Take Action to Protect the CDT

[Sly]

as well as the other trails.

http://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs050/1102004018975/img/13.jpg?a=1102444896753 (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102444896753&e=001gyCK0-yUStt8pzTUUbC4_aPYsSxdrzfHCihvGp1At0jbQ83LJurpAT_C 2TrkgG-S3hneTeOg94iqVtBZn8HwSYClsAZBqsGmSS4eU8Ooyb0fWhKhF fFUiw==)



Take Action Today to Protect the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail

CDTA needs your help TODAY to urge the House to pass the Senate Omnibus Public Land Management Act (S. 22), an important bill that will protect and recognize some of the most significant hiking opportunities and natural resources in America, including the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail!

Two weeks ago, this bill passed by a comfortable margin in the Senate, but the House will be a greater challenge. In fact, if this legislation receives a single amendment, no matter how apparently well-intentioned, it would be effectively "killed," and years of hard work, compromise, and thousands of miles of trail could suffer. Without making your voice heard, this bill could "die" in the House and never become law.

This bill will have greater positive effects on the hiking experience than any other legislation considered this year. This bill is a "bundle" of more than 100 different pieces of legislation, including language to designate the Arizona National Scenic Trail, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, and the Washington - Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. This legislation also authorizes several important feasibility studies of National Historic Trails and gives federal land management agencies the tools to protect trails by acquiring land within their Congressionally designated corridors. Notably, this "bundle" contains the National Landscape Conservation System Act - simple, straightforward legislation that will recognize the incredible natural and recreational resources of the Bureau of Land Management's National Landscape Conservation System, including more than 5,000 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails. Key sections of the CDT would be protected by passage of the NLCS System!

Click here to visit the American Hiking Society's Take Action page (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102444896753&e=001gyCK0-yUStsfkIoNsQg_vhx-4UOFV_ssKJ1o3xDnr9MGbC51Le80auS9YUYKRaFViwLXotIr6C iGShYJK5eG_v7sK0Z51rDNRHM5U9jqOxlK0A3rU6Huu1UuQ0F0 IY1KetkNBDfgGE3iI434-PpvrkPtT9UyBdZQTuteYp0X7PmmzZ_29O2iiLZbzG4Ao6fKsxe isNLdrg4=) and ask your Representative to protect these trails and incredible hiking opportunities and ensure that the BLM's Conservation System will be permanently protected! It will only take a few moment to make sure your voice is heard! http://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs050/1102004018975/img/14.jpg?a=1102444896753 (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102444896753&e=001gyCK0-yUStsx9PrVNcR8x5dqISPGlxQ_6b6zFPjiIw3TxE_4xquhPvQm KvVYAPBz3mfHxHjcpTkwhazVJVkvwTTS9W0ArJyEvEt8PVVG3V M=)


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The Continental Divide Trail Alliance | PO Box 628 | Pine | CO | 80470

[MOWGLI]

This is a really important piece of bipartisan legislation. I hope folks will take a few minutes to call or write their Congressman and ask them to support S 22 without amendment. This bill protects millions of acres of land in 9 states.

[Lyle]

This is VERY IMPORTANT for the North Country National Scenic Trail as well.

It truly has been a major effort to get "Willing Seller" authorization for all of the National Scenic Trails. Several of them, including the NCT and CDT are not allowed this very basic tool for protecting the corridor. Most agree that it was an oversight when these trails were originally authorized, but correcting that oversight has been very long in coming. It is included in this bill.

Please take a moment to help out.

[max patch]

If you think that the taxpayers should spend $3,500,000 on a birthday party for St. Augustine -- then you'll love this bill.

If you think WalMart should be able to use the power of eminent domain to take your property to put up a superstore -- then you'll love this bill.

Thats just a sampler. There's more -- much more -- so do a little research before you jump on the bandwagon. The headline sounds good -- but the devil is in the details.

[Sly]

That's a small sample Max... blame the politicians for adding pork. In the meantime.


Editorial
A win for wilderness

The Senate has passed a public lands bill that will benefit California, among other states. Although the legislation contains a few troublesome projects, it deserves House passage too.
February 4, 2009

An omnibus public lands bill that would, among other things, designate more than 700,000 acres of California land as wilderness has finally received approval from the Senate and will now go to the House for a vote. Though it contains a few questionable proposals, the legislation would protect badly needed wildlife habitat and recreational space, and the House should pass it.

The bill, S. 22, a holdover from last year, consists of about 160 separate proposals and would grant the highest level of federal protection to more than 2 million acres across nine states from California to West Virginia. Among the California land designated as wilderness would be about 190,000 acres in Riverside County, about 450,000 acres in the Eastern Sierra and the San Gabriel Mountains, and about 90,000 acres in Sequoia-Kings Canyon national parks. The overall packagecarries a $4-billion price tag over five years.

Perhaps the most important bonus for California, though, is $88 million for the long-overdue revival of the 330-mile-long San Joaquin River, after decades of being drained to supply Central Valley farms. The legislation would restore water flows next year below Friant Dam -- located on the uppermost part of the river, northeast of Fresno -- and attempt to restore salmon runs to their historic levels by 2014.

For all its good intentions, the bill funds or allows a few troublesome projects, most notably a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for use by residents of a nearby village in case of medical emergencies, even though the government has already bought them a $9-million hovercraft for that purpose. But a revised version of the bill at least grants the Interior secretary the authority to veto the road's construction. Then there's the downright silly allocation of $3.5 million to celebrate the 450th birthday of St. Augustine, Fla., in 2015. St. Augustine is ancient by U.S. standards, the oldest European-established city in the nation, but the expenditure for a minor anniversary of a town of 12,000 is excessive by any measure.

Despite such concerns, on balance the bill is heavy on benefit and light on waste. Wilderness areas enjoy a higher level of protection than any other public lands, shielding them from drilling, logging and residential development. Rather than piling on more pork, or even killing it outright, the House should swiftly approve the bill.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-wilderness4-2009feb04,0,3287364.story
TAKE ACTION TODAY TO PROTECT GREAT AMERICAN TRAILS



American Hiking Society needs your help TODAY to urge the House to pass the Senate Omnibus Public Land Managment Act (S. 22), an important bill that will protect and recognize some of the most significant hiking opportunities and natural resources in America. Two weeks ago, this bill passed by a comfortable margin in the Senate, but the House will be a greater challenge. In fact, if this legislation receives a single amendment, no matter how apparently well-intentioned, it would be effectively "killed," and years of hard work, compromise, and thousands of miles of trail could suffer. Without making your voice heard, this bill could "die" in the House and never become law.

This bill will have greater positive effects on the hiking experience than any other legislation considered this year. This bill is a "bundle" of more than 100 different pieces of legislation, including language to designate the Arizona National Scenic Trail, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, and the Washington - Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. This legislation also authorizes several important feasibility studies of National Historic Trails and gives federal land management agencies the tools to protect trails by acquiring land within their Congressionally designated corridors. Notably, this "bundle" contains the National Landscape Conservation System Act - simple, straightforward legislation that will recognize the incredible natural and recreational resources of the Bureau of Land Management's National Landscape Conservation System, including more than 5,000 miles of National Scenic and Historic Trails
THIS CRUCIAL LEGISLATION WILL DO MORE TO PROTECT TRAILS AND THE HIKING EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA THAN ANY OTHER BILL THIS YEAR. To protect America’s extraordinary natural and recreational resources please customize the basic e-mail below, by adding a few sentences about why hiking is important to you, and click to send it to your Senator.

Click here to visit the American Hiking Society's Take Action page (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102444896753&e=001gyCK0-yUStsfkIoNsQg_vhx-4UOFV_ssKJ1o3xDnr9MGbC51Le80auS9YUYKRaFViwLXotIr6C iGShYJK5eG_v7sK0Z51rDNRHM5U9jqOxlK0A3rU6Huu1UuQ0F0 IY1KetkNBDfgGE3iI434-PpvrkPtT9UyBdZQTuteYp0X7PmmzZ_29O2iiLZbzG4Ao6fKsxe isNLdrg4=)


I'll not let this get out of hand. Contact your congressman or don't.

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