PUBLIC LANDS: House panel favors wilderness bill but rips Forest Service's commitment to public access
Scott Streater, E&E reporter
E&E: Friday, March 7, 2014
A House subcommittee offered bipartisan support yesterday for a Colorado wilderness bill sponsored by Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) that would provide for stronger protections of nearly 108,000 acres in the San Juan National Forest while preserving recreational uses.
But a large portion of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation hearing centered on a sometimes testy debate over another public lands bill, devolving into partisan bickering over Forest Service land-use policies that Republican leaders say are keeping people away from some of the nation's most pristine public lands.
The heated debate dealt with H.R. 3606, the "Emigrant Wilderness Historical Use Preservation Act of 2013," sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.).
McClintock's bill among other things would forbid the Forest Service from adopting policies that restrict some recreational activities or that result in a decrease of visitation below the levels seen at the time Congress in 1975 designated the section of Stanislaus National Forest as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
The legislation seeks to ensure that the wilderness area "retains the types of activities and level of access the land had when the land was designated as wilderness," according to the bill. Those historic uses include commercial outfitting and guiding, camping, and pack stock grazing, as well as the ability of visitors to use campfires.
Supporters at yesterday's hourlong hearing also say the bill is needed to shield the Forest Service against lawsuits from environmental groups seeking to force the service to adopt policies restricting access and certain uses in an effort to preserve the area's wilderness character.
But the Forest Service opposes the bill, a fact that angered McClintock and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska).
McClintock said during the hearing that his legislation is needed to protect small commercial outfitters and pack stock businesses that he said the service is trying to run out of business by restricting their access in the wilderness area.
He said "a bizarre and radical ideology has sprung up within the Forest Service" holding that historical uses of the area are "evil and must be stamped out."
"I might add that this sort of human activity has been going on in this region literally since prehistoric times," McClintock said. "Unfortunately, as we've come to expect from the Forest Service under this administration, they're opposing this measure to guarantee the public's access to the public's land."
He also labeled as "hogwash" the Forest Service's contention that the bill would favor commercial uses of the wilderness area next door to Yosemite National Park over other public uses.
McClintock and Young said the Forest Service has reneged on its promise not to restrict access to the area when it was designated as wilderness.
"I happened to be here when we passed this bill in 1975," Young said. "It was unanimously supported by the Forest Service, by the users, by the legislative body; everybody agreed that there would be continued use at the level at that time, preserving it as it was."
He added, "Never once did we think that our government would go back on its word."
Critics, however, noted that wilderness areas are by their very definition sanctuaries of quiet solitude. As the 1964 law that established the national wilderness system states, they are areas "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
The Forest Service needs to have the flexibility to manage these areas as it sees fit to protect their character, and McClintock's bill would hamper the agency's ability to do so, Jim Pena, the Forest Service's associate deputy chief, testified during the hearing.
"The agency needs the discretion to be able to adjust commercial use levels along with overall use if needed or warranted to preserve wilderness character," Pena told the subcommittee.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) backed up Pena's testimony, noting that as the climate warms, the Forest Service and other land managers are going to need the flexibility to manage sensitive landscapes as they see fit to adjust to the changes.
McClintock's bill could have a lot of negative consequences, Pena said.
"Preventing the agency from applying its expertise to adjust management because of resource management issues or to comply with other legal requirements such as those in the Endangered Species Act could result in litigation to resolve the kind of contradictions that would result from this legislation," Pena said.
Bipartisan agreement
But not all the discussion at yesterday's hearing was so contentious.
Subcommittee members from both parties expressed support for Tipton's H.R. 1839, which outlines the management of the nearly 108,000 acres in western Colorado's San Juan National Forest that would be designated as the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Area.
The bill would also designate more than 68,000 acres in the area as the Hermosa Creek Special Management Area. Further, the measure includes a provision to create more than 37,000 acres as wilderness within the protected area (E&E Daily, March 3).
Tipton and his staff worked with local elected leaders, recreational groups and other stakeholders to ensure that the area is protected but that activities such as motorized and over-snow vehicle usage and grazing are still allowed. Permanent and temporary road construction and timber harvesting would be prohibited in one part of the area.
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet (D) has filed a companion bill, S. 841.
"When it comes to land-use designations, I support a balanced approach that includes respecting the environment that we all deeply value while making sure that the best use of our natural resources are available, as well," Tipton said during the hearing. "Recreation, preservation, access and job creation are all important aspects of the multiple-use mandate of which these lands are truly intended."
Gwen Lachelt (D), a La Plata County commissioner who worked with Tipton's office, said the bill is "community-owned and developed" and that her county is "pleased with the consensus approach of this bill."
Among other things, Tipton's bill would help ensure that historic uses of the area such as motorized and over-snow vehicle usage would not be interrupted.
The Forest Service recently proposed an updated resource management plan that closed the area to motorized recreation despite the long history of such activity, said Scott Jones, vice president of the Colorado Snowmobile Association.
"That's an issue that really took our users by surprise," Jones said during the hearing.
Subcommittee members also responded favorably to H.R. 2430, sponsored by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.).
The bill would adjust the boundaries of New Jersey's Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park to include Hinchliffe Stadium, which was built as a public works project in the early 1930s and once hosted Negro League baseball games during the era of segregation.
Pascrell told the subcommittee that the stadium, which has been closed since 1997, "sits in a state of disrepair."
Stephanie Toothman, associate director of cultural resources, partnerships and science for the National Park Service, testified that the Park Service supports the legislation and that designating the stadium as part of the national historic park will help raise private funds to repair the stadium.
