Congress Passes Wilderness Protection Bill
Congress passed a measure in the House Wednesday (285 to 140) that will protect two million acres of wilderness in nine states and commence a massive river restoration project in the West, according to the LA Times. In what would be the largest wilderness expansion in 15 years, president Obama could set aside nearly as much land as George W. Bush did during his entire presidency.
Rep. Nick J. Rahall called it the "most important piece of conservation legislation Congress has considered in many years."
The measure drew opposition from Republicans and business groups, who suggested it would prevent energy production on public land. "If Congress and the administration are serious about jump-starting our economy, they cannot limit responsible American energy production of any kind, including oil and natural gas," Barry Russell told the LA Times.
The wilderness designations will be added to the 107-million acre National Wilderness Preservation System, created in 1964 as part of the Wilderness Act.
--Ivan Miller
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Ivan:
As a political conservative (please no rocks, people; mine is not an inconsistent belief structure with Wilderness ethics) I am torn between understanding the Republican position and appreciating the Democratic stand; land should be set aside for future generations, but within reason. Although what bothers me mostly now-a-days, is how the media seems to paint the Democratic Party (suggestively) as the only sources to ever promote Wilderness concepts.
The latter is simply not the case, as history proves out.
During the end of his Presidency; Teddy Roosevelt with the aid of Gifford Pinchot (Father of our modern day WPS) set aside 16,000,000 acres of public land, which have since become known as the midnight forests (because they were created at the very end of Roosevelt’s Presidency). This was in response to Congress changing land laws in 1907, some say as a result of Roosevelt setting aside 150,000,000 acres of reserve land through his time in office.
Both Roosevelt and Pinchot were... “REPUBLICANS!”
Today, lest we forget, what Pinchot and Roosevelt accomplished has become the basis for our National Wilderness Preservation System! Therefore, great care should be observed before painting all Republicans (political conservatives) as unsympathetic to Wilderness issues.
...Just a thought. :)
Happy Trails
Posted by: Mark | March 30, 2009 at 06:28 PM