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Monument's future isn't set in stone Interior official visits Soda Mountain, speaks to friends and foes of Cascade-Siskiyou designation By PAUL FATTIG Don't bother to ask Elaine Marquis Brong whether the configuration of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument will be changed by the Bush administration. "It's impossible to say at this point," said the director of the Bureau of Land Management's National Landscape Conservation System office in Washington, D.C. The office oversees the agency's new national monuments and similar sites. "Right now, she (Interior Secretary Gale Norton) is gathering information," she added. "At this point, there is no definitive thought on what will happen from here on out." Brong toured a portion of the monument Thursday and will return today as part of a fact-finding mission for Norton. The 52,947-acre monument was created in June by former President Clinton at the request of then Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Since then, monument supporters and opponents have each collected about 2,500 signatures endorsing their positions. Some private landholders adjacent to the monument embrace it; others oppose it. Oregon's newest national monument, which includes Soda Mountain, is 12 miles southeast of Ashland. Early last month, Norton called for a review of national monuments created during Clinton's last year as president. During Thursday's tour, Brong was accompanied by members of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association. She was also SOTIA's guest speaker during a dinner that evening. The group opposes the current size of the monument. She was to meet with monument supporters this morning, and will take another tour of the monument with local BLM officials later today. Monument opponents have argued that its size is close to 90,000 acres because of private property affected by its presence. "The private lands are not part of the monument or the management of the monument," Brong countered. "They are private lands. We will honor private land rights and all the uses that are applied to that." The BLM intends to work very closely with local landowners to make sure management of the monument is sensitive to adjacent landowners, she said. "Management decisions will be made on public land, not private land," she said. National monuments are set aside because of their special significance, she said. "In this case, it is the biological and ecological qualities that exist there," she said, adding that the BLM will manage for those qualities. "The uniqueness of this area has been recognized both by local folks in the state and the federal agencies for quite some time," she said. "What the BLM has been given is an opportunity to manage it for those qualities." The BLM's Medford District will release its draft plan for managing the monument this month, followed by a 90-day comment period. "It's a perfect opportunity for locals to help frame those decisions for future management," she said. Private landowners' concerns, such as fire management and continuation of historic use, will be addressed in the management plan, she said. "I'm here to listen to local folks," she said. The local monument is one of several new monuments she is looking at around the nation. "Where Secretary Norton is now is gathering a lot of information," she said. "She is trying to formulate her policy. She has not come out with any stand one way or another on any of the issues." 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.