Saturday, February 13, 2010

Internal DOI Document; Secret Plan To Create 14 Nat'l Monuments? $Billions For Land Acquisition

So you thought the creation of the NLCS was just so BLM could do a better job of managing special lands already under their control. That's how the program was sold. To better manage 27 million acres.

Well we all better think again. The document I'm about to describe provides for the BLM to have 14 new monuments on existing BLM land and acquire at the very least 2.6 million acres to add to the NLCS.

I am in possession of part of a DOI document marked "Internal Draft - NOT FOR RELEASE".

The part I have is pgs. 15-21, and includes Attachments 4,5 & 6. There is no date.

Attachment 4 is titled Prospective Conservation Designation: National Monument Designations under the Antiquities Act.

The Document then states:

Many nationally significant landscapes are worthy of inclusion in the NLCS. The areas listed below may be good candidates for National Monument designation under the Antiquities Act; however further evaluations should be completed prior to any final determination, including an assessment of public and Congressional support.


The document then lists the following 14 areas, with a paragraph description/justification for each:

San Rafael Swell, UT-- 75 by 40 mile giant dome

Montana's Northern Prairie, MT-- No acreage given (2.5 million acre cross boundary unit)

Lesser Prairie Chicken Preserve, NM-- 58,000 acres

Berryessa Snow Mountains, CA-- 500,000 acres

Heart of the Great Basin, NV-- no acreage given

Otero Mesa, NM-- 1.2 million acres

Northwest Sonoran Desert, AZ-- 500,000 acres

Owyhee Desert, OR/NV-- no acreage given

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, CA (expansion)-- no acreage given

Vermillion Basin, CO

Bodie Hills, CA

The Modoc Plateau, CA

Cedar Mesa region, UT

San Juan Islands, WA

Attachment 5 of the document is titled Conservation Designations: Areas worthy of protection that are ineligible for Monument Designation and unlikely to receive legislative protection in the near term.

The three areas listed are:

Bristol Bay Region, AK
Teshekpuk Lake, AK
Red Desert, WY

Attachment 6 is titled Cost Estimates: High Priority Land-Rationalization Efforts.

The following projects are then listed, with a description section and a cost estimate section:

(i) Checkerboard Consolidation, NV OR CA WY UT-- $5 million/year for 10 years

(ii) Alpine Triangle, CO-- Acquire 25,000 acres-- $37.5 million

(iii) Upper Missouri River, MT-- Acquire 80,000 acres-- $24 million

(iv) Pioneer Range, ID-- Acquire 140,000 acres-- $1,000 to $20,000 per acre

(v) John Day River, OR-- No acreage given-- $67 million

(vi) Upper Green River Valley, WY-- Acquire 397,210 acres-- $2.3 billion

(vii) National Historic and Scenic Trails (multiple states)-- No acreage given-- $7 million/year for 10 years


So what is this document? I'm not sure. Clearly the sections I have were prepared by the BLM. Probably they are part of a larger document that was floated up to the Secretary listing potential conservation initiatives. But again, I just don't know, especially since there is no date.

Stay in touch. This should all see the light of day in the near future.

One final thought for now. How do you like that "Land-Rationalization" title? The checkerboard part indicates land exchanges, purchases and sales. But all the rest is pure, unadulterated land acquisition. "Rationalization" my ass.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The document you have is from the year 2005.

Frank DuBois said...

The document I have refers to Congress protecting the Owyhee Canyon Lands "last year". That would be the omnibus bill that passed in 2009. So it would seem this is a 2010 document, which may be an update of a previous list.

Anonymous said...

So, Frank, are you saying you are in possesion of stolen federal property? Obviously, if it is an internal document, it a violation of the law to release it and thus also a violation of the law for you to posess it. You might exptect some agents to be visiting you shortly.

Anonymous said...

I, along with a large coalition of silent-sport recreational enthusiasts, families, environmentalists, wilderness supporters, people against unwanted development and sprawl, wildlife protection activists and many others, are in strong support of designating new national monuments.

Thanks for the great news Frank. You made my day.

Frank DuBois said...

Anonymous 1 - better check your law on gov't documents.
Anonymous 2 - glad the post made you happy. Check out today's link, it should make you happy too.

ponomo said...

Anonymous,

Which plank of the Communist Manifesto is your favorite? Please
list one thru ten---

Darren Weeks said...

The kind of behavior exhibited by that first anonymous poster is so typical. They can't defend their actions when they're exposed to the light of day, so they resort to bullying. Yet, they hide behind the "anonymous" moniker because they are so cowardice they don't have the guts to sign their posts with their real names. Pathetic!