From: alra@governance.net Subject: Bush Admin. Attacks Private Property and Recreation Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 E-mail: alra@landrights.org or alra@governance.net Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003 Bush Admin. Attacks Private Property and Recreation Where is the Bush Administration? Are its officials going to stand up for its supporters? Or are they going to roll over for a biased Bureau of Reclamation and special interest groups? The people of Lake Berryessa are living under the sword of eviction! Recreation users at Lake Berryessa are being cut off from access, use and recreational choice. Property rights are being taken away from the people of Lake Berryessa. *****The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) is out of control. Nobody in the Bush Administration appears willing to take on these scofflaws and bullies. They are throwing out over 1300 property owners of manufactured housing and thousands of recreation users. Friday, November 4th is a key date. Your call could force the BOR to delay the release of their Final EIS. Lake Berryessa is the second largest motorized recreation lake in Northern California. It is man made. Yet the BOR wants to turn it into a Wilderness lake. Utter nonsense. There is an anti-recreation bias in several Federal agencies. The BOR is taking the lead in getting rid of exclusive use. That means they really want “No Use.” That’s the new code word. “No Exclusive Use.” When they cut off access and get rid of motorized recreation and the homes around the lake, then the lake will largely belong to the special interest groups. The Forest Service is trying to do the same thing in other places. All users must stand together and fight for the people of Lake Berryessa. If the Bureau of Reclamation gets away with this atrocity, then everyone who uses a recreation lake or has a permit on other Federal lands will be far less safe. Other Federal agencies will see that they can get away with removing users too. Lake Berryessa is important to you. It will set the standard. This week, you have a chance to help save thousands of private property owners and motorized boat users at Lake Berryessa. Solution: *** Action Items*** (bury these officials in calls, faxes and e-mails.) ***Please carry out at least one action item each day beginning Monday, October 31st and going through Friday, November 4th. Your message to the Bush Administration along with many others is a powerful weapon. We did not elect you to eliminate recreation and drive property owners out. Remember, by standing up for the victims at Lake Berryessa today, they’ll be there to fight for you tomorrow. The key is to keep the pressure on. Don’t let down. This has the feel of the Klamath Lake backlash. It was members of American Land Rights Association who started the effort at the Klamath irrigation floodgates which led to that huge and successful effort. The battle grew incredibly big and ALRA was only a small part of the overall effort as time went on. But it shows what happens when people get fed up. The people on the Klamath took back control. Now it is your chance to take back control at Lake Berryessa -----1. Call, Fax and E-mail -- Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's Chief of Staff Brian Waidman (202) 208-7351 – FAX: (202) 219-2100 - gale_norton@ios.doi.gov -----2. Call, Fax and E-mail – Deputy Lynn Scarlett - (202) 208-4203 -- FAX: (202) 208-1873 – lynn_scarlet@ios.doi.gov -----3. Commissioner of Bureau of Reclamation – John Keyes (202) 513-0501 – FAX: (202) 513-0309 – jkeys@usbr.gov -----4. Mark Limbaugh – Assistant Secretary for Water and Science – (202) 208-3186 -- mark_limbaugh@ios.doi.gov -----5. Call, fax and e-mail your local congressman. Call any Senator or Congressman at (202) 225-3121. Ask for their fax and e-mail. Ask them to request an investigation by the Resources Committee in the House and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the Senate. Ask them to request that funds for Lake Berryessa management by BOR be cut until the Administration reins in this out of control agency. Here are some local Congressmen who have a significant number of constituents who will lose property or recreation use at the lake. They ne ed to stand up for their constituents. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) is doing so. Others need to step forward and insist that the Bush Administration stop this atrocity. Call any of these Representatives at (202) 225-3121. Richard Pombo (R-CA) - Staffer Jesica Carter (202) 225-1947 Fax (202) 226-0861 Mike Thompson (D-CA) - Staffer Jonathan Birdsong (202) 225-3311 fax (202) 225-4335 Wally Herger (R-CA) --Staffer Derek Harley (202) 225-3067 fax (202) 226-0852 John Doolittle (R-CA) - Staffer Jason Larrabee (202) 225-2511 fax (202) 225-5444 Dan Lundgren (R-CA) - Staffer Kevin Holsclaw (202) 225-5716 Fax (202) 226-1298 Tom Lantos (D-CA) - Staffer Ron Grimes (202) 225-3531 fax (202) 226-4183 Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) - Staffer Maggie Gumbinner (202) 225-5161 – fax (202) 225-5163 Pete Stark (D-CA) - Staffer Debbie Curtis (202) 225-5065 Fax (226-3085) -----6. Call and fax the Resources Committee –Water and Power Subcommittee – Kiel Weaver -- (202) 225-8331 – FAX: (202) 226-6953 -----7. Call and fax Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee – Water and Power Subcommittee -- Kelly Donnelly -- (202) 224-4971 – FAX: (202) 228-0541 ***Here’s your message: -----Insist that the Bush Administration officials listed above get involved and take action to hold up the final EIS and Lake Berryessa. This land grab and police action must be stopped. ----- No private property should be taken without compensation. ----- Don’t take away the homes of 1,300 people with manufactured recreation homes who have no way to cover the loss. ----- The BOR must follow Public Law 96-375. (see below) ----- BOR must stop the removal of long-term tenants. ----- BOR must stop the discrimination against long-term users and motorized watercraft. -----BOR must throw out the present plan to cut down or eliminate public use and access by the general public, long-term site permittees, boaters, and dock owners. -----Bush Administration officials must require the Bureau of Reclamation be good neighbors at Lake Berryessa. They must redo their entire plan. Problem: The fundamental issue is the attempt by the Bureau of Reclamation to drastically cut the number of boats and remove all the manufactured home sites on Lake Berryessa down to a few hundred recreation users from the present thousands that are allowed. The BOR has become anti-people, anti recreation and anti-use use of public lands and water. They plan to do that by cutting off access to services and supplies which all come from seven resort owners. Where is the Bush Administration? Public access is going to be reduced. 1,300 trailer and mobile home sites will ultimately be eliminated. Recreation access is being reduced or eliminated. Campsites will be reduced. Motorized watercraft will be drastically reduced. People are going to be locked out. The Bush Administration is about to issue a final decision that will put in place a plan started in the Clinton Administration at Lake Berryessa. Yes, you read right. A Clinton Era plan to eliminate most uses is being supported by the Bush Administration. It doesn’t have to happen. The BOR has gone through an Environmental Impact Statement process and largely ignored the users. They are instead, following a plan laid out by certain “No Use” special interest groups whose members live close by and overlook the lake. They want their lawn mowed by the Federal Government. It’s possible the Bush Administration does not know the BOR is out of control at Lake Berryessa. They’ve been distracted. They need to hear from you. This kind of abuse of private property and recreation users cannot be allowed to continue. This is not what the Red States and Red Counties voted for. Congress and the Bush Administration officials must hear from you. Background: Thank you to all who have called and written. We gave the Bush Administration and BOR the opportunity to do the right thing. We’ve held off sending more e-mails to give Bush officials an opportunity to fix the problem. Privately, some officials in the BOR are embarrassed by the bad behavior of the agency. Others in Congress and the Bush Administration are amazed this issue has not been resolved. Clearly, most have forgotten who voted for them and from where. They need to hear from you. Keep the pressure on. Keep making those calls. Send those faxes. The BOR seems incapable of managing people. Throughout their history they have not really wanted to manage people, they wanted to flood something. They have become an anti-people agency. The Bureau of Reclamation shows no signs of any willingness to be a good neighbor or to find a solution to this mess they have created at Lake Berryessa. BOR is now trying to claim that the 1,300 property owners they plan to evict at Lake Berryessa are just “personal” property owners. Many of these folks have Manufactured homes that cannot be moved under California State law. Others have docks and other hard to relocate items. There are seven concessionaires. BOR wants them all gone if they can do it. The concessionaires have a huge investment. The law says the BOR must pay for that investment. BOR is ignoring the law. BOR is driving out all the people who pay rent to keep all seven resorts on the lake open. They cannot have it both ways. The seven resorts cannot survive if BOR drives away everyone who uses them. BOR appears to be run by lifelong bureaucrats who live in government housing and who have never been involved with private business and have little understanding how the economy works because they are insulated with taxpayer paychecks. What the BOR is doing to destroying a lake that can pay its own way and turning into a subsidized welfare system for rich local landowners. You, of course, will have to pay higher taxes because there will be little income to cover the cost of the lake. BOR will have driven it all out. Fear is a bad thing. BOR is threatening all mobile home, dock owners and other users on the lake with losing their rights and access. They are all living in fear that they will lose everything of value they have at Lake Berryessa. But we’re confident that by working together as a team they can fight back and win. American Land Rights has led many successful campaigns to save users of Federal land across the country. This is a battle Federal land users cannot afford to lose. This BOR police action cannot be allowed to stand. More: Are you a private property owner? Do you use motorized watercraft? Are you a water recreationist? Are you a Federal land user? Do you have a permit to use Federal land? Are you a small business owner-operator? Answer any of these questions yes and you need to pay close attention to this land grab and abuse by the Bureau of Reclamation at Lake Berryessa in Northern California. It threatens all private and public use of Federal areas. There is a plague spreading across the Federal lands. It is a battle for the future of recreation access in Federal areas. What happens at Lake Berryessa will play a role in deciding whether access is allowed and encouraged by the Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies where you live. Or instead, will it be blockaded and severely limited as it appears to be today? Gabe Friedman, Napa Register (California) writer said, “the future of the lakeshore has engendered a spirited feud between trailer owners and Berryessa area businesses on one hand, and the Bureau and environmental activists on the other.” The Bureau of Reclamation is planning to eliminate 1,300 permit home sites (trailer and mobile home sites) and hundreds of docks at Lake Berryessa, California. Many hundreds of people could be forced to remove their seasonal homes. The BOR, pushed by exclusionary special interest groups, is trying to eliminate people from Lake Berryessa. BOR wants to reduce motorized watercraft from over 3,000 to 700. BOR is attempting to rezone the water surface to eliminate most motorized boating. All seven resorts at the lake are in jeopardy. An entire economic ecosystem around the lake is threatened including lots of small businesses. This man made lake is 26 miles long and 3 miles wide. Special interest groups want to lock it up selfishly for themselves. The holders of the 1,300 sites have been given notice they will likely have to get out. Some by the end of the year. They all rent space from the seven resort owners. The resorts are not economically viable without the rental spaces. The BOR knows -- no resorts, no services, no supplies, meaning no real public use. All this is to carry out a BOR plan to reduce access, close trailer and home sites, severely reducing motorized boating to a fraction, remove docks, lock out boats and generally bow to pressure from special interest groups make the lake more like a Wilderness area. This is a process that will happen all across the country if you let it. That’s because the greens are a very loud and vocal minority. But Lake Berryessa is a poster child for BOR bad behavior. This is an attempt by the BOR to outdo what the National Park Service is doing in Yosemite -- drive the people out. In Yosemite, thousands of campgrounds have been closed, parking spaces lost, and soon, visitors will have to see the park in busses. The Park Service says it is crowded. You bet. They made the crowding much worse. Now other agencies are following the special interest dogma by trying to reduce access of people to their natural resources. These are the same people who want to remove Forest Service permit cabins, close all the Forest Service roads, cut off access to your forests, drive rural people into the cities and are trying to gain control over the nations recreation lakes and other Federal lands. Please forward this message as widely as possible. Many people do not carefully examine their e-mail. It is vital to forward it to vastly improve the chances people will see it at least once. What BOR is doing is such a huge threat that anyone who has to deal with the Federal government needs to read this. Your friends, neighbors and business associates need to know about this threat to private property and Federal land use. The Bush Administration needs to know that the public is not going to give them a pass for this kind of abuse. Getting hurt by people who are supposed to be your friends does not make it feel any better. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - Public Law 96-375 October 3, 1980 - 96th Congress - An Act Portion appropriate to Lake Berryessa Sec. 5 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to enter into new negotiated concession agreements with the present concessionaires at Lake Berryessa, California. Such agreements shall be for a term ending not later than May 26, 1989, and may be renewed at the request of the concessionaires with the consent of the Secretary of the Interior for no more than two consecutive terms of 10 years each. Concession agreements may be renegotiated preceding renewal. Such agreements must comply with the 1959 National Park Service Public Use Plan for Lake Berryessa, as amended, and with the Water and Power Resources Service Reservoir Area Management Plan: Provided, That the authority to enter into contracts or agreements to incur obligations or to make payments under this section shall be effective only to the extent and in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriation Acts. (b) Notwithstanding any other laws to the contrary, all permanent facilities placed by the concessionaires in the seven resorts at Lake Berryessa shall be considered the property of the respective current concessionaires. Further, any permanent additions or modifications to these facilities shall remain the property of said concessionaires: Provided, That at the option of the Secretary of the Interior, the United States may require that the permanent facilities mentioned herein not be removed from the concession areas, and instead, pay fair value for the permanent facilities or, if a new concessionaire assumes operation of the concession, require that new concessionaire pay fair value for the permanent facilities to the existing concessionaire. Please forward this message as widely as possible. -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list; please visit http://governance.net and enter your email address.