Fed Policy: If It's Not Broke -- Fix It Anyway ...

(AZ Daily Sun June , 2012)  You have to give the lawsuit-crazy environmental community credit for thinking big. Having already secured 4.7 million acres in northern Arizona and southern Utah for their limited idea of acceptable recreation and having success in their goal of reducing land management option, they now want to take away the very popular multiple-use area just north of Grand Canyon National Park all the way to the Utah border.

They propose the withdrawal of an additional 1.7 million acres into national monument status. The proposed area currently provides recreational opportunities to millions of people who are physically unable to put on a backpack and hike miles and miles as well as those who could but chose not to. It is also an area where multiple-use management has resulted in a wildlife-rich, biologically diverse ecosystem.

Currently, only 23 percent of the land in Arizona remains classified as multiple-use. The rest has a variety of restrictions as to use and Arizona has the third-highest wilderness acreage in the nation.

The proponents of this plan to reduce even further our remaining multiple-use lands list six reasons for their latest scheme to limit your use of your land.

They want to end old-growth logging, yet, in their own words, "The Kaibab Plateau remains a rare example of a fundamentally intact, mature southwestern ponderosa pine forest retaining the highest density of ancient trees outside of protected areas." Funny, this multiple-use area has been managed just right by their own admission, yet they want to limit the ability of most Americans to enjoy it and limit the management options that they state have worked so well.

They want to protect cultural sites, yet there are already numerous federal and state laws that do just that, with felony penalties and fines up to $100,000 for violating these laws.

Managing native wildlife is another of the proponent's goals. The Kaibab is world-renowned for its wildlife, but the proponents still want to destroy the collaborative approaches used by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Arizona Game & Fish Department that have worked so well for the past 80 years. The real bottom line is they want to expand wolves to the North Rim, an area that historically had few, if any, wolves.

They want to put wolves on the North Rim because the current effort at wolf reintroduction in eastern Arizona has gone so poorly. This effort has gone poorly because of other wolf re-introductions across the country that have been embroiled in decades of lawsuits, despite the fact that the wolves in these areas are doing just fine and have exceeded all recovery goals. The environmental groups cannot afford to see state Game & Fish agencies succeed in wolf management because that success threatens the cash cow these groups have enjoyed by pleading to their donors that they need their money to "save the wolf" even after the wolf had already recovered in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and the Great Lake States. The Southwest is their latest "save the wolf" cash cow.

Reducing road density is another goal. Guess these groups have not looked at the Travel Management Plans all the forests have adopted. These plans close not only the forests to off-road travel but they close hundreds of miles of roads as well.

Another goal is to end livestock grazing. Over the years, the Forest Service has adopted more restrictive grazing standards. In addition, the current draft forest plan includes even more responsive grazing regulations and guidelines.

Their last goal is to stop uranium mining. What? We have to take 1.7 million acres away from the American public to stop uranium mining? Don't think so. One million acres in the area has already been withdrawn from new uranium mining for the next 20 years.

To the proponents of this ill-conceived, self-serving effort to eliminate multiple-use management and rob millions of people of recreational opportunities, I suggest you come back in 20 years and we can look at it. Until then, go take a hike in your 4.7 million acres and leave the rest of us alone to enjoy our 1.7 million acres.

Trillions in Resources Locked Up: Education Suffers

(CNSNews.com May 11, 2012) - "The Green River Formation, a largely vacant area of mostly federal land that covers the territory where Colorado, Utah and Wyoming come together, contains about as much recoverable oil as all the rest the world’s proven reserves combined, an auditor from the Government Accountability Office told Congress on Thursday.

The GAO testimony said that the federal government was in “a unique position to influence the development of oil shale” because the Green River deposits were mostly beneath federal land."

If the federal government were to simply honor to today's western states the same promise it made and kept with all states east of Colorado to "extinguish title" (i.e., transfer title) to all public lands within a reasonable time from being admitted as a state, western states would likely not have the hardest time funding education nor would they be desperately dependent upon a fiscally unsustainable federal government for more than 30% of their state budgets.

"We Just Want To Manage Our Own Lands So We Can Live In Safety"

(Ruidoso Free Press July 3, 2012)  In between the compelling stories of people who lost their homes, local dignitaries delivered speeches citing the immediate need to return control over public lands to the local level. Acting Ruidoso Fire Chief Harlan Vincent opened the rally expressing thanks and gratitude to the first responders that risked their lives for the sake of homes and properties. “We all know the problem does not lie with those on the front lines, but with the policy makers on high,” Vincent said.

Smoked Bear, Ruidoso Acting Fire Chief Harlan Vincent , Congressman Steve Pearce and a group of Ruidoso Firemen presented the perils of long-term mismanagement of national forests and wilderness areas during Saturdays rally “For our Forest’s Health” held at Wingfield Park. Smoked Bear’s mission is to protect millions of animals from burning and to stop wildfires from polluting our nation by increasing grazing and logging to reduce wildfire fuel.

“It may not be true that all wildfires can be prevented, but they can be mitigated by maintaining the health of the forest through thinning and removal of ladder fuels. Fires will still come, but they need not be as destructive,” Vincent said.

Vincent further noted that the Little Bear Fire, as bad as it was, was not the bad one. “Grindstone Mesa, Upper Canyon and Perk Canyon, Brady, Ponderosa, are all dangerously overgrown and filled with dead or dying trees. A fire started in any one of those areas, spurred on by dry conditions and high winds, would bring this town to its knees in four to six hours.”

Lincoln County Commissioner Mark Doth presented a summary of the series of emergency county commission meeting called to dedicate more than $2million dedicated from the county for immediate recovery effort needs. “Today the fire is a painful memory, but the knowledge of the destruction burns bright in my mind. More than 44,000 acres, 273 homes and outbuildings were destroyed. Market value on the structures is right at $40 million and the loss to the County in terms of property tax and tourism will be huge. Based on the number of homes lost, this is now ranked as the number one disaster in New Mexico history, a title we would rather not have,” Doth said.
The rally concluded with Congressman Steve Pearce’s continued promise to stand with the citizens of New Mexico and other western states and to stand as one voice in Washington D.C. to regain local control over public lands with responsible management, the economic development of ethical logging, grazing and recreational use of western Forests and wilderness areas starting with the citizens of Lincoln County. “We just want to manage our own lands so we can live in safety and harmony with nature, that’s all were saying,” Pearce said.

 

Pollution: It's Spreading Like Wildfire!

(www.SmokedBear.com September 12, 2011) ExxonMobil, ranked as one of the world’s largest corporate polluters, produces just over 10 million pounds of toxic air pollution per year. During three summer months, a recent North American fire released 66 billion pounds of just one of the toxic chemicals it spewed. That is 6,600 times more pollution than ExxonMobil releases in an entire year!

Wildfires throughout North America are on the rise and out of control, particularly in western states. These fires are emitting more dangerous pollutants into the air than all the “tailpipes and smokestacks in the United States….” Recent studies show that wildfires cause pollutants to triple normal levels deemed safe for humans and animals. These shocking results come from a trend of new scientific studies, and underscore the need for a major change in wildfire management.

Another recent NCAR study looked at the amount of mercury pollution wildfires produce. The study explained that plants store mercury in their leaves and needles and when burned the needles and leaves release “nearly all the mercury they had stored—from 94% to 99%.” The study concluded that wildfires spewed mercury pollution into the air “at up to 800 tons per year…” Coal-fired plants, currently the main focus point of reducing mercury pollution, produce a substantially smaller 41 tons per year. This means that wildfires produce nearly 20 times more mercury pollution than U.S. coal-fired plants produce annually.

Wildfires are spewing pollutants into the air in quantities that are many times greater than all of America’s industrial pollution combined. This information about wildfire pollution is just the tip of the iceberg because researchers have only begun quantifying wildfire pollution in the last decade. Wildfires continue to be on the rise while ineffective rangeland management techniques remain in place. Yet, pollution reduction pressure persistently is focused at industry as industries have continued to reduce their pollution rates by leaps and bounds. A problem such as this calls for a change in Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service management procedures and regulations.

Allowing large amounts of fuel—vegetation—to grow on rangeland during spring and summer months mixed with uncontrolled lightning strikes is a recipe for disaster. To stop and decrease the growth of wildfire pollution the sources of fuel must be decreased. Jason Davison, a forage and alternative crops specialist at the University of Nevada Reno, called for new rangeland management techniques fifteen years ago. He promoted the reduction of rangeland fuel by using cows and sheep to feed on the excessive vegetation. Yet, grazing rights have continually been reduced and fires have continually increased.

Smoked Bear is advocating a change in rangeland management in order to save animals, people, and the environment from the harmful effects of wildfires. Pollution is proven to be one of these harmful effects. Therefore, Smoked Bear and all those who are in support of saving animal and human life are now calling on a change in rangeland management in order to reduce wildfire pollution.  (Read more.)

Water: The Final Jurisdictional Frontier?

The USFS and the BLM appear to be launching an all out "war" on water rights in the west, with the help of any number of so-called environmental groups.  Access is being denied all over the west to use, repair, or maintain water rights and systems that have been in private use for generations.  Grazers are being told across the west that their permits will not be renewed unless they sign over their water rights to the U.S. Government.  Recently, the USDA announced new regulations to:

• restore the flow of waters into natural channels and floodplains by removing, replacing or modifying water control structures;
• restore lands and habitat to pre-disturbance conditions by removing debris and sediment conditions following natural or human-caused events; and
• restore, rehabilitate or stabilize lands occupied by non-National Forest System roads and trails to a more natural condition.

Given the history and the language of this regulation, it appears to be another frontal assault on local control of land and water access, use and ownership.  The time to act to secure local jurisdiction over these matters is now.  This is why the American Lands Council was recently formed -- to coordinate offensive actions to secure and defend local control over land and water access, use and ownership, before its too late ...

See this from the Westerner Blog:


Let's see, Tombstone can't repair the city's waterlines, this dam can't be repaired in Montana, and a Lincoln County, NM Commissioner who had just experienced a fire that started in a wilderness says:

“If you had asked me 10 years ago what I thought of the White Mountain Wilderness I would have told you I was in favor of it. The White Mountain Wilderness terrain is beautiful and unique, which should absolutely be protected. However, after years of drought, massive bug tree kill, and blown down trees, this area has become excessively under managed and highly prone to fire damage. Even though the Forest Service has proposed thinning and restoration projects in these forests, lawsuits and appeals by the Wild Earth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity and others have totally hampered the ability of the Forest Service to manage it. The restrictions on roads and motorized vehicles, chainsaws, and grazing by livestock have also hurt the ability to manage this area. In my opinion, forests in the Southwest, especially those near an urban interface, should never be designated as wilderness areas. As long as the wilderness designation stands, we will not be able to control the area appropriately. This leaves us incredibly vulnerable to disastrous fire damage. We need to consider removing the wilderness designation from the White Mountain Wilderness.”---Mark Doth, Lincoln County Commissioner