JeepinIan
07-18-2001, 07:03 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/lc_31shrin17.frame
County asks to shrink monument drastically
Jackson County commissioners hope federal officials will cut the Cascade-Siskiyou set-aside from 52,947 acres to 16,580 acres
Tuesday, July 17, 2001
By Michelle Cole of The Oregonian staff
The Jackson County Commission has asked U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shrink the size of Southern Oregon's new Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument by more than two-thirds in an effort to protect private landowners' interests.
In a letter faxed to Washington, D.C., on Monday, the commission recommended that the monument be reduced from the 52,947 acres set aside by President Clinton last year to 16,580 acres clustered near the Oregon-California border. The recommendation, endorsed by a 2-1 vote, comes in response to a letter Norton wrote last March requesting input from local and state officials on newly designated monuments in nine states and the Virgin Islands.
Situated southeast of Ashland, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument includes Soda Mountain and what scientists say is an ecologically important land bridge connecting the Cascades to the east with the Siskiyou Mountains to the west and comprising one of the most biologically distinctive and diverse places on Earth.
Special conservation protections apply to all monument lands. But the monument is a patchwork of connected properties, within which are thousands of acres of privately owned ranches and other enterprises.
Some landowners are concerned that the federal government will make monument lands impassable or, worse, leave them with limited access to their own lands. About a half-dozen ranchers also have permits to graze livestock on monument lands and are worried about having those permits revoked.
Jackson County Commissioner Jack Walker said the 16,580-acre reconfigured Cascade-Siskiyou monument would better protect property rights by assuring long-time land uses, such as grazing.
"It seems to me that the management practices got the land to where it is," Walker said. "We had some experts in the field saying grazing may have contributed to the diversity."
But conservationists argue that private property rights are not threatened and that a downsized monument would protect few of the ecological values that brought the monument protections in the first place.
"When this monument was originally designated there were many in the scientific community that already felt the monument and its boundaries were too small," said Dominick DellaSala, a forest ecologist and director of the World Wildlife Fund's Klamath-Siskiyou regional program.
If just 16,580 acres are protected, DellaSala said, the land bridge and the area's biodiversity could be compromised by logging, grazing and other activities.
Norton's request for more public input on the Cascade-Siskiyou monument spawned several public meetings and thousands of oral and written statements both for and against federal protections.
In April, Gov. John Kitzhaber wrote Norton a letter advising her that any effort to reduce the Cascade-Siskiyou monument in size "is unwarranted."
"The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was designated after years of public discussion about how best to manage public lands in that area," Kitzhaber said.
A month later, Norton delayed the release of a proposed Cascade-Siskiyou management plan pending more local reaction.
An Interior Department spokesman said late Monday that the Jackson County Commission's letter would be reviewed before Norton or her deputies could comment.
Monument supporters fear the commissioners' recommendation will give Norton and the White House an excuse to reverse the previous administration's directive.
"The Jackson County Commission is giving the Bush administration the millimeter of political cover it can use to shrink and neuter Oregon's newest national monument," said Dave Willis, chairman of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council.
The Interior Department has said that it is not looking to abolish Clinton-designated monuments. And Jackson County Commissioner Walker said that was also what local officials understood.
"This administration has made it clear to us that the monument is there, but we have some ability to redraw the lines," he said.
You can reach Michelle Cole at 503-294-5143 or by e-mail at michellecole@news.oregonian.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
County asks to shrink monument drastically
Jackson County commissioners hope federal officials will cut the Cascade-Siskiyou set-aside from 52,947 acres to 16,580 acres
Tuesday, July 17, 2001
By Michelle Cole of The Oregonian staff
The Jackson County Commission has asked U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shrink the size of Southern Oregon's new Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument by more than two-thirds in an effort to protect private landowners' interests.
In a letter faxed to Washington, D.C., on Monday, the commission recommended that the monument be reduced from the 52,947 acres set aside by President Clinton last year to 16,580 acres clustered near the Oregon-California border. The recommendation, endorsed by a 2-1 vote, comes in response to a letter Norton wrote last March requesting input from local and state officials on newly designated monuments in nine states and the Virgin Islands.
Situated southeast of Ashland, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument includes Soda Mountain and what scientists say is an ecologically important land bridge connecting the Cascades to the east with the Siskiyou Mountains to the west and comprising one of the most biologically distinctive and diverse places on Earth.
Special conservation protections apply to all monument lands. But the monument is a patchwork of connected properties, within which are thousands of acres of privately owned ranches and other enterprises.
Some landowners are concerned that the federal government will make monument lands impassable or, worse, leave them with limited access to their own lands. About a half-dozen ranchers also have permits to graze livestock on monument lands and are worried about having those permits revoked.
Jackson County Commissioner Jack Walker said the 16,580-acre reconfigured Cascade-Siskiyou monument would better protect property rights by assuring long-time land uses, such as grazing.
"It seems to me that the management practices got the land to where it is," Walker said. "We had some experts in the field saying grazing may have contributed to the diversity."
But conservationists argue that private property rights are not threatened and that a downsized monument would protect few of the ecological values that brought the monument protections in the first place.
"When this monument was originally designated there were many in the scientific community that already felt the monument and its boundaries were too small," said Dominick DellaSala, a forest ecologist and director of the World Wildlife Fund's Klamath-Siskiyou regional program.
If just 16,580 acres are protected, DellaSala said, the land bridge and the area's biodiversity could be compromised by logging, grazing and other activities.
Norton's request for more public input on the Cascade-Siskiyou monument spawned several public meetings and thousands of oral and written statements both for and against federal protections.
In April, Gov. John Kitzhaber wrote Norton a letter advising her that any effort to reduce the Cascade-Siskiyou monument in size "is unwarranted."
"The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was designated after years of public discussion about how best to manage public lands in that area," Kitzhaber said.
A month later, Norton delayed the release of a proposed Cascade-Siskiyou management plan pending more local reaction.
An Interior Department spokesman said late Monday that the Jackson County Commission's letter would be reviewed before Norton or her deputies could comment.
Monument supporters fear the commissioners' recommendation will give Norton and the White House an excuse to reverse the previous administration's directive.
"The Jackson County Commission is giving the Bush administration the millimeter of political cover it can use to shrink and neuter Oregon's newest national monument," said Dave Willis, chairman of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council.
The Interior Department has said that it is not looking to abolish Clinton-designated monuments. And Jackson County Commissioner Walker said that was also what local officials understood.
"This administration has made it clear to us that the monument is there, but we have some ability to redraw the lines," he said.
You can reach Michelle Cole at 503-294-5143 or by e-mail at michellecole@news.oregonian.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml