bsaunder
February 12th, 2003, 02:08 PM
Some possible good news for fighting road closures -
>>>>>
> Environmental activists are beginning to attack the RS2477 issue.
> Several environmental groups have begun searching for a person to be
> their "RS2477 coordinator".
>
> Many articles are starting to carry a negative spin predicting
> environmental disasters if this rule stands.
>
> For more information about RS2477, see: http://www.rs2477roads.com/
>
>
> Rights Of Way Restrictions Eased
> WASHINGTON, DC, February 6, 2003 (ENS) - A controversial plan to ease
> restrictions on granting rights of way across public lands went into
> effect on Wednesday.
>
> The rule allows roads and highways to be built along any route
> presently traced by a road or trail, even if the trail is 150 years
> old and has never been traveled by a motor vehicle. Criticized as a
> giveaway of lands owned by the public, the rule will hit especially
> hard in Alaska and the West.
>
> "The statute is like a fish out of water - it just doesn't belong in
> the modern world," said Courtney Cuff, director of the National Parks
> Conservation Association's (NPCA) Pacific regional office. "In
> California, local counties have alleged more than 2,500 miles of
> routes in the Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National
> Park. Counties in Montana, Idaho, and Oregon have asserted claims to
> roads on national forest lands. The new rule should be seen for what
> it is - a blatant land grab that defies public interest."
>
> The 130 year old rule (RS 2477 of the 1866 Mining Act), designed to
> encourage road building in the Civil War era and repealed by Congress
> in 1976, has been resuscitated by the Department of the Interior.
> Beginning Wednesday, local and state governments will be able to
> expedite filing claims for rights of way under the Civil War era
> statute.
>
> The NPCA said the regulation could allow mining companies and other
> developers to force the building of thousands of miles of new roads
> through pristine western public lands, including national parks.
>
> In Alaska, the roads and trails that could be developed in national
> parks and preserves under the 1866 rule total more than 2,700 miles.
> More than half of those potential miles could be built in
> Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the nation's largest national park
> and largest park wilderness area, potentially adding more than 1,600
> miles of road in a park that now has about 100 roads.
>
> Thirteen Alaska national parks and preserves could be affected,
> including Denali, Bering Land Bridge, and Yukon-Charley. The state of
> Alaska has already identified 24 routes into Denali National Park and
> Preserve that may be claimed under the rule, covering about 350 miles
> that are now almost all eligible for wilderness designation.
>
> "February 5, 2003, marks a dark day in the history of public land
> protection in the United States," said Craig Obey, vice president for
> government affairs at the NPCA. "This Bush administration action to
> allow a cynical few to turn footpaths in national parks into paved
> roadways flies in the face of the conservation legacy of great
> Republican leaders like Theodore Roosevelt. Unless the administration
> reverses course and refuses to give away any piece of America's
> natural heritage, its legacy will be national parks scarred by
> pavement and mountainsides gouged for unneeded roadways, not parks
> and other public lands protected for posterity."
>
> For more information regarding the rule, visit:
> http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2003/2003-01-07-06.asp
> --
> John Stewart
> Director, Environmental Affairs, UFWDA, http://www.ufwda.org
> Recreation Access and Conservation Editor, http://www.4x4wire.com
>>>>>
> Environmental activists are beginning to attack the RS2477 issue.
> Several environmental groups have begun searching for a person to be
> their "RS2477 coordinator".
>
> Many articles are starting to carry a negative spin predicting
> environmental disasters if this rule stands.
>
> For more information about RS2477, see: http://www.rs2477roads.com/
>
>
> Rights Of Way Restrictions Eased
> WASHINGTON, DC, February 6, 2003 (ENS) - A controversial plan to ease
> restrictions on granting rights of way across public lands went into
> effect on Wednesday.
>
> The rule allows roads and highways to be built along any route
> presently traced by a road or trail, even if the trail is 150 years
> old and has never been traveled by a motor vehicle. Criticized as a
> giveaway of lands owned by the public, the rule will hit especially
> hard in Alaska and the West.
>
> "The statute is like a fish out of water - it just doesn't belong in
> the modern world," said Courtney Cuff, director of the National Parks
> Conservation Association's (NPCA) Pacific regional office. "In
> California, local counties have alleged more than 2,500 miles of
> routes in the Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National
> Park. Counties in Montana, Idaho, and Oregon have asserted claims to
> roads on national forest lands. The new rule should be seen for what
> it is - a blatant land grab that defies public interest."
>
> The 130 year old rule (RS 2477 of the 1866 Mining Act), designed to
> encourage road building in the Civil War era and repealed by Congress
> in 1976, has been resuscitated by the Department of the Interior.
> Beginning Wednesday, local and state governments will be able to
> expedite filing claims for rights of way under the Civil War era
> statute.
>
> The NPCA said the regulation could allow mining companies and other
> developers to force the building of thousands of miles of new roads
> through pristine western public lands, including national parks.
>
> In Alaska, the roads and trails that could be developed in national
> parks and preserves under the 1866 rule total more than 2,700 miles.
> More than half of those potential miles could be built in
> Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the nation's largest national park
> and largest park wilderness area, potentially adding more than 1,600
> miles of road in a park that now has about 100 roads.
>
> Thirteen Alaska national parks and preserves could be affected,
> including Denali, Bering Land Bridge, and Yukon-Charley. The state of
> Alaska has already identified 24 routes into Denali National Park and
> Preserve that may be claimed under the rule, covering about 350 miles
> that are now almost all eligible for wilderness designation.
>
> "February 5, 2003, marks a dark day in the history of public land
> protection in the United States," said Craig Obey, vice president for
> government affairs at the NPCA. "This Bush administration action to
> allow a cynical few to turn footpaths in national parks into paved
> roadways flies in the face of the conservation legacy of great
> Republican leaders like Theodore Roosevelt. Unless the administration
> reverses course and refuses to give away any piece of America's
> natural heritage, its legacy will be national parks scarred by
> pavement and mountainsides gouged for unneeded roadways, not parks
> and other public lands protected for posterity."
>
> For more information regarding the rule, visit:
> http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2003/2003-01-07-06.asp
> --
> John Stewart
> Director, Environmental Affairs, UFWDA, http://www.ufwda.org
> Recreation Access and Conservation Editor, http://www.4x4wire.com