Document text
Brong calls monument a 'fine thing' Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who has launched a review of former President Clinton's newest national monuments, hopes that complaints over the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument can be resolved locally, a federal official said Friday. Since the 52,947-acre monument was created last June to protect the unusual mix of ecosystems where the Siskiyou Mountains intersect with the Cascade Range, opponents have called on the Bush Administration to cut back the size so that no private lands are included within the perimeter. After meeting with opponents as well as supporters, Elaine Marquis Brong, director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's National Landscape Conservation System office, said she was impressed by how many people cared deeply about the monument. "I would say the consensus is that designation of the monument is a fine thing for this area," she said, although noting there is disagreement about the size of the monument. If there are any changes in the monument, it should be based on a scientific analysis, not politics, she said. "We will use good information and good data with a lot of good people coming to the table to make things work," she said during a news conference Friday morning. She reiterated her earlier comments that private lands within the perimeter will remain private. Norton hopes that concerns over the monument can be resolved locally through development of the draft management plan expected to be released later this month, Brong said. In March, Norton sent letters to local leaders in nine states and the U.S. Virgin Islands containing 19 national monuments that had been created or expanded by the Clinton administration during its last two years in office. Norton asked for local input on the monuments. The Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association and the Jackson County Board of Commissioners have voiced concerns that the owners of private lands adjacent to the monument will be negatively impacted by its presence. Issues include access to private lands if monument roads are closed, the possibility that wildfires starting on the monument won't be fought aggressively, and the public confusing logging on private lands with logging on public lands, said Dave Hill, SOTIA executive vice president. "It could be resolved locally if people on all sides of the issue were willing to come to a reasonable solution," Hill said. But Dominick DellaSala, of the World Wildlife Fund, expressed concern that Norton's review was opening old wounds and raising issues that were already settled through a public process that began a decade ago. Greensprings resident Dave Willis agreed. "If the Bush-Cheney administration damages the Cascade-Siskiyou monument, it will be because Gordon Smith let it happen," he said, noting that Sen. Smith, R-Ore., has the power to influence Bush. "There is nobody the Bush-Cheney administration listens to in Oregon more than Gordon Smith." Bruce Sargent, a local landowner and Friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, presented Brong with a list of nearly 300 landowners whose property is within one mile of the monument who support it. "The vast majority support it," he said. That includes Nancy Ames Cole, who owns 1,400 acres adjacent to the monument. "We felt she understood our concerns as landowners that the benefits of the monument be recognized," Cole said. "Hundreds of us who live in and around the area are really excited about some of the benefits the monument will bring to us." The draft environmental impact statement on the plan to manage the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is due May 20, and public comments will be accepted until Sept. 1, BLM spokesman Don Ferguson said. The plan will address issues such as the impacts of livestock grazing, logging to improve forest health, and public access. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.