Obama signs Public Lands Management Act protecting 2,000,000 acres of wilderness

[NYC_SKP]

AND, I'm going to be the first to criticize: Why wasn't it FOUR million acres??? :sarcasm:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~snip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon, March 30, 2009, President Obama will sign into law the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009. After much wrangling in the house and senate, and major opposition by the American Motorcyclists Association and other off-road organizations, this bill has finally made it to the president’s desk. It is a compilation of natural wilderness Acts to designate certain land as components of the Natural Wilderness Preservation System and it authorizes the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture to participate in specified programs and activities concerning natural wilderness, rivers, boundary line adjustments, and much more.

This year will mark the 45th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which was signed into law in 1964, by President Lyndon Johnson. The National Wilderness Preservation System and the National Wildlife Refuge section are components of the Copper Mountain roadless areaWilderness Act. The state of Washington already enjoys the preservation of millions of acres of land designated for wilderness and wildlife refuges; including the Olympic National Forest and Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.

Now, President Obama is signing a law that will expand protection to over 160 other wilderness components, including the following:

*Oregon Badlands Wilderness Act to protect 30,000 acres of desert wilderness in Central
Oregon.

*Spring Basin Wilderness Act to protect 8,600 acres of scenic wilderness long the John
Day River in Central Oregon.

*Copper Salmon Wilderness Act of Oregon to protect 13,000 acres of old growth forest
along the head of the Elk River; one of the most prolific salmon fisheries in the west.

*Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Voluntary and Equitable Grazing Conflict
Resolution Act of Oregon to protect 23,000 acres of pristine flowering meadows and old
growth forests and insure voluntary relinquishment of grazing permits.

*Owyhee Public Lands Management Act 2007 of Idaho to protect over a half million
acres of wilderness and 315 miles of streams and rivers in the scenic high desert country
along the Owyhee River.

*National landscape Conservation System Act that has designated 26 million acres of “crown jewels” administered by the Bureau of Land Management from Alaska to the southern tip of Florida.

This bill represents a defeat for recreational and off road supporters, but it is a victory for all Americans who care about preserving undisturbed and natural places for today and for future generations. Wilderness areas that can be accessed and enjoyed for recreation by hiking, horseback riding, canoeing, and floating; leaving a non-intrusive footprint, without the noise, pollution, and habitat destruction that has been attributed to motorized off road activities.

The operative word for wilderness preservation is “undisturbed”.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5266-Seattle-Environmental-Policy-Examiner~y2009m3d29-Omnibus-Public-Lands-Management-Act-of-2009-Huge-benefit-for-the-West
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end snip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:patriot:

[tekisui]

1. knr!~ Thank you President Obama!

[bluestateguy]

2. I do hope that the environmentalists will take five minutes to say Thank You to the president

That's all I ask: a simple thank you from the interest groups.

[Scurrilous]

3. K & R

:thumbsup:

[cwcwmack]

4. nice...

2 million acres....

that's 3125 square miles

or a swath of about 50 miles x 61 miles...

good start.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Considering others were willing to SELL National Parks....

Former congressasshole Richard Pombo, for example, this is significant news, yes.

http://www.change.org/defenders/videos/view/pombo_tries_to_sell_national_parks

:patriot

[NYC_SKP]

15. OK, It's more than 2 Rhode Islands in area, Twice the area of an entire state.

Depending on your point of view, it's a very good thing, or a very, very, good thing.

:hi:

[janx]

22. It's not as huge as some would like, but

what I've read so far, the choices were made wisely.

[smoogatz]

5. OMG!!11!!! He's just like Bush!!11!!

Why isn't ANYONE telling the TRUTH about this man!!!1!1!


:crazy:

[NYC_SKP]

8. Except for the basketball thing....IDENTICAL!!11!!!

Oh, and the intelligence thing.

And the integrity and honesty things...

:P

[jenmito]

7. K&R. I watched him. I was surprised MSNBC covered it. Just one more departure from Bush! n/t

[Cha]

35. That is surprising and I

bet it was seriously coolB-)

[tandot]

9. K & R

[dana_b]

10. very cool

I hope the trend continues. Don't see why it won't.

"major opposition by the American Motorcyclists Association and other off-road organizations"
LOL - yeah because riding around in my gas guzzling ATV is more important than ensuring that animals have a livable habitat.

[firedupdem]

11. K&R! My President continues to Rock! n/t

[flpoljunkie]

12. Terrific news today!

[azmouse]

13. Great news.

[janx]

14. Just posted in LBN...

I remember reading about this before but can't recall particulars. Colorado, Alaska, Virginia...? I want to know more. I demand to know more! :rofl:

He's doing the Teddy Roosevelt! I can't remember the last time conservationists had good news like this!

TWO MILLION additional acres of wilderness areas!

:party: :applause:

Dance and sing!

A very good part of this is that it was bi-partisan, if I remember correctly. Rock and roll!

Thanks for posting, NYC_ SKP! "The operative word for wilderness preservation is 'undisturbed'."

YES, indeed it is! :hi:

[NYC_SKP]

21. "Dance and Sing"!

. . . . :applause: . . . .



. . . . :woohoo: . . . .

[janx]

25. I noticed Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park was mentioned...

That makes me happy. I used to live in Colorado, and last time I visited that park, it looked something like Disney World.

:hi:

[CreekDog]

16. The Owyhee Region is a wonderful area of deserts, canyons and river

in a part of the country most people have not seen (where Idaho, Oregon and Nevada meet):



there's room out there to think!

[truebrit71]

17. Great! Now save the wolves....

...

[ecstatic]

18. But he won't set aside one acre for marijuana! Nader 2012!!!!

:)

[old mark]

19. That's great! Wonder how McCain would have gone on this.....nt

[CBR]

20. GREAT news!!

:toast:

[alcibiades_mystery]

23. BASTARD!!!!

:sarcasm:

[NYC_SKP]

24. LOL!!!

:rofl:

[depakid]

26. Reid actually deserves credit for this

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has battled Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., for months over the lands bill, said he was pleased the Senate was finally able to pass it on a bipartisan basis. Reid called the bill important to his home state, Nevada, and to the nation.

Coburn held up the bill's passage last year and again this year, arguing that it was unnecessary and would block energy development on millions of acres of federal land. The bill moved forward this week after Coburn was allowed to submit six amendments for approval. Five were defeated.

A sixth provision, softening a provision to impose criminal penalties for collecting some fossilized rocks on federal land, was included in the final bill.

Because of a parliamentary maneuver adopted in the Senate, the House is expected to take up the bill under a rule that blocks amendments or other motions to derail it. Republicans used the threat of an amendment to allow loaded guns in national parks to defeat the wilderness bill last week.

http://www.blnz.com/news/2009/03/16/Senate_moves_forward_wilderness_bill_3011.html

[ClarkUSA]

27. That's Reid's job. But without President Obama, it would never have become law.

[depakid]

34. Indications were that Bush would have signed it, too

The trick was getting it past Coburn's bullshit in the Senate.

Obama gets credit for reversal of the egregious oil and gas leases.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/05/MN0K15NDTG.DTL

[ClarkUSA]

41. Really? Link, source? I am highly skeptical at the idea of Bush signing the same bill into law.

[depakid]

42. He signed similar laws- and as I said, indications were that he'd sign this one too

Bush signs Wild Sky wilderness bill in Washington state
May 8, 2008

Nearly six years after it was first introduced, a bill to create a Wild Sky Wilderness northeast of Seattle has become law. President Bush signed a bill today making Wild Sky the first new wilderness area in Washington state in nearly a quarter-century.

The House gave final approval to the bill last month. It designates 167 square miles in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest north of Sultan as federal wilderness, the government's highest level of protection. Wild Sky, sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen, both D-Wash., is the first new federally designated wilderness in Washington since 1984.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004400589_webwildsky08m.html

Now, he might have played games with the guns in National Parks issue....

Nevertheless- give credit where credit is due (and giving credit to Reid for anything would certainly not be my first impulse).

[ClarkUSA]

44. Bush signed one bill protecting 167 sq. miles in the West. There's no way that compares to 2M acres.

In fact, call up Senator Barbara Boxer and ask her aides about your premise. I'm sure they will disagree with you as I
read a recent LAT article which quoted her as indicating that these 2M acres never would have been signed into law
under BushCo. BushCo also fought environmental groups in court over opening up wilderness areas to roads and
logging, so I don't know how you could think that they'd actually agree to close off 2 million acres to all development.
Sen. Boxer is working on another bill that will protect a further 2 million acres now that President Obama is sure to
sign that bill into law, too... and many others like it will no doubt be offered up now that President Obama is
in the Oval Office.

[NYC_SKP]

45. To some, Bush is just very irresistable:

I think it's the Boots!

[ClarkUSA]

46. Now I have to wash out my eyes...

:rofl:

BTW, nice OP.

[janx]

52. That's what a guy from New England looks like after

he has bought his way into Texas via his family, married a Dem Texas debutante, begun running and winning the Texas governorship, crashed and burned an oil company and a baseball team, and won the presidential election.

[depakid]

47. There would have been negotiations over the stupid amendments

And please, lower your hackles- and stop being so defensive. No one is saying that we're not pleased that Obama is there to sign this sort of legislation- just that he had very little to do with it.

And that's a fact.

[ClarkUSA]

51. I doubt Reid would have even bothered, considering there's no way BushCo would've signed it...

... and you can ask the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy and Sen. Barbara Boxer about that.

And please, lower your hackles- and stop being so defensive. No one is saying that we're not pleased that Obama
is there to sign this sort of legislation- just that he had very little to do with it.

And that's a fact.

Excuse me? Who's being defensive here? I was merely debating you on the merit of your rather dubious assertion
that Bush would've signed the same bill, as if what President Obama did was nothing special. Perhaps something
is getting lost in translation, so let me try again:

Of course it's a fact President Obama had little to do with the legislation -- that's not his job description; it's Reid's
job (as I said earlier) to get legislation up to the desk of the President -- but President Obama had everything to do
with it being signed into law. This level of massive wilderness protection is something that environmentalists could
only dream of for the past eight years; just ask some of them involved in the court battles against BushCo. So let's
give credit where credit is due: our Democratic leadership is wasting no time protecting conservation efforts that
were set back drastically during the Bush II years.

And that's a fact.

[depakid]

53. Whatever

I've followed the efforts behind this legislation for years much of the time while Obama was a Senator -and in case you didn't notice it (somewhat surprisingly) has had wide bipartisan support (hence the frustration over Coburn).

[CBR]

28. Cheers to both Reid and the Prez

:toast:

[janx]

29. Thank you for the link to these details!

"The Senate first approved the measure in January, but the House rejected it last week amid a partisan dispute over gun rights. The gun issue was not raised during Senate debate."

My mother always told me that the House looks like a bunch of clowns compared to the Senate. I am now in my 50s and she is departed, and I can with confidence say--she was right!

[depakid]

38. Pelosi tried to get it through on a supermajority that disallowed amendments

and fell several votes short. In this case, it took the Senate to get it done right.

[kenfrequed]

65. Credit where credit is due...

I do like it when Obama does the right thing. It reminds me of why I like him. Of course we should give some credit to congress as well.

[Life Long Dem]

30. Hey guess what?

You could fit New England into Idaho! :woohoo:

[NYC_SKP]

31. Maybe...

If New England bought Idaho a nice dinner first, and after a few cocktails... :P

[janx]

37. Stop that!

:spank:

Just stop it! :rofl:

[NYC_SKP]

39. Hell, you're talking Texas and Alaska!!!

That's just filthy! Imagine the offspring! Oh, the horror!

[janx]

43. It depends on genetics.

Austin with Fairbanks? Dallas with Anchorage? Midland with Willow? The possibilities are endless.

Alaska is beautiful though, and I imagine parts of Texas are as well--though nothing compared to Alaska. ;-)

[NYC_SKP]

62. That's a great point.

Some pairings would make beautiful offspring, we could name them Texlaska or Alaxas! :silly:

[janx]

36. Yeah!

:woohoo:

And you could fit Texas into Alaska! :woohoo:

:woohoo: So what? :woohoo:

[berni_mccoy]

32. Krugman will find a problem with this... don't worry Kruggies.

[Cha]

33. Yes, I'm a freakin' Cheerleader!

Most Excellent, Prez Obama and Team..thank you for preserving our precious land!

[mvd]

40. Very nice!

:thumbsup:

[DevonRex]

48. Excellent. Thank you. nt

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

49. Krugman said it needed to be huge!

But he didn't mention how much...

[Hellataz]

50. Thank you Mr. President, can't here enough of these positive stories. Keep em coming.

[dbackjon]

54. Why did Obama/Congress waste their time with this.

Shouldn't they be concentrating 100% on the economy?

[NYC_SKP]

59. OH, I get it!

ha ha ha. :eyes:

[Reterr]

55. K&R

This is awesome :bounce:! Gobama!

[namahage]

56. K&R.

[Deja Q]

57. K&R!

[lonestarnot]

58. Yay!

:applause:

[CTLawGuy]

60. Obama has sold us out again!!!!!!!

why didn't he do this FASTER111!111????

[FrenchieCat]

63. I know!

That slow mo Freak!

[Kaleko]

61. Beautiful.

[Raineyb]

64. Good.

I was listening to a podcast of Ring of Fire and they mentioned that the head of the EPA has told the Army Corps of Engineers that she would veto any permit they approved for mountain top removal.

Regards

[sofa king]

66. How much of that is golf course water hazards?

Sorry, unlike most of you my hangover from the previous administration has not gone away.

[NYC_SKP]

69. President Bush has left the White House.

"The operative word for wilderness preservation is “undisturbed”.

Of course none of these areas are bogus man made catch reservoirs or manmade water features.

:patriot:

[sofa king]

70. I'm sorry, but could you say that again?

"President Bush has left the White House."

It's still a Rossini overture to my ears.

[NYC_SKP]

71. He's given up the keys, the locks are changed, and he ain't coming back.

I know, sometimes it's hard to believe!

:toast:

[Undercurrent]

67. Very happy about this!

[Overseas]

68. K&R !

I was glad to hear this news the other day.

[Odin2005]

72. WOOT!!! THIS IS WHAT LIBERALISM LOOKS LIKE!!!

Pukes and Neo-Naderites can suck it.