January 05, 2005
Dear Friends of CalUWild:
First of all: Happy New Year! Best wishes for a healthy 2005, with many opportunities to enjoy the wilderness!
We expect 2005 to be a busy year, with mostly defensive efforts necessary to keep our lands wild and protected from significant impacts. As usual, the administrative agencies (Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and Park Service) and Congress will be the main focus of our activities, as will the media, through letters to the editor. Remember, CalUWild’s one membership requirement is to write at least one letter a month in support of wild lands protection.
We’ll do our best to help you be effective advocates.
There was very good news on the California wilderness front after our December UPDATE. The North Coast Wild Heritage Act, the bill designating wilderness in the first congressional district, passed the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, the House adjourned without taking up it or much other legislation, so the bill will be re-introduced early in the 109th Congress. But the Senate passage is good news, nevertheless, making passage in the new Congress much more likely.
There was also good news for Nevada wilderness when Pres. Bush signed the Lincoln County bill, designating 760,000 acres of wilderness in that county. Other provisions of that bill, dealing with water rights-of-way and land exchanges, were opposed by many conservationists. Overall, the legislation was a decidedly mixed bag.
In the bad news department, the House and Senate passed the omnibus appropriations bill with its load of harmful environmental riders largely intact (see the December UPDATE ). This means that the Fee Demonstration Program is permanent until legislation can be passed to get rid of it. We will not be giving up on that front.
This past weekend, Rep. Robert Matsui (D-05, Sacramento) died in Washington, DC. He was a longtime co-sponsor of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act and was also responsible for protecting the American River from Auburn Dam. Our condolences to his family and staff.
There are just two, very short items, below, allowing you to ease into the new year.
Thanks for all your efforts,
Mike
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IN ARIZONA
1. Colorado River Management Plan Grand Canyon National Park
Comment Period Extended
Deadline: February 1, 2005
(ACTION ITEM)
IN ALASKA
2. Calls & Letters Needed
Opposing Opening Up Arctic Wildlife Refuge For Energy Exploration
(ACTION ITEM)
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IN ARIZONA
Colorado River Management Plan
Grand Canyon National Park
Comment Period Extended
Deadline: February 1, 2005
(ACTION ITEM)
As discussed in full detail in the November 2004 UPDATE , the National Park Service is looking for comments on its Draft Colorado River Management Plan. The original deadline of January 7 has now been extended to February 1, 2005. If you haven’t submitted comments, please do. See the November UPDATE for suggestions and other information.
One thing to remember about comments and deadlines: if you miss a deadline, you should submit your comments anyway. Legally, the agency may not have to respond to your comment in its final document, but it is still required to take the information you provide into account in its decisionmaking process. Better late than never!
IN ALASKA
2. Calls & Letters Needed
Opposing Opening Up Arctic Wildlife Refuge For Energy Exploration
(ACTION ITEM)
The Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress are once again banging the drum regarding making the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge accessible to oil & gas exploration. While no formal legislative proposals have been put forward so far, now is the time to let your representatives and newspapers know pre-emptively that the Arctic Refuge is a special place that deserves protection. The wildlife and wilderness values it possesses far outweigh the short-term energy to be gained by drilling there. And the impact on the native Gwich’in people would be incalculable. Please write or fax your senators and representative and your local newspaper, telling them that the United States need a sensible energy policy, not one which includes destroying important parts of our environment.
Contact information for Congress can be found on the CalUWild web site at: https://www.caluwild.org/advocacy2.htm.
However, with a new Congress beginning, some offices may have moved. We have not yet had a chance to update the information there, so it might be a good idea to call offices to confirm mailing addresses. Phone numbers usually do not change. We will update the web site as soon as possible.
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God bless America. Let’s save some of it.
–Edward Abbey