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In this issue:
Bad Lands: The President's 2005 Budget President Bush's proposed2005fiscal year budget diminishes environmental protections and cutsfunding to programs that protect our natural resources. Equally troubling is that despite previous rejection of this approach, the Administration's 2005 budget assumes oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,to the tune of $1.3 billion in revenues over five years. If enacted, President Bush's budget putsour public lands, air, water, and the health of children and families nationwide at risk. The President's spending on environmental programs falls from $32.2 billion last year to $30.3 billion in 2005, a 5.9 percent slash in funding. If inflation is calculated in what is needed to keep federal activities funded at last year's level then the shortfall is $3.2 billion. Conservation programs, such as land acquisition and parks funding are shortchanged. For example, despite the Bush Administration's claim of fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the program is slated to get a mere one-third of the $900 million authorization level. The Bush Administration 2005 budget request for LWCF is only $314 million, $586 million less than what is needed. National Park Service allocations by the Bush Administration amount tojust $2.36 billion. Funding to eliminate the backlog of maintenance projects is a meager seven percent of the $4.9 billionpledged by Presidential candidate Bush in 2000. Without sufficient funds to makerepairs, the public will continue to lose access to scenic places and American treasures like the Statue of Liberty, which has been closed for two years. Funding for all endangered species programs, except the critical habitat listings mandated by the courts, is slashed. For example, the endangered species recovery budget would fall below its 2000 funding level if the Administration's request to cut $9.8 million dollars from the current funding level of $68 million succeeds. National Wildlife Refuges would suffer from severe cuts in funding. In addition, the Fish and Wildlife Service would get $129 million, about $7.6 million less than Congress appropriated in 2004. Money for theforest proposal passed in the fall of 2003, and touted by the Administration as a must have policy to protect communities from wildfires is about 40 percent below the authorized funding level. The budget reconfigures existing forest programs, includes controversial logging proposals, and fails to adequately fund other national forest conservation and restoration programs, such a law enforcement operations and wildlife and fisheries habitat management. Funding for capital improvements would drop $138 million (more than 21 percent) from 2004 levels. Opposing these and other proposals in the President's budget that are harmful to the environment, the Sierra Club Lands Team will work with members of Congress for a budget and appropriations bills that adequately funds programs that support and sustain our natural resources. Oregon's Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area, one of America's greatest natural assets, producing unparalleled recreation opportunities, wildlife and clean water is on the chopping block by the Bush Administration. This vast area of roadless and wilderness lands encompasses much of the southwestern Oregon and northwestern California and represents one of the last, great wild places in the continental United States. The ‘Biscuit Fire Recovery Project' proposal:
Judge Allows Snowmobile Increases in Yellowstone National Park On February 10, 2004, U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer, blocked the phase-out of snowmobile use underway in Yellowstone. As a result, the number of snowmobiles allowed into Yellowstone would nearly double to 780 per day. The ruling reverses the phase-out of snowmobiles which the National Park Service's own study concluded would best preserves the unique, historic, cultural, and natural resources associated with Yellowstone and Grant Teton National Parks. Tuesday's court ruling also reversed an order issued by U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan, who ruled in December 2003 that the federal government has a responsibility to protect America's national parks and those who visit them. Sullivan's ruling blocked an effort by the Bush Administration to continue snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park and ordered a two-year phase-out of snowmobiles within Yellowstone. Sierra Club is on record opposing snowmobiles in Yellowstone and believes that abandonment of the phase-out plan will damage the park, threaten wildlife, and harm the health of park visitors and employees. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition will appeal the federal judge's decision. The Salmon Planning Act, a Sierra Club supported bill, recently reached a legislative milestone with 102 members of the House of Representatives cosponsoring this important piece of legislation. The bill would focus federal efforts on the critical issue of restoring wild salmon populations in the Snake River which have been listed an endangered species since 1992. The Salmon Planning Act would give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the authority it needs to remove four dams on the Lower Snake River, a step that scientists say is essential to the long term health of wild salmon populations, and initiate efforts to meet the needs of communities that would be impacted by the removal of these four damns. The Salmon Planning Act is based on the best available science, including requiring the National Academy of Sciences to review the science used by federal agencies when implementing salmon recovery strategies.It also stands in contrast to the salmon management program pushed by the Bush Administration, which a federal court ruled inadequate and illegal in 2003. The Bush administration has until June 2004 to rewrite the Federal Northwest Salmon Recovery Plan. The Bush Administration Proposes Weakened Grazing Rules ACT NOW! Deadline March 2. The Bush administration has proposed to weaken the rules that now govern livestock grazing on public lands by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The proposed changes would overturn efforts over the past decade--including 1995 regulations by the Clinton administration aimed at improving public rangeland condition and reducing the impacts of grazing on watersheds, wildlife, and cultural treasures. We need your help in defending our public lands from this attack by the Bush administration. Some Key Problems of the Proposed Rules:
Conclusion The Sierra Club believes that the Bush administrations proposed BLM grazing regulations will damage wildlife and biological diversity. Habitat will continue to decline as the BLM does an expensive, exhaustive, and unnecessary grazing management process. These regulations further limit the BLM's ability to control illegal and resource-degrading activities on all American's lands, and starts to gives away rights to those lands to livestock operators. WHAT TO DO: WRITE THE BLM by March 2. Use this alert and your own knowledge to detail problems with the new rules and EIS. Tell the BLM you are commenting on both the rules and EIS. Be sure to include your name and address, and sign those sent by mail. Send your letter US PO to: SEND A LETTER Director (220), Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States Office, 7450 Boston Boulevard, Springfield, Virginia 22153, Attn: Revised Grazing Regulations DEIS --OR— COMMENT ONLINEat BLM's website at http://www.blm.gov/grazing or send an email to WOComment@blm.gov. COPY your Senator or Representative. Senator _____, US Senate, Washington, DC 20510 Representative ____, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 Or online at www.senate.gov or www.house.gov For More Information contact: Sierra Club Grazing Committee Upcoming Events:Arctic Lobby Week (March 1-3), National Landscape Conservation System Education Week (March 28-30) State Wilderness Leaders in DC (Feb 23-26) Up to Top |
