LOL! That's OK. I spent 3 years in the 82nd Airborne and 14 years in Boy Scouts,and I still stink at tying knots!
I would like to see Cong. Hunter address this problem. They will push this nonsense through unless some one does.
Bill introduced to expand wilderness areas
Casper Star Tribune ^ | April 21, 2007 | NOELLE STRAUB
Posted on 04/21/2007 10:34:50 AM PDT by rwh
WASHINGTON - Two East Coast lawmakers introduced a bill Friday with 73 co-sponsors that would designate as wilderness 23 million public acres in five Northern Rocky Mountain states, including Montana and Wyoming.
Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Christopher Shays, R-Conn., wrote the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. It would give the government’s strongest protections to areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. They announced the measure along with songstress Carole King.
Three co-sponsors are from Washington and three from Oregon. Both Montana and Wyoming’s representatives condemned the bill and vowed to fight it.
Similar measures have been introduced in several previous Congresses. But this time, the chairmen of the House Natural Resources Committee and the relevant subcommittee have both signed on as sponsors of the bill.
A panel spokeswoman said the committee is reviewing the legislation now and may hold hearings on it, although there are no immediate plans for one.
The bill would designate as wilderness all 20 million acres of inventoried roadless lands in the states and another 3 million acres in Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. It includes 7 million acres in Montana and 5 million in Wyoming.
A wilderness designation generally prohibits timber harvesting and permanent roads, structures and facilities. Hunting, fishing and other recreational activities generally are allowed.
Maloney and Shays said the bill would protect some of the country’s most beautiful and ecologically important lands. They said it would save taxpayers $245 million over 10 years by managing the land as wilderness and eliminating “subsidized development” there. They said more than 2,300 jobs would be created through the bill’s program to rip out old logging roads and restore the areas to their natural state.
“(The act) has always been ahead of its time by drawing wilderness boundaries according to science, not politics,” Maloney said in a statement. “(The act) would also help mitigate the effects of global warming by protecting the corridors through which vulnerable wildlife can migrate to cooler areas.”
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said all legislation on public lands must take into consideration the opinions of local communities and people who depend on the resources for both work and recreation.
“I oppose this legislation because it’s a top-down approach that doesn’t properly take into account the impacts on the local economy nor does it adequately protect access for hunting, fishing and other forms of recreation,” Rehberg said in a statement. “I’ll continue to work to implement responsible policies to protect Montana’s natural resources.”
Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., called the bill a “147-page assault on our Western way of life” and said local input and control would be slipping away.
“This is an absolutely offensive attempt by East Coast liberals to create sweeping, over-reaching laws for Western public lands without any public input from the folks living in Wyoming who would be heavily impacted by this legislation,” Cubin said in a statement. “I have always supported a carefully balanced multiple-use policy when it comes to public lands, and this bill would essentially do away with that type of sensible evaluation.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1821283/posts?page=38#38