| Greetings All,
Apologies for not sending out a Dispatch in a while. This Dispatch is, more or less, a digest of the latest buzz in land use issues for Utah... at least for the last few weeks. Lots of great stuff though. Don't miss the "Journalism Via Fax" and Dave Skinners excellent screed on R.S. 2477. I want to send out a send out a super mega action thanks to all of USA-ALLs members and supporters. We received an overwhelming response to our recent ACTION ALERT and great support for our challenge of the new Wasatch Cache National Forest Plan. Thanks also to the BlueRibbon Coalition and the Top of Utah Snowmobile Association for partnering with us. You guys rule, that's pretty much all I have to say. It is truly a privilege to represent your interests. You make my job fun! Thanks, USA-ALL Monday Dispatch for July 7, 2003 Peace -- Love -- And Power To The People! I got and email from a good friend of mine recently about the Rainbow Family picking Utah for their annual love fest. She said: The Forest Service
confirmed that all of this is illegal but hey... who is going
to enforce the law with 20,000 Rainbows wishing you nothing but love? WHEW!
Sounds like fun! I'm packing the old school bus (just as soon as I paint daisies
and peace signs on it) and heading up there any day now! Just grab your sleeping
bag and you all can go too! Lots of newsclips on
the Rainbows: USA-ALL Book Club Walter Williams recently wrote an article about a book by Richard Stroup, Montana State University professor of economics and senior associate of the Center for Free Market Environmentalism. Stroup's book is titled; "Eco-nomics: What Everyone Should Know About Economics and the Environment." It's probably too wonkish for most of you on our list. But its less that 100 pages so for those of us at USA-ALL, who enjoy reading anything less that the average 1000 page Environmental Impact Statement, it goes straight to the top of our book of the month club! In writing about the book,
Williams makes an interesting observation. I think is right on. He says: Here's what I predict. If we gave environmentalists Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge, you can bet your last dollar that there'd be oil drilling. Why? It would now cost them something to keep the oil in the ground. The Audubon Society owns the Rainey Preserve in Louisiana, a wildlife refuge. There's oil and natural gas on its property, and it has allowed drilling for over half a century. Not allowing drilling, in the name of saving the environment, would have cost it millions of dollars in revenue You can order Stroup's
book on the Cato Institute's website: Walter Williams' screed
was in the June 18 edition of the Deseret News. You Couldn't Make This Stuff Up... No matter what you guys say.... I'm not going to make fun of the Green Party. It's just too easy! See: Sierra Club
Removes Member From Leadership For those of you who don't remember Green Party candidate for Congress, Patrick Diehl -- his new campaign slogan is: Vote for me.. I loath you! See: An Interview with
Patrick Diehl and Tori Woodard Journalism Via Fax That's a phrase we coined several years ago. Basically, it describes the situation where a 'reporter' picks up the latest press release from a Wilderness Advocacy Group (WAG) and runs with it. Message to journalists: Fact checking is a good thing, especially when concerning the latest press release from Utah's most notorious WAG, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). Sadly, two recent stories earn the Deseret News USA-ALLs "Journalism Via Fax" award. A dubious honor, to be sure. In our first example, Donna Kemp Spangler reports about SUWAs consternation over a "Jeep Jamboree" in Utah's San Juan County. Donna missed a key fact, however. See, the "San Juan Safari" isn't a "Jeep Jamboree" at all. It's an ATV Jamboree! Here's Donna's story: Either Donna didn't check the facts, or she doesn't know the difference between a Jeep and an ATV. It's not like checking facts would have been difficult. BLMs permit is online : http://www.blm.gov/utah/monticello/safari-ea.htm and the San Juan Safari has an excellent website: http://www.sanjuansafari.com Our second example isn't nearly as funny. This story appeared in the
Wednesday July 2 edition of the Deseret News, and its nearly word for word from
a SUWA press release: On Friday, July 4, she
issued another story that attempted to correct the first one-sided
misrepresentation of the facts. Again, checking the facts wouldn't have been that difficult. If Donna would have simply read the decision, she would have known that the 10th Circuit simply found, on technical grounds, that it didn't have jurisdiction on appeal. It did not uphold anything. Campbell's decision just remains until the outstanding issues are wrapped up or until Campbell issues a specific order making her decision final. Deseret News readers probably weren't surprised that Donna ripped SUWAs press release right off the Fax and pasted it into her story. Sadly, this is what we have come to expect from Utahs' newspapers. What is truly outrageous is that when she gets caught at it, the readers of the Deseret News didn't get an apology. It's All About
"Values"... Environmentalists have two calculators too. One they use when estimating the value of federally managed "public lands", and another to estimate the value of lands Utah owns. Only an environmentalists could claim that lands were both "of inestimable value" and "worthless" at the same time! See: Interior OKs plan
for agency to handle its land appraisals Beware Of What You Read In The Papers! Interesting how R.S. 2477 and access issues vary from state to state. For example in Wyoming, recreationists have a problem with wealthy land owners buying up ranches at the mouth of a canyon, and closing the access road that passes through their property. Presto! A 200,000 acre private hunting reserve all to themselves. If a member of the public gets a Tag for the unit behind the ranch, they either has to pay the private landowner to access public lands, or access the unit -- via Montana! For those of you who decide to read this little missive from Jana and Ron Smith, you should know that their 'commentary' is lacking a few key facts. Like for instance the fact that there was another private land owner living behind the Smith's property. It was an elderly widow, and her family couldn't visit her without first visiting the Smiths and getting a key to the gate! It was the widow's family, out of frustration with the Smiths, that finally went to Kane County to seek redress. Kind of puts a different spin on the issue, now doesn't it! See: Beware the
consequences of RS 2477 right-of-way claims Speaking Of R.S. 2477... The Salt Lake Tribune gave
some Sunday real-estate to Dave Skinner. Dave provided some much needed
perspective regarding recent events. Of course, the Tribune had
to print an opposing view point from Mark Udall, Congressman from Boulder
Colorado. Old Growth -- Old Myths We'd better change the terms of this debate real quick. The term "old growth" has been cleverly canonized by the WAGs and that's going to have deviating consequences... to the health of our forests! I hope all of you took the time to check out my "Walk in the Woods" story on our website (click http://www.usa-all.com go to News/Articles and scroll down). Just like the saying "too much of a good thing isn't good" huge swaths of Utah's National Forests are actually over populated with stands of old growth! Professional foresters recommend keeping the percentage of old growth under 30%. Currently, some parts of the forest are over 60% old growth. Old growth stands are more susceptible to disease and insect infestation. Old growth stands are less diverse and don't provide the best habitat for wildlife. When a stand that is 60% old growth begins to succumb to disease and insects, it results in total devastation. Take a look for yourself: See: Forest Management -- Sierra Club Style (click: http://www.usa-all.com News/Articles -- scroll down). Forest Health Newsclips: In a related story: Everyone Loves A Compromise, Until They Have To Compromise I found it very interesting to read the Salt Lake Tribune's assessment on the Owyhee compromise proposal. (Owyhee County in southwestern Idaho has been trying to find a compromise solution to the management of nearly 2 million acres of BLM lands.) For years now, the editorial pages of the Tribune bemoaned the lack of compromising among the warring factions of the public lands debate. Now, when a compromise seems possible, the Tribune's editors appear to have decided compromise isn't such a good thing. Frankly, the Tribune's assessment is way pre-mature. The ink isn't dry on this agreement, and until all of the stakeholders get to see the fine print I think it's too early to say that anything has been agreed to. See: Preserve-Grazing
Swap Sought The Tribune's Opinion is
here: Newsclips: Fake wilderness |
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