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Bush admin backs NLCS bill but thumbs-down on Mount Hood wilderness |
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The Bush administration supports legislation that would codify the
management system for 26 million acres of sensitive BLM lands but
remains opposed to a 128,000-acre wilderness bill in Oregon's Mount
Hood National Forest, land managers told a Senate panel yesterday.
Acting Bureau of Land Management Director Jim Hughes testified in
support of S. 1139, the bill that would provide a legal footing for
BLM's National Landscape Conservation System, a Clinton-era program
that manages 15 national monuments, 161 wilderness areas, 38 wild and
scenic rivers, and other sensitive areas such as California's
Headwaters Forest Reserve. NLCS was established via administrative
fiat, and the bill from Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman
Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) would make it permanent.
"The NLCS is a significant part of the Bureau of Land
Management's conservation efforts and is integral to the BLM's overall
multiple use mission," Hughes said.
"Formal codification would provide the system with the
heightened recognition it deserves," added Richard Moe, president of
the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
While the bill would not increase funds or change the
management plans for the various units, the increased attention could
help NLCS down the road. "Ultimately greater funding will come to the
units," as a result of the bill, Moe said.
Hughes attempted to assure senators that BLM would not attempt
to shift funds from elsewhere in its 262 million-acre system to beef up
the 26 million acre NLCS. "We will not take money from the rest of our
lands and multiple use to pay for some new programs on these," Hughes
said.
House Parks Subcommittee Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.),
along with Reps. Mary Bono (R-Calif.), Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Rick Renzi
(R-Ariz.), have introduced a companion NLCS bill, H.R. 2016.
Mount Hood returns
Yesterday's Senate Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee
hearing marked the third occasion the panel has considered the Mount
Hood wilderness legislation, and the Bush administration continues to
oppose the measure for a variety of reasons.
S. 647 from subcommittee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen.
Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) would designate 128,600 acres in Oregon's Mount
Hood National Forest as wilderness and add 79 miles of river as wild
and scenic. The bill includes a 34,640-acre national recreation area, a
total nearly doubled from last year's wilderness bill.
The Senate bill does not match the smaller wilderness
designation proposed by the House last year or the administration's
proposal of 59,000 acres of wilderness, but Wyden said he believes the
Oregon congressional delegation can work out its differences.
Wyden cited increased local support and input since last
year's Mount Hood hearing. "Obviously we've made progress since the
last go-around," he told E&E Daily, noting that supporters are
still working to address "misconceptions about what you can do in
wilderness areas," such as mechanized firefighting and rescue missions.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey said the administration
supports the thrust behind the bill and wants to work with Wyden and
company. But Rey was especially concerned about the size of the
wilderness proposal, fee retention language and a controversial land
exchange the bill would mandate.
The administration still opposes the Cooper Spur-Government
Camp land exchange proposed by the bill because "in our opinion, [it]
is not in the public interest," Rey said. The Government Accountability
Office last year criticized two appraisals used to justify the land
trade between the Forest Service and an Oregon ski resort (E&E
Daily, Sept. 27, 2006).
The new bill would allow a new appraisal using nationally
recognized appraisal standards and require public input via the
National Environmental Policy Act but still mandates the land trade to
occur.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 05 November 2007 )
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