Crowdog
06-20-2002, 07:45 PM
BOARD OPPOSES ISHI WILDERNESS BILL
By MARTI TAYLOR-DN Staff Writer
The Tehama County Board of Supervisors has reaffirmed its opposition to a U.S. Senate bill that would place lands within the Ishi Wilderness areas of Tehama County into the National Wilderness Preservation System and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
The board voted unanimously this week to approve correspondence with the office of U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-California, opposing the California Wild Heritage Act of 2002. The Wild Heritage Act, or S.2535, was recently introduced to the U.S. Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California. The supervisors were prompted to send the letter after a request from Feinstein's office for an opinion and stance on the bill.
The letter states the basis of the county's opposition is the "prohibitions imposed by wilderness designation, including bans on roads, vehicles, bicycles, logging, commercial enterprises, competitive events, motorized equipment, aircraft landing, motorboats, structures, chainsaws and wood gathering."
A similar letter was sent to Boxer after a March 19 meeting of the board in which it authorized a letter of opposition to the bill.
The letter cites an economic impact should the bill go into effect. "The bill will deal another economic blow to the recreational industries that are dependent on public land access," said the letter.
The letter also addresses an "impact on firefighting efforts," saying that the ability to fight blazes would be "severely hampered due to wilderness restrictions on the use of mechanized equipment to control fires."
The letter maintains that restrictions would "result in larger burn areas, higher fire fighting costs and delayed control of incidents."
The Wild Heritage Act seeks to include 2 1/2 million acres of California wilderness in the National Wilderness Preservation System and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The reasoning behind the bill is to protect wild and natural landscapes, ecosystems, Indian cultures, watersheds, recreation as well as geological and hydraulic features.
More than 839,000 acres in Northern California are encompassed in the bill. Thousands of local acres are contained in the bill, including certain lands in the Lassen, Mendocino and Plumas national forests.
Several members of the board of supervisors have traditionally been outspoken on the subject of federal designations and inclusion of wilderness lands and rivers. As well as authorizing the letter to Sen. Boxer at the March 19 meeting, the board also adopted a resolution to oppose the inclusion of the Sacramento River and its tributaries in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in an effort to support county watershed groups.
District 4 Supervisor Ross Turner has expressed skepticism regarding federal designations. "I hate to relinquish our control to a federal entity. We've been burned by that before," he said.
http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/display/inn_news/news1.txt
©2001 Red Bluff Daily News.
By MARTI TAYLOR-DN Staff Writer
The Tehama County Board of Supervisors has reaffirmed its opposition to a U.S. Senate bill that would place lands within the Ishi Wilderness areas of Tehama County into the National Wilderness Preservation System and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
The board voted unanimously this week to approve correspondence with the office of U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-California, opposing the California Wild Heritage Act of 2002. The Wild Heritage Act, or S.2535, was recently introduced to the U.S. Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California. The supervisors were prompted to send the letter after a request from Feinstein's office for an opinion and stance on the bill.
The letter states the basis of the county's opposition is the "prohibitions imposed by wilderness designation, including bans on roads, vehicles, bicycles, logging, commercial enterprises, competitive events, motorized equipment, aircraft landing, motorboats, structures, chainsaws and wood gathering."
A similar letter was sent to Boxer after a March 19 meeting of the board in which it authorized a letter of opposition to the bill.
The letter cites an economic impact should the bill go into effect. "The bill will deal another economic blow to the recreational industries that are dependent on public land access," said the letter.
The letter also addresses an "impact on firefighting efforts," saying that the ability to fight blazes would be "severely hampered due to wilderness restrictions on the use of mechanized equipment to control fires."
The letter maintains that restrictions would "result in larger burn areas, higher fire fighting costs and delayed control of incidents."
The Wild Heritage Act seeks to include 2 1/2 million acres of California wilderness in the National Wilderness Preservation System and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The reasoning behind the bill is to protect wild and natural landscapes, ecosystems, Indian cultures, watersheds, recreation as well as geological and hydraulic features.
More than 839,000 acres in Northern California are encompassed in the bill. Thousands of local acres are contained in the bill, including certain lands in the Lassen, Mendocino and Plumas national forests.
Several members of the board of supervisors have traditionally been outspoken on the subject of federal designations and inclusion of wilderness lands and rivers. As well as authorizing the letter to Sen. Boxer at the March 19 meeting, the board also adopted a resolution to oppose the inclusion of the Sacramento River and its tributaries in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in an effort to support county watershed groups.
District 4 Supervisor Ross Turner has expressed skepticism regarding federal designations. "I hate to relinquish our control to a federal entity. We've been burned by that before," he said.
http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/display/inn_news/news1.txt
©2001 Red Bluff Daily News.