We Can't Afford to Give Away the Great Outdoors

By Pablo Rodriguez

Outdoor recreation and land conservation and preservation generates $1 trillion in economic activity and supports 9.4 million in jobs each year in the United States, according to a study by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Unfortunately, there is an effort underway, led by Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, to undermine four decades of conservation efforts. Under consideration in the House and Senate is the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act, which would open all roadless areas across the country to industrial development.

The roadless act, also known as the "Great Outdoors Giveaway" because it would benefit a few special interests at the expense of our wild land and health, opens access for "responsible multiple uses" in an area roughly the size of Wyoming, the tenth largest state in the country.  "Responsible multiple uses," according to Rep. McCarthy, includes granting access to oil, gas and lumber interests. Keep in mind that drilling, logging and mining are already permitted in 74 percent of our national forests and other public land.

It would also prohibit local communities from protecting their resources, as The Salt Lake City Tribune noted: "No consideration would be given to any particular parcel, regardless of its value for recreation, watershed, wildlife or cultural antiquities. No suggestions from local groups would be considered, such as the discussions going on in San Juan County now over what land qualify for wilderness designation. This bill would simply erase the years spent by hundreds of people to categorize millions of acres according to their particular values."

The fact that recreation, conservation and preservation sustain 9.4 million jobs each year in the United States is particularly relevant for small business owners.  In the Central Valley, where I live, businesses now sustain former Gold Rush towns like Placerville, Sonora, Merced, Mariposa and Oakhurst (to name a few). With the economy still weak and families already struggling to make ends meet, we can't afford to compromise small business owners whose livelihoods depend on outdoor activities like camping, hiking and fishing.  Given our region's economic situation, it's all the more unfortunate that one of our own representatives in Congress is attacking public land.

Rep. McCarthy's Great Outdoors Giveaway bill is a reminder that fossil fuels are a dirty 19^th Century technology and have an ever-shrinking place in our 21^st Century world.  To allow some of our countries most pristine and spectacular landscapes to be exploited under the guise of "responsible multiple uses" and "access" is at best deceitful.  To compromise healthy and undisturbed land that provides and safeguards clean air and water resources is irresponsible.  This land belongs to our children and grandchildren. It's our responsibility to preserve it for them.

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Pablo Rodríguez is a contributing blogger for Voto Latino.

 

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Comments

[Ashley Denton]

11:12 PM on 12/07/2011

Thanks for the article Pablo. I also agree that one of the great treasures of America is our undeveloped wilderness which can be used for recreation. And one of the things that makes wilderness so beneficial is its pristine qualities, i.e. that they are untrammeled by man. I recently blogged on some reasons "Why We Need Wilderness Areas" from a faith-based perspective if anyone is interested in reading it: http://wp.me/p1ui35-Hf

[Ronald Malaney]

06:52 PM on 12/07/2011

"$1 trillion in economic activity and supports 9.4 million in jobs each year in the United States"
"which would open all roadless areas across the country to industrial development".
Seems to me like 1 industrial development trying to keep it from another.

[Linus521]

12:46 PM on 12/07/2011

Why is it, the most conscious, the most intelligent voices of science are never reflected by politicos? Obviously, this Rep McCarthy is unconscious, the wilderness areas so beautifully championed by the author of said article, are not just a pretty landscape. This nation's wilderness and wild landscapes and things, are the Earth's ecosystems, all the reasons man exists and that which makes Earth a life creating and sustaining sphere.

An ecosystem, in the eco-nomy of life itself, is one living organism created by all its plant and animal biological diversity. The Earth's ecosystems are all integrated, and they all have loops and feedbacks to the atmosphere and the climate. They all, altogether, create the life zone of the Earth, her biosphere/ecosphere. Ecosystems release oxygen, balance the gaseous composition of the atmosphere, naturally regulate the climate and are the sequestration of heat trapping gases, and create and renew a life giving soil. Ecosystems provide the nitrogen cycle and the hydrological system and decomposition...

purify the air and water, provide pollination and seed dispersal, the entirety of the Earth's biogeochemistry, 75% of all new medicines, 99% of all pest control and the regulation and checking of disease pathogens in the food chain with man that cause deadly, disease pandemics, like the plague and the influenza virus. Killing ecosystems spawns diseases!

Killing ecosystems kills that much of the Earth's, natural, physical body, and man's life support functions and cycles. McCarthy is clueless to how Earth functions to sustain all life!