Sequoia National Monument Management Plan
Scoping Alert
PLEASE ATTEND A SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT PLAN HEARING!
IF YOU CAN'T
ATTEND, WRITE COMMENTS!
JULY 24, 2001 DEADLINE FOR WRITTEN COMMENTS
The development of a management plan for the Giant Sequoia National Monument
has begun....
Please participate to be sure our vision for permanent Giant Sequoia
protection is not eroded or lost through the wrong kind of management!
SCOPING PROCESS BEGINS...PLEASE ATTEND!!!
The Forest Service has begun the scoping process for the Giant Sequoia
National Monument Management Plan. This is the first step in the process,
where public comments are solicited on what the plan should cover and
address.
Your participation by attending one of the meetings below and speaking out,
or writing a letter, is critical to this process! The scoping document the
Forest Service has distributed already assumes certain management directions
for the MonumentŠwithout any review by the public or the Scientific Advisory
Committee! Also, as you no doubt know, our opponents are clamoring to
reduce the size of the Monument, and increase inappropriate uses such as
off-road vehicles and logging in the name of "fire risk reduction".
To get a copy of the scoping document, see the website,
www.r5.fs.fed.us/giant_sequoia, or call (559) 784-1500.
KEY POINTS TO MAKE IN YOUR COMMENTS:
* The time period to review and comment on the scoping document is too
short. Ask for a 90-day extension period.
* Ask that the scoping document be redone, appending a full copy of the
Presidential Proclamation that created the monument, as that is the key
guide to the purpose and management of the Monument.
* Tell the Forest Service that no boundary changes should be made to the
Monument. All areas are fully justified by the ecological elements,
including flora and fauna, to be preserved in the Monument.
* Express your concern that the scoping document contains many assumptions
about management direction that should be addressed with many options in the
EIS, not as a "done deal" in scoping. Examples of these include specific
recommendations of where trails should be located, maps of grove boundaries
without a clear definition of a "grove" being determined, suggestions about
different management regimes for specific groves, etc. The scoping document
should look at all issues to be addressed-not indicate specific actions to
be taken!
* The definition for a Giant Sequoia grove should be determined through
collaboration of the interagency Giant Sequoia Committee, with involvement
by the GSNM Scientific Advisory Committee. It should not be determined by
the Forest Service alone.
* Express concern about overlapping management regimes from the Sierra
Forest Plan Amendment (Sierra Framework) and the Giant Sequoia Management
Plan. Management of the Giant Sequoia Monument should always be at least as
protective, and in some areas should be more protective, than the Sierra
Framework guidelines, since its primary purpose is protection in perpetuity
of the unique ecosystems within the Monument boundaries.
* The Scientific Advisory Board should have the opportunity to propose a
full range of management and research options for all aspects of the
management plan. They should not simply react to Forest Service documents
that have not been submitted to scientific or public review such as the
cited draft report, "Defining Ecological Zones of Influence for Giant
Sequoia Groves on the Sequoia National Forest," or to pre-determined mapped
management areas.
* While the management plan is being developed, the Forest Service should
carry out no projects within Monument boundaries that will in any way
foreclose options for management and protection of the Monument, except if
there is a direct danger to life and property.
* The Monument should have its own Supervisor who reports directly to the
Secretary of Agriculture.
* Add any important points about why and how you feel the Giant Sequoia
National Monument should be protected, special areas important to you, etc.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO ENSURE JOHN MUIR'S VISION FOR THE GIANT SEQUOIAS IS
FINALLY REALIZED!!!!!
PLEASE ATTEND ONE OF THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC COMMENT MEETINGS:
ALL MEETINGS WILL BE HELD FROM 3:30 P.M. TO 8: 30 P.M.
Tuesday, July 10, 2001:
Los Angeles River Center and Gardens Doubletree Inn
570 West Avenue Twenty-six 2001 Point West Way
Los Angeles, CA 90065 Sacramento, CA 95815
(323) 221-9939 (916) 929-8855
Thursday, July 12, 2001:
Clovis Veterans Memorial Building Doubletree Inn
453 Hughes Street 3100 Camino Del Rio Ct.
Clovis, CA 93612 Bakersfield, CA
(559) 299-0471 (661) 323-7111
Monday, July 16, 2001:
Porterville Veterans Memorial Building
1900 West Olive Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
(559) 781-7963
IF YOU CAN'T ATTEND A MEETING, SUBMIT WRITTEN COMMENTS BY JULY 24 TO:
Jim Whitfield, GSNM Team Leader
Sequoia National Forest
900 West Grand Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
Barbara Boyle
Sierra Club
Sr. Regional Representative, CA/NV/HI
1414 K St. #300
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 557-1100 x. 105
(916) 557-9669 fax
barbara.boyle@sierraclub.org
California Wilderness Coalition
2655 Portage Bay East, Suite 5
Davis, CA 95616
(530)-758-0380 fax (530)-758-0382
e-mail: info@calwild.org
http://www.calwild.org
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