COMMENTARY ON TRUSTEES FOR ALASKA PROPAGANDA (see below)
From: Erich Veyhl (Concord Mass.)
To: Maine List Tue
11/4/2003 5:17 PM
Influential national viro pressure groups, including the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) and the Wilderness Society, issued a press release today announcing they have intervened in the suit against the National Park Service for denying the Pilgrim family access to its private property trapped in a National Park in Alaska. The suit was brought by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a prominent pro-property rights California organization with offices in Alaska and other states, which has argued and won cases before the Supreme Court.
The NPCA and the Wilderness Society have been two of the main national pressure groups seeking to turn most of rural Maine into a Federal park, so it is instructive to see what these influential organizations have in mind for us if they were to get their way -- and how they smear their victims in the media.
Their press release below misrepresents the Pilgrim's as "build[ing] roads across park lands without asking permission" as if they are engaging in random destruction of the sacred. It dismisses the Pilgrim's legal right to access their own home over an existing, historic right of way to what used to be a large scale mining operation as "ignoring protections" "at the expense of some of our nation's most valued parklands." They falsely suggest that rights of way to private property do not include "motorized vehicles" and dismiss the legal basis for the Pilgrim's right of access, long established in Federal law, as "an ancient mining statute". Evidently -- like the Constitution -- such laws upholding the rights of people are ''too old' to be relevant. This is how they would reject your right to access your own property over a sole right of way, too.
The Pilgrims resorted to an emergency air lift after the Park Service repeatedly denied and obstructed their attempts at appealing for access, which became even more critical in the face of the coming winter after their house burned down, but the viro press release describes them as "choosing" the more expensive air transport.
An armed Park Service swat team that threatened to cause another Ruby Ridge is swept under the rug by the viro press release, which instead mysteriously referred to "attempts by the Park Service to defuse the situation".
The usual primitivist, nature-before-people premise explains why the viros want to get rid of the Pilgrims: they would make "nearly 300 stream crossings of McCarthy Creek, a spawning stream for anadromous dolly varden trout, so the Park Service is required by federal law to conduct a full environmental review" and, "An environmental review is required of anyone seeking an access permit across park land".
You wouldn't be allowed into your own home either if they get their way in Maine (or anywhere else the Park Service gets a foothold). Surely you realize that "anadromous dolly varden trout" are more important than "ancient" human rights, thereby necessitating endless "environmental reviews" to delay and obstruct access to your own property until you either die or are forced to give up. If not, according to the viro PR, you are a "property rights extremist" to be smeared and rejected out of hand.
ALRA COMMENT:
Environmental elitists come to aid of National Park Service SWAT team, attack access to national parks by intervening in lawsuit. NPCA and others seek to make park system available to only invited guests of park system tinhorn dictators.
[PRESS RELEASE]
Conservation Groups Intervene to Protect Alaska's National Parks
11/4/03 4:40:00 PM
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=145-11042003
To: National Desk and Environmental Reporter
Contact: Jim Stratton of the National Parks Conservation Association, 907-277-6722, ext. 23; Eleanor Huffines of the Wilderness Society, 907-272-9453; Cliff Eames of the Alaska Center for the Environment, 907-274-3647; Bob Randall of the Trustees for Alaska, 907-276-4244, ext. 115
ANCHORAGE, Alaska., Nov. 4 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Alaska Center for the Environment (ACE), and The Wilderness Society (TWS) today came to the defense of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska, intervening on behalf of the National Park Service in a lawsuit filed by a family who have illegally bulldozed a road through the park. The conservation groups are represented in the case by Trustees for Alaska.
"National parks belong to all Americans. Everyone has to follow the same rules so that these places are available for everyone to enjoy," said Jim Stratton, Alaska Regional Director for NPCA. "We cannot afford to stand idly by while basic protections are ignored at the expense of some of our nation's most valued parklands."
In spring 2002, the Hale family (also known as "The Pilgrims") purchased 410 acres on McCarthy Creek in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Access to the inholding at the time of purchase was by foot, horseback, airplane, or snow machine. But in the summer of 2002, the Hales illegally bulldozed a 14-mile swath through the park to establish a "road" from their house to the town of McCarthy. The Hales never sought the required permits from the Park Service and rebuffed all attempts by the Park Service to defuse the situation. The Hales' cabin burned down in April, but they still failed to apply for permits to cross park lands, choosing instead to bring supplies in by air.
Now, in a request for "emergency access" to the site, submitted in late October 2003, the Hales have applied for permits to make 13 trips with a bulldozer pulling a 16-foot trailer filled with heavy construction materials. The trips would span a two-month period and start "immediately." This request would entail nearly 300 stream crossings of McCarthy Creek, a spawning stream for anadromous dolly varden trout, so the Park Service is required by federal law to conduct a full environmental review. When the National Park Service refused the Hales' demand for immediate approval of the permit, the Hales filed a lawsuit Monday, claiming that ANILCA and an ancient mining statute called RS 2477 let them build roads across park lands without asking permission from the National Park Service. The Hales are being assisted by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a radical property-rights advocacy group based in California.
"It is clear that property-rights extremists are using this case to further their own special interest political agenda," said Eleanor Huffines, Alaska regional director for The Wilderness Society. "The Park Service has a duty to protect national parks for all Americans. Secretary Gale Norton has repeatedly said that bogus road claims like this one won't be allowed in national parks and other protected places. Now is the time for her to live up to that promise and vigorously defend the park."
In response to the illegal bulldozer activity, the Park Service closed the newly established road to motor vehicles on April 8, 2003. Subsequent to that action, on several occasions the Park Service has outlined the required process, the time involved, and what information is needed to begin the necessary environmental review. The Hale family has refused to engage the Park Service in this process. An environmental review is required of anyone seeking an access permit across park land. The need to engage the Park Service in a discussion about the most reasonable and feasible method of access is set forth in regulations established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA) and is necessary to protect park resources from trespass and damage caused by illegal motorized use.
The Hale property is adjacent to an existing airstrip and is easily accessible by air. For more than 200 towns, cities, and villages in Alaska the only means of access is by air, including Juneau, the state capitol.
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