Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument should remain a thriving part of America to be enjoyed by Americans - not put 'off limits' - Official public comment to agencies on 'management' plan

My official Public Comment, CSNM DRMP/DEIS
from Julie Kay Smithson

December 16, 2002

Emailed to: Ted_Hass@or.blm.gov

To the BLM and DOI:

The entire content of this email public comment on the Cascade-Siskiyou
National Monument Draft Resource Management Plan and Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (CSNM DRMP/DEIS) is to remain in your public files, attached to whatever
future publications on this matter that you should publish. That means that
my full name, address, phone number, email address, etc., are to be included
with my public comment in all matters pertaining to this issue. I mention
this because U.S. Fish & Wildlife 'Service,' in its documents pertaining to
an issue in my immediate area, chose -- after being instructed specifically
NOT to do so -- to excerpt comments from those opposed to the project and
print the full information from those who were FOR the project.

I also fully expect to be immediately placed on the mailing list for all
documents (including the CD-ROM of this as it becomes available) pertaining
to the CSNM.

The only Alternative that will be truly responsible is the NO ACTION
ALTERNATIVE, to my knowledge carrying the number 'A' at this time.

Public access MUST be not only maintained, but also enhanced.

Such phrases and titles as "Activities That Make the Protection of Roadless
Areas Necessary," "Irresponsible or Unauthorized Motorized Access" and
"Recommended Components of a National Roadless Area Policy" are demeaning to
those citizens of America who very likely cherish and steward the area more
than those who are employed to 'protect and manage' it. We have millions of
people in America whose tax dollars PAID FOR these lands that are now being
overshadowed by huge "Roadless" area designations. This is neither
responsible nor is it honest to those who really own these lands.

The richness of species that are currently being 'managed' on federal lands
in the CSNM are in no danger from the existence of roads or the fact that
humans coexist with said species of flora and fauna, both endangered and not.

If anything, the current 'management' practices of the BLM and other DOI
agencies has directly contributed to the catastrophic wildfires and other
threats to species both on federal lands within the CSNM and on
privately-owned lands adjacent to the CSNM.

If -- and I emphasize the word 'if' -- it were true that more "management
intervention" was necessary or needful for the "primary goal of
protecting, maintaining, restoring or enhancing relevant and important
ecological, biological, geological, and archaeological objects," than that
"management intervention" should come from those private landowners and
stewards who have done an admirable job of keeping the area beautiful and
pristine, not the current level of federal administrators who either 1. Do
not know what is best for the region; 2. Do not CARE what is best for the
region; or 3. Have another agenda entirely that is NOT being stated in the
DRMP/DEIS.

The very obvious nebulous nature of the DRMP/DEIS proposals makes it
impossible to determine what is actually being 'protected,' 'restored,' etc.
'Objects' and 'ecological processes' are not safer in the hands of federal
'management agents' than by those in the private sector who have proven that
"Euro-American Settlement" was NOT the disaster that the BLM and DOI are
trying to make it appear. Rather, orchestrated crises are being used to take
more and more land that my tax dollars have paid for (this would seem to make
it 'public' land, but we all know that it is not 'public' at all!), lock it
up from the sight and sound of the 'average Joe' and expect us all to move
into 'smart growth' and 'high-density housing.'

As a DOI employee put it so well, in 1998: "When we make critical habitat
designations, we just designate everything as critical, without an analysis
of how much habitat an evolutionary significant unit needs." - Donna Darm,
the acting NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Regional Administrator
for the Northwest, in a 1998 intra-agency memorandum.

I cannot improve upon Ms. Darm's statement. The agenda is clear, and this
'process' to which I am publicly commenting is also clear.

My suggestions are many, but only one need be mentioned here: Stop and stop
NOW, the inane -- or worse -- 'sand through the hourglass' that is the
bloodletting of our American property rights. While some areas within the
CSNM may in fact need some measure of protection, the huge area that is under
scrutiny for more and ever more roadless areas, the vast majority of the
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is and should be, a thriving part of
America, able to be enjoyed by those who worked to earn her: US!

Miss Julie Kay Smithson

Stakeholder by virtue of having paid for part of the lands that make up the
CSNM with my hard-earned taxpayer dollars

213 Thorn Locust Lane

London, OH 43140-8844

1-740-857-1239

Email: jsmit10695@aol.com

Remember, this ENTIRE email is part of my public comment.

=====

Cascade-Siskiyou National Resource Management; Notice of Availability of
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Draft Resource Management Plan and Draft
Environmental Impact Statement

Cascade-Siskiyou National Resource Management; Notice of Availability of
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Draft Resource Management Plan and Draft
Environmental Impact Statement

[Federal Register: April 24, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 79)][Notices]
[Page 20153-20154]
>From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24ap02-114]

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[OR113-6310-AA; HAG02-0018]

Cascade-Siskiyou National Resource Management; Notice of
Availability of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Draft Resource
Management Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument,
Medford District.

ACTION: Notice of availability of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Draft
Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (DRMP/DEIS).

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and
Management of 1976 and section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 and 40 CFR 1506.6(2), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan (DRMP) and associated Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Cascade-Siskiyou National
Monument located in Jackson County, Oregon.

The DRMP will provide a range of alternatives, including identification of a
preferred alternative, for management direction for the Cascade-
Siskiyou National Monument. The DRMP addressed management on
approximately 52,947 acres of public land. Final decisions through this
planning process will supercede planning guidance presented in the
Medford District Resource Management Plan. The Plan will provide
direction for management of these public lands for a period of
approximately 10 years. The DRMP/DEIS considers all issues raised
during plan scoping that are within the decision space allowed by the
Presidential Proclamation 7318 which designated the Monument and other
non-discretionary programs and policies. Issues addressed in the DRMP/DEIS
include vegetation management, access, prescribed fire,
recreation, visitor use, and facilities/rights-of-way. The DRMP/DEIS
describes four alternatives for management of the CSNM, including a
"No Action'' Alternative A.

Each "action'' alternative has a different emphasis, primarily defined in
terms of the amount of management intervention necessary to meet the primary
goal of protecting, maintaining, restoring or enhancing relevant and
important ecological, biological, geological, and archaeological objects.

Alternative B promotes natural ecosystem processes in the management of plant
communities.

Alternative C incorporates active management for protection and maintenance
of the conifer communities while limiting some ground disturbing management
tools that may be used in maintaining and restoring the other plant
communities.

Alternative D promotes aggressive management for protection, maintenance and
restoration of Monument resources through the use of all management tools
available.

The alternatives defer proposing land use allocations or management
directions that are precluded by the need for the livestock grazing
study required by the Proclamation. The action alternatives were
prepared in accordance with applicable planning procedures and are
designed to protect, maintain, restore or enhance Monument objects,
resources and ecological processes.

DATES: The public has the opportunity to review and comment on the CSNM
DRMP/DEIS. It is anticipated that this document will be available for review
around May 2002. Per BLM Planning Regulations, 43 CFR 1610.2(e), ninety (90)
days shall be provided for review of the draft plan and draft environmental
impact statement. The 90-day period shall formally begin when the
Environmental Protection Agency publishes a notice of the filing of the draft
environmental impact statement in the Federal Register. During this time
period, written comments on the contents of the DRMP/DEIS will be solicited,
particularly comments that address one or more of the following: (1) New
information that would affect the analysis; (2) possible improvements in the
analysis; and (3) suggestions for improving or clarifying the proposed
management direction. Specific comments are most useful. BLM will respond to
comments addressing the adequacy of the DRMP/DEIS in the Proposed Resource
Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement. Comments on the DEIS,
including names and addresses of respondents, will be available for public
review at the Medford District Office during regular business hours (8 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays). Individuals may request
confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or address from public

[[Page 20154]]

review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you
must state this promptly at the beginning of your written comment. Such
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions
from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials or organizations or
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their
entirety.

BLM will discuss the various management alternatives and answer
questions pertaining to the Monument at an open-house type public
meeting to be held at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon
during the comment period. If there is sufficient public interest, the
BLM may have additional public meetings. All public meetings will be
announced in the Medford and Ashland newspapers and on the BLM Medford
District's web site, http://www.or.blm.gov/Medford/ under "Planning
Documents'' at least 15 days prior to the event.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Richard J. Drehobl, Monument
Manager, Medford District Bureau of Land Management, 3040 Biddle Road,
Medford, Oregon 97504.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ted Hass, Planning and Environmental
Coordinator at 3040 Biddle Road, Medford, Oregon, 97504, telephone
541-618-2253. Single copies of the DRMP/DEIS will be available at the BLM
Medford District Office around May 2002. Interested persons not already on
the mailing list may review the DRMP/DEIS via the internet at
http://www.or.blm.gov/Medford/ under "Planning Documents.'' A hard copy or a
CD-ROM of the DRMP/DEIS may be requested from the Medford District Office.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (CSNM)
consists of 52,947 acres of federal land located in southern Jackson County,
Oregon. These federal lands are managed by the Bureau of Land Management's
Medford District Office. Although there are approximately 32,222 acres of
non-federal lands interspersed among the federal land within the Presidential
Proclamation boundary, the CSNM is comprised of only federal land.

The CSNM is located in the Klamath and Rogue River basins and four
watersheds that have a combined total of approximately 780 miles of
streams. There are three ecoregions identified in the CSNM having
particular biological significance in terms of species richness,
endemism, and unique evolutionary/ecological phenomenon.

Archaeological evidence indicates that people have lived in the
region for at least 10,000 years. Various native peoples inhabited or
used the CSNM area including the Shasta, the Klamath and Modoc tribes.

Euro-American settlement in the Rogue and Shasta valleys from the 1850s on
spurred the development of a new way of life in the region.

The BLM controls approximately 251 miles of road that access the
52,947 acres of public land designated as the Monument. These roads
provide access for recreation, private property and management
activities such as wildfire suppression.

Dated: January 3, 2002.

Ron Wenker, District Manager.
[FR Doc. 02-9598 Filed 4-23-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-33-P

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2002/April/Day-24/i9598.htm