October 31, 2002
Dear CalUWild friends —
It’s been another quiet month in terms of action items, but there are a few items of interest, nevertheless.
The wilderness community mourns the death last week of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone. He was an ardent champion of wilderness preservation around the West, in addition to being an outspoken proponent of other environmental and social justice issues. Sen. Wellstone will be missed greatly.
There is some good news, however. On Wednesday, a federal court in Washington, DC, temporarily stopped seismic exploration outside Arches National Park in Utah. The judge will look at claims by SUWA, NRDC, and The Wilderness Society that the BLM violated environmental laws by allowing the seismic contractor to begin without taking all the negative consequences into account.
In other court news, an appeals court in Washington, DC, threw out a challenge to the creation of national monuments by former president Bill Clinton. The court upheld Clinton’s use of the 1906 Antiquities Act to create the Giant Sequoia NM in California. The ruling applies to the other monuments named in the case: Cascade-Siskiyou in Oregon; Hanford Reach in Washington state; the Grand Canyon-Parashant, Ironwood Forest and Sonoran Desert in Arizona; and the Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado.
Gifford Pinchot, first chief of the US Forest said: “The vast possibilities of our great future will become realities only if we make ourselves responsible for that future.” Remember to vote on November 5!
Finally, CalUWild is officially 5 years old–we got our start at the 1997 California Wilderness Coalition fundraiser. (See item 5 for this year’s announcement.) We have about 500 dedicated members and supporters around the state, and a few outside California as well. When Keith Hammond, Vicky Hoover and I started the organization, we had no idea where it would lead. We’ve become a strong voice for grassroots citizen involvement in wilderness and public lands management. And we’re a model for organizations in other states as well. Thank you for helping us get as far as we have!
Best wishes,
Mike
IN UTAH
1. Salt Creek in Canyonlands NP Remains Closed to Traffic
ACTION ITEM
2. A Few Cosponsors Short for America’s Redrock Wilderness Act
ACTION ITEM
IN NEVADA
3. Clark County Wilderness Bill Passes
IN CALIFORNIA
4. Wild Heritage Campaign Update
5. California Wilderness Coalition Fundraiser
November 14 in Oakland
IN GENERAL
6. Land Exchanges in the News
=========================
IN UTAH
1. Salt Creek in Canyonlands NP Remains Closed to Traffic
ACTION ITEM
Earlier this month, Canyonlands National Park followed through on its
preferred alternative, deciding to keep Salt Creek Canyon closed to
vehicles. This issue has been ongoing for several years now, and CalUWild
has reported on it and requested comments from you several times, the last
time in July of this year.
This is great news! Salt Creek is the only stream in Canyonlands that runs
year around; thus it provides crucial wildlife habitat. Additionally, easy
vehicle access threatens the many archaeological resources in the canyon.
As reported in the July UPDATE, the Park Service has also made a
preliminary determination that the RS 2477 road claim made by San Juan
County is unfounded. This matter is currently in court, and will be decided
in the next few month. We’ll keep you posted.
You can read more about the decision at:
http://www.nps.gov/cany/pphtml/newseventsdetail5783.html
Please write a letter of thanks to:
Mr. Jerry Banta
Superintendent
Canyonlands National Park
2282 S. West Resource Boulevard
Moab, UT 84532-3298
2. A Few Cosponsors Short for America’s Redrock Wilderness Act
ACTION ITEM
America’s Redrock Wilderness Act currently has 17 cosponsors in the US
Senate and 162 in the House. While the Senate count is a new record for
this legislation, the House tally falls 7 short of the previous record of
169.
Congress will be coming back for a lame duck session after the election
next week, so it can’t hurt to call your representatives if they aren’t on
the bill yet. Here in California we have 27 representatives signed on, a
record. However, there are a few who might still make the list:
Joe Baca (D-42)
Gary Condit (D-18)
Cal Dooley (D-20)
Steve Horn (R-38)
Tom Lantos (D-12)
Maybe even Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D)!
If your rep is a cosponsor and you haven’t sent a thank you letter, please
do so:
Xavier Becerra (D-30)
Howard Berman (D-26)
Lois Capps (D-22)
Susan Davis (D-49)
Anna Eshoo (D-14)
Sam Farr (D-17)
Bob Filner (D-50)
Jane Harman (D-36)
Mike Honda (D-15)
Barbara Lee (D-09)
Zoe Lofgren (D-16)
Robert Matsui (D-05)
Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-37)
George Miller (D-07)
Grace Napolitano (D-34)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-33)
Loretta Sanchez (D-46)
Adam Schiff (D-27)
Brad Sherman (D-24)
Hilda Solis (D-31)
Pete Stark (D-13)
Ellen Tauscher (D-10)
Mike Thompson (D-01)
Maxine Waters (D-35)
Diane Watson (D-32)
Henry Waxman (D-29)
Lynn Woolsey (D-06)
IN NEVADA
3. Clark County Wilderness Bill Passes
On October 17, the U.S. Senate passed the Clark County Conservation of
Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002, just a day after the House
of Representatives had passed a companion bill. This legislation created 18
new Wilderness areas, totaling about 452,000 acres in southern Nevada.
Pres. Bush is expected to sign the bill next week.
This bill protects BLM, Park Service, and Forest Service lands around Las
Vegas, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.
In addition, the legislation created the Sloan Canyon National Conservation
Area and provided for the mineral withdrawal of about 800,000 acres in
areas of critical environmental concern, until the BLM can make the
withdrawal permanent.
This is just the successful beginning of a drive to designate more
wilderness in the Silver State.
For more information on Nevada Wilderness, visit the Friends of Nevada
Wilderness at:
http://www.nevadawilderness.org
IN CALIFORNIA
4. Wild Heritage Campaign Update
Sen. Boxer’s Wild Heritage Act of 2002 continues to attract support from
around the state–except from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has yet to support
it formally. As a Hallowe’en treat, the Campaign delivered 20,000 postcards
in support of protecting wilderness in our state to her offices in San
Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Additionally, as we’ve reported, the
Campaign is conducting a petition drive for people to express to Sen.
Feinstein their support for protecting some of California’s remaining wild
places.
You may sign the petition online at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/Wild-Places/
Or if you would like to circulate it, download a PDF version from:
http://www.californiawild.org/pdf/FeinsteinPetition.pdf
Additionally, a letter to Sen. Feinstein is being circulated to businesses
in support of wilderness. As of 5 p.m. today, 233 had signed on. If you are
a business owner, or know someone who might be interested in signing on,
please contact Dave Westman at the Sierra Club in Oakland at:
510-622-0290 x-220
or by email at:
dave.westman@sierraclub.org
Only 17 more signatures are needed in the next week to meet the goal of 250!
5. California Wilderness Coalition Fundraiser
November 14 in Oakland
Every Fall, the California Wilderness Coalition has a fundraising reception
to celebrate the year’s accomplishments preserving California’s wild
places. This year the event will be held at:
Earthjustice
Thursday, November 14
426 – 17th Street, 6th Floor
Oakland
7 – 9 p.m.
California printmaker Tom Killion will discuss his new book The High Sierra
of California, written with poet Gary Snyder. Killion has adapted
traditional Japanese woodblock printing methods to produce marvelous prints
of California’s natural heritage.
Suggested donation is $75, but all contributions are welcome. Please RSVP
to CWC at 530-758-0380 by November 8.
IN GENERAL
6. Land Exchanges in the News
One of the biggest scandals in public lands management has been the way
land exchanges have been handled.
State and federal agencies may wish to exchange ownership of land with a
state for various reasons: it is impractical for an agency to manage a
particular parcel, state lands may be inside national monument boundaries,
etc. The exchanges are supposed to be fairly valued: the value of the real
estate on each side should be roughly equal. This has not always been the
case, however, and in the last few years exchanges have come under close
scrutiny. Two of the principal watchdogs have been Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER) in Washington, DC, and the Western Land
Exchange Project, based in Seattle, WA.
There have been several exchanges in Utah recently: in the Grand
Staircase-Escalante NM, the state trust lands I in the monument were
transferred to the BLM for other lands around the state (with more
development potential); and an exchange was recently approved in the House
for the San Rafael Swell.
The New York Times reported on October 12 that in one exchange in Nevada, a
developer acquired 70 acres of BLM land that the agency had valued at
$763,000, then sold it the next day for $4.6 million.
Some employees within BLM have complained that exchanges weren’t being
fairly valued–usually the federal lands were undervalued, giving states a
windfall. These employees were generally ignored by the BLM.
The Appraisal Foundation, a body which sets real estate appraisal standards
and qualifications issued a report at the end of September blasting the BLM
for the way it handles exchanges. Titled “Evaluation of the Appraisal
Organization of the Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management,” the
report found numerous violations of law and charged that the appraisal
process was often politicized. The report called for a moratorium on
exchanges, a Justice Department investigation into legal violations, and
the formation of a board to oversee evaluations and exchanges in the
Department of the Interior.
Coincidentally or not, the BLM has removed two of the officials who were in
charge of exchanges: Ray Brady, Realty Lands & Realty Manager and David
Cavanaugh, Chief Appraiser.
If you’d like more information, the Western Land Exchange Project and
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sent out a press release
when the report was issued. You may read it online at:
http://www.peer.org/press/282.html
You may download a copy of the report at:
http://www.peer.org/appraisal_report.pdf
(WARNING: It’s a huge file)
or you may request a copy from PEER:
2001 S Street, NW, Suite 570
Washington DC 20009
202-265-7337
For more information on PEER, visit:
For more information on the Western Land Exchange Project, visit:
http://www.westlx.org/
God bless America. Let’s save some of it.
–Edward Abbey
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Michael J. Painter
Coordinator
Californians for Western Wilderness
P.O. Box 210474
San Francisco, CA 94121-0474
415-752-3911
mike@caluwild.org
caluwild@mindspring.com
(undergoing renovation)
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