Big Public Lands Bill Passes Senate, But Look Under the Hood

In a VERY rare bipartisan moment, especially for our environment, the Senate passed the largest public lands bill in a decade by 92-8!  There’s a lot to love in the bill, but as usual, there are provisions sneaked in make it toxic (scroll down)...

A Closer Look Under the Hood is Revealing
Turns out, there’s a reason anti-wildlife and anti-public lands Senators voted in favor of this bill.
Non-profit Wilderness Watch calls out unprecedented provisions quietly tucked in that would change how public lands are managed and not for the better.
Provision 1. Wildlife Management in National Parks:  never before has hunting been allowed in National Parks, but that will change if the bill passes as is. It allows the Secretary of Interior to invite “volunteer” hunters to cull herds that s/he believes have grown too large. Former Interior Secretary Zinke has done this on national preserves in Alaska, where state officials salivate at the prospect of a hunting free-for-all against wolves, grizzly bears, and any animal whose diet infringes on hunters. Kill all the wolves and there’s a lot more elk and moose to shoot for fun.
Instead of in-tact ecosystems, we get game farms.
“Hunting groups like Safari Club International and NRA have always chafed at the ban on hunting in National Parks, and the public lands bill is their key to finally opening the lock,” says George Nickas, Executive Director of Wilderness Watch.
Provision 2. Alaska Native Vietnam Era Veterans Land Allotment:  this innocent-sounding idea actually opens hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands to privatization!
Wilderness Watch explains: Back in 1906, there was a land allotment program for Alaska Natives without an end date. In 1971, Congress passed a law giving one last opportunity to make a claim, but since some Alaska Natives were stationed in Vietnam, they extended it to 2000. Since then, the Alaska congressional delegation keeps vying for more extensions, which they get in this bill. So much for “keeping public lands in public hands,” says Nickas. 
Provision 3. The Sportsmen’s Provision pushes through parts of the Share Act (Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act), which Republicans have been trying to get through for years. It makes hunting a priority for public land management!  Again, that means eliminating predators like wolves so that game animals flourish. It bars federal agencies from regulating or even assessing the risks of lead ammunition and fishing tackle, which kills millions of birds and other wildlife each year.  It opens wilderness to road construction and mechanized vehicles and it even blocks the US ban on ivory, crucial to stopping the massacre of elephants and rhinos.
By the way, only 6% of Americans hunt.

Yes, this is a 2-faced bill: it protects endangered species like elephants on the one hand, and endangers them more in the very same bill. That’s not all, of course. Other provisions include putting a major gas pipeline through Denali National Park.
When this bill gets to the House, these terrible provisions must be cleansed. As Wilderness Watch says, there must be scrutiny through hearings and proper oversight.

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