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--> --> Text of monument letters sent to Interior Secretary Gale Norton From Jackson County Commissioners Jack Walker and Ric Holt, approved Monday.: Dear Secretary Norton: We were very pleased with your request for local public input and the chance to voice our concerns on the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, declared by the Clinton Administration and located in Jackson County. This letter and enclosed documents will attempt to address the issues you outlined in your letter to Sue Kupillas, the Chair of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, dated March 29, 2001. You asked the Board of Commissioners to suggest possible adjustments to the boundaries, and to address issues, including uses inside the monument, vehicle use, access to in-holdings, rights of way, grazing, truly special areas, and water rights. On March 29, 1995, we created the Natural Resources Advisory Committee to assist us in matters such as this. We therefore asked this committee to hold three public meetings and to accept any [and] all public input on the issues you outlined. This letter includes their report and several different recommendations they made about possible boundary changes. Within the committee's report you will see Exhibit A, which contains a summary of all written and oral comments. The committee received a total of 6,026 prior to June 22, 2001; 84.44% of those comments opposed the monument in its existing configuration and only 15.56% supported it. Of the comments received after June 22, 2001, 28 support the current monument and 425 oppose it. This Board believes these numbers represent a mandate by our community, and support our recommendations. On July 11, 2001 at 9:30 a.m. we held a public meeting of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners in the Auditorium of the County Courthouse. Commissioner Jack Walker made a motion to send you a letter supporting the specific recommendations from seven members of our Natural Resource Advisory Committee (B. Drewien, E. Kupillas, G. Addington, E. Stanley, D. Pearl, R. White, K. Cummings); those specific recommendations are enclosed. Further, the motion was to recommend inclusion of only 16,580 acres of federally-owned land, as delineated on the enclosed map and legal description. Commissioner Ric Holt seconded the motion and it passed by majority vote. This letter is the result. Over 50% percent of Jackson County is already under government ownership or control. Much of that land requires BLM or Forest Service permit fees for access, and is further restricted by President Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan and other environmental regulations. The extreme importance of your decision affects all residents of this county. We remind you that over 84 percent of those responding supported changes to the current monument. To us, that degree of opposition is a mandate for the changes we recommend. We believe those changes would accomplish what the American Antiquities Act was truly meant to do, rather than encircling private property or negatively affecting private rights. Again, we would like to thank you and this administration for your willingness to review this monument designation, and to give all our citizens the input they should have had from the very beginning. Sincerely, Ric Holt Jack Walker From Commissioner Sue Kupillas, approved Monday: Dear Secretary Norton: This letter will reflect a minority position on the proposed boundary of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. My goal is to present to you a compromise between a monument boundary that exceeds the ecological needs of preserving valuable assets and a monument boundary that is so restricted it won't be viewed as a compromise meeting preservation of some of the ecological assets. My goal is that we look at balancing the social, economic and environmental values as stated in most forest planning documents, including the Northwest Forest Plan. To this end, my proposal will include far less private land, therefore addressing the private property rights issue and the fear of the private land owners of losing ability to access or manage their land. The alternative I will outline includes the Mariposa Botanical Unit, the Box O Ranch, the Wilderness Study area, the Jenny Creek ACEC and Pilot Rock, among other assets. The federal land that is now in the boundary, that would be excluded under my proposal, will be adequately protected under the Northwest Forest Plan as a Late Successional Reserve area. There is too little information about the Klamath Knot or the connectivity corridors to make a decision in favor of the larger boundary. I believe the following proposal to be the best compromise if we are to continue to preserve the environmental values in the monument, yet find social and economic balance. The following outlines my minority opinion. The boundary I support is equivalent to Alternative B, in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Cascade Siskiyou Ecological Emphasis Area, with minor changes. I would exclude 2,744 acres located in California. That would mean a boundary that would include 26,415 acres. The boundary I propose would exclude 4,809 acres of private land with the boundary clearly delineating the private land exclusions. The Monument would state the access, water rights, management regimes on private property will not be changed or restricted in any way by proximity to the Monument. Signs will be provided to clearly mark boundaries so private land will not be intruded upon by visitors to the Monument. This letter should reflect agreement with the Natural Resource Advisory Committee on issues numbered 3 through 10. I would suggest that on the grazing issue- -the Bureau of Land Management has included ranchers affected by changes in grazing practices in the discussion of how the study will be conducted. I recommend that the BLM be required to set up a grazing advisory committee to advise them on how to work cooperatively with the ranchers as they study the area. I would include the Box O management in the grazing study area and again, require BLM to include the ranching advisory committee in on the study and management of the Box O. A key issue to be considered in management of the Monument is the fire danger present from 40 years of fire suppression and 10 years of neglecting thinning, brushing, and other fire hazard reduction measures. Small diameter material needs to be removed to improve over stalked stands. With the market today, perhaps the small stems could be considered for co-generation, creating energy to help with the energy crises. This is being looked at in other places and needs to be part of the local solution. I chair a small diameter working group which is studying the issue of fire hazard reduction that would be here to help make recommendations on the scope of what needs to be done. The group is working on making this economically feasible. This project includes a proposal to educate the public on the 50 and 100 year future of Southern Oregon forests with no management compared to thinning and brush removal to improve stands and reduce fire hazard. The BLM and Forest Service have been working on the fire hazard reduction issue. I suggest you take advantage of this group that has been working two years on this problem. (See Fire Risk Map series included with this letter.) Under general management, I suggest the BLM set up a local working group, to help refine the management plan. This local group would include stakeholders such as an off-road vehicle user, environmentalist, recreationist, hunter, timber interest, ranching interest, biologist, fire safety expert, and a local elected official preferably on the county level. (Most issues are rural issues and would be understood best by officials who work with rural issues.) I believe that the management plan that has been developed did not have local input. The stakeholders group should determine if they want to use it as a basis for developing a management plan. This suggestion was made by the minority report from the Natural Resource Advisory Committee. I would consider that in the Box 0 land exchange, the O&C land was diminished. The BLM said they would replace it, as required by law, but it was never done. I would continue to work to replace O&C land. Also, on the Box O, the BLM promised in writing, to manage the Box O with multiple uses while restoring Jenny Creek. The purpose then was to use it as a public example of how restoration could happen with multiple uses such as cattle grazing and timbering. The Board of Commissioners agreed not to oppose the land exchange between Box O and Cascade Ranch as long as those commitments were kept. Those commitments were not kept. Restoration is happening, but multiple uses have been withdrawn. I would respectfully request that the BLM follow the management they said they would do. (Enclosed is a letter that confirms the BLM intent.) Alternative B in the Draft EIS outlines multiple use management on the CSEEA which would be more reasonable. I would suggest this could be the draft for the National Monument. Included in my information is the list of written comments received by this office, the final report of the Natural Resource Advisory Committee, minutes of meetings, and the numbers of verbal comments received. The BLM's preferred alternative for this area was Alternative C, that alternative includes over 18,000 acres of private lands and adds another 10,000 acres within the boundary. That alternative was thought to be extreme in the EIS process. Alternative B balanced social, economic and environmental values. In closing, I thank you for providing us with the request for opinions from the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and the incentive to get public input on the monument issue. As you can see, there was great interest, diversity of opinion, and a need to be heard. I thank you for the opportunity to be heard on an issue that is so important to the people of Jackson County. Sincerely, Sue Kupillas Email your... 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