Have you signed the petition to oppose this yet?
http://www.petitiononline.com/boxer/petition.html

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Reaction Strong against California Wilderness Bill
Report By Sierra Times
Published 05. 1. 02 at 23:06 Sierra Time

POCATELLO, ID -- Recreationists express concern about the negative access impacts of Senator Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) newly announced "California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act of 2002." The legislation treatens to close almost 2.5 million acres of lands currently used by mountain bikers, 4-wheel drive enthusiasts, the ski industry, and other outdoor interests who value access to our public lands.

Off-highway recreation users are already denied access to over 21 percent of California's National Forest lands and 25 percent of areas under Bureau of Land Management jurisdiction.

Nancy Ingalsbee, a former spokesperson for the ski industry, said, "I remember when we had the famous 'wilderness' battles back in the 1980s. I don't think any of us would have supported the California Wilderness Act of 1984 if we knew that we would have to fight this issue again just a decade or two later."

Don Amador, the western representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), said, "I think a lot of recreational users who depend on legal trails and roads for access to the backcountry are going to strongly oppose Boxer's effort to shut us out of our favorite areas."

"Federally designated wilderness is highly restrictive and bans the use of motorized and mechanized vehicles including trail and mountain bikes. Anti-access groups have even filed legal action to close Wilderness to horse packers. Also, I think local governments and cabin owners are going to be concerned about the Act's negative impact on their ability to manage the forest to prevent wildfires," Amador stated.

"I believe that a vast majority of areas she proposes to close should remain in multiple-use using existing best management practices. Instead of supporting Boxer's plan, I will urge counties to look at the BRC's Backcountry designation as an alternative that allows access and requires that special lands be actively managed to preserve their rustic nature." Amador concludes.

© 2002 SierraTimes.com
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/05/02/arid050202.htm

 

Just added signature # 1263. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

May 3, 2002 - Boxer bill would set aside 3,800 sq. miles

By EDMOND JACOBY Staff writer


A wilderness bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, would set aside California lands larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

Advanced copies of the California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act of 2002 began circulating last week under the title "discussion draft."

The draft, more than 10,000 words in length, lists 75 specific sites where land would be acquired and designated wilderness areas. Two of those sites are in El Dorado County, where the bill would create a 23,040-acre Caples Creek Wilderness Area and a 19,780-acre Meiss Meadows Wilderness Area. Together those would be the equivalent of almost 19 percent of the surface area of Lake Tahoe.

Those two locations were previously the focus of meetings held to determine local sentiment and inform local government officials and politicians. At those meetings Boxer's deputy state director, Thomas Bohigian, assured everyone present that no bill had been drafted and that local concerns about access to forest lands would be respected when a bill was written.

Altogether, the bill would set aside as wilderness, closed to many common uses and to all intrusion by mechanized transportation devices, nearly 3,800 square miles of forest and desert lands. By comparison, El Dorado County is 1,805 square miles. The total is about 2.4 percent of the entire state of California.

Among the problems identified at those earlier meetings and which the bill does not appear to address is that of forest fire prevention and suppression. Wilderness areas normally may not be cleared of fire fuels, fallen trees and brush in particular but also including dense timber growth. The consequence is that, over time, the likelihood of a severe forest fire rises, and without trails or mechanized access firefighters are at a disadvantage extinguishing such fires, according to forestry sources.

At a meeting April 12 between community leaders, user groups and Bohigian at Strawberry Lodge on Highway 50, George Osborne, president of the Board of Directors of El Dorado Irrigation District and a former forest firefighter, made exactly that point when asking for the senator's intentions for the Caples Creek area. EID is concerned that fire in an area traversed by flumes feeding its water system, particularly the Project 184 water sources, including Caples Creek, could be catastrophic.

Although Boxer's staff has never circulated a map showing exactly where wilderness boundaries will fall, the draft of the proposed wilderness act includes a remarkably detailed list - a list that refers to maps for exact locations of the parcels.

"Under the guise of protecting our heritage, the senator is accomplishing something quite different," said Richard Akin, a member of EID's board of directors.

"The national forests are supposed to benefit all of the citizens," he said.

"Timber harvests helped to finance a major part of our roads and our schools in El Dorado County in the past. Now, that's dwindled to almost nothing," he said.

"The national forests were something we could all use once, and the people who created and ran them made a big deal out of their multiple uses. Wilderness designation means all we can do is look at them," he said.

Of interest in this part of California would be the areas set aside in the El Dorado and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests totaling 42,800 acres, 73,630 acres in the Tahoe National Forest, which the bill refers to as the North Fork American Wilderness Area, the Black Oak Wilderness Area, the Duncan Canyon Wilderness Area, the Granite Chief Wilderness Area, the Castle Peak Wilderness Area and the Grouse Lakes Wilderness Area.

Additionally, 62,234 acres in the Bureau of Land Management's Ukiah District are to become the Cache Creek Wilderness Area.

The bill also would set aside 74,677 acres in the Shasta Trinity National Forest as salmon restoration areas.

Some 522 miles of California rivers would be designated Wild and Scenic Rivers by the same bill, including portions of the Mokelumne River, the North Fork of the Stanislaus River, and the South Fork of the Tuolumne River. A Sacramento River National Conservation Area also would be created by the bill, consisting of 30,000 acres along the lower Sacramento River, lower Battle Creek and lower Payne's Creek in Tehama County.

A provision in the bill also would create the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, an area of 29,000 acres identified only as being "public lands generally depicted on a map entitled 'Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest - proposed' dated April 2001."

The bill creates several categories of recurring spending authorization totaling $17 million annually, plus "such sums as may be necessary to carry out" specified portions of the legislation.

Bohigian was traveling and unavailable for comment.

Boxer's Los Angeles-based press spokesman, Jeff Logan, said he was unaware that copies of the legislation had been circulated, and said he had not seen one himself. He was provided a copy, but subsequently did not return calls.

E-mail Edmond Jacoby at ejacoby@mtdemocrat.net.
http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/i...97-M0503_N.txt

 

Well, that proves what we all know that politicians are just a bunch of lying hypocrits who only car about money! Wonder how money the greenies gave to her campaign fund???????????/