|
A Plan to Rescue America's Remaining Wildlands Smart Growth: managing suburban sprawl Preservation: designating lands as permanently protected parks, refuges and wilderness Acquisition: purchasing land to protect it, both in urban areas and remote wild regions Restoration: recovering what's been lost and rebuilding healthy natural systems End Commercial Logging: stopping timber industry logging of National Forests and other federal public lands. SPARE in Detail Americans are beginning to recognize the need for aggressive action to permanently protect the last pockets of wildlands for future generations. But we must act quickly. These national treasures will be important building blocks in future efforts to restore America's damaged natural resources. They simply must not be destroyed, for they cannot be replaced. As we move into the second millennium, we must be bold enough and wise enough to keep them wild forever. The SPARE program is five common sense approaches that would stop the destruction of wildlands and rescue what remains. Smart Growth "Smart-growth" programs were created to rein in runaway growth and to contain or counter the consequences of suburban sprawl. Local smart-growth programs often involve incentives to build, work or live in established neighborhoods. They fund the restoration of urban cores and recovery of "brownfields," inner-city sites blighted and polluted by industries that have moved on. They also facilitate the purchase of open space, parks and farmland. In many communities, smart growth is taking the form of urban-growth boundaries that limit development to designated areas. A core goal of smart-growth programs is to decrease dependency on the car; governments are being asked to develop - and commuters are being encouraged to use - alternative methods of transportation. Vice President Al Gore has proposed a federal program of loans and bonds that would help local communities buy and protect land and create urban and suburban parks. Preservation Our most valuable public lands should be set aside and permanently protected as parks, wilderness, wildlife refuges, and monuments. Protective land classifications can safeguard sources of clean drinking water, essential wildlife habitat, historical and archaeological treasures, and areas for scientific research, recreation and environmental education. These last wild sanctuaries are increasingly important as our daily lives become more and more hectic. Much-needed spiritual renewal and personal reflection can come naturally in a wild place free from the noise of motors, the presence of power lines and the interruption of the telephone. Acquisition Most of the open spaces and wildlife habitat that surround our communities are privately owned and subject to development. Even some of our publicly owned parks, preserves and wilderness areas include parcels of private land within their boundaries. The best way to ensure that these special places remain special for our children and grandchildren is to acquire the land and hold it in public ownership for public purposes. Private landowners are frequently willing to sell their property for such purposes, but all too often the funds are not available to purchase the land. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is a trust fund established by Congress in 1965 to create a source of funding for just this type of land acquisition. The LWCF uses part of the revenues from off-shore oil leases to purchase environmentally sensitive lands. However, Congress has historically diverted these funds for other purposes, resulting in a huge backlog of federal and state acquisition needs. Since the LWCF was created, Congress has spent only $9 billion of the more than $21 billion the fund has raised. Restoration The restoration of natural America has the potential to become the most ambitious jobs program in the history of this country. We will need to remove some dams to free our rivers and restore wild salmon and sensitive river habitats. To save the grizzlies of the Northern Rockies, we will need to wipe out mile upon mile of logging roads and replant natural vegetation. In the Everglades, we'll be rechanneling rivers, removing dikes and rewatering wetlands. Natural vegetation will need to be replanted and streams and hillsides restored after decades of irresponsible livestock grazing and ORV use on arid western lands. The same bold American spirit that dammed up major rivers, drilled massive oil wells and felled the giant redwoods must be put to work to restore America. End Commercial Logging America's publicly owned federal forests are treasures whose highest values include recreation, wildlife habitat and water-quality protection. Yet hidden slush funds, mismanagement and entrenched government bureaucracy have resulted in forest-management policies that favor industrial timber cutting over all these public benefits. Year after year, Sierra Club members and other citizens have fought clearcutting and destructive logging-road construction in the courts, in Congress and in federal agencies. Still, the irresponsible commercial logging - and roadbuilding and resulting mudslides, water pollution and habitat destruction - continue at taxpayer expense. According to the General Accounting Office, the Forest Service's timber program lost taxpayers $2 billion between 1992 and 1997. Ending commercial logging on public lands and putting a permanent moratorium on roadbuilding and all destructive activities in our last unspoiled wild areas would be environmentally and fiscally responsible. It would allow our federally owned forests to be managed for watershed protection, recreation, fish and wildlife production, and other uses more beneficial to the American people who own these forests. SPARE America's Wildlands Now! Back to SPARE Report Main Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
