From: alra@governance.net
Subject: Last Chance For Forest Service Meetings
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
Last Chance For Forest Service Meetings
This is an important reminder:
The meetings listed below are the last that you can get your questions answered. They are the last “Open Houses”. ALRA is encouraging you to go to one of these meetings, no matter which of the Southern California Forests you have interests.
The Forest Service says the following meetings are about the San Bernardino National Forest. But personnel there are in charge of all four. If you failed to go to one of the earlier meetings, this is your last chance.
There is nothing to prevent you from going to one of the meetings listed below.
They begin Tuesday, June 8th and continue on June 9th, 10th, 15th, 16th and 17th.
Your Enemies Want To Close And Lock Up The Forests
You Need To Be Vigilant And Active
If You Are Not, You Could Lose Your Rights
National Forest Plans in Southern California Under Review
The official comment period began May 14th and ends August 11th, 2004.
San Bernardino National Forest
Angeles National Forest
Cleveland National Forest
Los Padres National Forest
Your Forest Plan meeting dates and times are listed below:
Dear Forest User:
ALERT -- Southern California Forests
The following national forests have plans in revision: Cleveland, Los Padres, Angeles and San Bernardino.
All the National Forests in America will have their Forest Plans revised and amended over the next several years. If you wish to keep your grazing permit or other special use permit, it is an absolute must for you to be informed and stay informed during this process. You must be on record as having participated in the process so you don’t lose future rights.
In law, it is called “laches” or sleeping on your rights. If you fail to attend at least some forest plan meetings or comment on the plan, you could lose future rights.
Your permit and those of your neighbors are NOT automatically included in the plan. They must be included and considered a long-term appropriate use. You must work with other special use permittees to attend public meetings and stay current with the planning process. Please work to make sure your special use permit is included in the Forest Plan in a positive way. Get any negative comments about permits removed.
You can be sure that those groups who seek to sanitize the forests of people will be attending those same meetings and working quietly and subtly to remove special use permits over time. They will do it in little ways you may not notice.
Right now the Forest Service is revising all four forest plans in Southern California together in one big revision. It is a big, broad brush planning effort. Enclosed is a list of the public meetings the agency has scheduled. These meetings need to be changed.
The big problem is the public involvement and meeting process. The Forest Service is using a public process called “open houses” for their public involvement. This means you attend a meeting where the agency has four or five rangers answering questions about alternatives and the forest plan revisions. Most of the time they do not take public comment at this same meeting. You can only comment in writing at a later date.
If they do allow public statements, the agency has no system for recording those comments. This is a very bad system that deprives you of your rights.
The agency has very good alternatives that would work much better and will do a better job of informing the agency and you regarding concerns about the plan. The New England Town Meeting or public hearing concepts would work better and help you far more.
Why? Here are some examples of why the present system is wrong and bad for you:
-----A. At the Open House the agency has no place to take public testimony that is recorded. If they do take comments, they don’t write them down and they are not officially included in the process;
-----B. You do not hear your neighbors and fellow forest users making comments. You might think of an important issue, but no one else will hear it. If they did, they might raise that issue even more and their comment would get others to comment on their statement.
That is why the New England town meeting or a public hearing concept is so much better. Frankly, the agency uses the existing system to minimize controversy. They don’t want people making strong statements in public. They want it on paper where they can largely hide it.
We’re not suggesting that all Forest Service personnel want this. Some just go along because that is what they’ve been doing. Many Forest Service people like ranchers and other types of forest users and want the programs to continue and do a fine job. But there are a considerable number of others who work tirelessly to eliminate forest uses over time;
-----C. The press will usually come to an “open house” but they will miss any controversy because they do not hear you or your neighbors speak out since there is no place in the process to speak out for the record. Again, this is a way for the agency to minimize controversy;
-----D. No representatives from your Congressman or Senators office will be able to hear your real concerns. There is no public discussion. It is an antiseptic way to involve the public but not really allowing the public to get truly involved;
-----E. Many people would rather comment verbally than on paper. The agency could easily have a court reporter take your comments down with your name. Some people may rather comment on paper. They have that opportunity through the public comment process but they would still benefit from the open public discussion of the plan; and
-----F. Imagine what our country would have been like if the Continental Congress had been run like a Forest Service “open house”. Ben Franklin might not have met Thomas Jefferson. John Adams might not have met George Washington. They might not have heard the great speeches and found their new leaders.
By depriving forest users of an open public comment process that can be listened to by others, you are being prevented from meeting and discussing key issues with other forest users who share your views. The open house process is a deliberate divide and conquer method to prevent controversy. But controversy is good. You and others learn from it.
Here are some reasons why a New England Town Meeting, public hearing or meeting with recorded verbal comments would be better:
-----1. You get to hear your neighbors opinions and comment on them;
-----2. The press and public officials get to know what is going on and they can talk to people who have shared important comments;
-----3. Everyone in the room learns from the comments of others;
-----4. You find new leaders when you hear particularly informed statements;
-----5. The Forest Service would get more informed public comment than with the “open house”;
-----6. The agency could set up certain hearings or town meetings with one or two key themes so that more people who are concerned about that particular issue could attend those hearings;
-----7. The hearing or town meeting could be set up with an “open house” so that the Forest Service still gets the information it wishes to share across, but the public and the Forest Service gain far greater benefit; and
-----8. If there is controversy about the forest plan revision, the open discussion of it gives the agency the chance to review and change that part of the plan early enough to do a better job later in the process. It prevents a larger outburst after the plan is final.
Here is what you can do to make the Forest Plan work for you:
/////--- 1. Attend at least one of the public meetings, more if possible. Call others to attend;
/////--- 2. Insist that the meeting be a public hearing and that a record be kept of all comments. Ask others at the meeting to object to the “open house” only process. There must be a hearing. If you are forced to create a little controversy of a fair hearing process, so be it. Remember the Continental Congress. No pain, no gain;
/////--- 3. Make a video tape of the hearing and send a copy to American Land Rights;
/////---4. Call Chuck at American Land Rights at (360) 687-3087 if you plan to attend a meeting. ALRA will help you plan for your meeting and prepare if you want to put pressure on the Forest Service to include a real public hearing with their so called “open house”.
/////---5. Call your forest to get on their Forest Plan mailing list. Ask that a copy of your Forest Plan revisions be sent to you. Ask for their mailing address. Ask what their website is to see the entire Forest Plan;
/////---6. Send a letter to your Forest Supervisor asking for an official open recorded public comment process like a New England style town meeting or public hearing instead of the current system of “open houses”. An “open house” can still be part of the larger meeting; and
/////---7. Send a copy of your letter to your Congressman and Senators by fax and e-mail with a cover sheet to them from you. Keep in mind that all regular mail to Congress must go through a chemical process looking for Anthrax so it is often delayed as long as six weeks. All Congressmen and Senators can be reached at (202) 225-3121. Ask for their fax number. You can write them at: Honorable ________ US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. All Senators can be addressed at: Honorable _____ US Senate, Washington, DC 20510.
Special Note: You can obtain a VHS Video showing how one community in Maine forced the National Park Service to change to a public hearing concept from the old fashioned and non-functional open house concept. Just call (360) 687-3087. The tapes are $14.95 plus $3.00 shipping.
American Land Rights is continuing our effort to reach out to ALL FOREST USERS NATIONWIDE. We want to try to keep you informed about what is going to happen to you in the forest plan revision process. In addition, you must know about the threat to all forest users from the fire issue. The agency must not be allowed to terminate your uses because of fire.
Why reach out to other special use permittees nationwide? Because Congress is a game of numbers. If all users are involved, you have many more writing their Congressmen and building support for fair treatment. By having all users involved, you don’t allow the Forest Service to divide and conquer you. You are building a forest user friendly majority in Congress to support you.
ALRA wants to keep you informed as the process goes along. That is not possible without your support. A small contribution will keep you on the mailing list and alerted to key issues affecting you.
Mailing to all 105,000 forest special use permittees in the next few months will require over $50,000. Postage, envelopes and paper are substantial when sending to 105,000 people. In addition, thousands of e-mails and faxes must be sent. When you send your membership, please consider sending an extra contribution to help keep all forest users informed and get them into the process.
Why you should be a Member of American Land Rights.
-----ALRA can keep you informed about threats to your forest use;
-----ALRA is your political insurance policy;
-----ALRA has a powerful record of accomplishment in Congress;
-----Through ALRA, your voice is loudly heard in Washington, DC;
-----ALRA is known for its aggressive protection of members’ rights;
-----You can use the landrights.org website for latest up-to-date information;
-----You have access to our full time office and staff in Washington, DC;
-----ALRA Washington DC Representative Mike Hardiman is one of the best;
-----You have a full time Headquarters in Battle Ground, Washington to help you;
-----Tens of thousands of allies in ALRA e-mail, fax and mail lists to help you win;
-----ALRA offers crisis management services to members and allies;
-----Grassroots organizing and coalition building to help you save your cabin or interest;
-----Day-to-day consulting on land use and environmental issues is available; and
-----The Private Property Congressional Vote Index to make Congress accountable.
Here is what you should do now:
Xxxxx Please consider a contribution to help our effort to keep you informed about important threats to your future. You will also help alert all cabin owners, ranchers, miners, forestry users and other special use permittees to the danger and get them into action. Any amount is appropriate.
Xxxxx If you are a new member and send at least $25, you will receive a full membership in American Land Rights for a year. That is $10 off our regular rate of $35. Help build a nationwide constituency to protect your use of our forests.
Xxxxx Mail an extra contribution to help continue the mailings. $50,000 is needed to generate the mass action necessary and the only way to get all forest special use permittees involved is to send letters to all of them. They must be informed about the Forest Plan revisions and the threat to their long term future. Help build a special use permit friendly majority in Congress.
Xxxxx Please mail your check for $15, $30, $75, $100, $200, $500, $1,000 or other amount as an extra contribution. This will allow ALRA to mail the necessary to alerts to tens of thousands of your allies. Help keep the forests open. Don’t let certain groups lock them up. Help build support in Congress.
The Forest Plan revisions will determine the future of your forest use. You must be part of the process to protect your future rights. Please make sure you attend one or more of the meetings (hopefully hearings) listed on the enclosed sheet.
Sincerely,
Chuck Cushman
PS. The coming Forest Plan revision process can make or break you and the future of your use in a national forest. Insist on a real town meeting or public hearing process. Insist that your comments be recorded. Ask that a recorded comment period be added to the “open house” schedule the Forest Service already has.
Make sure your are kept informed about threats to your use in the forests. Over $50,000 must be raised quickly to get the letters out to every special use permittee nationwide. Please do what you can to help us get as many forest users as possible informed and working together. If you are a new member and send at least $25, you’ll receive a full years membership at $10 off the regular rate. If you are in a position, please consider an extra contribution to help build a nationwide team to stop the land grabbers. Our forests must be kept available for traditional users. You can help. Please mail it by Friday, June 4th. Thank you.
Forest Service Forest Plan Meeting List
National Forests in Southern California
Angeles National Forest
Cleveland National Forest
Los Padres National Forest
San Bernardino National Forest
Mail Comments To:
Southern California
Forest Plan Revisions
Name of National Forest
(if applicable)
USDA Forest Service
Content Analysis Center
P.O. Box 22777
Salt Lake City, UT 84122
+++++ Attending the open houses (hopefully public hearings during the comment period will offer you opportunity to find out more about:
+++++ The six management alternatives evaluated in the DEIS and land use
zoning maps (as revised to reflect feedback from community open houses
in February-March 2003);
+++++ Each forest's "preferred alternative" that is reflected in its draft
Forest Plan;
+++++ The new approach and organization of the draft Forest Plans;
+++++ How the documents address special designations such as wilderness and
Wild and Scenic Rivers; and
Commenting on the draft Forest Plans or DEIS. (Not recorded or paid attention to.)
Written comments will be accepted at the open house. You need to demand that the agency accept and record verbal comments as well.
For recorded information about the plan revision including information
about the open house schedule and comment period, please call the Forest Service toll-free phone number, (866) 252-8846.
San Bernardino National Forest
June 8 (Tuesday)
Big Bear Municipal Water District
40524 Lakeview Drive
City of Big Bear Lake, CA
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
June 9 (Wednesday)
Mountains Community Senior Center
675 Grandview Road
Twin Peaks, CA
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
June 10 (Thursday)
Pine Springs Ranch
58000 Apple Canyon Road
Garner Valley, CA
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
June 15 (Tuesday)
Best Western Green Tree Inn
14173 Green Tree Blvd.
Victorville, CA
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
June 16 (Wednesday)
USFS Danny Rhynes Training Center
4121 Quail Canyon Road
San Bernardino, CA
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
June 17 (Thursday) **
Lions Center West — Filippi Room
9161 Baseline Road
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Don’t Let Your Enemies Lock Up The Forests
Support Building A Forest User Majority In Congress
[ ] Yes, I want to keep our forests open to traditional uses.
[ ] Yes, here is my ____ contribution to help keep me informed about coming threats.
[ ] Yes, I would like to become a member. Here is my check for $25. (New members)
[ ] Yes, I’d like to do more. Here is my Special Contribution for $30 __, $50 __, $75 __, $100 __, $200 __, $500 __, or other Amount $ _______.
Please mail this confirmation with your contribution by Friday, June 4th.
Name (print) _________________________
Fax (if any) ____________
E-mail ______________________________
Phone _________________
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Credit Card Number ______________________________________
Signature ______________________________ Expiration Date _____
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