In case ya'll didn't know

[Fla._Deadheader]

The "Greenie Weenies" are takin a beatin !!!  It's all over the Gold Prospecting Forums, that yesterday, Jan. 1, the Bush Administration has opened up the "Public" land. All the previous road closings will now be opened to allow Mining, Logging and 4X4's to access the far reaches of this country. It is definitely good news, if it is allowed for EVERYONE. Hope the "big boys" Don't push the small operators out of the market. A fair playing field with minerals and timber would be of great benefit to the country. It is supposed to happen in all Natl. Parks and Wilderness areas also. This is to undo the crap that "Slick Willie" implemented.

[Frank_Pender]

AMEN! 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) ;D ;D

[OneWithWood]

There are two ways to look at this :

On one hand it will be good IF the logging is controlled and limited to mostly TSI and fire prevention.  Somehow I doubt it will be - remember James Watt

On the other hand a glut of cheap available timber will not help lumber prices.  Mineral extraction is extremely hard on the land and ecosystem, even when regulated.  I have seen too much 4x4 damage on once pleasant trails to be anything but disgusted by allowing their unmitigated use on national land.  It only takes a few bozos to destroy centuries of growth. :(

Someday perhaps we will happen upon a workable middle ground.  In the meantime I cannot get excited about letting Joe Public and Corporate America abuse land in ways I would never allow on my own property.  Hopefully I am wrong and we will not witness such abuses but history says otherwise.

[beenthere]

I suspect this has been delayed a couple years because of the deal Senator Jeffords (Vt) made with the Democrats to keep his Chair position with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. It was pretty slick work on his part, but recently his apple cart was upset because the Republicans won the senate. But Jeffords apparently kept a tight control on the Committee in the meantime.

I hope their is some constraint, but not as much as has been these past several years. I heard that the National Forests have management plans for a rotation age of something like 150 years, but in reality it was closer to 1500 years because nothing was allowed to be cut. Timber just dies of old age for most species, making fuel for fire.

Still the law suits against cutting timber keep coming and considerable amount of money is spent fighting them. Lots of real liberal judges trying to make a name for themselves by making outlandish decisions, and the forest loses in the long run. Hard to convince many people that wood is really a renewable resource (some say "not in my lifetime it isn't!").  Sorry - off my soapbox now.

[Forester Frank]

 :-/ Ugh, I think that Bush's decision has been overturned by the courts and will still require further action to open up roadless areas. Check your local news for more info.

[Larry]

Not a whole lot of news on it yet but you can take a look at the following article and do a little thinking for yourself.
Larry

By BRODIE FARQUHAR Casper Star-Tribune staff writer

1/1/03

A seemingly innocuous rule change by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) this week could lead to a wide-open assault on public lands -- or maybe not, depending on who's talking.

While the impact could be immediate and widespread in Utah, Alaska and California, observors believe there will be little initial impact here in Wyoming, although that could change quickly.

On Christmas Eve, the BLM issued a statement announcing a streamlined procedure to resolve title disputes over rights-of-way along old roads and trails that cross federal lands. The new rule changes the method of obtaining a "recordable disclaimer of interest," which can help landowners or other claimants remove clouds from their title to lands or interests in lands. Basically, a disclaimer is an official determination that the federal government neither owns nor holds a valid interest in certain lands, said Jeff Holdren, a BLM spokesman.

"We've only gone through this process 105-110 times," said Holdren, "and made a disclaimer in about 60 percent of the cases."

Most cases involve correcting bad surveys or determine ownership when a river jumps a channel, he said. Holdren said the new rule was "just an administrative issue," but acknowledged that it could lead to more states and counties asking for federal disclaimers when trying to reclaim old roads across public lands.

The new rule waives a 12-year limit on applications for disclaimers and allows any entity -- not just the owners of record -- to ask the federal government to relinquish its interest in a parcel of land.

The U.S. Department of Interior has delegated administrative responsibility for the new rule to the BLM, acting on behalf of all Interior agencies.

Environmental groups say the new rule has the potential to devastate national parks and wilderness areas throughout the Western United States -- making it easier for states and counties to convert dirt tracks and stock trails on public lands into paved roads. Critics maintain the new rule will allow counties to claim ownership of roads in national parks and on other federal lands and use right-of-way claims to block wilderness designations. Critics believe that where drilling, logging and use of off-road vehicles has been prohibited, the new rule would open the door to those activities with county-claimed roads.

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) charges that the new rule, coupled with an 1866 law, can be used to pave roads through public lands at the whim of state and local governments without public comment or scientific study to determine damage.

The 1866 Mining Law provision -- RS (revised statute) 2477 -- states simply that "The right-of-way for the construction of highways over public lands, not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted." It was enacted to encourage Western settlement. Congress repealed RS 2477 in 1976, but ever since the Reagan administration, Western politicians and allies in mining, timber, off-road vehicle and livestock industries have tried to resurrect the old law in efforts to block wilderness designations or open wild lands to development or motorized recreation.

"The current focus on RS 2477 has been on Utah, Alaska and California because those states have the relatively newest national parks and wilderness areas," said Jim Stratton, Alaska regional director for the NPCA.

Yellowstone National Park -- the nation's oldest -- is not at risk, said Stratton, because there were no pre-existing trails and roads through the park when it was created in 1872.

Governors and state legislatures in Utah and Alaska have plowed money, time and staff into RS 2477 research as a way to roll back national parks and wilderness areas, he said. Utah state and county officials assert almost 10,000 right-of-way claims under RS 2477, and some 15,000 miles of jeep trails and even stream beds as county roads through national parks and wilderness areas.

In Alaska, national parks and preserves hold RS 2477 right-of-way claims totaling more than 2,700 miles of potential road. More than half of those potential miles of road could be built in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the nation's largest. Thirteen Alaska national parks and preserves could be affected, Stratton said.

In California, local counties claim there are more than 2,500 miles of RS 2477 routes through the Mohave National Preserve and Death Valley National Park. Counties in Montana, Idaho and Oregon have asserted claims to every road on the national forest lands within the county boundaries.

Proving that a dirt road or stock trail was a county road can be expensive Stratton said, but could be worth it to developers. "If you get just a few strategic roads through the system, it can tremendously alter the land use," he warned. He said if BLM starts rubber-stamping RS 2477 applications, thousands of roads could be bulldozed across federal lands, opening them to development.

[hawby]

My County complains they cannot afford to "maintain" the roads they have. I wonder how many will "whim" up a road over mountainous terrain?

I have lived out West (CO, NM) and traveled every State from El Paso to Vancouver, San Diego to St. Louis. Its BIG out there. We can stand a few roads. We can stand a few trees cut. We can stand a few holes in the ground.

I used to go to a mine site in Arizona that was very well regulated and very safe, and very much cheaper to use Copper from than South America. It was a just big hole in the ground, but I found it as interesting as the Gran Canyon. Talk about HUGE trucks. The tires were taller than my two story house.

I tend to think the oil under ANWAR would be cheaper in the long run than Saudi / Iragi / name your thug oil.... and we could do it environmentally safely. I sure hope that we CAN get some reasonable regulations enacted that will provide the use of the resources that are there to be had, yet will not become so entangled in the court system that it makes for un-reasonable economics.

Soap-box off....

klh