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National Forest lands in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia I am writing this article to call attention to two things. The first is strictly an opinion on what I call a silly move by our state government. The second is also an opinion I have, but for a much more serious issue put at risk by our national government. I know you are probably thinking, “You silly young whippersnapper, who are you to judge something as silly when a decision is made by your elders.” Well here is what I have to say. It is my state too and I have as much right to feel this way as you have to think I am a young whippersnapper (to be polite). If more people my age to start caring about there state then soon the only people left to care won’t care at all. Sorry, I left on a small tangent there. What I actually want to do is ask why did our state government change our slogan from “Wild and Wonderful” to “Open for Business”? “Wild and Wonderful” just sounds so much more appealing. Let’s compare the two connotations for a moment. Wild and wonderful implies beauty, nature, and wonder. Now if I think about what open for business implies, well since my first thought is inappropriate, the best I can come up with is strip malls or rock quarries and coal mines. I know that the point of this change is to attract more business, but I don’t think it’s working. Frankly, I’m afraid it gets more chuckles than serious consideration. Our state is worth more than that to me so I say it was a silly, silly move. I ask that you call the governor if you agree or if you don’t feel comfortable doing that let me know and I’ll see what we can come up with. I’ll leave this conversation where it is. I could be more passionate but I’m being polite. On a more serious issue involving Wild and Wonderful West Virginia, I’d like to bring attention to a bill named, “National Forest Land Conveyance for Rural Communities Act”. I know many people feel that the best thing to do with public land is to put it back in the hands of the people. I will honestly tell you that I disagree with that idea for several reasons but right now none of them mater. If you are wondering why difference of opinion is unimportant it’s because the people won’t even have a chance to have this land unless no one buy the land up for sale after 30 days from public notice. The bill is set up to sell lands that are sort of small islands from a larger clump of national forest land. The first ones to have a chance to buy the land will be local or state governments, tribes of native peoples, or non-profit organizations. This in itself would be good news to me if it still meant that the land would still have the same protection it had as a part of national forest land. This may not matter to you but I ask that you also consider that the US government reserves the right to keep right-of-ways, water rights, and other rights. Just so I am totally clear other rights means timber and mineral where the secretary of agriculture deems it in the best interests of the people to retain those rights. So for those of you who favor the idea of putting the land back into the peoples hands so that our state can once again collect taxes from the land, that is not going to happen because the groups that could own the land will be tax free. For those who think that it’s a good idea because the recourses will be available, that won’t happen because the US will probably be holding those. If they use those rights chances are our state will get very little to no money for that either. As privatizing goes this is a lousy way to go about, of course it’s only my opinion, but my opinion is founded in ideas gathered during my four year trek through the Institute for Environmental Studies at Shepherd University, as well as a life with parents who taught me that Earth should be respected because without it we have nothing. I would even consider it a good thing if I could justify that the money from this act was going to do some real good, but that’s not the case either. The money is going to go into a US Treasury account named Forest County Safety Net Payments. It will then go to local and state governments that are suffering from reduced revenues on the timber production from federal land. This money is supposed to fund the rural schools act. It has so far done very little to help as far as I can see. A lot was promised and very little delivered where that was concerned. As an environmental scientist my biggest worry comes from section 7 which says that lands up for sale on this list are exempt from environmental impact statements or assessments. It is also not subject to public comment or administrative appeal. I personally would rather see public lands stay publicly protected where we can all be free to visit and ask questions then see it privatized and loose its protection this way. It’s just not right. They are using this bill to totally strip the land of its protection and give us no say about it. If you wish to know more or read about it directly go to www.fs.fed.us . If you have feelings about this bill you can reach your congress men through any of the following:
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LINKS National Forest Land Conveyance |
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