<font color="yellow">from the <IMG SRC="smilies/vader1.gif" border="0"> side...they want all of the Mojave closed... plus a few other issues.</font c>


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>Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 16:39:21 -0400
>Subject: WILDERNESS REPORT #48
>To: wilderness-support@lists.wilderness.org
>From: Wilderness Support Center <wsc@tws.org>
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>Reply-To: Wilderness Support Center <wsc@tws.org>
>
>WILDERNESS REPORT #48
>June 8, 2001
>
>A bi-weekly update on the happenings in the Wilderness movement brought to
>you by the Wilderness Society's Wilderness Support Center.
>
>CONTENTS:
>
>NEVADA SENATORS OUTLINE SOUTHERN NEVADA LANDS PROCESS WILDERNESS PLANNING

>MEETINGS TO BE HELD IN NORTH CAROLINA, OTHER SOUTHEAST STATES

>STAGE SET FOR FIGHT OVER THE FUTURE OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS

>NEW JERSEY'S HOLGATE WILDERNESS THREATENED
>
>
>NEVADA SENATORS OUTLINE SOUTHERN NEVADA LANDS PROCESS
>
>Background:
>
>Just beyond the urban sprawl of Las Vegas lies some of Nevada's best wild
>places: Red Rocks, the Desert Sheep Range, Lake Mead National Recreation
>Area. From the Petroglyphs in the Virgin Mountains to the Native American
>sacred site of Spirit Mountain and from Joshua tree forests to the
>sandstone canyons of the Spring Mountains - these wonderful places are
>found right in the backyard of Las Vegas should be protected as
>Wilderness.
>
>Since 1990, the Las Vegas valley area has led the nation in metropolitan
>growth. Between 1990 and 2000 its population has nearly doubled. Between
>1990 and 1996, urban areas have grown by 238 percent, and the open space
>consumed by sprawl increased by 50 percent. Yet, within sight of Las Vegas
>are numerous pristine natural areas, where people can go to escape the
>city, find refreshing solitude and drink in expansive views.
>
>Unfortunately, increasing urbanization has placed pressure on these
>unspoiled areas in the form of housing development, dirt bikes and other
>off-road vehicles, vandalism of natural, historic and prehistoric
>treasures and the construction of power-line corridors.
>
>Currently Mt Charleston is the only area in all of Southern Nevada that is
>protected as Wilderness.
>
>Conservationists in Nevada have launched a campaign to protect wild areas
>in Southern Nevada as congressionally designated Wilderness. Citizens
>have inventoried and mapped southern Nevada's wilderness quality lands.
>
>Citizens and conservation groups have developed a Wilderness Proposal for
>Southern Nevada's Mojave Desert Region. The citizens' proposal calls for
>the permanent protection of southern Nevada's wild lands. The citizens'
>proposal seeks Wilderness Designation on lands managed by the BLM, U.S.
>Forest Service, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
>
>Update:
>
>Last Thursday, Nevada's U.S. Senators John Ensign (R) and Harry Reid (D)
>held a press conference in Las Vegas to announce a process that will
>likely lead to a major land bill for Clark County, Nevada. After
>receiving dozens of requests for legislation dealing with public land in
>southern Nevada, the Senators announced their intention to address the
>issues in one major bill as instead of addressing the issues individually.
>
>Senators Reid and Ensign stated that the potential legislation would
>address infrastructure needs, recreation, and conservation. The senators
>have made it clear that the proposal would include a wilderness component.
>
>The land bill will be crafted following a series of meetings with
>stakeholders, including the Nevada Wilderness Coalition, in Las Vegas.
>Lands legislation could be introduced in the U.S. Senate before the end of
>this session of Congress.
>
>For more information contact:
>
>Jeremy Garncarz, Friends of Nevada Wilderness, 702-650-6542
>mailto:jgarncarz@earthlink.net http://www.nevadawilderness.org
>
>John Wallin, Nevada Wilderness Project, 775-746-7850,
>mailto:john.wallin@wildnevada.org http://www.wildnevada.org
>
>Brian O'Donnell, Wilderness Support Center, 970-247-8788
>mailto:bodonnell@frontier.net http://www.wilderness.org/ccc/wsc
>
>WILDERNESS PLANNING MEETINGS TO BE HELD IN NORTH CAROLINA, OTHER SOUTHEAST
>STATES
>
>The Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition (SAFC) and Appalachian Voices
>are co-sponsoring two upcoming meetings to begin planning a wilderness
>campaign for North Carolina. The first, a scouting meeting, is slated for
>June, and will bring conservation leaders from throughout the state to
>Asheville, NC to begin assessing the political landscape, special areas,
>and conservation groups' campaign readiness. SAFC will be helping to
>organize follow-up trainings and provide other support to advance
>wilderness in the state.
>
>Another 'scouting' meeting was held last month in Virginia, and follow-up
>organizing will take place this summer. Similar meetings will be held in
>other states in the southern Appalachian region this summer and fall,
>including South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.
>
>A generous grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation combined with support from
>the Pew Charitable Trusts and other foundations will help fund the efforts
>of groups like Appalachian Voices and other grassroots groups throughout
>the southeast and support SAFC and the work they are doing to assist
>wilderness campaigns in the region.
>
>Contact:
>Amy Belanger, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, 828-252-9223,
>mailto:amy@safc.org www.safc.org (http://www.safc.org)
>Than Axtell, Appalachian Voices, 828-862-3863, mailto:appvoice@aol.com
>
>STAGE SET FOR FIGHT OVER THE FUTURE OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS
>
>Background:
>
>Former President Clinton in his last year of office created a number of
>national monuments including, The Grand Canyon-Parashant, Agua Fria,
>Ironwood Forest, Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the California Coastal and
>Carrizo Plain monuments in California and the Upper Missouri River Breaks
>monument in Montana. The future of many of these special places was
>debated for years prior to their designation. Despite this history and
>the attempts of the Clinton Administration to hold listening sessions on
>many of the monuments, local lawmakers have and continue to criticize the
>process by which the monument's were created. Some of the biggest critics
>of the process have been Arizona's Governor Jane Hull (R-AZ) and U.S. Rep.
>Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Idaho's Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) and Montana's Rep.
>Dennis Rehberg (R-MT). All of these members are currently engaged in
>efforts to roll back many of the monuments protections.
>
>Update:
>
>This past week Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) cast the first legislative stone
>at our Monuments and the Antiquities Act, introducing legislation designed
>to limit the Presidents authority to declare National Monuments while
>making many of the monuments President Clinton designated in his last year
>of office subject to congressional approval. Know as the "The National
>Monument Fairness Act of 2001," Simpson's bill drew immediate fire from
>conservation and historical preservation groups across the country. In a
>joint statement the conservation community strongly opposed the bill
>stating:
>
>".The bill's fatal flaw is the provision that "sunsets" all new national
>monuments over 50,000 acres within two years of designation unless
>Congress approves it. This stipulation would defeat the very purpose of
>the Antiquities Act of 1906 and prevent expeditious presidential actions
>to protect significant public resources. Once this two-year withdrawal
>period expires, the bill would leave the land in question subject to
>development threats.
>
>As currently configured, the Antiquities Act maintains appropriate roles
>for both the President and the Congress in the protection of important
>federal land resources. It allows the president to act quickly, and it
>also maintains Congress' ability to designate National Monuments, change
>monument boundaries, direct resources for monument management, redesignate
>monuments as national parks, and even to abolish monuments..."
>
>Conservation groups vowed to fight the bill. Signers of the statement
>included: Defenders of Wildlife, National Parks Conservation Association,
>The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance,
>Grand Canyon Trust, US Public Interest Research Group, National Trust for
>Historic Preservation, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources
>Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, The Society of Vertebrate
>Paleontology, Society for Historical Archeology, Republicans for
>Environmental Protection, and Scenic America.
>
>Leaders expect that more legislative attacks will be coming shortly with
>Utah's Representative Hansen reportedly set to introduce an energy bill
>and other western lawmakers looking at adding riders to the House Interior
>Appropriations bill as it moves forward.
>
>Contacts:
>
>Dave Alberswerth, The Wilderness Society, 202-833-2300
>mailto:dalberswerth@tws.org
>
>Michael Carroll, Wilderness Support Center, 970-247-8788
>mailto:michael_carroll@tws.org
>
>NEW JERSEY'S HOLGATE WILDERNESS THREATENED
>
>Background:
>
>Amid the hustle and bustle of the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey
>Turnpike, there are few wild places to experience solitude and wildlife in
>their natural habitat. The Holgate seashore on the Edwin B. Forsythe
>National Wildlife Refuge provides visitors a spectacular experience to
>birdwatch, fish, and relax free from the sounds, smells,
>and wildlife harassment caused by off-road vehicles, common on other
>beaches.
>
>This congressionally designated Wilderness area, on Long Beach Island, was
>set aside to host thousands of shorebirds that migrate and feed along the
>coast of New Jersey. The area is so critical that from April through
>August the Wilderness is completely reserved to allow piping plovers, a
>federally threatened species, time to nest and migrate. Moreover, this
>area remains a prime area for migrating shorebirds through the fall
>months. Close to 300 bird species have been sighted there, including
>Atlantic brant, American black duck, and brown pelican.
>
>Unfortunately, illegal dune buggies and other off-road vehicles are
>violating Holgate
>beach's Wilderness status. In New Jersey, only 2 percent of the land is
>protected as Wilderness, while more than two dozen beaches allow beach
>buggies and other off-road vehicles to drive along the shoreline. On Long
>Beach Island alone, off-road vehicles
>are allowed on nearly 18 miles of beaches -- only 2.5 miles of
>undeveloped beach in the Refuge are off limits to vehicles.
>
>Update:
>
>Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R.
>896) to change the boundary of Holgate Wilderness to allow beach buggy and
>other off-road vehicle use. The bill would undermine Holgate's Wilderness
>protection simply to legitimize an illegal activity.
>
>
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