And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: "Wild Rockies Alerts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
TANKS? NO THANKS!!
KEEP MILITARY GROUND MANEUVERS OUT OF THE LOWER 48'S LARGEST WILDERNESS
WILDLIFE REFUGE!
SENATE WILL TAKE UP BILL ON MONDAY -- CALL TODAY TO HALT THIS RIDER!!
BACKGROUND: In 1986, Congress withdrew over 7 million acres of public
lands in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico from appropriation under
the public land laws in order to facilitate military training activities in
those areas. The withdrawn areas include public lands of spectacular
beauty, designated wilderness, national wildlife refuges, habitat for
endangered species, and cultural resources thousands of years old. The
withdrawal expires in 2001.
For example, the Barry M. Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona is located
in the heart of Sonoran desert. It supports an astonishing array of animal
and plant life, and forms a critical component of the largest intact desert
ecosystem in North America. It includes the Cabeza Prieta National
Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness, which, at more than 800,000 acres, is the
largest wilderness refuge in the continental United States. It includes
habitat for the critically endangered Sonoran pronghorn antelope.
In southeastern New Mexico, the McGregor Range includes a pristine desert
grassland (at Otero Mesa), trophy pronghorn antelope and deer herds,
national historic sites, a wilderness study area, and habitat for the
endangered aplomado falcon and mountain plover.
THE **NEW** BAD NEWS: Next MONDAY, MAY 24, the Senate may take up S. 1059,
the Defense Authorization bill.
That bill contains a provision sponsored by Senator McCain that could
permit GROUND MANEUVERS in the LARGEST WILDERNESS REFUGE in the LOWER 48
states, the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. Thus, even though
Congress designated 90+% of Cabeza Prieta as wilderness in 1990, S. 1059
proposes to permit an ESCALATION OF MILITARY GROUND ACTIVITIES THERE.
While DOI arguably has some legal authority to limit military ground
activities within the Refuge and Wilderness, military activities that harm
Refuge resources could still occur (as they have at Desert NWR in Nevada,
where bombing or strafing occur to this day).
TANKS, JEEP CONVOYS, AND OTHER MILITARY FORCES JUST DON'T BELONG IN A
WILDLIFE REFUGE OR WILDERNESS!
In addition, McCain's attempt to reauthorize the "Military Lands Withdrawal
Act" of 1986 will give the Department of Defense INDEFINITE use of both the
Goldwater Range in Arizona and the McGregor Range in New Mexico, and
ELIMINATE the previous law's requirement for public input.
The exquisite wildlands of the Goldwater Range deserve better protection.
So do the areas within the McGregor Range in New Mexico. The areas have
been bedeviled by poor management from the BLM, Fish and Wildlife Service
and the military. Sen. McCain's proposal will rob the public PERHAPS
FOREVER of any chance to improve the management of these wildands. It will
also torpedo a great chance for Congress to consider more protective
designations for some military lands, including national park or national
wildlife refuge designation, which has been proposed for parts of the
Goldwater Range in Arizona. An INDEFINITE withdrawal means plans to create
a National Conservation Area inside the McGregor Range may never become a
reality.
The Defense Authorization Bill is on a fast track, and we need you to call
TODAY to express your outrage.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
CALL EMAIL or FAX TODAY and tell Senator McCain and the other key players
in the Defense Authorization listed below to OPPOSE any effort to withdraw
the critical wildlands without taking steps to ensure that these areas
receive better management. OPPOSE Senator McCain's rider to indefinitely
extend the Military Lands Withdrawal Act.
Tell them:
-- NO GROUND MANEUVERS in the Cabeza Prieta Refuge - tanks and
military training don't belong in wildlife santuaries and wilderness areas
- and military readiness has not been hampered by the inability to train
there;
-- NO INDEFINITE WITHDRAWAL which eliminates opportunities for
public input, and ends accountability for both the Pentagon and Interior
Department.
-- VOTE TO REMOVE THIS PROVISION when the bill is denated on the floor.
New Mexicans should THANK SENATOR BINGAMAN for trying to strip the
provision in the Armed Services Committee and ASK HIM TO KEEP IT UP - ASK
HIM TO TRY TO STRIP THE WITHDRAWAL PROVISIONS ON THE FLOOR!
Contact one or all of the following:
SENATOR JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): (tel) 202-224-2235; fax: (202)228-2862;
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
SENATOR JEFF BINGAMAN (D-NM): 202-224-5521; (fax) 202-224-2852;
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
SENATOR CARL LEVIN (D-MI): 202-224-6221; (fax) (202) 224-1388;
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
SEN. JOHN CHAFEE (R-RI) 202-224-2921; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(chair of the Environment and public works committee)
SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-MT) 202-224-2651; fax: 202-228-3687;
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (ranking minority on the same committee)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD) 202-224-2321; fax: 202-224-7895;
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (minority leader)
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R-VA) 202-224-2023; fax: 202-224-6295;
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (chair of Senate armed service committee.
For more information, contact: Jim Waltman, The Wilderness Society
(202-429-2674) [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Ted Zukoski, LAW Fund (303-444-1188
x213) [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Lynelle Hartway, Defenders of Wildlife
(202-682-9400 x106) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
____________________________
Ted Zukoski
Land & Water Fund of the Rockies
2260 Baseline Road, #200
Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 444-1188 x213
FAX (303)786-8054
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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