Olympic Park Associates push forward UN Agenda 21 in closing off more land and water
Sue Forde, Citizen Review
June 16, 2010
“The twenty-first century has brought new conservation challenges to the Olympic ecosystem.” This opening statement of the Olympic Park Associates’ (OPA’s) newsletter, Voice of the Wild Olympics, reflects the usual rhetoric used by radical environmental organizations that are working to implement the Wildlands Project, Sustainable Development and UN Agenda 21. This is not surprising, since the Olympic National Park holds two UN designations – it’s a UN Biosphere, and a World Heritage Park.
One of the notable keys to a UN Biosphere is the way it’s set up – with an off-limits zone in the center, followed by buffer zones where very few scientists and the like are allowed, then another buffer zone, highly restricted, where very few humans are allowed to live. Interestingly, the Olympic Peninsula is located right within the buffer zone of this biosphere and is unique in that it’s the only buffer zone that has people actually living in it, according to Penny Eckert who did her Master’s thesis on the subject (she was also a research assistant on a variety of projects, including US Man in the Biosphere work on land tenure and land uses adjacent to national parks in the US, and is now employed as Senior Project Manager at Tetra Tech in Seattle). (Read the 2002 article for more about Eckert and the UN designation of the Olympic Mountains)
According to John Richmond of Forks, a consortium of ten or more nonprofit organizations and associations are supporting legislation for adding up to 180,000 acres to the Olympic National Park very soon. “Wild Olympics Campaign” is the title of this effort, and the boards of County Commissioners of both Clallam and Jefferson Counties sent letters in support of this acquisition and river designation to Congressman Norm Dicks’ local office, Richmond alleges.
According to Richmond, Consortium representatives held two meetings with key stakeholder representatives, (i.e., Clallam County, Jefferson County, City of Forks, three or more Indian tribes, timber industry representatives and one or two citizens) within the last six weeks, and have made a field trip to the South Fork of the Hoh, with 3 residents, to view private tracts on a 50-lot subdivision, and pioneer homesteads. At first, they denied having a connection with a well-known Congressman, but have now admitted to it, he said.
In addition to the proposed enlargement of the Olympic National Park, absorbing key traditional tribal and non-tribal hunting areas around its boundaries, it would include adding tens of thousands of acres around Lake Ozette, Richmond reported. It would transform Forest Service Roadless Areas and Wilderness into Park status.
The Bill, in final stages of being drafted, would allow the Park to purchase lands from "willing sellers", including State of Washington School Trust Lands and removing the harvestable timber base from income potential for local communities of tax revenue as well as jobs and raw material for industry, said Richmond in an email statement. How often has this condition been forced upon residents, homesteaders, etc., in the past 80 years? (Queets, Quinault).
We have seen how “willing” sellers are “encouraged” to sell their property – a good example is River’s End in the Dungeness Valley. The program to move people out of rural areas and into cities has been going on for many years now.
Included in this Bill or series, (as yet, unpublished, but spoken of) is the move to include all portions of all rivers within the Park boundaries to be designated as "Wild and Scenic". The justification for the designation is to "insure the free-flowing character of our rivers-- no dams or water development are allowed on Wild and Scenic rivers." “The consortium representatives told us that the President could order the US Army Corps of Engineers to build dams in the Park, unless the rivers held the W&S designation,” Richmond said. “That should be a matter for Congress to place limits on what the Corps does, but the consortium felt that would not happen,” he added.
According to the Voice of the Wild Olympics newsletter (Vol. 18, #1, Winter 2010), the organization is promoting their “conservation vision for the 21st century” which will include “protecting additional Olympic National Forest roadless lands as designated Wilderness; and designate a number of Wild and Scenic Rivers in the Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park. These include the Elwha, Gray Wolf-Dungeness, Big Quilcene, Dosewallips, Duckabush, Hamma Hamma, South Fork Skokomish, Humptulips, Quinault, Queets, Hoh and South Fork Hoh, Bogachiel and Sol Duc. “Protection is proposed for river reaches flowing ‘primarily’ through federal and some state lands,” the newsletter says.
According to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers government website, Wild rivers areas are those rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments (ie dams) and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. These represent vestiges of primitive America, while Scenic rivers areas are those rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments, with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. Both designations are being pushed for the Olympic Peninsula rivers.
This “visionary” approach reflects a goal to “protect what we have and restore what has been lost for the well being and enjoyment of future generations,” says the newsletter. This is straight out of the United Nations Agenda 21.
The full text of Agenda 21 was revealed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit), held in Rio de Janeiro on June 14, 1992, where 178 governments voted to adopt the program. At that summit, the term "Sustainable Development" was coined by Maurice Strong, who talked about the ideas behind it. The final text was the result of drafting, consultation and negotiation, beginning in 1989 and culminating at the two-week conference. The number 21 refers to an agenda for the 21st century. It may also refer to the number on the UN's agenda at this particular summit. (Wikipedia).
“Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment,” says the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Sustainable Development (you can read the entire document at their website). It’s been adopted and is being promoted through the US agencies like Department of Transportation, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development and others, despite the fact that the treaty was never ratified by the US Senate.
The newsletter goes on to say that “For the past two years, OPA has been working with a coalition of conservation organizations who are also committed to securing long-term protection for Olympic Wildlands details of the areas proposed…are still being determined.”
The Wildlands Project, which ties into Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development, calls for more than one-half of the United States to be placed “off limits” for humans, and “human settlements” (ie cities) will be the limited place where people can dwell. A search of the internet will bring forth a wealth of information about this issue.
Removal from private ownership removes more of the tax base, and especially the inability to cut timber by the State which would cost the public school system in loss of income they now receive from state timber revenues.
Most importantly, these activities fly in the face of the U.S. Constitutional individual freedoms, and in essence is another “form of government” under the guise of “protecting the environment.” The United States keeps moving closer to a “state” in a one world government under the direction of the United Nations.