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by Becky Steckler
Democrats and Republicans have finally found an environmental issue
they can agree on. Everyone, even Newt Gingrich, has come out in
support of preserving the 20,000 acres of pristine wetlands and
hardwood stands in New York and New Jersey that make up Sterling
Forest.
Club activists in both states have been fighting for the past 10 years
to protect Sterling Forest. Over 2 million New Jersey residents depend
on its watershed for clean drinking water. Many others depend on its
trails, lakes and waterfalls for recreation and peace-of-mind.
The forest is under immediate threat from a plan to build 13,000 homes
and develop 8 million square feet of commercial and industrial space by
the current owner, the Swiss Insurance Group of Zurich.
Environmentalists say the development will be detrimental to New
Jersey's drinking water, necessitate costly water treatment plants for
residential and industrial wastes and result in increased traffic and
air pollution.
Sterling Forest is one of the largest contiguous areas of open space in
the Northeast, and if the development proceeds, "its beauty will be
reduced to little more than dramatic landscape for suburban sprawl,"
said Club activist William O'Hearn.
Sterling advocates like O'Hearn have attended public hearings,
collected petitions, conducted postcard campaigns and written
letters-to-the-editor to raise awareness of the preservation campaign.
They persuaded Passaic County officials to buy 2,076 acres of the
forest in New Jersey in 1988. And in June 1995, they won a substantial
victory when Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) succeeded in passing S. 719,
authorizing $17.5 million for Sterling's purchase.
Reps. Marge Roukema (R-N.J.), Ben Gilman (R-N.Y.) and Maurice Hinchey
(D-N.Y.) are pushing for passage of a companion bill in the House, H.R.
400.
Last fall, Club members in Oklahoma voiced their opposition to a bill
introduced by Reps. William Martini (R-N.J.), Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and
Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) that would have raised money for the purchase
of Sterling by auctioning off public lands in Oklahoma. According to
Melanie Griffin, director of the Sierra Club's lands program, passage
of this bill would have set a dangerous precedent for swapping federal
lands to purchase environmentally sensitive lands.
"This bill promotes the idea that the federal government owns too much
public land and that we should be selling it to the states and private
citizens," said Griffin. "Preservation of our forests, streams and
rivers in one area should not mean removing protection from another."
Lucas withdrew his support from the bill after a massive outcry from
constituents who felt betrayed by his willingness to sell off the
state's public lands.
The Sterling Forest bill is currently being held up in a House
Resources subcommittee, chaired by James Hansen (R-Utah). Hansen has
threatened to hold H.R. 400 unless committee members vote for his sham
"wilderness" bill that marginally protects 1.8 million acres of Utah
wilderness.
If federal funding is approved, New York and New Jersey have pledged
approximately $20 million dollars toward Sterling's purchase. Another
$5 million has been pledged by private interests. The Trust for Public
Land and the Open Space Institute are currently negotiating with the
owners to purchase the property.
"It's too often in these times that we watch the passing of things held
dear," said O'Hearn. "Once gone, Sterling Forest will be lost forever.
There will be no second chance."
To take action: Contact House Speaker Newt Gingrich at (202) 225-2501.
Urge him to break the logjam and bring H.R. 400 to the floor. Emphasize
that the preservation of Sterling Forest must not be linked to
environmental degradation elsewhere or attached to any other
environmentally sensitive proposals.
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