Currently viewing the category: "National Parks"

https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/national-parks-were-one-of-americas-greatest-ideas.-lets-expand-on-that/

 

National Parks Were One of America’s Greatest Ideas. Let’s Expand on That. To fully protect the values for which they were established, we need to add new national parks and expand many existing ones.

GEORGE WUERTHNER AND MICHAEL KELLETT

April 23, 2020   

One of United States’ greatest contributions to the global marketplace […]

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TRUMPING OUR PARKS

The Trump Administration is on the warpath against the environment.

From increasing oil and gas leasing on our public lands to decreasing national clean air standards for automobiles, eliminating environmental law enforcement, attacking the Endangered Species Act, removing the United States from the Global Climate Accord, and reducing oversight of livestock grazing […]

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As we ponder the future of public lands in Montana, including what areas deserve protection as Wilderness, it is worthwhile to look back in history to see how past protective measures were viewed.

In 1872 with the establishment of Yellowstone National Park many Montana citizens were outraged. For example, the Helena Gazette opined: “We […]

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Point Reyes National Seashore was established in the 1960s by the purchase of private ranches. The public paid fair market value for these lands. Livestock operations were to be removed over a 25-grace period. But time and again the ranchers refused to leave OUR property.

Surprisingly Representative Jared Huffman, ordinarily good on environmental issues, has […]

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Across the West,  livestock grazing is one of the most destructive land uses. Some 250 million acres of public lands are grazed by domestic livestock including those administered by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as national wildlife refuges and even some national park units.

This use is not benign. […]

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In the recent Public Lands legislation that was passed by Congress, Oregon got some new protected landscapes including the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness, 250 miles of new Wild and Scenic River segments on the Rogue and Molalla rivers and measures such as a mining ban on the Chetco River. This legislation was a good but a […]

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Massive Lease Sale Includes Public Land Near National Park, Wildlife Refuge

RENO, Nev — The Trump administration plans to auction more than 900,000 acres for oil and gas extraction on the doorstep of Nevada’s only national park and other protected public lands. It would be the largest single lease sale of public lands […]

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The highest reaches of the Pryor Mountains are covered with alpine meadows. Photo George Wuerthner

Billings, Montana has seen a steady increase in population and economic diversity. In all likelihood, Billings will continue to grow. At a modest average growth of 1.5 percent a year, Billing’s population will increase by more than […]

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They are attempting an incredible public land grab

By Erik Molvar

Point Reyes is about as far west as you can go in the lower 48 states. Here, where coastal prairies meet the sea, Congress established a National Seashore “to save and preserve, for the purposes of public recreation, benefit, and inspiration.” That 1962 legislation […]

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“The grazing of livestock, where established prior to the effective

date of this Act, shall be permitted to continue subject to such

reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary by the Secretary of

Agriculture.”

The Wilderness Act of 1964, Section 4(d)(4)(2)

Livestock grazing occurs on some […]

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Quote

‎"At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour."

~ Edward Abbey