Posted on 08/31/2004 5:52:37 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
California Farm Bureau Federation vigorously opposes a measure approved by the Legislature last week that calls for the creation of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, an added layer of government that could impact members in 22 counties throughout the Sierra Nevada region.
"We are extremely disappointed," said Bill Pauli, California Farm Bureau Federation president. "This legislation is contrary to the governor's California Performance Review and deserves to be vetoed."
For almost four years, Farm Bureau and other business groups have worked to oppose legislation that would create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy and further increase government ownership of private lands. The government currently owns 72 percent of the land area in the Sierra Nevada.
The stated purpose of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy is to serve as a central forum for coordination and planning of conservation efforts throughout the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. The Sierra Nevada Conservancy would fund grants and projects across the region. Proponents say, the agency's goals are to protect sensitive areas, reduce the risk of natural disaster, including fire, and increase recreational and tourism opportunities.
"This conservancy represents a fresh approach to addressing its unique needs and challenges," said Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City, a co-author of the bill. "Rather than the typical Sacramento-knows-best paradigm, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy will empower local communities to identify needs and set priorities for a future we can all be proud of."
Farm Bureau disagrees.
"When is enough, enough? Isn't nearly three-quarters of the land area enough for conservation purposes? Seventy-two percent of the land in this region is already owned by the government," said John Gamper, CFBF director of taxation and land use. "If the state continues buying more land and taking it off of the tax rolls, then there isn't going to be a tax base to provide essential services needed by the citizens of the region."
The Sierra Nevada bill, Assembly Bill 2600, by Leslie and Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, could be detrimental to the livelihoods of landowners in the rural counties of the Sierra Nevada, the Farm Bureau contends. Impacted counties include: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Tehama, Tulare, Tuolumne and Yuba.
Valerie Zentner, El Dorado County Farm Bureau executive director, has fought conservancy legislation for a number of years and said that it will adversely affect the people of the state.
"The creation of a Sierra Nevada Conservancy is bad for farmers and ranchers, bad for business, bad for local governments and bad for the state's taxpayers," Zentner said. "It ensures that government continues to grow and yet provides no assurances that the conservancy will actually accomplish anything of value in the Sierra."
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy, Gamper said, has the authority to provide grants to other state agencies, local governments and non-profit groups to acquire land. If the land is acquired and not managed properly, he said, it could impact the neighboring operations.
Opponents of AB 2600 have expressed concern about the loss of local control because the conservancy is not bound by local general plans or zoning ordinances.
"Our fundamental concern is increased government ownership of private land, especially in El Dorado County where over 60 percent of the land area is already owned by the government," Zentner said. "The county's struggling local government and our members simply cannot afford the loss of any more land from property tax-paying status and the accompanying reduction in services."
As a "remedy," in the last set of amendments to the bill, it stated that the Sierra Nevada Conservancy shall coordinate with local governments and consider their general plans, but Gamper noted that the conservancy will remain as the overarching authority.
The conservancy's board will be comprised of 13 members and of those, six will be locally elected county supervisors. The governor will appoint five other members and the Legislature will appoint two public members to represent statewide interests.
"Timber-dependent counties such as El Dorado simply cannot accept further government restrictions on our largest agricultural commodity. Existing regulations have reduced the number of sawmills to one. Any further intrusion could be the final blow to an historic industry that provides quality wood products and employment in El Dorado County," said Norman Krizl, El Dorado County Farm Bureau president. "Governor Schwarzenegger has been supportive of agriculture in California. We can only hope that he hears our message that timber is an agricultural commodity and deserves the same support as all other agricultural pursuits."
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy bill was forwarded to Schwarzenegger, who has 30 days to sign the legislation. Since Schwarzenegger's Resources Agency played a key role in crafting the bill, it is expected that the governor will sign the measure into law.
Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. (Top)
FYI
Look at the map...
Some things Arnie just doesn't get right.
Incredible!
His general plan guidelines institute environmental justice, with is antithetical to equal justice guaranteed by our Constitution, and Sustainable Development, the United Nations plan for global socialism.
Any man, governor, terminator or whatever, that wishes to impose these ideologies on this state or any other, is not freedom's friend:
2003 General Plan Guidelines
The final version of the 2003 General Plan Guidelines is now available. Below are some of the highlights of this revised edition:
Environmental Justice: AB 1553 (Keeley, 2001) requires OPR to include environmental justice in the General Plan Guidelines. These guidelines for environmental justice must also include transit oriented development (TOD). Environmental justice and TOD are discussed in Chapter 2. Specific data or policy suggestions are also integrated into Chapter 4 (Required Elements of the General Plan) and Chapter 6 (Optional Elements).
Optional Elements: The 2003 General Plan Guidelines provides guidance on two new optional elements: water and energy.
Public Participation: Chapter 8 is a new chapter on the role of community participation in the general plan process, including desired goals and tools to achieve those goals. Although not required by AB 1553, this chapter addresses important environmental justice concerns related to inclusiveness and process.
Sustainable Development: The discussion of sustainability from the 1998 Guidelines has been revised and incorporated into the discussion of environmental justice.
Format and Element Consolidation: Chapter 5 updates and combines several sections from the 1998 Guidelines and OPR's technical advisory, Element Consolidation, in order to discuss how cities and counties can create consistent, usable general plans.
Annual Progress Reports: Planning agencies are required to monitor their progress in implementing their general plan and to report on their progress annually. The draft revised Guidelines explain this requirement and offer suggestions on how to prepare an annual progress report.
He gave a wonderful speech tonight! I liked it a lot!! But when he signs this abomination, I'll blot every word of it out of my memory as pure unadulterated baloney!!!
If he vetoes it, then I'll believe what I've heard from him this evening!!!
Damn, as much as I despise Kalifornia I didn't REALLY want to see them destroy themselves in the very near future.
This and the just enacted "gun control" will put the final nail's in their coffin.
The worst thing is that it will lead to even more liberals fleeing to Nevada, so that they can conveniently visit what they still see ad "Good" about Kali. without actually having to tolerate living there.
While here they will of course work to remake Nevada into another liberal cesspool, certain that they can make their failed policies work here when they already destroyed Kalifornia.
Save both states, get this bill killed and keep the Kali's IN Kalifornia!
Then WHY do you encourage just the opposite from your rhetoric, Governor Schwarzenegger? Another layer of government with electeds in the minority is not what you described tonight!!!
The "People" of the Sierran Region have fought this for over a decade and you, a Republican, just hand this over to GANG-GREEN, giving them a Demonicrat victory of huge proportions!
This will be the scourge of the Sierra-Nevada and the California Cascades for decades!!! (until we use it to create the 51st State called Sierra Republic)
If he signs it, I suggest some form of initiative that obliterates this conservancey and eliminates all futher government funds to purchase, manage or otherwise interfere with private property rights.
Further, it would be a great thing to pass some legislation that would roll back the conservancies formed prior to this.
I'd like nothing less than the disolution of all California conservancies with the land being gifted back to the California and American public.
These commie land grabs are quazi governmental and should be illegal. Most of them have been granted huge sums from the federal government to steal our land from us.
I thought the speech was great... I only wish the actions were consistent with the words.
This whole conservancy thing saddens and disgusts me at the same time.
If people weren't outraged by this, this state is in deep #%^&!!!
Thanks for the map hedgetrimmer...
and thanks for keepin' it small; a larger version would be even more frightening.
Can anyone think of other representative, or membership organizations or groups, even service clubs? (excluding the Sierra Flub of course) It'll be a hell of an up-hill challenge with Fienstein and Boxer as our Senators, but what the hell... Why not???
While everyone swoons across the nation over a speech that will ring hollower than an empty boxcar if he returns from a Republican Convention to enslave the private property of the Sierra, then it will be well worth it to force him to "shove it!"
It won't ever be enough to the GANG-GREEN groups if we just restore the "status quo" by overturning all the CONservacancies, that's just a "check" move they can counter. We need a "checkmate" to stop 'em cold!!!
Just curious...
I added it to News/current events.
I would urge you to quickly contact these groups and get them to burry the governor with phone calls. Failing that, I don't blame you. I wish there were other words of comfort I could give you, but from the top of this nation to the bottom, our leaders couldn't give a fig what you and I think.
I represent 8 of the counties for the Grange. You just let me know what you want. Course the Executive Committee has released our lobbyist and the Legislative committee that was supposed to replace the Legislative Director isn't doing anything or is non existant. But I'm behind you!
He'll sign it. You know he will!
I'll help SW! I'm in Los Angeles... but what the heck!
(Just add the Santa Monica Mountains in there, lol).
Here's some links to those you mentioned, and a few nationwide links that might help.
California Farm Bureau Federation
http://www.cfbf.com
Link to County Farm Bureaus
http://www.cfbf.com/counties/
California State Grange
http://grangeonline.com
Regional Council of Rural Counties
http://www.rcrcnet.org
Mountain County Water Resource Association
Link?
all the legitimate Chambers of Commerce in the Sierran/Cascade Region
Links: Many
Property Rights Foundation of America
http://www.prfamerica.org/
Defenders of Property Rights
http://www.defendersproprights.org/
American Land Rights Association
http://www.landrights.org/
Property Rights Research
http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/
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