Dear HCN,
I am writing in response
to Jane Braxton Little’s article regarding the Quincy Library Group
legislation (HCN, 3/31/97). Little incorrectly characterizes the
struggle over the legislation as one between grassroots and
national groups. That is not true. A host of grassroots groups,
many of them based in the Sierra Nevada, have signed on to letters
opposing a bill. Notwithstanding that the legislation itself is
poorly crafted, it would, if enacted, set a dangerous precedent
whereby local “consensus-based” groups could get their members of
Congress to introduce legislation mandating management of our
nationally owned public lands.
While local
collaborative efforts are important in helping those with differing
viewpoints better understand each other and work toward resolution
of problems, they should not be used as a foundation for
legislation. The national forests belong to all the public, not
just to those who live in the affected region or who choose to
participate in consensus efforts.
We who live in
the rural Sierra Nevada and elsewhere in the West are subject to an
inordinate amount of pressure to compromise our environmental
principles for the sake of going along with the group. The
environmental forces outside of the Sierra, representing statewide
and national constituencies, play an important role by continually
reminding us of our obligation as local conservationists to those
who don’t live here but feel as passionately about the range’s
wildlands as we do.
Finally, “local control” is
often used by members of the “wise use” movement to attempt to keep
decisions affecting federal lands at the local level. The
conservation community must not play into this. Local control means
local responsibility, and that means, among other things, ensuring
that all Americans have a say in how their public lands are
managed.
Sally Miller
Lee
Vining, California
The writer
is president of Friends of the Inyo, a grassroots group based in
the Eastern Sierra
Nevada.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Locals don’t own public land.
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