Interior secretary says Obama may bypass Congress on monuments

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says she may advise Obama to act alone to create new national monuments if Congress doesn't act.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says she may recommend that President Obama act unilaterally to create new national monuments if Congress remains gridlocked. She recently visited some sites in California. (Dan Joling / Associated Press / September 3, 2013)



By Julie Cart
Los Angeles Times

SAN FRANCISCO — Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says she will recommend that President Obama act alone if necessary to create new national monuments and sidestep a gridlocked Congress that has failed to address dozens of public lands bills.

Jewell said the logjam on Capitol Hill has created a conservation backlog, and she warned that the Obama administration would not "hold its breath forever" waiting for lawmakers to act.

"The president will not hesitate," Jewell said in an interview in San Francisco last week. "I can tell you that there are places that are ripe for setting aside, with a tremendous groundswell of public support."

Congress has not added any acreage to the national park or wilderness systems since 2010. Jewell blamed ramped-up rhetoric in Washington for the impasse. She said the appetite for preserving American historic and cultural sites remains high but some officials seek to avoid the appearance of publicly embracing more government protection.

Jewell, who has been on the job scarcely six months, came to California to promote several initiatives and tour a site that could be added to a national monument along the Mendocino coast.

She began with a meet and greet at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. On a bright day with gulls wheeling against a backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge — the velvety green Marin headlands in the distance — Jewell stood in one of the nation's most-visited national parks and made the case for the value of public lands.

Among the public events on Jewell's schedule was a visit to the 1,255-acre Stornetta Public Lands site on the Mendocino County coast, north of Point Arena. Several members of the California congressional delegation have proposed adding the site to the California Coastal National Monument.

It's one of many pending federal bills that would conserve land in California. One bill would expand the boundary of Yosemite National Park, and another would create a national monument in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has proposed sweeping legislation that would add thousands of acres to Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks and the Mojave National Preserve, protect 74 miles of waterways as wild and scenic rivers, designate 248,000 acres as wilderness and create the Sand to Snow National Monument running from the floor of the Coachella Valley to the peak of Mt. San Gorgonio.

The conservation community has a long list of places that it believes require protection, but activists complain that with sequestration budget cuts on top of congressional reluctance to promote conservation, little is getting done.

"It's been nearly impossible to figure out how to get more funding for conservation work, whether it's just getting money to run agencies or getting full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund," said Kristen Brengel, who lobbies Congress for the National Parks Conservation Assn. "There is almost no hope for the wilderness or monuments bills — they are being held up."

Brengel said Jewell's willingness to recommend that Obama act unilaterally, using powers granted to presidents under the Antiquities Act of 1906, gives hope to conservationists who see the administration as indifferent to environmental issues.

"The take-away is she's kind of teed herself up to make those recommendations to the president," Brengel said. "They are capable of making decisions on conservation. They just haven't made many of them."

The Antiquities Act gives presidents authority to name new monuments — a power generally residing with Congress. Presidents going back to Theodore Roosevelt have used the act to set aside natural wonders, including the Grand Canyon in 1908, which was later named a national park against the wishes of local officials.

But use of the act in recent years has sparked strong protest. Most notably was President Clinton's decision to designate the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah in 1996, putting one of the nation's largest coal reserves off limits to mining.

Utah lawmakers, led by then-Gov. Michael O. Leavitt, a Republican, bitterly complained that federal authorities failed to consult with local communities before elevating protections on 1.8 million acres of rugged red-rock canyons. Further antagonizing opponents, Clinton signed the act while sitting at a ceremonial desk placed on the rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Clinton used the Antiquities Act more than any other president. Obama has used the law to designate nine new monuments, focusing mainly on historic sites such as the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland and the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Kern County, which is poised to become a National Historic Park.

More money sought for national parks

Private land jeopardizes landmarks

BY LES BLUMENTHAL
Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON -- A conservation group warns that unless the White House and Congress provide more money to buy private land within national park boundaries, there could be logging at Washington state's Mt. Rainier, commercial development in Valley Forge, and similar problems at national parks from Golden Gate to Gettysburg.

A National Parks Conservation Association report Tuesday said money to buy so-called in-holdings within the parks has declined sharply over the past decade, from a high of nearly $148 million annually to $44 million now.

"It's not a pretty story," said Ron Tipton, a senior vice president for the association. "We have park lands for sale, park lands threatened and very little money."

Nationwide, there are about 1.8 million acres of privately held land within national park boundaries that would cost an estimated $1.9 billion to buy, Tipton said.

"The American public will be surprised to learn a lot of land in the parks is not protected," he said. "A lot of land is vulnerable to being developed, subdivided or sold."

At Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, site of the battle that was a turning point in the Civil War, 1 in 5 acres is privately held.

At Valley Forge National Historic Park in Pennsylvania, where the Continental Army spent the brutal winter of 1777-78, 1 in 10 acres is privately held, and a hotel, conference center and museum are planned "within cannon shot" of Gen. Washington's headquarters, the report said.

Private holdings in the Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas could be developed; in Zion National Park in Utah, construction has started on a conference center on private land, and in Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, unpatented mining claims could be used as the site of a remote lodge.

"Of the 391 units in the national park system, a significant and growing number face some threat to wildlife habitat or the preservation of cultural treasures because of development on privately owned land within national park boundaries," the report said.

Though some of the private landowners have been willing to sell to the National Park Service or to conservation groups, the report said the Park Service has "lacked funding to close the deals, and even the most public-spirited owners cannot be expected to forgo their own financial needs indefinitely."

The Land and Water Conservation Fund was established in 1964 to pay for land purchases by the Park Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies. It is funded from royalties paid on offshore oil and gas leases. But Congress has to decide how much to put in the fund every year.

The National Park Service is well aware of the private holdings in park boundaries, but over the past several years it has focused on maintenance, operation and construction, said Dave Barna, a Park Service spokesman.

NPS Uses FLTFA to Acquire Inholding Property

Posted by Jackie Skaggs
Public Affairs
Grand Teton National Park



Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott announced today that the National Park Service (NPS) recently completed the acquisition of a key inholding property located on the Moose-Wilson Road, approximately five miles south of park headquarters. This acquisition was made possible through funding provided under the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA) of 2000. The 1.4-acre tract was identified as a top priority for acquisition, in part because it lies within an area that provides important habitat for a diversity of wildlife species.

Formerly known as the Hartgrave property, this land parcel originally consisted of approximately 4.4 acres. The property became available for purchase in 1995; however, the NPS was unable to acquire it at that time due to a lack of available federal funds. Gerald T. Halpin bought the property in order to protect it from potential development until the NPS could obtain funds for acquisition. In October of 2005, the NPS obtained Land and Water Conservation Funds to purchase approximately three acres of the Hartgrave property, leaving 1.4 acres in private ownership. FLTFA funds allowed the NPS to purchase the remaining privately-held acreage.

FLTFA offers land management agencies in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture a “vehicle” by which private lands within areas administered by these agencies can be purchased from willing sellers. FLTFA funds are generated through the sale of public lands that are administered by the Bureau of Land Management and identified for disposal in land use plans. FLTFA provides a more efficient, streamlined process for land sales, and consequently benefits the nation’s public lands; it also helps to promote consolidation of ownership of public and private lands in a manner that allows for better overall resource management and protection. This federal authority for land transactions is scheduled to expire in July of 2010 unless extended by Congress.

Celebrating the desert

Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the
California Desert Protection Act

by Dianne Feinstein
National Parks

Ten years ago this October, Bill Clinton signed the California Desert Protection Act into law, preserving nearly nine million acres of stunning landscape for generations to come.

With the passage of this legislation, the largest parks and wilderness bill to affect the lower 48 states was enacted, redesignating and expanding Joshua Tree and Death Valley national monuments as national parks and establishing Mojave National Preserve.

Protecting these beautiful lands stands as one of my proudest legislative accomplishments to this day.

The California desert is home to some of the last remaining dinosaur tracks, Native American petroglyphs, abundant spring wildflowers, and threatened species, including the bighorn sheep and the desert tortoise, an animal known to live for as many as 100 years.

Joshua Tree, encompassing parts of both the Mojave and the Colorado deserts, contains magnificent rock formations and forests that blanket the high country throughout the park. The abundant yellow creosote bushes of the eastern side of the park are mirrored by the rugged Joshua trees to the west.

The Death Valley landscape, marked by a diverse range of salt playas, alpine forests, and jagged rocks, is one of the hottest, driest, and lowest places on Earth. At one lookout point in the park, Dante's View, a visitor may look down into Badwater, the lowest place in the western hemisphere, and on a clear day look west to Mount Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states.

Mojave National Preserve, with its granite, limestone, and metamorphic rocks, has a remarkable geologic diversity, as well as the largest Joshua tree forest in the world. Many of the preserve's peaks are pink at the top, the result of a volcanic explosion more than 18 million years ago in Arizona that sent deposits flying through the air and flowing across the land to the Mojave Desert.

These lands are not only home to beautiful scenery, they are also sacred lands to Native American Tribes. Petroglyphs, archaeological sites, and medicinal plants may be found throughout these parks.

The California Desert Protection Act ensured that these lands would be preserved for years to come. In total, the act raised the protection level for nine million acres of parks and wilderness.

Since 2000, the wilderness area has been expanded even farther with the purchase of nearly 600,000 acres of land primarily in and around Mojave National Preserve. The transaction, the largest conservation acquisition of private lands in U.S. history, combined federal Land and Water Conservation Fund appropriations with funding from the Wildlands Conservancy to buy discounted land owned by the Catellus Development Corporation.

This expansion protected 200,000 acres of critical habitat for the endangered desert tortoise, 150,000 acres for bighorn sheep, the largest cactus gardens in the world at Bigelow Cholla Gardens, and rights-of-way for 165 trails and access roads leading to 3.7 million additional acres of land used for hunting, hiking, and camping.

Visitors have taken advantage of these abundant recreation and research opportunities in the California desert. Last year, 2.8 million people traveled to Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks and Mojave National Preserve. In turn, these visitors provided an economic boost of approximately $100 million at nearby hotels, restaurants, and other local businesses.

Now, as we celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the California Desert Protection Act, the preservation of our National Park System has never been more important. Population growth, especially in the western United States, is placing increased pressure on our public lands and the demand for recreation areas. That is why it was so critical that we acted ten years ago and why it is urgent that we continue to preserve our nation's natural treasures today.

Unfortunately, there is much evidence that our national parks are not receiving the funding or attention they deserve. A recent survey of 12 national parks by the Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees found that six parks had either reduced or planned to reduce visitor center hours or days of operation. The survey also found that 'all 12 parks had recently cut fulltime or seasonal staff" positions.

One of the parks surveyed, Death Valley, reduced its law enforcement positions from 23 several years ago to 15 at the time of the study. More than 600 miles of backcountry roads are inadequately secured, leaving natural resources, wildlife, and visitors less safe.

Meanwhile, the backlog of maintenance projects in our parks has grown to a range of $4 billion to $6.8 billion, according to the General Accounting Office. Throughout our park system, roads, bridges, and historic structures are falling into disrepair, trails and campgrounds are poorly maintained, and visitor centers are becoming outdated.

Additionally, a recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency designated eight national parks, four of which are in California, as containing excessively high levels of ozone. It is alarming to know that the air at Joshua Tree, Yosemite, and Sequoia-Kings Canyon national parks is harmful to one's health, especially since the problem of poor air quality in these regions was identified for action under the Clean Air Act in 1977.

Our national parks are America's treasures. They make the natural beauty of our nation accessible to all Americans and, indeed, visitors from around the world. We have a responsibility to preserve these places for the enjoyment of generations to come.

Enacting the California Desert Protection Act was an important step toward that end. Now, we must continue to work to ensure that the parks we have already established, and those we may yet protect, have the resources they need.

Defending the desert

In 1986, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) introduced a bill to strengthen protection for sites in the California desert by placing them under the National Park Service. Subsequently, California elected Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who shared Cranston's vision. In January 1993, Sen. Feinstein introduced the California Desert Protection Act, her first piece of legislation. A year and a half later, the legislation was signed into law by President Clinton. With Feinstein's leadership and the support of a variety of environmental groups including NPCA, Congress passed the landmark legislation, protecting nearly nine million acres of the California desert.

In the past ten years, NPCA has continued to protect these special places from a variety of threats. NPCA has been instrumental in blocking the world's largest landfill for a site outside of Joshua Tree and helped to stave off a development outside the park that would have included thousands of homes. NPCA helped to stop plans to mine an underground aquifer near Mojave National Preserve. NPCA is opposing county road claims in the desert parks and working for cleaner park air and better funding. NPCA recently established a field office in Joshua Tree, California, to build a strong local constituency for Joshua Tree and Death Valley national parks and Mojave National Preserve.

Please join us in celebrating the passage of this extraordinary legislation. We hope you enjoy the senator's reflections on the desert as well as the destination guide and calendar of events.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is in her second full term. She serves on several Senate committees, including Appropriations and Energy and Natural Resources.

COPYRIGHT 2004 National Parks and Conservation Association

PRESERVING AMERICA'S LANDS LEGACY (CA)

Press Release on the Environment (California Exerpt)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release August 21, 1999
PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE:
PRESERVING AMERICA'S LANDS LEGACY

August 21, 1999

Today, in his weekly radio address, President Clinton announced new protections for critical lands and highlighted other recent acquisitions. And he called on Congress to approve his Lands Legacy initiative -- $1 billion in FY2000 to protect natural treasures and local green spaces, and permanent funding of at least $1 billion a year to continue these efforts in the 21st century.

A Conservation Commitment for the 21st Century. In his balanced budget for FY2000, the President proposed a record $1 billion Lands Legacy initiative to protect more natural treasures, and to provide new resources to states and communities to preserve farms, urban parks, coastlands, wetlands, and working forests. Proposed acquisitions would protect 110 natural and historic sites in 40 states and territories.

So far, however, Congress has cut the President's request by nearly two-thirds. In addition, the President is proposing permanent funding of at least $1 billion a year beginning in FY2001 to continue these efforts throughout the coming century. About half the funding would be reserved for states and local communities. Today, the President called on Congress to approve full funding for next year and to join him in creating a permanent fund to preserve America's lands legacy.

PRESERVING AMERICA'S LANDS LEGACY:
NATURAL AND HISTORIC SITES PROTECTED IN 1999
August 21, 1999

In his radio address today, President Clinton announced other natural or historic sites acquired this year by federal agencies:

FY 2000 LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND LAND ACQUISITION REQUESTS

U. S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture

Funding Requested Agency

CALIFORNIA
California Wilderness $1,000,000 USFS
California Desert (Catellus property) $28,900,000 BLM
Mojave National Preserve (Catellus property) $7,100,000 NPS
San Bernardino Ecosystem, San Bernardino NF $2,500,000 USFS
San Diego NWR $3,100,000 FWS
Santa Rosa Mountains NSA $500,000 BLM

AGENCIES
BLM Bureau of Land Management, U. S. Department of the Interior
FWS Fish and Wildlife Service, U. S. Department of the Interior
NPS National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior
USFS U. S. Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture

LEGEND
NF National Forest
NSA National Scenic Area
NWR National Wildlife Refuge

Land deal links desert parks

by Juniper Davis
High Country News

A California-based land trust has arranged to put almost 500,000 acres of mountaintop forests, sand dunes and volcanic cinder cones into public hands.

The $61.5 million deal now awaits a decision by Congress to release $36 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Wildlands Conservancy, based in Yucaipa, Calif., will pay the remainder.

"If we don't buy now, the parcels will ultimately be sold off, and we may end up with as many as 700 landholders," says Shelton Douthit of the conservancy.

The group has already bought threatened lands in and between Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve and preserved them for the public, but this is their largest acquisition yet.

The lands, owned by Catellus Development Corp., are important habitat for the desert tortoise as well as valuable for access to the parks. Catellus has agreed to sell the lands for $126 an acre; the lands will then be split between the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Letter of Intent Signed to Sell Up to 437,000 Acres of California Desert Land to the Federal Government

Press Release

Business Wire

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE) Catellus Development Corp. (NYSE:CDX), The Wildlands Conservancy and the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced today that a non-binding letter of intent has been signed among the three entities to sell and donate to the federal government up to 437,000 acres of California desert land currently owned by Catellus.

The Catellus-owned acreage includes land within the Mojave National Preserve and BLM-administered wilderness areas created by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. It also includes other sensitive ecological and cultural lands, critical habitat for the endangered desert tortoise, and certain off-road vehicle areas. It is the intent of the three parties to finalize a formal agreement during the first quarter of this year.

In this preliminary agreement, Catellus has agreed to sell 437,000 acres to the federal government for a total cash consideration of $54.625 million, of which The Wildlands Conservancy, an Oak Glen, Calif.-based conservation group, will donate $18.625 million in private funds. The parties have agreed to confirm the total cash consideration for the lands with an appraisal to occur later this year. The value in excess of the cash consideration will be donated to The Wildlands Conservancy or the federal government as a charitable contribution from Catellus.

The Wildlands Conservancy is seeking congressional approval for a $36.0 million allocation of federal funds for this effort from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The request for these funds is expected to be submitted to Congress in February of this year as part of the Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Request from the Clinton Administration.

Following appropriation of the necessary federal funds and the raising of the necessary private funds, transfer of the 437,000 acres is anticipated to occur by January, 2000. The Wildlands Conservancy has agreed to place into escrow a $5.0 million deposit towards the purchase of the land.

The Wildlands Conservancy will also donate 26,360 acres previously purchased to BLM and the National Park Service and will donate an additional $2.0 million in cash for acquisition of up to 20,000 acres of private inholdings in Joshua Tree National Park. The total transaction will bring up to 483,360 acres into federal ownership and will consolidate public ownership in Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and numerous BLM wilderness areas.

In addition, it will transfer to public ownership significant critical habitat for the endangered desert tortoise, enhance recreational opportunities in off-highway vehicle areas, and create a wildlife corridor between Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve.

The letter of intent also contains a related agreement between Catellus and BLM that calls for the exchange of up to an additional 65,000 acres of California desert land currently owned by Catellus for land managed by BLM. The specific acreage to be exchanged will be determined based on an appraisal to occur later this year and the exchange will be made on an equal value basis.

Through this transaction, Catellus is seeking to both consolidate its desert holdings, much of which is checker-boarded across the desert, and to exchange certain acres of land with critical resource values to BLM for land that would be suitable for development or other purposes, or that is located near existing development in Barstow, Mojave and Needles.

"We are pleased that we have been able to reach these agreements with The Wildlands Conservancy and BLM," said Nelson C. Rising, president and chief executive officer of Catellus Development Corp. "These transactions benefit our shareholders in allowing us to monetize a portion of our non-strategic holdings that can be reinvested into our core businesses and to exchange another portion of these holdings into locations closer to population centers and transportation corridors."

"Following these transactions, we will have reduced and consolidated our desert portfolio to just over 300,000 acres of land," Rising continued. "In addition, we will be able to make a charitable contribution of critical preserve lands and become part of an historic transaction facilitated by The Wildlands Conservancy that will benefit not only BLM but also the National Park Service and the American public."

"This letter of intent is the culmination of four years of work and determination on the part of our organization," said David Myers, executive director of The Wildlands Conservancy. "This transaction will preserve the biological and aesthetic integrity and recreational access to over 4.0 million acres of public land in Southern California. We are pleased that we could work successfully with Catellus and BLM in the largest conservation acquisition and donation in California history."

"The historic agreement reached today could not only bring half a million acres of private inholdings into public ownership, but also ensure the permanent integrity of much of the wilderness, parks, critical wildlife habitat, and recreation areas of the California Desert. This unprecedented Federal/private partnership will give the California Desert the national attention this region deserves," declared Ed Hastey, BLM's California State Director.

Catellus Development Corp. is one of the nation's premier diversified real estate operating companies with one of the largest portfolios of developable land in the western United States. The company develops, manages and owns a broad range of product types including commercial, residential, office, retail and major mixed-use projects. At Sept. 30, 1998, Catellus' strategic land portfolio had a development potential of over 54.7 million square feet of new commercial space, exclusive of 4.9 million square feet of commercial space under construction and an estimated 21,000 residential units.

The company's income-producing portfolio included 18.9 million square feet of income-producing buildings, 12,250 acres of income-producing land leases, interests in a variety of joint ventures and approximately 782,000 acres of desert and agricultural land. For more information on Catellus Development Corp., please visit its corporate web site at http://www.catellus.com.

The Wildlands Conservancy, a California non-profit corporation formed in 1995, is dedicated to preserving Southern California's outstanding landscapes for public enjoyment. The Conservancy places special emphasis on enriching the lives of urban youth by funding field trips to its preserves in Kern, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties and other natural areas. The Conservancy is redirecting funding for this effort from other important projects and welcomes support to carry on its important mission.