Shhh, the Republicans have done a bit of good on the environment

[DaveSZ]

Despite their holding all three branches of the federal government, and despite Dick Cheney's evilness, they still managed to designate many new wilderness areas to the National Wilderness Preservation System under Senator Frank Church's Wilderness Act of 1964 - one of the greatest pieces of environmental legislation ever.



http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=advSearch


(Do a search for years after 1994)

When Gingrich took over they stopped designating wilderness, but they started up again recently.

We should at least be happy for this.

:)

[DaveSZ]

1. Many of the new wilderness areas are in Nevada

Remember wilderness designation offers permanent protection from development, mining, logging, etc.


Black Rock Desert Wilderness, Nevada:

[Donkeyboy75]

2. Must not be any oil there.

;)

[sandraj]

6. lol

[buycitgo]

3. don't EVER trust them

EVER

wanna bet there's some sort of egregiously cynical catch

maybe there isn't, but when is there NOT?


EVER

[DaveSZ]

4. HUGE BLM WILDERNESS VICTORY IN THE BLACK ROCK DESERT

http://www.nora.org/n2.html





The Carson City Nevada Appeal headline on Saturday, December 16 read: "Black Rock Protection Approved". The big story is that the Senator Richard Bryan's (D-NV) 1.2 million acre measure included protection for approximately 800,000 acres in eleven (11) wilderness areas under terms of the 1964 Wilderness Act. Another 400,000 acres became protected zones of the Black Rock Desert/High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. It was an enhanced victory for NORA proposals in the hotly debated "East Arm" of the Black Rock Desert. The Winnemucca BLM District was under heavy Humboldt County pressure to exclude it from even ACEC status (even though the county endorsed ACECs in Nevada Senate Bill 40 in 1986).

An Associated Press spokesman confirmed to NORA today that the North and South Jackson Range and the sprawling Black Rock Desert (Quinn River) WSAs all won wilderness enactment just one hour before Congress adjourned late Friday, December 15th. Apparently, not one of the old BLM Public Land WSAs was "dropped". We could not combine the Calico Range and High Rock Lake WSAs into one wilderness. However, a large area alleged to have copper and gold conflicts was largely included near Gerlach, NV.

The measure got through the House of Representatives in spite of the long-standing opposition of Congressman Jim Gibbons (R-NV) and a host of Nevada rural cities, "cow" counties and the howls of the livestock industry (which called the area's values "science fiction"). NORA was the first Nevada conservation group to foster protection for the area. Our initial BLM wilderness and "natural area" (ACEC) investigations were greatly enhanced in the Autumn of 1959 by explorations made by Reno speliologist and karst expert Alvin R. McLane. NORA's BLM Public Land environmental activities were intensely controversial---causing NORA co- founder Charles S. Watson, Jr. to be ousted from the Sierra Club's Toiyabe Chapter Conservation Committee in October 1962. The reason given at the time: "your (NORA and BLM) program is inappropriate and in conflict with policy".

NORA co-founder McLane was similarly banned the following year because of his "dangerous trips" into remote BLM Great Basin areas. In 1959, McLane's party of volunteers climbed the summit of 8,923' King Lear Peak (South Jackson Range) and explored McGill Canyon, where he found and photographed what we then called "a large trout-like fish" which only recently has been described as "probably" an albino dace and still considered record size for the species. McLane also entered what is now the High Rock Lake Wilderness and discovered its unique Fly Canyon potholes.

These discoveries inspired more NORA incursions into the Black Rock Desert area. McLane led a 1960 NORA party into High Rock Canyon where we recorded the Applegate Trail's carved "Jaquith" and axle- grease "Nilsson" 1852 inscriptions, made by pioneers trekking towards southern Oregon. NORA also explored Mahogany Canyon and in 1961 reached out to Blue Lakes WSA (Pine Forest Range) and the East Arm's Quinn River whitewater arroyo. This wilderness was later shown (1980) to contain a possible 20,000 year old Ice Age mammoth etc. "graveyard". In 1964, the NORA "Big Book" inventory had recorded rare petrified wood deposits and the now heavily vandalized, but, then spectacular red-bricked Hardin City ruins where pioneer trailblazer Peter Lassen was murdered. Incidentally, one of our 1960 Mahogany Canyon (in the High Rock Canyon system) photographs was used by the late Paul A. Tilden in his historic November 1965 National Parks magazine interview with yours truly, that led to the pioneer article, "Preservation And The Public Lands"....which first advocated BLM in-agency environmental programs; such as "primitive areas" (wilderness), "natural areas" (ACECs) and---most important---a BLM Public Land mandate (i.e.,"Organic Act ") which became law in the 1976 Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA).
Published March 21, 2002

[DaveSZ]

5. Still some areas to fill in:

http://www.nora.org/blkmap.html

http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=stateView&state=nv

[bowens43]

7. The harm they have done for outways the good . n/t

[DaveSZ]

8. I agree

(if we're talking about post 1994 Republicans)

Back in the day they used to much better.

The environment shouldn't be a partisan issue, because that's bad news.

[blindpig]

9. yeah, yeah, God bless.....

NOT! This election year maneuver can in no way paper over the immense harm that these bastard have perpetrated upon the planet. Air, water, endangered species, wildlands, climate, they come down on the wrong side 99.9% of the time. They are scum and they must go. Preferably in chains.