Rattler
Thornton Melon's Kid
Got an email fro BRC this AM about it:
BRC MONTANA ACTION ALERT
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES MEETINGS ON NEW CONSERVATION INITIATIVE
Dear BRC members and supporters in Montana,
We have an important Action Alert on several so-called “listening sessions” having to do with a new conservation effort called the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. The Action Alert is below, but I've written a brief update that's IMPORTANT READING for all.
As always, call or email me if you have any questions or suggestions.
Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE ON AMERICA'S GREAT OUTDOOR AND TREASURED LANDSCAPES INITIATVE.
Before I begin, I want to give Kudos to Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg who put the (relatively few) documents the Obama administration released, related to an official Internal National Monument document request, on his website. You can download the documents here: http://rehberg.house.gov/uploads/DeptofInterior.zip.
I just skimmed them over the weekend, and, based on only a quick review, a couple of things stand out. The CEQ (Council of Environmental Quality) seems to have been driving the effort we now know as the Treasured Landscape Initiative (TLI). This was a very tightly controlled planning effort involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and the Department of Agriculture (U.S. Forest Service) that involved mostly lands managed by the Department of the Interior (BLM).
DOI Treasured Landscapes brochure
We know from the leaked memo that these plans included very detailed plans for 14 new or expanded national monument designations, totaling some 13 million acres of public and private land. What we don't know is how this Treasured Landscape Initiative is related to yet another Obama administration initiative known as the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. In several of the documents that were made public, these two initiatives are referred to simultaneously, (referred to as “America's Great Outdoors – Treasured Landscape Initiative”)
I guess we'll never know how these two initiatives are related unless and until the most open and transparent administration ever decides to make all the documents public.
In any event, the AGO/TLI effort is likely to include a drastic expansion of the National Landscape Conservation System on BLM lands, including new National Monuments and other protective designations.
Which brings me to a press release from the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA):
Outdoor companies offer to host listening sessions for America’s Great Outdoors Initiative
http://www.outdoorindustry.org/gov.dc.php?newsId=12433&newsletterId=130&action=display
And this from a online sports news source:
http://www.sportsonesource.com/news/spor/spor_article.asp?section=2&Prod=1&id=33294
Listening sessions on the AGO on June 2 in Bozeman, Helena and Missoula, Montana? Did you miss that too? We don't claim to be on top of all of the Montana news, but we haven't heard a word about these meetings in Montana's newspapers until yesterday.
In fact, BRC's staff called the AGO contacts listed on the website and as of 10:00 am, Monday, May 24th, they were telling the public that the meetings have been placed on hold due to focus being placed on the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
You and I may have not known about the meetings, but certain people did, and they knew about it more than a week ago. While the CEQ was telling the general public no meetings were planned, the OIA was sending email action alerts to its members encouraging them to attend the meetings. The emails stated, in part: "Outdoor Industry Association has responded to the President’s call to action. OIA is contacting Montana-based member companies to bring the private sector voice to next month’s listening sessions. As both Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will be present for the launch of the listening tour, OIA companies are in a prime position to bring pertinent suggestions to the table."
This is really very worrisome. And the fact that the OIA is so involved makes it more so. The OIA is very politically connected and their policies, if not their member businesses, are very preservationist oriented.
Here is some more worriesomeness for you. The Wyss Foundation, one of the many foundations that fund the extreme end of the preservationist-oriented greenie groups, has announced they'll be funding a “Wyss Fellow” to work as “Outreach Director” for Obama's AGO initiative:
Below is an “action alert” on the meetings in Montana. I'm sorry we don't have more information, but we'll blast updates just as soon as we get them.
Until then, strap in... it's going to be a wild ride!
Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102
A link to the Whitehouse's official:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-americas-great-outdoors
Hang on.
BRC MONTANA ACTION ALERT
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES MEETINGS ON NEW CONSERVATION INITIATIVE
Dear BRC members and supporters in Montana,
We have an important Action Alert on several so-called “listening sessions” having to do with a new conservation effort called the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. The Action Alert is below, but I've written a brief update that's IMPORTANT READING for all.
As always, call or email me if you have any questions or suggestions.
Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE ON AMERICA'S GREAT OUTDOOR AND TREASURED LANDSCAPES INITIATVE.
Before I begin, I want to give Kudos to Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg who put the (relatively few) documents the Obama administration released, related to an official Internal National Monument document request, on his website. You can download the documents here: http://rehberg.house.gov/uploads/DeptofInterior.zip.
I just skimmed them over the weekend, and, based on only a quick review, a couple of things stand out. The CEQ (Council of Environmental Quality) seems to have been driving the effort we now know as the Treasured Landscape Initiative (TLI). This was a very tightly controlled planning effort involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and the Department of Agriculture (U.S. Forest Service) that involved mostly lands managed by the Department of the Interior (BLM).
DOI Treasured Landscapes brochure
We know from the leaked memo that these plans included very detailed plans for 14 new or expanded national monument designations, totaling some 13 million acres of public and private land. What we don't know is how this Treasured Landscape Initiative is related to yet another Obama administration initiative known as the America's Great Outdoors Initiative. In several of the documents that were made public, these two initiatives are referred to simultaneously, (referred to as “America's Great Outdoors – Treasured Landscape Initiative”)
I guess we'll never know how these two initiatives are related unless and until the most open and transparent administration ever decides to make all the documents public.
In any event, the AGO/TLI effort is likely to include a drastic expansion of the National Landscape Conservation System on BLM lands, including new National Monuments and other protective designations.
Which brings me to a press release from the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA):
Outdoor companies offer to host listening sessions for America’s Great Outdoors Initiative
http://www.outdoorindustry.org/gov.dc.php?newsId=12433&newsletterId=130&action=display
And this from a online sports news source:
http://www.sportsonesource.com/news/spor/spor_article.asp?section=2&Prod=1&id=33294
Listening sessions on the AGO on June 2 in Bozeman, Helena and Missoula, Montana? Did you miss that too? We don't claim to be on top of all of the Montana news, but we haven't heard a word about these meetings in Montana's newspapers until yesterday.
In fact, BRC's staff called the AGO contacts listed on the website and as of 10:00 am, Monday, May 24th, they were telling the public that the meetings have been placed on hold due to focus being placed on the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
You and I may have not known about the meetings, but certain people did, and they knew about it more than a week ago. While the CEQ was telling the general public no meetings were planned, the OIA was sending email action alerts to its members encouraging them to attend the meetings. The emails stated, in part: "Outdoor Industry Association has responded to the President’s call to action. OIA is contacting Montana-based member companies to bring the private sector voice to next month’s listening sessions. As both Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will be present for the launch of the listening tour, OIA companies are in a prime position to bring pertinent suggestions to the table."
This is really very worrisome. And the fact that the OIA is so involved makes it more so. The OIA is very politically connected and their policies, if not their member businesses, are very preservationist oriented.
Here is some more worriesomeness for you. The Wyss Foundation, one of the many foundations that fund the extreme end of the preservationist-oriented greenie groups, has announced they'll be funding a “Wyss Fellow” to work as “Outreach Director” for Obama's AGO initiative:
Below is an “action alert” on the meetings in Montana. I'm sorry we don't have more information, but we'll blast updates just as soon as we get them.
Until then, strap in... it's going to be a wild ride!
Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102
A link to the Whitehouse's official:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-americas-great-outdoors
Hang on.
