Local Agencies Fight Off the Monument
By Rita King, Two Rivers Tribune Contributing Writer
Signs with the message “NO MONUMENT” are posted up and down the Klamath River Corridor. The tiny town of Happy Camp is the epicenter to a much larger fight for control of land rights encompassing the entire western U.S.
On the table is a proposed designation, “The Siskiyou Crest National Monument.” Happy Camp’s challenge is the classic David and Goliath storyline. A team of well-funded environmental lawyers challenges a tiny rural community’s existence.
Activist Russ Scohy speaks the local sentiments. “Rural mountain existence is tough. Our livelihood comes from the land: water, food, clothing and shelter. The idea of city people restricting our ability to feed ourselves is wrong. These people are out of touch with reality. They believe everything can be purchased out of the store. This monument proposal will take away our basic rights to exist. Ask anyone living here, NO MONUMENT!”
A Monument designation is created by the stroke of a pen. If President Obama chooses to sign this proposal into law, it’s a done deal. There is no legal recourse once the designation is made. U.S. National Monuments to-date encompass a land area the size of the state of California.
Anthony Intiso, a member of the American Stewarts of Liberty organization, is working with local agencies advising them on the legal fine points of securing land rights. Intiso facilitated the first Local Agency to Federal Agency meeting in Happy Camp on July 28. American Stewarts of Liberty stand on a statue of the Federal Land Management Planning Act ( FLMPA). This particular statue creates a level playing field where local government agencies (defined as any agency with the ability to pass regulatory levy taxes) become equal to the more powerful federal agencies.
Monument designation gets on the docket when special interest groups set a proposal on the Department of Interior Secretary’s desk.
Klamath Siskiyou Wild Lands Center (KS Wild), located in Ashland Ore., is the environmentalist organization proposing to convert large portions of the Klamath National Forest into a National Monument designation.
With so much at stake, the Klamath National Forest residents are relying on the abilities of five people; Kathy Toland, Alan Dyar, Bill Estes, Gary Hahn and George Harper make up The Happy Camp Coordination Agencies Council. These local agencies leaders represent the only barrier to the monument becoming a reality.
Intiso said these coordination meetings between the local and federal agencies are key to local empowerment.
Another interesting point with this legal position FLMPA is the White House cabinet members, including the Secretary of the Interior ,”SHALL” coordinate with local government organizations. Follow-through with this directive has not been the case with the Happy Camp Agencies Coordination Council(HCACC).
“The HCACC has contacted the Secretary of the Interior and received no response. “The only federal agency meeting with the council is the Department of Agriculture, Ken Harris, Happy Camp Oak Knoll Ranger District”, said Estes.
The process is confusing for all concerned. The HCACC is not sure what the next step will be. No one on the council has any experience in dealing with an issue of this magnitude. A closed workshop is slated for Aug. 31, 2010.
The HCACC urges the public to go online and vote against the Siskiyou Crest National Monument. This site satisfies the public input requirement.
For more information visit http://ideas.usda.gov/ago/ideas.nsf/ American Great Ideas. To order copies of the meeting contact Morgan Caulfield (530) 493-2757.
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