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Smith: No more new monuments Wants public involved in decisions By Bill Kettler Sen. Gordon Smith has requested that the Clinton Administration refrain from designating any additional national monuments. Smith, R-Ore., sent a letter Wednesday to George Frampton, acting chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, in response to recent reports suggesting that Clinton may designate several national monuments throughout the western United States, including three locations in Oregon, before the end of his term. "I am concerned that there may currently be significant federal land management changes under consideration by the Clinton Administration that would sidestep Oregonians altogether and therefore not have the benefit of full and fair public involvement," Smith wrote. The letter noted recent reports of proposals for a Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Monument in Southern Oregon, as well as a Diamond Lake National Monument or Medicine Mountain in the Oregon Cascades. Clinton previously dedicated the Soda Mountain area in southern Jackson County as a national monument. Environmental activists who support additional monuments said they were disappointed by Smith�s letter. "We feel (these monuments) would be the capstone to the president�s land protection initiative," said Dominick DellaSala, of the World Wildlife Fund. The international environmental organization opened an office in Ashland in 1998 to encourage efforts to protect the diverse plant communities in Southern Oregon and Northern California. Dave Willis, of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, said protecting the watersheds in the Siskiyou national monument proposal would be the best way to ensure the survival of the wild fish that spawn in those streams. Smith was involved in a successful congressional effort to protect the Steens Mountain area without the use of a presidential monument designation. In his letter, Smith offered the Steens Mountain Wilderness Area as a model to follow in pursuit of environmental conservation and preservation. Smith said any monument designations would fly in the face of the 1993 Northwest Forest Plan, which established a model for environmental protection and continued use of natural resources. "I hope that you share my strong belief that the public has a right to be involved in long-term management decisions regarding federal lands," Smith wrote. "Time and time again, open deliberation over these proposals has proven more productive for both the environment and the nearby communities." Willis said preserving more forest land as national monuments would guarantee that they survive "future vandalism by less environmentally-friendly administrations." DellaSala said a September poll commissioned by World Wildlife and Oregon Natural Resources Council showed strong public support for creating national monuments in Oregon. Fifty-six percent of 500 adults polled said they supported a Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Monument. Twenty percent of respondents opposed the idea; 23 percent were undecided. The polling firm, the Mellman Group, said the poll had a 4.6 percent margin of error. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.