Juniper, Utah                                                                                                                                   (Mike Painter)

 
May 2016

Dear CalUWild friends and supporters—

There were a few developments this month with regard to wilderness and public lands around the West. And a good number of articles also appeared, updating issues we’ve covered before, such as the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation and Bundy trials, and others of general interest. Links are in the relevant items below and In the Press (Item 5).

In you’re in California, please vote in the June 7 Primary Election, remembering that there are other races and local issues needing attention, not just the presidential campaign.

Voters in the Bay Area have Measure AA on their ballots, which CalUWild, other conservation organizations, and most of the press support. It would levy a $12 a year parcel tax to fund restoration projects around the Bay. Many of the proposed projects have been approved, but funding has been lacking. Tideland and shoreline restoration can provide a buffer for anticipated rises in sea level.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote:

The Chronicle is beginning a series “Rising Reality,” examining the issues connected to the potential rise in the Bay. You can read it online, though so far it appears to be behind the Chronicle‘s paywall.

Local publication Bay Nature also editorialized in favor of the proposal: Yes on Measure AA.

 
An exhibition, Wild West: Plains to the Pacific, opens June 18 at the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The Fine Arts Museums describe it as follows:

It runs until September 11, 2016. For more information, click here.

 
As announced last month, I’ll be presenting a slideshow on Wild Utah in San Francisco on Thursday, June 2 for the Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. It will take place at the County Fair Building (formerly the Hall of Flowers), 9th Avenue & Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

 
Best wishes,
Mike

 
IN UTAH
1.   Red Rock Cosponsorship
          (ACTION ITEM)
2.   Public Lands Initiative & Rep. Rob Bishop
3.   Bears Ears Campaign
          (ACTION ITEM)

IN UTAH & CALIFORNIA
4.   Glen Canyon & Hetch Hetchy in the News

IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
5.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

IN UTAH
1.   Red Rock Cosponsorship
          (ACTION ITEM)

Every month, it seems, there’s one item that comes in needing to be incorporated into the Update, just as it’s ready to be sent out. This month is no exception, but at least it’s good news!

America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, H.R. 2430, gained two new co-sponsors recently, one of whom is from California. Eric Swalwell (D-15) joined 109 other representatives in addition to Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-47) of Long Beach, the lead sponsor and champion of the bill. Rep. Swalwell represents the East Bay cities of Hayward, Pleasanton, and Livermore.

If you live in Rep. Swalwell’s district, please send him a message of appreciation. A phone call is fine. Contact information for Rep. Swalwell:

House cosponsors from California in addition to Rep. Lowenthal are:

We’d still like to see the following California House members cosponsor H.R. 2430:

* cosponsor in a previous Congress

If your representative is on the first list, please contact them to say “thanks.” If on the second list, please ask them to become a cosponsor. A simple phone call will do, or send a note via an online comment form on the representative’s website. Complete contact information for representatives may be found by following the links here.

In the Senate, Barbara Boxer (D) continued her longtime cosponsorship. Please let her know your appreciation, too.

A full list of cosponsors nationwide may be found here.

 
2.   Public Lands Initiative & Rep. Rob Bishop

There’s not much new to report on the Public Lands Initiative (PLI). Early in the month, the White House reportedly asked the Utah congressional delegation to come to some consensus on its recommendations for management of the federal public lands in the state. Rep. Bob Bishop (R-UT) has been hoping to stop the administration from designating a Bears Ears National Monument (Item 3) by achieving a “grand bargain” with the PLI.

Rep. Bishop says he’ll be introducing a bill in Congress soon; however, public opposition to the PLI continues to be strong, which may be delaying him. The Grand County Council sent a letter to him this month, saying that its concerns with the draft had not been addressed. (For more details on the letter, click here.) With very few legislative days left in this Congress, given the November election and summer recess, it’s difficult to see a path to its consideration and passage. However, Mr. Bishop remains optimistic, citing his role as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) support in the Senate. We’ll keep you posted.

In other news concerning Rep. Bishop, his proposal last month to turn over 3,000 acres of Vieques National Wildlife Refuge to Puerto Rico as part of a debt relief bill for the territory was stripped from the legislation. Puerto Rico would have been free to sell of the land to private developers. (Sales such as that proposal are the probable outcome that opponents point to should Utah be successful in its quest to wrest control over our public lands from the federal government.) Vieques is reportedly the 4th-most popular refuge in the country and home to endangered sea turtles and manatees. Fierce opposition from many quarters was instrumental in preserving its integrity.

In a third development, Rep. Bishop has announced his opposition to a potential donation of more than 87,000 acres in Maine to the National Park Service for designation as a Maine Woods National Monument by Pres. Obama, using his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906. The donor would also establish a $40 million endowment to support the monument’s management. More than 200 local businesses have supported the proposal, and polls indicate that 2/3 of Maine’s residents do, as well. Rep. Bishop will visit Maine this week for a public meeting. Our friends at the Center for Western Priorities released this announcement last week: Four Things To Know About Congressman Rob Bishop’s Anti-Parks Agenda in Advance of his Visit to Maine.

Among the points is one we know well: Despite his claims to be concerned about local input, when affected citizens favor land protection, Rep. Bishop refuses to go along, whether in Maine or in Utah.

 
3.   Bears Ears Campaign
          (ACTION ITEM)

The campaign for the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument in Southeast Utah continues to generate controversy as it moves along. In mid-May, the Utah legislature passed a resolution opposing the creation of any monument by a vote of 64-10. Opponents of the monument are seizing on the fact that some members of the Aneth Chapter (local Navajo governing bodies) oppose the monument, as evidence of an overall lack of Navajo support. It’s the only one of the seven chapters in Utah that doesn’t support it.

One of their main claims is that they will be prevented from gathering firewood in the area once a monument is established. However, the proposal for the monument allows for traditional uses to continue, and in fact, when Pres. Obama designated the Rio Grande del Norte monument in New Mexico, he specifically included such language in his proclamations. So those fears appear to be unfounded.

Then last week there were reports that a forged letter with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s signature had been posted in various locations, such as the post office in the town of Bluff and gas stations in surrounding San Juan County. The letter claimed that the president would reduce the size of the Navajo Nation by more than 4 million acres.

In addition, pamphlets supposedly from Utah Diné Bikéyah (the Navajo group that began the Bears Ears campaign) were found inviting people to a celebration of the monument’s creation saying: “Everyone is invited except Utah Navajos. … Lots of good food will be provided by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Great Old Broads for Wilderness and Friends of Cedar Mesa.”

Finally, another letter—supposedly signed by a leader from another chapter, who in fact supports the campaign to designate the monument—warned again that firewood gathering and access for sacred activities would be curtailed.

Someone’s playing dirty tricks …

Surveys continue to show widespread support for the monument among Utahns.

High Country News published an article with excellent information on the historical efforts to protect the Bears Ears area: In Utah, the fight for a Bears Ears monument heats up

There have been many op-ed pieces and letters to the editor published in support of a monument designation. Here are links to two of the more interesting op-eds:

As an example of what could conceivably happen should federal public lands be turned over to the state of Utah, there’s this: Hole in the Rock Foundation asks Utah lands agency to auction area near Bears Ears—land sold off to the highest bidder, with no guarantee of continued public access to them.

If you haven’t already, please sign the Bears Ears Coalition’s online petition, and send a message of support to the White House and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell:

 
IN UTAH & CALIFORNIA
4.   Glen Canyon & Hetch Hetchy in the News

The construction of Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River, forming Lake Powell, and of O’Shaughnessy Dam on the Tuolumne River, creating Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park, were two of the 20th-century conservation movement’s most significant defeats. However, many people have held onto hope that both places might someday have their functioning ecosystems, if not landscape, restored. And in recent years, both have entered the realm of possibility. Mother Nature is giving a big boost to the efforts to decommission Glen Canyon Dam, and the legal system may assist with Hetch Hetchy.

In the case of Glen Canyon, ongoing severe drought is causing water levels to drop both there and in downstream Lake Mead, to the point where the loss of hydropower generating capacity at both of them is a real possibility. Studies of evaporation also show substantial water loss at Glen Canyon. A serious proposal has been made to decommission Glen Canyon Dam and allow the water stored there to be stored in Lake Mead instead. (It would have the added benefit of restoring the Grand Canyon’s ecosystem to something resembling its state before the river’s natural flows were cut off.)

The New York Times published a lengthy op-ed this month looking at the issue: Unplugging the Colorado River: Could the end be near for one of the West’s biggest dams? That article is excerpted from a series by ProPublica, Killing the Colorado. The Palm Springs Desert Sun also ran an article: Lake Mead declines to lowest level in history.

Last week, our friends at the Glen Canyon Institute made public a website devoted to picturing and mapping Glen Canyon as water levels drop, allowing side canyons to restore naturally. Here’s what they had to say:

 
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir has also been in the news recently. As we reported last year, Restore Hetch Hetchy filed suit in Superior Court in Tuolumne County, California, to have the dam declared an unreasonable method of diversion under the California Constitution. Late last month, the judge in the case dismissed the suit, ruling that the federal Raker Act, passed by Congress in 1913, authorizing the dam, pre-empted the claims and that the state constitutional provisions were enacted five year after the dam was built. Restore Hetch Hetchy has said it will appeal the decision.

High Country News published an article: Why Hetch Hetchy is staying under water. John Mirisch, the mayor of Beverly Hills, wrote an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee: Restore Hetch Hetchy Valley, help repair the world.

 
IN THE PRESS & ELSEWHERE
5.   Links to Articles and Other Items of Interest

If a link is broken or otherwise inaccessible, please send me an email, and I’ll fix it or send you a PDF copy. As always, inclusion of an item in this section does not imply agreement with the viewpoint expressed.

In the New York Times

Utah news

The push is on for a Grand Canyon National Monument

The Disappearing West

National Park News

Oregon Standoff-Related Items

Grazing

 
 
 
 
 
 
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