VWC Newsletter - March 2006
BUSH WANTS TO SELL OFF YOUR NATIONAL FORESTS
By now most of you will have heard of the current administration’s budget proposal to sell off lands in the National Forest. In Virginia they would like to get rid of 5,717 acres. With typical cynicism, the plan is dressed up as a way to get more funding for schools, but it is in fact a way to steal the source of those funds now flowing to education. Additional “benefits” claimed for the proposal are (1) reduction of agency costs, (2) private sector development, and (3) opportunities for local government, should they wish to buy more land. Now is the time to stamp heavily on Mr. Bush’s bad idea.As far as the George Washington/Jefferson National Forest is concerned, there is abundant evidence that the proposal was prepared in haste and without careful attention to detail. There are many discrepancies between the Forest Service’s list of properties and the accompanying maps showing their locations. For example, Tract J-550i is listed in Dickenson Co., while the map shows it to be in Wise and, in fact, adjacent to North Fork of the Pound, one of our largest roadless areas. Several large areas that are mapped in Bland Co. do not appear on the list, nor do smaller areas in Alleghany, Botetourt, and Rockbridge. Some of the tracts do not meet the criterion of isolation. J-1247b and J-1060 in Smyth Co. make up a block of over 500 acres, just across the road from large continuous National Forest holdings.
In addition some of the plots seem particularly poorly chosen. J-253 and J-245 are near the Cave Spring/Stone Mountain Wilderness Study Area and lie within its viewshed. J-729 is continuous with National Forest land along the Appalachian Trail, although admittedly out of the viewshed.
This whole “plan” has the marks of a hasty, badly planned attempt by the administration to make a quick buck from the National Forest. I believe that our local foresters would be greatly relieved if we were to succeed in stopping it in its tracks. So let’s do it. Your response should take two avenues. First, write to: Forest Service, SRS Comments, Land 4S, 1400 Independence Ave., Washington, DC 20250-0003 (or e-mail: [email protected]). You may want to say (1) that this proposal is badly flawed and contradictory, (2) that these lands are important as a resource for land exchanges to consolidate Forest Service holdings, and (3) that these sales amount to selling our children’s and grandchildren’s legacy. Comments are due by March 30th.
Second, write your Senators and Congressmen, make the same arguments, and ask them to strip this provision from the proposed budget. Those addresses are, of course, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510 and U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.
MORE PROGRESS IN THE SENATE
Action in the Senate is slow, but prospects for the Virginia Ridge and Valley Bill would seem to be brightening a bit. We have been briefing Congressional staff on the details of the bill to prepare them for upcoming negotiations with the Forest Service. Our best hope is that they may reach agreement with the Forest Service on the final form of a bill that would be acceptable to all parties. If this approach is successful, then it is hard to see how the bill could be rejected by the Congress. We believe that Senator Warner and his staff are thoroughly committed to seeing a good bill passed this year. Don’t hold your breath, but use every opportunity to keep the wilderness bill for the Jefferson on the minds of our lawmakers.AU REVOIR, DON GIECEKWith this issue we say, not good-bye, but au revoir to Don Giecek. He has served as our grass-roots organizer for the George Washington National Forest for the past four and a half years, but the time has come for him to move on to greener pastures. Our thanks go with him for his work in developing wilderness support in the GW, for developing the mapping project of the Virginia Wind Energy Coalition, and for his GIS work for the VWC. Don intends to remain active with VWC as a volunteer, and goodness knows we need his expertise.
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President: Jim Murray, 1601 Bentivar Farm Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22911 (434-973-6693)
Vice-Pres: Mark Miller, 62 Big Hill Rd., Lexington, VA 24450 (540-464-3110)
Treasurer: Juliana Simpson, 11 E. Monmouth, Winchester, VA 22601 (540-662-7043)
Secretary: Laura Neale, 423 Sheep Creek Lane, Fairfield, VA 24435
By now most of you will have heard of the current administration’s budget proposal to sell off lands in the National Forest. In Virginia they would like to get rid of 5,717 acres. With typical cynicism, the plan is dressed up as a way to get more funding for schools, but it is in fact a way to steal the source of those funds now flowing to education. Additional “benefits” claimed for the proposal are (1) reduction of agency costs, (2) private sector development, and (3) opportunities for local government, should they wish to buy more land. Now is the time to stamp heavily on Mr. Bush’s bad idea.As far as the George Washington/Jefferson National Forest is concerned, there is abundant evidence that the proposal was prepared in haste and without careful attention to detail. There are many discrepancies between the Forest Service’s list of properties and the accompanying maps showing their locations. For example, Tract J-550i is listed in Dickenson Co., while the map shows it to be in Wise and, in fact, adjacent to North Fork of the Pound, one of our largest roadless areas. Several large areas that are mapped in Bland Co. do not appear on the list, nor do smaller areas in Alleghany, Botetourt, and Rockbridge. Some of the tracts do not meet the criterion of isolation. J-1247b and J-1060 in Smyth Co. make up a block of over 500 acres, just across the road from large continuous National Forest holdings.
In addition some of the plots seem particularly poorly chosen. J-253 and J-245 are near the Cave Spring/Stone Mountain Wilderness Study Area and lie within its viewshed. J-729 is continuous with National Forest land along the Appalachian Trail, although admittedly out of the viewshed.
This whole “plan” has the marks of a hasty, badly planned attempt by the administration to make a quick buck from the National Forest. I believe that our local foresters would be greatly relieved if we were to succeed in stopping it in its tracks. So let’s do it. Your response should take two avenues. First, write to: Forest Service, SRS Comments, Land 4S, 1400 Independence Ave., Washington, DC 20250-0003 (or e-mail: [email protected]). You may want to say (1) that this proposal is badly flawed and contradictory, (2) that these lands are important as a resource for land exchanges to consolidate Forest Service holdings, and (3) that these sales amount to selling our children’s and grandchildren’s legacy. Comments are due by March 30th.
Second, write your Senators and Congressmen, make the same arguments, and ask them to strip this provision from the proposed budget. Those addresses are, of course, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510 and U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.
MORE PROGRESS IN THE SENATE
Action in the Senate is slow, but prospects for the Virginia Ridge and Valley Bill would seem to be brightening a bit. We have been briefing Congressional staff on the details of the bill to prepare them for upcoming negotiations with the Forest Service. Our best hope is that they may reach agreement with the Forest Service on the final form of a bill that would be acceptable to all parties. If this approach is successful, then it is hard to see how the bill could be rejected by the Congress. We believe that Senator Warner and his staff are thoroughly committed to seeing a good bill passed this year. Don’t hold your breath, but use every opportunity to keep the wilderness bill for the Jefferson on the minds of our lawmakers.AU REVOIR, DON GIECEKWith this issue we say, not good-bye, but au revoir to Don Giecek. He has served as our grass-roots organizer for the George Washington National Forest for the past four and a half years, but the time has come for him to move on to greener pastures. Our thanks go with him for his work in developing wilderness support in the GW, for developing the mapping project of the Virginia Wind Energy Coalition, and for his GIS work for the VWC. Don intends to remain active with VWC as a volunteer, and goodness knows we need his expertise.
*************************************
President: Jim Murray, 1601 Bentivar Farm Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22911 (434-973-6693)
Vice-Pres: Mark Miller, 62 Big Hill Rd., Lexington, VA 24450 (540-464-3110)
Treasurer: Juliana Simpson, 11 E. Monmouth, Winchester, VA 22601 (540-662-7043)
Secretary: Laura Neale, 423 Sheep Creek Lane, Fairfield, VA 24435