February 22, 2010
Dear CalUWild friends —
There is only one ACTION ITEM this month, so I’ll call your attention to a few articles of interest that have appeared in the last couple of weeks.
One of our favorite organizations, and one we mention frequently, is Great Old Broads for Wilderness. The Christian Science Monitor recently printed an article on the Broads and its executive director Ronni Egan, which you can read here.
National Parks Traveler is a website that follows all sorts of topics related to the National Park System. It recently published an article looking at wilderness in the parks and at proposals for completing the system. A second article there deals with the history of Canyonlands National Park in Utah and the prospects for enlarging it, so its boundaries better conform to the landscape. They’re both interesting and worth reading.
Don’t forget to check out the website for the 2010 Western Wilderness Conference at UC Berkeley, April 8-11. And plan to attend if you’re able. California Wilderness Coalition, Sierra Club, Wilderness Watch, The Wilderness Society, Great Old Broads, and CalUWild have put a lot of time and effort into planning it — it promises to be a great event!
Finally, sincere thanks to everyone who sent in their annual membership contributions to CalUWild. If you haven’t gotten around to it, it’s not too late! We appreciate contributions of any size and promise to put them to good use. A membership form may be found here — please print and mail it in with your gift. Thanks!
But more importantly, thanks for your interest in protecting the public lands of the West!
Mike
IN GENERAL
1. INTERIOR DEPARTMENT CONSIDERING
NEW NATIONAL MONUMENTS
ON BLM LANDS
IN CALIFORNIA
2. MENDOCINO COUNTY COAST
ADDITIONS TO NLCS
3. SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN FOR
STATE PARK FUNDING INITIATIVE
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
(ACTION ITEM)
IN GENERAL
4. JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH
CONSERVATION COORDINATOR
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IN GENERAL
1. INTERIOR DEPARTMENT CONSIDERING
NEW NATIONAL MONUMENTS
ON BLM LANDS
The big news of the last week was that the BLM and Secretary of the Interior are looking at possible expansion of the National Landscape Conservation System, with a list of 14 areas that might be considered for designation as national monuments and three more as conservation areas.
Already, the possibility is causing controversy. In fact, the proposal came to light when two western Republican congressmen, Rob Bishop (R-UT, and Ranking Minority Member of the House Natural Resources Committee) and Doc Hastings (R-WA), leaked and posted a supposedly “secret” Interior Department internal memo hoping to pre-emptively head off the possibility. The Interior Department responded, saying these are very preliminary possibilities and that the list is merely of areas that could be looked at for possible eventual inclusion in the NLCS.
The monument areas mentioned in the memo are:
San Rafael Swell, Utah
Northern Prairie, Montana
Lesser Prairie Chicken Preserve, New Mexico
Berryessa Snow Mountains, California
Heart of the Great Basin, Nevada
Otero Mesa, New Mexico
Northwest Sonoran Desert, Arizona
Owyhee Desert, Oregon/Nevada
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (expansion), California
Vermillion Basin, Colorado
Bodie Hills, California
Modoc Plateau, California
Cedar Mesa, Utah
San Juan Islands, Washington
For a New York Times map of the West showing these areas, click here. The Times also ran an article on the history of controversy over monument designations in the West. (Free registration may be required on the NY Times site.)
Many in the interior West have not forgotten (or forgiven) Bill Clinton and his establishment of the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument in Utah in 1996. They want to be certain that a “land grab,” as they term it, doesn’t happen again. (Of course, these designations are not lands grabs, because the land is already federal land, meaning that it’s owned by all Americans and managed by the federal government. But that is not stopping some Utah legislators. Two state legislators recently proposed a bill that would authorize the state to institute eminent proceedings against federal lands in Utah.)
The Times article states:
The fury is nothing new. In 1969, for example, the town of Boulder, Utah, passed a resolution changing its name to Johnson’s Folly, and predicted the town’s demise after President Lyndon B. Johnson added thousands of acres to Arches and Capitol Reef National Monuments, which were both later designated national parks by Congress.
The town later reverted to its original name, and on its Web site the Boulder Business Group now proudly calls the town the “gateway to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.”
Secretary Salazar met with Utah’s governor Gary Herbert yesterday in Washington and assured him that no decisions would be made regarding designations without consultation with local officials.
There are four possibilities mentioned for California, as well as in other states, where Sagebrush Rebellion attitudes are not as entrenched, so opposition to more monument designations is not necessarily West-wide.
The three additional conservation areas mentioned are: Bristol Bay and Teshekpuk Lake, both in Alaska, and the Red Desert in Wyoming.
Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt instituted the NLCS in 2000. It is made up of some of the BLM lands in the West with exceptional scientific, cultural, and/or ecological characteristics. The System was formally codified in the 2009 Omnibus Public Lands Bill and covers some 27 million acres and over 8,000 miles of Wild & Scenic Rivers and Scenic or Historic Trails.
IN CALIFORNIA
2. MENDOCINO COUNTY COAST
ADDITIONS TO NLCS
Speaking of additions to the NLCS, on Wednesday the House Natural Resources Committee will hold a markup hearing on H.R. 4192, The Stornetta Public Lands Outstanding Natural Area Act. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-1) introduced the legislation late last year, which would include the Stornetta Public Lands in the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System.
These are 1,132 acres adjacent to Pt. Arena and Manchester State Beach in Mendocino County, which were bought by The Nature Conservancy and donated to BLM for conservation purposes. The Stornetta family owned and continues to use some of the land for dairy and agriculture via a grazing lease until 2014. BLM has a conservation easement on an additional 580 acres.
If the area is protected, perhaps it will facilitate the designation of Wild & Scenic River status on the nearby Garcia River.
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-6) has signed onto the bill as a cosponsor.
3. SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN FOR
STATE PARK FUNDING INITIATIVE
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
(ACTION ITEM)
Although we mostly cover federal public lands issues, we’ve written several items over the last year or so about the funding crisis facing California’s state park system. There is a signature drive starting up to place an initiative on the November ballot that would add $18 to California auto registration fees, which would fund the parks and allow Californians free entrance to our parks.
Many organizations such as CalUWild, the Sierra Club, and the California Wilderness Coalition are supporting this effort. The following alert from CWC gives more information on how you can become involved in the campaign to collect signatures:
Dear Wilderness Supporter,
It’s no secret our State Park System is in big trouble. Lack of funding threatens our State Parks with inadequate maintenance, periodic or even permanent closures, damage by invasive plant species, trespass by inappropriate users and marijuana growers, and even illegal development.
Your help is needed now to qualify an initiative to provide adequate funding for the State Park System, which includes wilderness, such as at Anza Borrego and Henry Coe. We need you to help gather signatures to place a measure on the ballot which would provide a permanent funding source for our State Parks. 700,000 signatures must be turned in by April so we need your help now.
This statewide ballot initiative would raise vehicle registration fees by $18 per year. The proceeds would go to a special fund for State Parks and Wildlife Refuges. By removing the need to provide General Funds to State Parks, the General Fund would be freed up for other uses like education.
In exchange for this small $18 fee, California vehicles would be allowed free day use in State Parks and Wildlife Refuges. Since day use entry often costs $10 or more and many Californians visit a State Park or Beach more than once a year, this is a very fair exchange.
Please respond to scstpks@gmail.com to volunteer to gather signatures one or more times between now and April. Please provide the following:
Name:____________________
Address:__________________
Phone Number:_____________
We will contact you.
With your help we can get this measure on the ballot, and pass it in November. Our State Parks need your help! Thank you.
IN GENERAL
4. JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH
CONSERVATION COORDINATOR
Our friends at Los Padres ForestWatch recently sent out the following job announcement.
LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH
CONSERVATION COORDINATOR
Click here for a pdf version of this job announcement.
Position Summary
Los Padres ForestWatch, a nonprofit conservation organization based in Santa Barbara, California, is seeking a Conservation Coordinator to join our expanding team. Now in our sixth year, ForestWatch is the only organization focused on protecting wildlife and wild places in the Los Padres National Forest, the Carrizo Plain National Monument, and other public lands along California’s central coast. The Conservation Coordinator will help us build on our successful track record of land conservation in our region.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
The Conservation Coordinator is a new position that involves a combination of conservation advocacy, field work, community outreach, and volunteer coordination. Specific responsibilities include:
1. Advocate for protection of wild places along California’s Central Coast.
· Write concise and accurate fact sheets, opinion pieces, internet and newsletter articles, and email action alerts, and communicate effectively with the media.
· Review development proposals and environmental documents and prepare written and/or oral comments on land use activities that may impact natural resources.
· Maintain positive working relationships with agency officials and decision-makers.
· Analyze information from land management agencies and present it to the public in an understandable and usable format.
2. Cultivate and engage conservation allies to build broad public support for protecting key wild places in the Los Padres National Forest.
· Build and maintain relationships with diverse forest user groups – including mountain bikers, rock climbers, hunters, anglers, and horseback riders – who may share our interest in protecting wild places.
· Foster relationships with private landowners in and around the National Forest.
· Encourage stakeholders to write letters and participate in land use decisions.
3. Collect field data, monitor land uses, coordinate volunteers, organize environmental restoration projects, and communicate with the public.
· Monitor land use activities (i.e. oil drilling, mining, logging, livestock grazing, vegetation clearing), collect field data, and communicate findings and conclusions to land managers and decision-makers.
· Develop and implement environmental restoration projects using volunteers.
· Attend public events and staff informational booths to enlist new supporters.
Other Requirements
We’re seeking someone who’s highly motivated, a quick learner, able to work independently and juggle multiple priorities and tasks, has excellent communication skills, and exceptional writing and research skills. Applicants should have a demonstrated passion for protecting wild places, along with a robust sense of humor. A bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, science, communications, public relations, political science, or related field is desired, but applicants with equivalent work experience will also be considered.
This position requires occasional work on evenings and weekends, traveling in remote areas (sometimes on dirt roads requiring four-wheel drive), and work in the field (including hiking several miles, removing barbed wire fencing, and other moderate physical labor). In addition, experience with GPS units and knowledge of ArcGIS and Google Earth is a plus.
Compensation
ForestWatch offers a competitive nonprofit salary in a stimulating, rewarding work environment, as well as health benefits and a generous paid vacation policy.
To Apply
This position is available immediately. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through February 28 or until the position is filled.
Please submit via email a cover letter describing your qualifications for this position, resume, writing sample, and the names and contact information of three references to info@LPFW.org
Los Padres ForestWatch is an equal opportunity employer. For more information about our conservation programs, visit our website at www.LPFW.org
LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH
POST OFFICE BOX 831
SANTA BARBARA, CA 93102