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Land Sale Alert |
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March 20, 2006 Dear Email Sentry and Master Leaders: Public land sale proposal sent to Congress. ACT NOW. Last Thursday, March 16, the Bush administration submitted to Congress legislation that would authorize the sale of hundreds of thousands of acres of National Forest Service lands over the next five years. The bill, titled “National Forest Land Conveyance for Rural Communities Act” is part of the administration’s plan to partially fund the Secure Rural Schools program. In this latest push to privatize public lands the administration is betting that hunters and anglers won't want to appear in opposition to programs that benefit rural public schools. But this is a one-time, shot in the arm funding measure that is not sustainable and in the long run will not help rural public schools in Montana. If this bill passed 75% of the receipts from the sale of our public lands would end up going to California, Oregon and Washington. We are already loosing too much hunting ground: The Economist reported that every year America looses 1.5 million acres of wildlife habitat and 1 million acres of farm and ranch land to development and sprawl. It's no surprise though, and certainly no coincidence, that we've already seen this backdoor approach to sell public lands. Rep. Richard Pombo already tried to rip-off the public with the same kind of rural economic stimulus talk. Supporting the continued funding and extension of the Secure Rural Schools Act is the right thing to do, but not through the sale of public lands. When the proposal was first announced it was met with strong rhetorical opposition on the part of Sen. Baucus, Sen. Burns and Rep. Rehberg. We need them to turn that rhetoric into action. Call or fax them today. Their contact info is below. Due to strict screening, traditional letters can take weeks to reach a Congressmen’s office. Email messages are better, but a phone call or fax is the best.
Act now and stop this misguided attempt to sell our public lands.
PUBLIC COMMENTS NEEDED TO UDSA FOREST SERVICE AS WELL. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service will be taking public comments on a list of forest lands that would be available for sale as a proposal to provide funding to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (SRS). The list of available forest lands comprises 304,370 acres of land within the 193-million-acre National Forest System. Detailed maps of each parcel can now be found on the Forest Service website (http://www.fs.fed.us). Comments on the proposed list must be received by March 30 and may be sent by e-mail to SRS_Land_Sales@fs.fed.us. Written comments may be sent to:
Send faxed comments to (202) 205-1604. Thank you for all you do for Montana's public lands, wildlife, and fair-chase hunting and fishing heritage. Montana Wildlife Federation, with nearly 7,000 members, is the largest and oldest statewide nonprofit wildlife conservation organization of hunters and anglers who work to protect Montana's lands and waters and its hunting and fishing heritage. To learn more about MWF, go to www.montanawildlife.com. Larry Copenhaver |
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This message is brought to you by the Montana Wildlife Federation ... Montana's largest, statewide wildlife conservation organization with over 7,000 members. |
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Thank
you once more for standing up for Montana's wildlife heritage. |
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| For More Info: | Larry Copenhaver, Conservation
Director Montana Wildlife Federation (406) 458-0227 • (800) 517-7256 Email: lcopenhaver@mtwf.org |
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