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'This is the battleground' Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Bruce Babbitt, secretary of the Interior in the Clinton administration, views the Scotch Creek drainage area in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument during a Friday visit to the region. Babbitt denounces Bush delay on monument By PAUL FATTIG ASHLAND - Any success by the Bush Administration in shrinking the size of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument will have a domino effect on other monuments created by the previous administration, says former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. "I think the logic is, 'If we upend one monument with 10 years of process in a state like Oregon, then we will be emboldened to move across the West where there is less of a conservation history,'" he said. "That's the significance of what's going on here," he added. "I don't think it's a coincidence." It was no coincidence that Babbitt was touring the monument late Friday afternoon. The trip was scheduled to mark the first anniversary of the creation of the 52,947-acre monument crowned by Soda Mountain a dozen miles southeast of Ashland. At Babbitt's recommendation, former President Bill Clinton created the monument on June 9, 2000. Located where the Siskiyou Mountains and the Cascade Mountains merge, the monument was cited by scientists for its rich biological diversity. In addition to local monument supporters, Babbitt, 62, who became a board member of the World Wildlife Fund earlier this year shortly after leaving office in January, was joined on Friday's hike by several scientists as well as fellow WWF board members. He was expected to take a short trip late this morning into the Kangaroo roadless area in the Rogue River National Forest near Williams. But he had monumental concerns Friday. "This is where the controversy is," Babbitt said. "This is the battleground. If this one goes, the rest will all come tumbling down." In an interview with the Associated Press, Interior Department spokesman John Wright denied there is any such strategy by the Bush administration. The Cascade-Siskiyou was going through the same review as the rest of the 19 monuments created by Clinton, he said. Monuments supporters grew concerned with the current Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced that her department would review all of the Clinton administration monuments. She also called for more local input. Last month, the department indefinitely postponed releasing the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District draft plan for managing the Cascade-Siskiyou. The delay raised the hopes of monument opponents who want to cut the size of the monument to remove areas that create islands of private land. Babbitt rejects the argument that not enough public input was gathered before the monument was created. The BLM began holding hearings to discuss the area's ecological values in the area in the early 1990s, Babbitt noted. More hearings and comments were taken before the monument was created, he added. "There is no conceivable claim that there was a lack of consideration," he said. Babbitt urged Norton to visit the monument and talk to its supporters and detractors alike. A survey by monument supporter Bruce Sargent, owner of Buckhorn Springs resort, indicates that support is running 3-to-1 in favor of the monument of the 435 landowners who live within a mile of the monument. About 70 percent of the landowners he contacted responded to the survey. The area has been described by Dave Willis of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council as a "Noah's Ark" because of the rich mixture of rare plants and animals. More than 100 species of butterflies live within the monument, each with its own host plant used for food and habitat. Because of the high degree of biological diversity in the area, the WWF has listed the monument area one of the 200 most important ecosystems in the world, said wildlife fund president Kathryn Fuller who accompanied Babbitt on the hike. The area ranks alongside the Galapagos Islands, the Congo Basin and the forests of Indonesia in terms of diversity, she said. "This is one of the two or three most important temperate forested ecoregions in the world," she said. "So many of us in the United States don't realize some of the world's greatest biological treasures are right here at home," she added. "It's critical for people here to understand they are living in and around one of the planet's treasures." Gordon Oriams, professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Washington and a WWF board member, agreed. "It's extraordinary," he said. "It's a stunning landscape whose full ecological importance is amazing." Meanwhile, Babbitt joined Willis in urging Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., to throw his support behind keeping the monument the way it is. Smith has clout with the Bush Administration, Babbitt said. "Gordon Smith has the power and the standing in the President's party and in Congress to singlehandily determine the fate of this landscape," Babbitt said. Smith spokesman Joe Sheffo said the senator supported taking the time to gather more public input. 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.