As we have been following place-based bills, here is a letter from Earthjustice on the Tester Bill (via the Clark Fork Chronicle).
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As we have been following place-based bills, here is a letter from Earthjustice on the Tester Bill (via the Clark Fork Chronicle).
This is just but a taste of what the new Planning Rule will face when details come to light, especially if any hint of litigation reform is included. If I were a “preservationist”, I’d surely be pushing for the Tester Bill to pass, and then turn right around and litigate the hell out of it only after the new Wilderness Areas become cemented in….so to speak.
Again, eastern lawmakers will use Tester’s Bill as a political volleyball, voting against it to boost their “green creds” without any impacts to their own constituency and political base. It’s a Win-Win situation for all involved, except for the Montana timber industry, the OHV groups and rural economies.
Tester knows the deck is stacked against him but, he’ll get points “for trying”.
Foto.. I worked on a Congresswoman’s (FL) staff for a year in the mid 90’s. The fellow who was then staffing the Democratic Environmental Caucus was surprised when the Florida delegation would not sign on to more protection coastal zoning measures for Florida when they fully supported wilderness in Idaho or whatever western state(?!). On the other hand, I was not surprised at all.
http://www.newwest.net/main/article/sen_testers_fjra_vs_the_wilderness_act/
The link above will take you to the official testimony from Montana’s Wilderness Watch to the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests regarding Senator Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act (S. 1470).
For those who don’t know, Wilderness Watch’s executive director George Nickas is easily one of America’s most foremost and respected experts when it comes to the Wilderness Act and Wilderness management and policy.
Wilderness Watch’s testimony represents an easy to understand comparison between the Wilderness Act and current Wilderness policy versus certain Wilderness provisions within the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, S.1470.
In order to allow all members of the public easy access to this information, please note that the page numbers in the Wilderness Watch testimony correspond to the exact page numbers of the bill, available for download right on Senator Tester’s website here: http://tester.senate.gov/Legislation/upload/forest_jobs_and_recreation_act.pdf.
Again, the link to the Wilderness Watch testimony is here:
http://www.newwest.net/main/article/sen_testers_fjra_vs_the_wilderness_act/
http://testerloggingbilltruths.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/lbpwc_comments1.pdf
The pdf document above contains a sampling of the types of comments submitted to the US Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests regarding S1470, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, by members of the Last Best Place Wildlands Campaign. These comments were officially entered into the record for the Subcommittee’s hearing on S1470.
The Last Best Place Wildlands Campaign is a coalition of conservation organizations and citizens dedicated to wildlands protection, forest restoration and the sound long-term management of America’s public lands legacy. The coalition includes 4th and 5th generation Montanans, hikers and backpackers, hunters and anglers, wildlife viewers, outfitters and guides, veterans, retired Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management officials, small-business owners, scientists, educators, craftspersons, and community leaders. Learn more
about the FJRA at http://testerloggingbilltruths.wordpress.com.