Washington Hunter
Well-known member
Published April 22, 2007
By MATTHEW BROWN
MATTHEW BROWN
The Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. - A wide-reaching wilderness protection bill that would forever ban logging, oil exploration and other development on 23 million acres across the Northern Rockies was introduced Friday by two East Coast members of Congress.
The proposal drew a quick backlash from natural resource industry lobbyists and some Western lawmakers who view it as an intrusion on their turf. But supporters hope a Democratic-
controlled Capitol Hill will improve the odds of a bill that has gained little traction during eight prior attempts at passage.
The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act would more than double existing wilderness acreage in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington.
Sponsored by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, and Christopher Shays, R-Ct., the act would forbid most development across broad swaths of public land in the five states. It calls for the removal of more than 6,000 miles of existing roads, primarily within national forests.
Maloney said the bill "would protect public lands owned by all Americans, whether you're from New York or Montana, Connecticut or Washington state."
Earlier versions of the bill have been rejected by every Congress since 1992, said Michael Garrity with the Montana-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which has lobbied for the measure. The last time it made it so far as a hearing was in 1994, just before the Republican takeover of Capitol Hill that lasted until Democrats regained control last election.
Yet support for the bill has grown since its early days. It had 187 co-sponsors in the last Congress, although none from districts directly affected by it. Some prior sponsors now wield significant power in the 110th Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resource Committee.
Whether that's enough to overcome local hostility to the measure is uncertain. e_SClB
Since the passage of the federal Wilderness Act in 1964, Congress has designated 702 wilderness areas totaling more than 107 million acres, according to the University of Montana's Wilderness Institute. The Shays-Maloney bill would add an additional 7 million acres in Montana, 9.5 million in Idaho, 5 million in Wyoming, 750,000 in eastern Oregon and 500,000 in eastern Washington.
Reaction to the bill's introduction was swift and sharp from Western members of Congress - both Democrat and Republican.
Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., called the bill "an absolutely offensive attempt by East Coast liberals to create sweeping, overreaching laws for Western public lands." She added she "will be fighting this bill tooth and nail."
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said that while some undeveloped areas in his state may need greater protection, it should "come from the ground up, from local communities working together - not from the top down."
Montana Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg offered a similar message and added "the people who depend on these resources both for work and recreation ... deserve a seat at the table."
And in Idaho, a spokesman for Republican Sen. Larry Craig offered a quote from former President Theodore Roosevelt, a champion of conservation.
"Roosevelt said, 'Conservation means development as much as it does protection,"' spokesman Dan Whiting said. "Responsible use can include everything from hiking and mountain biking to development of timber, mining and cattle. It's not appropriate to just lock this land up."
Criticism also came from the logging industry, which warned of ruined local economies, and recreation groups concerned that snowmobiles, ATVs and even bicycles would be prohibited in the new wilderness areas.
Supporters called the wilderness bill an "ecosystem-based" plan meant to transcend political boundaries and replace natural resource jobs with others tilted toward restoration.
The intent is to connect fragmented areas of wildlife habitat into highly protected "biological corridors" stretching across a vast landscape, according to the text of the bill. That would allow recovering species such as the grizzly bear - due to be taken off the endangered species list in parts of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming later this month ó to expand their ranges and gain permanent footholds in the Northern Rockies, Garrity said.
"We can protect our greatest economic asset or continue to subsidize its destruction with timber sales," he said.
The latest version of the bill also includes a jobs-creation element meant to answer worries over jobs lost in the logging or mining industries. More than 2,300 people would be employed to remove existing roads in the wilderness areas and restore approximately 1 million acres of clear-cut forests, according to Shays and Garrity.
By MATTHEW BROWN
MATTHEW BROWN
The Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. - A wide-reaching wilderness protection bill that would forever ban logging, oil exploration and other development on 23 million acres across the Northern Rockies was introduced Friday by two East Coast members of Congress.
The proposal drew a quick backlash from natural resource industry lobbyists and some Western lawmakers who view it as an intrusion on their turf. But supporters hope a Democratic-
controlled Capitol Hill will improve the odds of a bill that has gained little traction during eight prior attempts at passage.
The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act would more than double existing wilderness acreage in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington.
Sponsored by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, and Christopher Shays, R-Ct., the act would forbid most development across broad swaths of public land in the five states. It calls for the removal of more than 6,000 miles of existing roads, primarily within national forests.
Maloney said the bill "would protect public lands owned by all Americans, whether you're from New York or Montana, Connecticut or Washington state."
Earlier versions of the bill have been rejected by every Congress since 1992, said Michael Garrity with the Montana-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which has lobbied for the measure. The last time it made it so far as a hearing was in 1994, just before the Republican takeover of Capitol Hill that lasted until Democrats regained control last election.
Yet support for the bill has grown since its early days. It had 187 co-sponsors in the last Congress, although none from districts directly affected by it. Some prior sponsors now wield significant power in the 110th Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resource Committee.
Whether that's enough to overcome local hostility to the measure is uncertain. e_SClB
Since the passage of the federal Wilderness Act in 1964, Congress has designated 702 wilderness areas totaling more than 107 million acres, according to the University of Montana's Wilderness Institute. The Shays-Maloney bill would add an additional 7 million acres in Montana, 9.5 million in Idaho, 5 million in Wyoming, 750,000 in eastern Oregon and 500,000 in eastern Washington.
Reaction to the bill's introduction was swift and sharp from Western members of Congress - both Democrat and Republican.
Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., called the bill "an absolutely offensive attempt by East Coast liberals to create sweeping, overreaching laws for Western public lands." She added she "will be fighting this bill tooth and nail."
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said that while some undeveloped areas in his state may need greater protection, it should "come from the ground up, from local communities working together - not from the top down."
Montana Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg offered a similar message and added "the people who depend on these resources both for work and recreation ... deserve a seat at the table."
And in Idaho, a spokesman for Republican Sen. Larry Craig offered a quote from former President Theodore Roosevelt, a champion of conservation.
"Roosevelt said, 'Conservation means development as much as it does protection,"' spokesman Dan Whiting said. "Responsible use can include everything from hiking and mountain biking to development of timber, mining and cattle. It's not appropriate to just lock this land up."
Criticism also came from the logging industry, which warned of ruined local economies, and recreation groups concerned that snowmobiles, ATVs and even bicycles would be prohibited in the new wilderness areas.
Supporters called the wilderness bill an "ecosystem-based" plan meant to transcend political boundaries and replace natural resource jobs with others tilted toward restoration.
The intent is to connect fragmented areas of wildlife habitat into highly protected "biological corridors" stretching across a vast landscape, according to the text of the bill. That would allow recovering species such as the grizzly bear - due to be taken off the endangered species list in parts of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming later this month ó to expand their ranges and gain permanent footholds in the Northern Rockies, Garrity said.
"We can protect our greatest economic asset or continue to subsidize its destruction with timber sales," he said.
The latest version of the bill also includes a jobs-creation element meant to answer worries over jobs lost in the logging or mining industries. More than 2,300 people would be employed to remove existing roads in the wilderness areas and restore approximately 1 million acres of clear-cut forests, according to Shays and Garrity.
...er was that a clerical error?
