Plans to oust lakeside residents causing waves There also are a lot of people, rooted along the shoreline in 1,300 mobile homes and travel trailers of mixed vintage, people who have rented their lakeside spots through long-term contracts with the federal government. The contracts expire in three or four years. They have to go. Most of the mobile homes are vacation or weekend places. A few resort employees live year round, such as Rose Stubbs, a 30-year resident of Lake Berryessa Marina Resort. "I just don't know what I'm going to do," said the 82-year-old as she wielded pruning shears in the narrow garden outside her beloved double-wide mobile home.... The Bureau of Reclamation has concluded differently. The bureau, which manages contracts with seven resorts along the lake, is searching for a new contractor to provide recreational services such as boat launches, campgrounds and boat rentals that would replace the clusters of mobile homes. Since 2000, the bureau has been exploring options for the lake and gathering public input. It is expected to choose a plan by fall, said Jeff McCracken, a spokesman for the bureau. Though the specifics are still unclear, one thing seems certain: The mobile homes will go, he said....
Craigslist Foundation turns its energy to green networking Since its founding in 1995, Craigslist has gained a devoted following in cities around the world. As filmmaker Michael Ferris Gibson showed in his recent documentary "24 Hours on Craigslist," the online community board brings strangers together for all sorts of transactions and revelations. Now the website's namesake foundation -- whose raison d'être is strengthening community by supporting local nonprofits -- is developing a new environmental network. Craigslist Foundation's Environmental Non-Profit Network is still taking shape, but it will likely include both social and technological components. Its debut in Craigslist's home base, the San Francisco Bay area, has already attracted the interest of hundreds of local organizations. The foundation's executive director, Darian Heyman, says the network could eventually expand to play a national role....
Closings I recently visited Zion and Bryce National Parks in Southern Utah. Forty years ago, there were more roads and access, and they were free. Today, visitors are crowded on a single road, and each visit costs $20. Would the giant rock formations no longer be there, if the state of Utah or a private owner owned the park? Would you (in the case of Zion) have to pay $20 to use a state highway, in an area where alternatives are non-existent? In Virginia, the Manassas Battlefield National Park has prevented the improvement of the two state highways through the Park, for years. Now, the federal government proposes to close the two highways. Commuters and local drivers have been disadvantaged for years, and now their displacement will be complete. Would this battlefield be any better managed by the state government, or even a private contractor who would be powerless to claim surrounding lands, or the access of drivers using public roads? As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service buys new refuges, by promising to keep hunting open, and then close hunting after they get Congressional approval (Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge) they help destroy hunting. As they tell Arkansas duck hunters that duck hunting in Arkansas may have to be "regulated" (i.e. restricted) because of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker "discovery," they assist the radical anti-hunting organizations' steady constriction of hunting....

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