Public Input on Senate Rogue Wilderness Expansion Bill
The Senate version of the Rogue Wilderness Expansion Act, S 2001, will be heard by the Senate subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests on March 22 (this Thursday). (Please watch the video in the previous post for more information on the Act.)
You can have your testimony entered into the record by submitting it as an e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word format to: jake_mccook@energy.senate.gov. You must submit it by March 21 (Wednesday) for it to get into the record.
You can also have a direct impact on the fate of this bill by contacting the Republican members of the Senate subcommittee and letting them know what the residents of Josephine County think of more wilderness in our county. The contact information for all the Republican members of the subcommittee is listed below.
Or you can use the contact form on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Web site to make comments on this bill. (Select “Public Lands and Forests” from the dropdown box labeled “Send To.”)
| Senate Public Lands and Forests subcommittee | |
|---|---|
| John Barrasso (R, WY) 307 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-6441 Fax: 202-224-1724 |
James E. Risch (R, ID) 483 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-1205 Phone: 202-224-2752 Fax: 202-224-2573 |
| Mike Lee (R, UT) 316 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-5444 Fax: 202-228-1168 |
John Hoeven (R, ND) 120 Russell Senate Office Bldg. Washington DC, 20510 Phone: 202-224-2551 Fax: 202-224-7999 |
| Rand Paul (R, KY) 208 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC, 20510 Phone: 202-224-4343 |
Rob Portman (R, OH) 338 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-3353 |
| Dean Heller (R, NV) 361-A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-6244 Fax: 202-228-6753 |
Lisa Murkowski (R, AK) 709 Hart Senate Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-6665 Fax: 202-224-5301 |
Rogue Wilderness Expansion Act
Public Input on House Wilderness Expansion Bill
The legislative hearing of HR 3436, the Rogue Wilderness Expansion Act, took place in the Congressional subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands on March 8. (Watch video here.) The record will be open until March 18. If you want to make a comment for the record, you can do so by e-mail to Nancy.Locke@mail.house.gov.
You can also contact the Republican members of the House subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, using the contact information below, and let them know that you live in the county that would be most impacted by the Rogue Wildereness expansion, and that our Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution opposing it.
| Mark Amodei (R, NV) 125 Cannon House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-6155 Fax: (202) 225-5679 |
Paul Broun (R-GA) 325 Cannon House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-4101 Fax: (202) 226-0776 |
| Mike Coffman (R, CO) 1222 Longworth House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-7882 Fax: (202) 226-4623 |
John Duncan (R-TN) 2207 Rayburn House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-5435 Fax: (202) 225-6440 |
| Raul Labrador (R-ID) 1523 Longworth House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-6611 Fax: (202) 225-3029 |
Doug Lamborn (R, CO) 437 Cannon House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-4422 Fax: (202) 226-2638 |
| Tom McClintock (R, CA) 428 Cannon House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-2511 Fax: (202) 225-5444 |
Kristi Noem (R, SD) 226 Cannon House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-2801 Fax: (202) 225-5823 |
| David Rivera (R, FL) 417 Cannon House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-2778 Fax: (202) 226-0346 |
Scott Tipton (R, CO) 218 Cannon House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-4761 Fax: (202) 226-9669 |
| Donald Young (R, AK) 2314 Rayburn House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-5765 Fax: (202) 225-0425 |
Doc Hastings (R, WA) 1203 Longworth House Office Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-5816 Fax:(202) 225-3251 |
CANCELLED: GOP Debate 3/19
Please note: The GOP debate on 3/19 has been cancelled. The candidates are instead focusing on campaigning in their own states.
The Oregon Republican Party has arranged for the March 19 Republican primary debate to take place in Portland, Oregon. This is a first for Oregon, being a traditionally blue state, and we acknowledge the great work on behalf of our Republican National Committeeman, Solomon Yue, and Committeewoman, Donna Cain, in making this happen.
Locally, our Republican Central Committee Chair, Bill Ertel, has arranged for the Taprock NW Grill to allow us to reserve the lower level for a gathering of Republicans to watch the debate. This is their prime dinner hour, so we encourage everybody to order dinner and drinks, and bring your friends!
After the debate, we’ll conduct a straw poll. It promises to be an interesting evening.
BCC Passes Resolution Opposing Wilderness Expansion
On Wednesday, March 7, the Board of County Commissioners voted to pass a resolution opposing any Wilderness expansion, or further Wild & Scenic River designations, in Josephine County.
The Josephine County Republican Central Committee unanimously passed a similar resolution on January 31 of this year.
We cannot afford to take any more public land, especially O&C land, out of production, and we applaud our County Commissioners for passing this resolution on behalf of the county.
BCC Votes on Wilderness Expansion Resolution, 3/7
On January 31, the Josephine County Republican Central Committee voted unanimously to pass a resolution opposing Wilderness expansion in our county. The next day, the Southern Oregon Resource Alliance made a presentation to the Board of County Commissioners on the proposed expansion of the Wild Rogue Wilderness, and requested the BCC to pass a county-wide resolution opposing any further wilderness expansion in our county.
BCC Chair Simon Hare wanted to wait until the BCC had heard the other side before taking a vote on whether to pass the resolution.
This Wednesday, March 7, at 9:00 AM, the environmentalists are going to make a presentation to the BCC, titled Protecting the Wild Rogue for Future Generations and the Economy. Immediately following the presentation, the BCC will vote on whether to pass the resolution opposing Wilderness expansion.
We need to make a strong showing in opposition to the Wilderenss expansion. The environmental activists are going to try to pack the house with Wilderness advocates. Please be there, if at all possible.
4th Tuesday Fun & Budget Talk
Please join your fellow Republicans this Tuesday, February 28, at 6:00 PM, at the Evergreen Room, Taprock NW Grill, 971 SE 6th St, Grants Pass, for our monthly 4th Tuesday mixer — where politics is fun!
Meet old friends, make new ones, discuss current political events, and touch base with your local elected office holders.
This month’s guest speakers will be Roy Lindsay (Grants Pass Budget Committee) and Keith Heck (Josephine County Budget Committee), who will bring us up to date on the status of city and county budgets.
We will also be holding a presidential straw poll. So please join us, and bring a friend!
For more information call Bill Ertel at 541-218-6538.
Wilderness Expansion Town Hall Report
The Wilderness Expansion town hall on Thursday evening, sponsored by the Josephine County Republican Party, was a huge success. Between 200 and 250 people attended.
Jim Frick was master of ceremonies, pastor Tony Russo gave the invocation, and Republican party chair Bill Ertel welcomed the attendees and explained why the Republican Party has taken an official position opposing wilderness expansion.
Margaret Goodwin, a member of the JoCo Republican executive committee, gave a presentation on the proposed Rogue Wilderness expansion, and why the JoCo Republican party thinks this is a bad idea.
Then Herman Baertshiger, who owns a company that specializes in wildland fire fighting, spoke about the peculiar challenges of fire fighting in a wilderness area, and the specific lands at issue. Herman Baertshiger is also running as a Republican candidate for the Oregon state Senate.
Link Phillippi, president of Rough & Ready Lumber, spoke about the nature of wilderness, and the nature of the lands proposed for this wilderness expansion.
Jack Swift, JoCo Republican executive committee member and vice president of the Southern Oregon Resource Alliance, spoke about the history and significance of the O&C lands.
Jim Frick, president of the Southern Oregon Resource Alliance, addressed the mineral resources on this land, and the economic potential that would be curtailed by the proposed mineral withdrawal.
Nick Dordon, local farmer and miner, spoke about the closure of roads and the shutting down of public access to our public lands.
Art Robinson, scientist and Republican candidate for U.S. Congress, spoke about the limits placed on government by our Constitution, and how this wilderness expansion bill is one more example of government overstepping its bounds. He also addressed the failure of our elected representatives to represent our best interests in Washington.
After the presentations, attendees had an opportunity to circulate, engage in discussions with speakers, pick up literature, and sign up for activities to keep the momentum going.
For more information on the Rogue Wilderness expansion proposal, and how you can get involved in opposing it, please e-mail Ron Glynn, chair of the Natural Resources Committee of the Josephine County Republican party.
Congressmen want your comments on O&C Trust
Representatives Greg Walden (R-OR), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), and Kurt Schrader (D-OR) have proposed a bill to take all O&C Lands and divide them in half, setting aside half of them to be permanently withdrawn from timber management. The other half would be put in a forestry trust, administered by the state of Oregon, for the benefit of the O&C counties.
This is theoretically supposed to increase timber production and jobs in the forest, but the trust lands would still be subject to environmental regulations, and the environmentalists would no doubt continue to litigate any and all timber sales on them. The trust would be managed according to the Oregon Forestry Practices Act, rather than NEPA, but it’s not hard to imagine how long it would take the environmentalists to start targeting the OFPA, once half of the O&C lands are under its jurisdiction.
What is the up side for the O&C Counties? We lose all economic benefit from half of the O&C lands forever, and the rest is potentially not much better off than it is today. Your congressmen want to hear your comments on this. Please let them know how you feel about it by visiting their Web sites and posting a comment.
The O&C lands are a small portion of all the federal land in Oregon. And this small portion was dedicated by Congress in the 1937 O&C Lands Act to be used for permanent sustained yield timber production for the benefit of the O&C Counties. The reason for that designation was because most of the land in these counties is owned by the federal government (70% in Josephine County) and the counties receive no tax revenues on federal land.
In the 1990s, as part of the Northwest Forest Plan, the O&C lands were declared critical habitat for spotted owls, and since then nearly every timber sale has been litigated into oblivion by environmental activist organizations, decimating the local economies of the O&C Counties.
Our Congressmen apparently believe that by ransoming half of the O&C lands to the environmentalists, they’ll back off and let us use the other half the way all of these lands were mandated to be used by Congress in 1937. That is a pipe dream. The environmentalists are already claiming that this trust doesn’t provide enough “protections” for the half of the O&C lands that are not being handed over for permanent preservation. There is no reason to doubt that they will continue to litigate every significant sale on the remaining lands.
Far from creating more jobs and helping our economy, it will cut in half the little that remains. This is a bad idea!
The Josephine County Republican Central Committee adopted a resolution on January 31 officially opposing the Rogue Wilderness Expansion, which is part of this bill. Please let your congressmen know that you oppose this misguided plan to sell the O&C counties down the (Wild & Scenic) river!
To learn more about the Wilderness Expansion proposal, please attend the Wilderness Expansion Town Hall, sponsored by the Joesphine County Republican party on Thursday, February 23, at 6:00 in the Floral Building at the Josephine County Fairgrounds.
Wilderness Expansion Town Hall
The Josephine County Republican Central Committee is sponsoring a town hall meeting to address issues arising from the Rogue Wilderness Expansion Act, introduced in Congress by Rep. Peter DeFazio and in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden.
This bill would permanently withdraw 64,000 acres of Josephine County’s O&C lands from all economic utilization. It would shut down all timber production and mining activity and close all roads within the wilderness expansion area, cutting off most recreational access.
Please come and learn more about the Rogue Wilderness Expansion Act and what you can do to help in our efforts to stop it.
| What: | Rogue Wilderness Expansion Town Hall |
| When: | Thursday, February 23 6:00 PM |
| Where: | Josephine County Fairgrounds Floral Building 1451 Fairgrounds Rd, Grants Pas |
| Sponsored by: | Josephine County Republican Central Committee |
For more information, contact Ron Glynn, Chair of the Jo Co RCC Natural Resources subcommittee, at ronglynn@hughes.net.
