Document text
Feds delay monument plan By PAUL FATTIG The draft management plan for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument has been put on hold. Although it was originally expected to be made available to the public on Monday, followed by a 90-day comment period, release of the plan is being postponed until it can be studied by Interior Department officials in Washington, D.C. The 52,947-acre monument is on the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District with Soda Mountain as its geographic center. Interior Secretary Gale Norton has jurisdiction over the BLM. Medford District manager Ron Wenker and Howard Hunter, among the local BLM specialists and scientists who helped forge the plan, went over the draft document with senior Interior officials in Washington, said BLM spokesman Don Ferguson in Medford. "I don't know how long the plan's release will be delayed - I don't want to speculate on that," Ferguson said, adding that the new administration wants to become familiar with the issues before launching a public discussion. Interior department spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna in Washington concurred. "This is a new administration and the senior people need time to review things," she said. As a result of the delay, public meetings scheduled by the BLM concerning the draft plan have been postponed, Ferguson said. "This is the first (BLM) monument plan completed in the whole country," he said, referring to the 19 monuments created by former President Bill Clinton. "I think it's a good plan," Ferguson added. "We put a lot of time into it." But the delay caused consternation among environmentalists who had fought for the creation of the monument signed into law by Clinton last June. The area has been touted as one of the most biologically diverse places on the continent. "There is no reason for it not to go forward," said Dave Willis, a local activist who has been pushing for the monument's creation for nearly two decades. "There is not going to be any new information," he added. "The Bush-Cheney administration is on a fishing expedition to look under every rock to find reasons to damage Oregon's newest national monument. "This is the first (BLM) national monument plan ready to go because there has been so much study and public input," he added. Dominick DellaSala, of the World Wildlife Fund, was also concerned about the delay. "It raises all kinds of suspicions," DellaSala said. "We are seeing some dangerous signals from the administration." But Jackson County Commissioner Ric Holt disagreed. The commission has come out in opposition to the monument in its current configuration, which includes private parcels within its perimeter. "It's a good thing to delay this," Holt said. "It gives people more time to talk to one another about what's going to happen up there." The commission's Natural Resource Council also plans to hold hearings on the monument next month, he said. Dave Hill, executive vice president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association, also applauded the delay. "We think there ought to be more time to determine the boundary issue - we're pushing for the elimination of most if not all private property within the current boundary," he said. "If that happens, the question of management will be more meaningful and less contentious." The decision to delay release of the draft plan comes almost two months after Norton said her department would review the creation of monuments by the Clinton administration. In a letter to state officials, members of Congress, county commissioners and others living in the vicinity of the national monuments, Norton asked for local comments. The letter charged Clinton with failing to get input from local residents before making monumental decisions. Following a visit to the monument earlier this month, Elaine Marquis Brong, director of the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System office, which oversees new national monuments, said Norton hoped to resolve differences locally through development of the management plan. But Brong also stressed that private lands will not be impacted by the monument's management plan. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.