by Howard Gieger The ONRC (Oregon Natural Resources Council) and other extremist environmental groups are hard at work preparing their proposal for several thousands of acres of new wilderness in Oregon. This proposal will effect lands in almost every county in Oregon. The proposal involves large tracts of land that are not currently near a wilderness. The plan also is proposing enlarging current wildernesses. These lands involved are forest service and BLM lands. Those involved in the plan are working very hard at selling the proposal to our Senators, Congressmen, State Representative County Commissioners and City Councilmen. There are also a large group of people that work for the Forest Service that support the proposal. The more I look at the map of the proposed lands and overlay it with the current wilderness and roadless areas it looks more and more like the Wildlands Project. For you folks that don’t know what the Wildlands Project is should call your local forest service, BLM, county library or you may want to call one of the groups that oppose locking up public lands. If you wish you could call one of the environmental extremist groups. Don’t be surprised that they try and convince you that there way will save the earth. They want to get as many people as possible to join their ranks. They know that large membership numbers make an impact when dealing with elected officials. They also know that their large bank accounts can always use your money. After you obtain the information on the Wildlands Project, read it very carefully and don’t think it is some kind of a joke or some wild dream. To get the full effect of this plan you will need to review the map that shows how the land will be divided up. You will find that this effort is worldwide and even involves the United Nations. I think Clinton and Gore signed onto this movement several years ago. When you compare the maps you will be shocked that there are people in the world that believe in such a plan. The United States has more than enough wilderness, wilderness study areas and roadless areas. Wilderness, wilderness study and roadless areas make it very for the Forest Service and the BLM to manage the area. They don’t!!, they do not manage the forest they just let it become diseased and die or burn up in a wild fire. I have seen forest so over grown, dead and dying that larger animals can not use it. These forests are just waiting for catastrophic fire and a great loss of resource. For the people that live in rural America can see this very clearly. I sometimes wonder how the extremist can justify their position on forest health. Now you ask what you can do? First of all you need to learn as much as you can about the Wildlands Project and the wilderness proposals. Then see how much you can learn about the management of our public lands. By now you are saying to yourself, I don’t have time for all of this and what can one person do. You can do a great deal. Why not sit down and write letters to our elected officials and tell them what you think. The list of people should include Federal, State, County and City officials. You may ask why should I write a letter to the County and City officials opposing wilderness. Well guess what!! The wilderness has the greatest impact on rural America and rural America has the poorest economy. The people that support the locking up our public land will try and tell you that a wilderness will bring more tourists and more money into the towns around wilderness areas. If you buy into this, you may as well stop reading now. Well if you are still reading this, maybe I have got your attention. Again you ask what can I do? Remember the question, “why should I write letters?” Remember the importance of numbers of people when writing to elected officials. It is not hard to take a few minutes to write, send a fax or make a phone call. Stand up and be counted. If you have a computer send some e-mails. Phone calls and letters have a greater impact. With today’s fast pace life it is sometimes better to send an e-mail than do nothing. Another thing you can do with your computer is visit some property rights web sites. One such site is PropertyRightsResearch.org. You will find a great deal of information. There are several groups that fight for our property rights and you may wish to join. Remember numbers count. I think we are all an environmentalist, but we are not an extremist. We all care about our public lands and want to see them managed in a way to make them healthier. When the forest is locked up and not managed we loose a great resource. The extremist environmentalist wants us to believe it is better to lock up the resource that to manage them. I can not understand this belief because all you have to do is look at our un-healthy forest. If you now want to get involved, why not help support our President in the healthy forest plan. The forest plans not your cup of tea? Why not get involved in the cattlemen’s battle on grazing on public lands. When a cattleman looses their permit to graze their cows on BLM or forest service allotments they take a great loss in their business. Guess what! We the public who buys meat in the market pay more, but there is no way the cattleman can pass off all of his losses. We see ranches going broke and being auctions off every day. The cattle grazing on the forest improves the health of the forest and reduces fire danger by eating the under growth. The cows grazing on a forest is a great tool in the management of a healthy forest. Well it sure looks like we are back writing about forest health. You say cattle is not your cup of tea. Well why not get involved in the water issue. You can help the ranchers and farmers keep their water. They farmers and ranchers need as much help as they can get. There are several thousands of acres of farmland taken out of production each year. The extremist says that the water is needed to protect some endangered fish. There has been billions of taxpayer dollars spent on trying to save the salmon. We now find that no one knows if all of this money had any effect on the return of the salmon runs. There has been some record runs in the past few years. I have talked to several fish biologists and have been advised that they think that the return is a combination of several things. The extremist now want to close the hatcheries because that are saying that they pollute the water, spread disease and pollute the air. They don’t want hatchery fish to breed with the wild fish. A Federal Judge failed to understand this extremist thinking on this issue. A salmon is a salmon, but some have clipped fin. The extremist also wants to close the Fish Farms, why? Who knows? I know that the Fish Farms sell their fish on the open market. It would seem to me that this would reduce the amount of fish taken from our oceans, lakes and rivers. Don’t like getting involved in the fish problem? Well how about getting involved with a group that are fighting to make some changes in the ESA (Endangered Species Act). Senator Gordon Smith and Congressman Greg Walden are working on some legislation to change the Act. I am sure they would welcome your comments and support. Still have not found anything that you want to get involved in? How about getting involved with one of the groups that are fighting to stop the introduction of wolfs to the public lands of Oregon. If you are a hunter you must get involved in this issue. Oregon will loose it herds of elk and deer. They have found that the impact to the elk herds by the wolf is much greater than it is to the deer herds. The wolf is going to impact the cattle, and sheep ranchers. It appears that the wolf does not just kill the sick and weak, they kill what ever they want. The wolf pack is a very efficient hunting team. The amount of packs will grow very fast and will change how all people, domestic animals and wild animals live. You sure don’t want to think that the wolf is going to help the economy of Oregon. Just take a look at the facts on the wolf packs coming out of Idaho and Wyoming. These states have lost herds of deer and elk. This has resulted in a great loss in hunting revenue. If you are enjoying some type of recreation on public lands, lakes and rivers you must get involved in all of the issues. If you sit around in hopes that someone else will do the work for you it will never happen. I have written about a few of the threats on our rights. I guess the key words are “Get Involved” I am sure you will find something that you have an interest in the outcome. If you don’t get involved in any of the issues “PLEASE VOTE” Howard Gieger P.O. Box 249 John Day, Oregon 97845 |