26 Million Acres in Jeopardy: HR 2016 Up For Vote This Week

The House Natural Resource Committee has sent HR 2016, the National Landscape Conservation System bill, to the House floor and could be voted on as early as today. The measure would place 26 million acres under jurisdiction of the National Park Service in the 13 Western States, and could lead to the end of multiple-use on much of those lands. The legislation codifies a system that former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt initiated in 2000. It includes 17 National Conservation Areas, 15 National Monuments, 38 Wild and Scenic Rivers, 161 Wilderness Acres, 5203 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails, and 604 Wilderness Study Areas -- all in the 13 Western States. Not surprisingly, the bill sponsors are predominantly from the east, and no member from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Utah or Wyoming is cosponsors. These five states alone have 82% of the Wild and Scenic Rivers, 62% of the National Historic Trails, 45% of the Wilderness Study Areas, and 33% of the National Scenic Trails. Specifically, HR 2016 will: 1. Codify by statute the NLCS, adding an additional layer of bureaucracy to traditionally multi-use BLM lands in the restrictive fashion of the National Park Service. 2. Elevates "protecting the values for which the components of the system were designated," above existing management requirements, placing a higher value on "landscape preservation" than what the existing law provides. 3. Elevates the purposes of "conserve, protect, restore" above other purposes. 4. Management requirements set forth in the bill are vague, opening an invitation for environmental groups to unduly influence how the lands will be managed. 5. Authorizes land managers to trump access rights and productive uses if viewed to conflict with "protecting the values" for which the land was designated. 6. Contains no provision where local governments can raise and address local impacts. The Bush administration has shown no interest in protecting the multiple-use status of the 26 million acres either, as Interior Secretary Kempthorne's staff was sent to testify in favor of the measure. The Senate has already passed the companion bill out of committee, where it is also waiting for a floor vote. It is imperative to contact your Representative immediately asking them to vote against HR 2016. Any Congressman can be reached by calling 202-225-3121. Don't delay. Remember, the bill could come up for a vote anytime this week, including today, so call immediately. 2. Elevates "protecting the values for which the components of the system were designated," above existing management requirements, placing a higher value on "landscape preservation" than what the existing law provides. 3. Elevates the purposes of "conserve, protect, restore" above other purposes. 4. Management requirements set forth in the bill are vague, opening an invitation for environmental groups to unduly influence how the lands will be managed. 5. Authorizes land managers to trump access rights and productive uses if viewed to conflict with "protecting the values" for which the land was designated. 6. Contains no provision where local governments can raise and address local impacts. The Bush administration has shown no interest in protecting the multiple-use status of the 26 million acres either, as Interior Secretary Kempthorne's staff was sent to testify in favor of the measure. The Senate has already passed the companion bill out of committee, where it is also waiting for a floor vote. It is imperative to contact your Representative immediately asking them to vote against HR 2016. Any Congressman can be reached by calling 202-225-3121. Don't delay. Remember, the bill could come up for a vote anytime this week, including today, so call immediately. ALERT " Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 Fax: 360-687-2973 E-mail: alra@pacifier.com Web Address: www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE Washington, DC 20003 BLM Land Grab Testimony Deadline Thursday, June 21st. >>All Out Call To Action<< Congress trying to pass into law The Babbitt National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) (HR 2016) (S 1139). A one-page letter from you will help stop HR 2016. Please act fast. Please forward this message quickly and as widely as possible. The NLCS Essentially Places A National Park Type Overlay Over Millions Of Acres Of BLM Land. Multiple-Use and private property will be eliminated or threatened. The Babbitt National Landscape Conservation System (HR 2016) threatens: -----Multiple-Use in BLM areas; -----Convert Wilderness Study Areas into Wilderness; -----Access to BLM area; -----Oil and Gas exploration; -----Miners and mineral exploration; -----Off-Highway Vehicle Use; -----Private Property inside and adjacent to BLM area; -----All kinds of recreation like shooting, hunting and rock collecting; -----Hunting for some is essential to their survival; -----Sightseeing; -----River rafting; -----Grazing; -----Forestry and logging; -----Many more types of recreation. The list could go on and on. You still have time to e-mail or fax in a one page or more letter as testimony against HR 2016. This will be a disaster for BLM multiple-use lands. The House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee held a hearing on June 7th. You have until Thursday, June 21st to send your testimony by fax or e-mail. Below are listed all the Members of the Natural Resources Committee including their fax and e-mail addresses. Be sure to say at the top of your letter: *****Action Items***** *****What You Should Do Now! -----1. Write a one page letter (or more) opposing HR 2016. Mark it at the top in the Subject Line: Testimony, HR 2016, National Landscape Conservation System. E-mail it to the Committee Chairman -- Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) FAX: (202) 226-2301 e-mail it to his staff at: david.watkins@mail.house.gov -----2. Important: E-mail a copy to the Ranking Minority Member Rob Bishop (R-UT) by sending it to his staff (casey.hammond@mail.house.gov). Be sure to label your e-mail in the subject line as Testimony on HR 2016. Please send it by Thursday, June 21st. Don't worry. If you are late, send it anyway. They will likely accept it. -----3. Send a copy of your testimony to your Congressman by e-mail or fax and tell him or her to oppose the NLCS Land Grab (HR 2016). Write: Honorable___________ US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. Send it by fax or e-mail. Mark it Testimony on HR 2016. It is too late to use the US Mail. Call any Congressman at (202) 225-3121 to ask for his best e-mail address. -----4. Send a copy of your testimony or letter to both your Senators. Write: Honorable _________, US Senate, Washington, DC 20510. You should call immediately. Any Senator can be called at (202) 224-3121. Ask for their fax and e-mail. The Senate bill, S 1139, has already passed out of Committee. It could be voted on any time. Ask your Senator to commit to block the bill. He or she can do that if they want. -----5. Send copies of your testimony to other members of the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee. A complete list is at the end of the e-mail. ***Congress Seeks To Codify New NLCS Land Grab -- (Portions from Federal Parks and Recreation Newsletter) -- Seventeen House members from both parties teamed up in April to introduce legislation (HR 2016) that would give the National Landscape Conservation System official Congressional certification. The system, administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), was created administratively by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt during the Clinton years. In June 2000 the Interior Department under the guidance of former Secretary Bruce Babbitt established the 26 million acre NLCS in BLM to protect special areas. The NLCS consists of major conservation areas in 12 western states, including 15 national monuments, 13 national conservation areas, Steens Mountain area in Oregon, Headwaters Forest Reserve in northern California, 36 wild and scenic rivers, 148 wilderness areas, 4,264 miles of national trails, and more than 600 wilderness study areas. Making the NLCS permanent threatens recreation, access, grazing, mining, oil and gas and many other uses. Gradually these areas will be turned into parks with traditional uses strangled and roads cut off. Private property owners and inholders in the areas can say so long to their property rights. You will see new areas nominated for NLCS status gradually eroding BLM multiple-use. Four Democratic senators introduced counterpart legislation (S 1139) April 18. Said chief sponsor of the Senate bill, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), "Given the broad public support for these areas, I expect this bill to be non-controversial and it is my hope that it will be able to move quickly through the Congress and enactment into law." Bingaman chairs the Senate Energy Committee. Non-Controversial? Take a look at the Republicans sponsoring HR 2016. You need to bury them with calls. The four lead House sponsors of HR 2016, all co-chairs of an NLCS caucus, are Reps. Mary Bono (R-CA), Rick Renzi (R-AZ), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Jim Moran (D-VA). Reps. Bono and Renzi need to receive lots of contacts. The others are not likely to change their position. Creating this massive new conservation area program (read land grab) will take money especially from the National Park Service that is way behind in deferred maintenance and other uses. The NLCS will eventually become a huge new agency with thousands of additional bureaucrats added over time. A new National Park Service. Any promises made when these areas like Steens Mountain and the Missouri Breaks National Monument as well as the Grand Staircase National Monument and many others were created will be conveniently forgotten as more and more regulations are added. The NLCS will become park-like and each area will be gradually managed like a park. Gradually existing uses will be strangled out of existence. Supporters of the NLCS insist they are not competing with other conservation programs for fiscal 2008 appropriations. One said, "We do want to see a shift in the funding priorities of the BLM itself. Specifically, the oil and gas program of the BLM has become the dominant program of the BLM at the expense of some the best lands and waters of the American West." It is the nature of the Congressional appropriations process that money for all programs in the Interior appropriations bill comes out of the same pot and the programs compete with each other. One of the sponsors of the bill to codify the NLCS, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO), said the measure would not affect management of lands or existing rights or public access. Added Salazar, "The bill does, however, recognize that these landscapes are of great interest to the American people and should be managed to protect their values." Does anyone believe setting up the NLCS would not change the management of these areas? If that were true, why would Congress want to do it? American Land Rights will be sending out thousands of faxes, letters and e-mails to alert landowners, rural communities and allies about the danger and work to build more allies in the new Congress to stop the NLCS from passing. Please support the grassroots group of your choice. We all need your help. It is critical that private property owners and Federal land users make a big push now to head off this attack on private property and access to Federal lands. It is so much cheaper to fight it now. If it becomes law, you lose. Hit it hard now. Call, write and fax your Senators and Congressman. You may call any Congressman and Senator at (202) 225-3121. Here is the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee. All can be called at the Capital Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. You can fax the committee office at (202) 226-7736. Minority Members (Republicans) Ranking Minority Member: Rob Bishop (R-UT) Fax: (202) 225-5857 e-mail: casey.hammond@mail.house.gov John Duncan (R-TN) FAX (202) 225-6440 -- e-mail: scott.fischer@mail.house.gov Chris Cannon (R-UT) FAX (202) 225-5629 e-mail: matthew.landoli@mail.house.gov Tom Tancredo (R-CO) FAX (202) 226-4623 e-mail: Macarthur.Zimmerman@mail.house.gov Jeff Flake (R-AZ) FAX -- (202) 226-4386 e-mail: chandler.morse@mail.house.gov Rick Renzi (R-AZ) FAX (202) 226-9739 e-mail: jim.lester@mail.house.gov Steve Pearce (R-NM) FAX (202) 225-9599 e-mail: tim.charters@mail.house.gov Henry Brown (R-SC) FAX (202) 225-3407 e-mail: chris.berardini@mail.house.gov. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) FAX (202) 226-5866 e-mail: Ashley.callen@mail.house.gov Tom Cole (R-OK) FAX -- (202) 225-3512 e-mail: scott.parman@mail.house.gov Dean Heller (R-NV) FAX (202) 225-5697 e-mail: leeann.walker@mail.house.gov William Sali (R-ND) FAX (202) 225-3029 e-mail: matthew.hite@mail.house.gov Douglas Lamborn (R-CO) (202) 226-2638 e-mail: melissa.carlson@mail.house.gov Don Young (R-AK) -- FAX (202) 225-0425 e-mail: Pamela.day@mail.house.gov Majority Members (Democrats): Chairman -- Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) (202) 226-2301 e-mail: david.watkins@mail.house.gov Dale Kildee (D-MI) FAX (202) 225-6393 e-mail: travis.talvitie@mail.house.gov Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)FAX (202) 225-4580e-mail: wendy.clerinx@mail.hoouse.gov Donna Christensen (D-VI) FAX (202) 225-5517 e-mail: brian.modeste@mail.house.gov Rush Holt (D-NJ) FAX ­­­­ (202) 225-6025 e-mail: christopher.hartmann@mail.house.gov David Daniel Boren (D-OK) FAX (202) 225-3038 e-mail: Jason.buckner@mail.house.gov John Sarbanes (D-MD) FAX (202) 225-9219 e-mail: Jason.Gleason@mail.house.gov Peter DeFazio (D-OR) FAX (202) 225-0032 e-mail: susan.brown@mail.house.gov Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) ­­-- FAX (202) 226-0774 e-mail: moira.campion@mail.house.gov Ron Kind (D-WI) FAX (202) 225-5739 e-mail: david.degennaro@mail.house.gov Lois Capps (D-CA)­ -- FAX (202) 225-5632 e-mail: jonathan.levenshus@mailhouse.gov Jay Inslee (D-WA) ­­ FAX (202) 226-1606 e-mail: garth.vanmeter@mail.house.gov Mark Udall (D-CO -- FAX (202) 226-7840 e-mail: stan.sloss@mail.house.gov Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) FAX (202) 225-5823 e-mail: josh.albert@mail.house.gov Heath Shuler (D-NC) -- FAX­­ (202) 226-6422 e-mail: sean.obrien@mail.house.gov Nick Rahall (D-WV) FAX (202) 225-9061 e-mail: jim.zoia@mail.house.gov With the new Congress now largely controlled by the greens, we've all got our work cut out for us. Your support will allow us to compete effectively. Let's protect private property and access to Federal lands. Don't let them turn BLM into a new National Park Service. Sincerely, Chuck Cushman Executive Director American Land Rights Association ccushman@pacifier.com It is urgent that you forward this message as widely as possible. Summary National Landscape Conservation System Act - Establishes in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the National Landscape Conservation System (thus, enacting into law the National Landscape Conservation System [NLCS] created by BLM in 2000) in order to conserve, protect, and restore nationally significant landscapes that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for the benefit of current and future generations. Requires that the NLCS include each of the following areas administered by BLM: (1) each area that is designated as a national monument, a national conservation area, a wilderness study area, a national scenic trail or historic trail designated as a component of the National Trails System, a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, or a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System; and (2) any area designated by Congress to be administered for conservation purposes, including the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area (as designated under the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 2000), the Headwaters Forest Reserve, the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, and any additional area designated by Congress for inclusion in the NLCS. Prohibits anything in this Act from: (1) being construed to enhance, diminish, or modify any law or proclamation under which the components of the NLCS specified above were established, or are managed, including, but not limited to, the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act, the Wilderness Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the National Trails System Act, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; (2) creating a federal cause of action based on inclusion within the NLCS; (3) intending to additionally restrict or hinder energy development within such system; (4) affecting the authority, jurisdiction, or responsibility of the several states to manage, control, or regulate fish and resident wildlife under state law or regulations, including the regulation of, or access to, hunting, fishing, trapping, and recreational shooting on BLM-managed public land; (5) limiting access to such activities; (6) affecting current grazing rights or operations due to inclusion in the NLCS; and (7) impeding any efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to secure U.S. borders.