FYI ECOFEMers. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- ***** KISS YOUR PUBLIC LANDS GOODBYE ***** Senator Domenici's Livestock Grazing Act Takes the Public Out of Public Lands Calls and Letters to Congress Urgently Needed. The "Livestock Grazing Act" (S. 852 and H.R. 1713) recently introduced by Senator Pete Domenici and Rep. Wes Cooley is an ill-conceived and lopsided proposal threatening sound management of our public rangelands. And in back rooms the National Cattlemen's Association is working to make the bill even more lop-sided, and to make it apply to FOREST SERVICE GRAZING as well. Since the bill will be voted on by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee the week of July 10, CALL OR WRITE YOUR SENATOR TODAY. Call: 202-224-3121 Write: US Senate, Washington DC 20510 This legislation is opposed by the wildlife, hunting and fishing, conservation, and environmental groups for the following reasons: 1. PUTTING LIVESTOCK GRAZING ABOVE ALL OTHER USES. By returning rangelands to an era of dominant use by the livestock industry, the bill eliminates the ability of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) resource managers to provide sound and balanced management of recreation, wildlife, forage and other ecological and economic resources found on public rangelands. For example, the bill would undermine the public's ability to use public lands. Americans and others now make 72 million visits to BLM lands each year to hunt, fish, hike, camp, bicycle, bird watch, and otherwise enjoy their unique natural features. 2. ELIMINATING PUBLIC INPUT TO DECISIONS THAT AFFECT PUBLIC LANDS. The "Livestock Grazing Act" creates new roadblocks which severely limit public involvement in the public land decision making process. The bill redefines who can participate in the planning and management of the public's rangelands by primarily limiting involvement to those within the livestock industry. The bill undercuts the current legal requirement that the BLM inform interested members of the public about important agency decisions affecting the management of public lands. 3. HOG-TYING ENVIRONEMNTAL PROTECTION. The bill thwarts longstanding efforts to improve the health of public rangelands and will lead to additional degradation of important wildlife and fish habitat by continuing overgrazing. In addition, the bill actually makes it impossible for "good steward" ranchers to rest their rangelands without jeopardizing their grazing permits. 4. FISCAL NIGHTMARE. The bill will cost American taxpayers millions of dollars every year through subsidized grazing fees; establishment of unnecessary, unrepresentative, and expensive "advisory councils;" and resource degradation. 5. GRAZING WITHOUT LAWS. The bill places livestock operators "above the law" by permanently exempting livestock grazing permits from all of the nation's environmental laws, including: the Endangered Species Act, Bald Eagle Protection Act, Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. The groups actively opposing passage of the "Livestock Grazing Act" (S. 852 and H.R. 1713) Include: American Fisheries Society, American Wildlands, Defenders of Wildlife, National Audubon Society, LAW Fund of the Rockies, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Pacific Rivers Council, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Colorado Environmental Coalition. OPPOSE THE LIVESTOCK GRAZING ACT For additional information, please contact: Cathy Carlson, National Wildlife Federation, 202/797-6861 Fran Hunt, The Wilderness Society, 202/429-2657 Johanna Wald, Natural Resources Defense Council, 202/624-9343 Ted Zukoski, LAW Fund of the Rockies, 303/444-1188 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
