Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507070090
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NATHANIEL LAWRENCE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Idaho's Sen. Larry Craig wants to disarm the relatively small number of resource-agency officers who carry guns while patrolling national forests, wildlife refuges and other federal lands. As a board member of the National Rifle Association, Craig is not opposed to firearms. However, he fears an ``armed federal entity,'' roaming the West and intimidating local residents.
You be the judge.
On July 4, 1994, with a gun-toting crowd cheering him on, a county supervisor in Nevada illegally bulldozed open a road on the Toiyabe National Forest. Forest Service Officer Dave Young, attempting to halt things, had to dive out of the way of the bulldozer's blade.
Nevada Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich comments: ``This is Nevada - people are armed.'' If federal employees ``would exhibit sensitivity,'' she said, they could avoid being confronted at gunpoint.
Young is one of only five armed Forest Service officers patrolling Nevada's 6.5 million acres of national forest. They protect campgrounds, stop timber theft, shut down drug operations, catch vandals and generally look out for public lands - your lands and mine.
If you stop at one of the Toiyabe's ranger stations, incidentally, don't ask to use the bathroom. They've restricted public access since a bombing in March. Ask about cattle illegally grazing on national lands there, though. The Forest Service would like to impound them to protect fragile meadows and streams, but is concerned about a confrontation with the cows' owners.
Other examples abound.
Last year, a timber-company representative threatened agency officials with armed rebellion in his county unless heavier logging of public lands was allowed. Forest Service staff in the West now carry wallet-sized cards, instructing them not to resist if threatened, detained, or placed in custody on the job.
What is going on here?
For years, a few private industries have dominated the federal government's management of the public's lands. True, some areas like national parks and wilderness areas have been spared. Most of the rest of these lands, however, have been open to damage from logging, mining and/or grazing. Stump-filled clearcuts, toxic mine-tailings, impoverished soils and silted-up streams are far too common. As a result, all who rely on these lands' natural values have paid a price. Not just spotted owls, but hunters, fishermen, hikers, bikers, campers and others. That includes businesses like commercial fishing, guiding and tourism.
But the industry-driven misuse continues. Recently, federal agencies have started to take our resource-protection laws a little more seriously, as courts have found violation after violation and Amerians have demanded better stewardship of these lands. The limited improvements don't sit well with those whose profits are affected. They and their friends in Congress have set out to undo federal control of these lands.
The timber industry and its allies want to suspend federal laws governing much of the logging of national lands for the next two years. A House subcommittee wants Congress to establish a commission to begin closing national parks. Another bill is circulating in Congress to give away 3 million acres of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands in Oregon. The House Republican's Balanced Budget Task Force has a draft proposal for selling off all Bureau of Land Management lands. And Congressman Don Young of Alaska, a powerful committee chairman, wants to abolish the Forest Service outright.
A pattern is emerging: Threaten the personnel, strip away legal protections, disarm resource officers and finally take away the lands themselves.
So if you enjoy the forests and streams, the meadows and the wide open spaces, head out to them this summer. Next year they might not be yours anymore.
Nathaniel Lawrence is director of the forestry project at the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco.
by CNB