I just read an excellent article by William Perry Pendley describing President Ronald Reagan’s meeting in 1983 with landscape photographer Ansel Adams, a constant critic of Reagan’s environmental policies. The meeting didn’t soften Adam’s opinion of Reagan’s policies, but it does shed some light on the conflict in “world views” we are still dealing with to this day.
The story of Reagan’s battle with environmentalists, like Adams and the huge organizations that speak for them from San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C., has never been told. Despite conventional wisdom, the battle was not about protecting the environment—Reagan was an environmentalist himself; instead, it was about whether people are part of the ecosystem, as Reagan argued, and between two competing visions of government. That battle posited powerful New Deal–style government run by progressives and technocrats against limited government that emphasized individual liberty and economic freedom.
Read the article here: When Reagan Asked to Meet the Man Who “Dislikes Me So Much”
From The Blue Ribbon Coalition
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Monticello Field Office (MFO) has announced opportunities for the public to share comments and ideas relating to a Special Recreation Permit (SRP) application for an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Safari in San Juan County.
The BLM is considering a proposal by the City of Monticello, Utah to host and conduct guided ATV tours on 16 designated routes, also called trails, in areas throughout the Monticello and Moab Field Offices.
The BLM will be preparing an Environmental Assessment (EA) on the proposal, and they invite the public to provide input on preliminary issues and planning criteria for the EA. A reasonable range of alternatives will be developed to respond to identified issues. Each alternative will outline solutions to the issues and concerns identified.
The purpose of the public scoping process is to determine relevant issues that will influence the environmental analysis, including alternatives, and guide the planning process. Additional information about the proposed project is now available for public review and comment on the Environmental Notification Bulletin Board (ENBB) at: https://www.blm.gov/ut/enbb/index.php; search for project name “ATV Safari.”
Read the rest Here
Be sure to get your comments in before the June 30, 2013 deadline!
Related articles
We’d like to introduce you to a new source for information on land use issues in San Juan County, Monte Wells in Monticello, Utah has started a blog called “The Petroglyph”.
In his first installment he updates us on 3 battle in San Juan County on how best to Protect Recapture Canyon an area popular with locals. It looks like once again the people of San Juan county are being tag teamed by federal agencies and extreme environmental groups like the Great Old Broads for wilderness.
Be sure and bookmark Monte’s blog The Petroglyph while you’re there. I know he’s got more great articles to come!![]()
From the Moab Sun News:
Michael Brune is taking his family on a road trip for their summer vacation.
Moab is one of the planned stops along the way.
While he’s here, the executive director of the Sierra Club will present “The Value of Utah’s Public Lands” at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 11 at Star Hall.
Brune decided to combine work with the family’s road trip from their home in Alameda, Calif., to Colorado to attend a friend’s wedding.
“He talked to staff and volunteers and said ‘why don’t I use that opportunity to educate the public and excite Sierra Club members about getting some of these proposed areas as national monuments,’” said Dan Chu, the director of the “Wild America” campaign for the Sierra Club.
Read the article HERE
Via the website of The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 21, 2013 -
Today, the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation held an oversight hearing featuring testimony by Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Chairman of the Western Governors’ Association. The hearing highlighted the challenges of western states regarding federal and state land management.
At the hearing, Members and Governor Herbert discussed how states are able to find their own solutions to land management, tailored to their unique circumstances. In contrast, the federal government is bound by a statutory and regulatory framework that keeps them from effective land management. Utah and other states are successfully managing their lands in ways that protect natural resources and promote a healthy economy, and protect public access.
“Governor Herbert illustrated during today’s hearing that states are effectively and efficiently managing the lands and resources located within their borders and can handle this in the future,” said Subcommittee Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01). “As we heard today, the federal government isn’t always the better option and as federal budgets get appropriately tighter, we ought to begin examining redundancies between state and federal land management programs. Frankly, the federal government is so often more of a hindrance than a help. If we want to get serious about responsible development of our resources, better land management practices, and real recovery of wildlife species, we ought to be looking more to the states for solutions and not to federal bureaucrats in Washington. I appreciate Governor Herbert’s insight and it is encouraging to see that states are truly leading the way. It is my hope that Washington will finally wake up and see that states are better suited to deal with many of the issues which Washington has managed poorly over the years.”
“Sadly, we have strayed far from this vision of states as independent and robust policy innovators,” said Gov. Gary Herbert, UT. “No one understands state challenges and demographics better than the people who reside and govern there. No one is more committed to the most effective use of limited resources for the best possible outcome, for both our lands and our citizens, than those who will directly live with the consequences of those decisions.”
Read more here: Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation
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- Utah Gov. Herbert rails against US Land management (sacbee.com)
Thanks to the crew from Rally On The Rocks and all the great UTV’ers who contributed to the cause during the event! We met a lot of great folks from literally all over the world.
Rest assured that Sagebrush Coalition will put your generous donations to work in the fight to keep the trails open to you in the future. UTV’ers are the Best! We look forward to seeing all of you again next year. And for our readers who haven’t experienced the Rally On The Rocks yet, make plans now to attend in 2014, you won’t be sorry, these folks know how to have fun!
Related articles
- Things Heat Up at Rally On The Rocks (motorsportsnewswire.wordpress.com)
No wonder it feels like we’re always swimming upstream!
EPA Gives Info For Free to Big Green Groups 92% of Time; Denies 93% of Fee Waiver Requests from Biggest Conservative Critics
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 14, 2013 –
It’s not just the IRS that treats
groups on the right differently from the rest. According to documents
obtained by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Environmental Protection Agency is in on it too.Public records produced by EPA in response to a lawsuit filed by CEI
under the Freedom of Information Act illustrate a pattern of making it
far more difficult for limited-government groups – in particular those
who argue for more freedom and less EPA – to access public records.Such groups are precisely those Congress and courts made clear FOIA
was intended to protect from fees being used as a hurdle to obtaining
information, without prejudice as to their perspective. Worse, CEI has
now obtained proof of the spectacularly disparate nature of the
practice, specifically revealing extraordinarily favorable treatment of
the same green groups it’s been shown to be collaborating with on its
agenda.
Read the rest of the article HERE







