Oppose S.1003

 My Republican neighbor, Sierra member and friend of wilderness came to me
asking if I could
>help. He
>would like for us to put out an alert on the Club's listserves. He thinks a
flood of letters and phone calls might stop this from becoming law and opening
up the wilderness areas for other outfitters or whomever.

I will contact my Representative, Nussle and Senator Harkin on this. Jerry
Neff, Chair, Eagle View Group, Pleasant Valley, Iowa 52767

 The following
>account is
>from the September WILDERNESS WATCHER and explains the problem:
>
>In September 2000, Wilderness Watch and Wild River Advocates everywhere
>celebrated when the federal judge presiding over Wilderness Watch v.
>United States
>Forest Service ruled that three permanent resorts along the Wild and Scenic
>Salmon River stood in violation of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and must be
>removed. US Circuit Judge Sidney R. Thomas found that, "..the law is
>clear: the
>construction of permanent resort lodges is not permitted in the Wild River
>Corridor" and is clearly "inconsistent with the Wild and Scenic Rivers
>Act." At
>the time, it seemed like the ideal culmination to an arduous 12 year fight.
>The public considered the cabins removal to be a done deal, with OUTSIDE
>MAGAZINE reporting the case as one of seven "big wins" for Wild Rivers.
>(Aug. 2003)
>Little did we know that the battle to preserve the Wild Salmon was far from
>over, and that we would soon face yet another major obstacle to bringing
>one of
>the nation's premier rivers into compliance with the law.
>This May, Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) introduced Senate bill S. 1003, a piece
>of legislation that would nullify the court's ruling to allow for the
>continuing operation and maintenance of the three resorts, despite their
>violation of
>Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. And the Central Idaho Wilderness Act.  S.1003
>would reverse decades of administrative and congressional protection for the
>Salmon River.
>As if the legislation alone isn't bad enough, Senator Craig refused to allow
>opponents to testify at the committee hearing on the bill. After much effort,
>Wilderness Watch obtained an invitation to testify at the hearing, but not
>until the hearing was only a few days away. Less that 48 hours before the
>hearing
>was to be held we were disinvited, leaving only undersecretary of agriculture
>and former Craig aid Mark Rey to testify. Rey, representing the Forest
>service, spoke in favor of the bill--disgracefully putting the agency once
>again on
>record in support of constructing private lodges on public lands in Wild
>River
>corridors.
>Though Wilderness Watch was not allowed to testify, we did provide a detailed
>statement to the Committee for its consideration. In that statement,
>Wilderness Watch President Bill Worf described his 30 plus years of
>involvement, first
>as a forest Service officer and later as a citizen and Wilderness Watch
>member, in working to remove the illegal resorts. He explained the impact
>S.1003
>would have on the 70 plus years of laws and regulations that have
>protected the
>wild Salmon River country in this way:
>"S. 1003 will reverse many decades of administrative and congressional
>protection for the Salmon River country. It will grant special rights to 3
>outfitters on the Salmon River that are not afforded to any other of the
>thousands of
>outfitters operating on public lands' wildernesses and wild rivers. It will
>reward individuals who have flaunted our nation's laws and who routinely
>violated
>the terms of their special use permits.  S.1003 will condone the abysmal
>record of administration of this area by the Salmon National Forest, while
>serving
>as a slap in the face to those dedicated Forest Service employees who for
>decades administered those rules as they were intended."
>We encourage all members to write, fax, or call their senators and
>representatives to urge them to oppose S. 1003.

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