten wildlife habitat and productivity of the land. Crews work four 10-hour days per week. Members must be able to operate manual-transmission four-wheel-drive pickup trucks. They should have strong communication and map reading skills. Experience with global positioning systems equipment is helpful.
Because work is performed in hot weather and in rugged terrain, crew members must be in good physical condition.
For more information contact:
Mike Dolan in the Alturas Field Office, (530) 233-4666;
Alan Uchida in the Surprise Field Office, (530) 279-6101; or
Josh Gibbs in the Eagle Lake Field Office, (530) 252-5318