SOS Forests

The New USFS Planning Rule Is a Pack of Lies

The entire Fed Register document, Final Rule and Record of Decision, National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule, dated March 23rd, is [here] if you are interested.

It’s a pile of ecobabble gibberish, a set of rules that the US Forest Service intends to violate immediately — a pack of lies really.

Allow me to deconstruct the document and reveal it’s bogosity and mendacity for you. First, some background:

In March, 2007, five years ago, Northern California U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton enjoined the USDA and the Forest Service from implementing the 2005 Planning Rule [here]. The Planning Rule guides the creation, amending, and revision of National Forest Land and Resource Management Plans (LMRP’s) under the National Forest Management Act (NFMA).

In December 2009, more than two years ago and after a delay of three years, the USFS announced a process to create a new Planning Rule intended to get National Forest planning going again [here]. The USFS requested scoping comments to get them started on the process [here]. In December 2010, the USFS produced a draft rule and again requested public comments [here, here].

Last week the USFS released their finished product in the Federal Register [here].

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Ron Wyden: Nomex Ninny of the Year

Once again it is time to award our Nomex Ninny of the Year, a special honor that goes to politicians without a clue. Previous winners are Washington Goob Christine Gregoire and Montana Snitter Jon Tester [here].

This year’s illustrious Nomex Ninny designee is none other than Oregon Senior Senator, the Honorable Ron Wyden.

Ron’s flare for ignorance regarding forests has been highlighted in these digital pages before [here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and more].

Now Ron has stepped into the fray once more, with predictable stupidity, or worse.

With wildfire season approaching, Wyden demands outside review of Forest Service aerial tanker fleet

By Charles Pope, The Oregonian , March 27, 2012 [here]

WASHINGTON — Angered by what he sees as the Forest Service’s indifference and alarmed by the potential for catastrophic wildfires this year, Sen. Ron Wyden formally asked Tuesday for an outside review of the government’s plan for modernizing its aging fleet of aircraft for fighting fires.

The Oregon Democrat said he decided to ask for the General Accountability Office study after being convinced the Forest Service and Interior Department were not moving fast enough to develop a plan for replacing the fleet. The aerial tankers, which are crucial in fighting big fires, average 50 years old. The government contracts with two private operators for the planes. … [more]

This story is as old as the hills. The tanker fleet problem dates back to at least 2002 [here]. Congress (with Ron firmly seated in his seat) has dropped the ball innumerable times since then.

More importantly, last year the USFS effectively banned the use of aerial fire retardant [here], thanks to lawsuits brought by Wydenites [here].

Now the emergency drops by air tankers on raging forest fires will be water-only and relatively ineffective.

Even more to the point, the USFS now uses aerial incendiary devices in place of retardant to fight fires [here, here, here].

Get it? Fire retardant bad, napalm good.

The new method of fire fighting is to firebomb. With helicopters, not aerial tankers. Tankers aren’t needed anymore, just military attack helicopters carrying IEDs.

All thanks to fearless leaders like Ron Wyden, who would rather firebomb old-growth than put the fires out.

So, for his duplicity, his arsonism, his complicity in and endorsement of firebombing Oregon’s priceless heritage forests, we are proud to name Oregon’s (actually he lives in New York City) Senator Ron Wyden 2012 Nomex Ninny of the Year. It’s the least we could do.

Woodsy Wyden surveys Oregon forest for future firebombing.

Obama Aborts Congress, Constitution, With New Ocean Agency

Herr Barack Obama, the new American Dictator, has promulgated some horrendous stuff, but none so unconstitutional as Executive Order 13547.

Far worse even than the Health Care Mandatory Penalty Act, which makes criminals out of every citizen, Executive Order 13547 circumvents Congress, the Courts, and the U.S. Constitution by dictatorially declaring all land and waters of this country to be chattel owned by the President in fulfillment of UN Agenda 21.

Executive Order 13547 — Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes
[here] enacts new law without consent of Congress, creates a new agency shielded from both Congress and the Federal Courts, appropriates monies, and gives the new agency broad control over every square inch of America.

Executive Order 13547 begins with the phrase:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, …

and proceeds to overstep that authority, to declare new powers to the Presidency, and to violate the Constitution with impunity. Congress did not pass any law directing the President to establish this new agency. He did it on his own, in violation of the Constitution.

Executive Order 13547 creates something called the National Ocean Council [here], which is to develop “coastal and marine spatial plans” that will “ensure the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources”.

Any trickle of water that eventually reaches the ocean, and any puff of air that drifts from land over the sea, is now subject to the whims and diktats of the National Ocean Council.

The National Ocean Council will be co-chaired by unelected political appointees not subject to confirmation by Congress. It will have the power to override existing laws and force the Secretaries of of State, Defense, the Interior, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Commerce, Labor, Transportation, Energy, and Homeland Security, the Attorney General, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (all subject to confirmation by Congress) to bend to the will of the Council.

Executive Order 13547 pledges to conform to “applicable international law, including customary international law,” but is itself in direct violation of U.S. law. Herr Dictator Obama has declared “international law” to be superior to national law, in direct contravention of our Constitution and in obeisance to UN Agenda 21.

Last week the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs held an oversight hearing on “Empty Hooks: The National Ocean Policy is the Latest Threat to Access for Recreational and Commercial Fishermen” [here].

Hello Congress, this issue is far bigger than just fisherman, for gosh sakes. Time to catch a clue!

At any rate, one testimony [here] was especially insightful, that by accomplished environmental attorney George J. Mannina, Jr. [here]. A quote:

Advocates of the National Ocean Policy will assert that the Executive Branch could promulgate regulations under its existing delegated authority to do some or all of these things. That may or may not be the case, but Executive Order 13547 does not take that approach. Instead, it creates, via the National Ocean Policy, a new set of requirements with which existing statutes are to be consistent, and then places these new standards beyond judicial review. This effectively constitutes the enactment of new legislation that violates the separation of powers set forth in the U.S. Constitution.

Moreover, when Congress has delegated legislative authority, it has done so to specific departments and agencies. Executive Order 13547, and its National Ocean Policy, effectively amend each of these statutes by changing the Congressional delegation of authority from an individual department or agency to a collective of at least 23 departments and agencies.

Barack Hussein Obama and his Radical Left minions want you to believe that environmental concerns trump your Constitutional rights. Don’t believe it. It isn’t true. We cannot and will not allow them to abort our Constitution no matter what excuse they offer.

Utah Demands Her Land Back

The Federal Government has been a terrible trustee of lands that rightfully belong to the States.

The situation has deteriorated to the point that the Feds are now mad firebombers, waging a violent war against the western states, dropping bombs on Oregon forests like we were the Taliban. It’s an undeclared war, but it’s a real war nonetheless.

One state, Utah, has had the gumption to stand up and demand her land back.

Herbert signs bill demanding feds relinquish lands in Utah
Legislation seeks state takeover of millions of acres of public lands.

By Robert Gehrke, The Salt Lake Tribune, Mar 23 2012 [here]

Gov. Gary Herbert signed legislation Friday demanding that Congress turn over roughly 30 million acres of federal land within Utah’s borders — a move that proponents acknowledge could lead to a court battle.

“It’s a difficult fight. This is the first step,” said Herbert before signing the measure, “but it’s a fight worth having.”

Supporters of the effort contend the federal government made a promise to Utah and Western states to dispose of hundreds of millions of acres of federal land, just as it had done in states east of the Rockies. …

Rep. Rob Bishop said the federal government is paying $8.6 billion a year to manage federal lands, and isn’t doing a good job of it.

“The state of Utah is willing to stand up and say to the federal government, we’re willing to take responsibility for the state of Utah,” he said. “The West is ready. It needs it. It’s now time to change the way we’ve done things traditionally … because the way we’ve done things traditionally flat-out doesn’t work.” … [more]

HB511 is entitled EMINENT DOMAIN OF FEDERAL LAND, and it “authorizes a political subdivision to exercise eminent domain authority on property possessed by the federal government unless the property was acquired by the federal government with the consent of the Legislature and in accordance with the United States Constitution Article I, Section 8, Clause 17.”

Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 is the so-called “Enclave Clause”:

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of Particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;…

The Enclave Clause limits Federal ownership of land to military bases, navy docks, and Federal buildings, as well as Washington DC. It does not authorize the Federal Government to own half the state of Utah, or of Oregon for that matter.

Article IV, Section 3 Clause 2 of the US Constitution is the so-called “Property Clause”:

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State…

That clause has been interpreted to mean the Feds can own as much as they want of western states, and firebomb those lands with impunity. But western states have argued that the “equal footing doctrine” requires Congress to recognize western states’ sovereignty over public lands, because the Original Thirteen States don’t have Fed land claims and aren’t subject to vicious and stupid firebombing of their forests by Federal functionaries.

For more discussion of the legal technicalities, see the Family Guardian website [here].

A Voice for Local Government in Our National Forests

Note: the following testimony is the personal statement of Marcia Armstrong. Her personal website is [here]. Mrs. Armstrong is a Supervisor of Siskiyou County, CA, and very ably represents her constituency, but the full County Board of Supervisors statement that was submitted to Congress on this matter is somewhat different and may be found [here]. Mrs. Armstrong has also served as Executive Director of the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau and Siskiyou County Cattlemen’s Assoc. Mrs. Armstrong’s testimony may be downloaded in pdf format by clicking [here].- Admin (Mike Dubrasich, Exec. Dir, W.I.S.E.)

Testimony of Marcia H. Armstrong, Supervisor District 5, Siskiyou County, CA

To the House Natural Resources Committee, Sub-committee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
United States House of Representatives
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
March 20, 2012

Re: Additional comments for recent oversight field hearing on “Explosion of Federal Regulations Threatening Jobs and Economic Survival in the West” held in Elko, NV

To Whom It May Concern:

Siskiyou County representatives were unable to attend the recent Subcommittee Field Hearing held in Elko, NV that was focused on the “Explosion of Federal Regulations Threatening Jobs and Economic Survival in the West.” It is our understanding that comments submitted prior to March 22, 2012, will be accepted as part of the Field Hearing record. Thus, please accept this paper as part of that official record.

My following statements will describe:

(1) In detail, how our local economy and public health and safety has declined precipitously since the advent of the Northwest Forest Plan, the listing of various endangered species, and implementation of other environmental and land/water management regulations;

(2) The scope of environmental and land management regulations that affects access to and the continued productive use of local natural resources for the economic benefit, health, safety and enjoyment of local communities;

(3) Certain specific international credos, policies, platforms and programs that have unduly influenced various Administrations, the scientific community, Federal agencies, and influential environmental groups;

(4) How those international agendas have been specifically implemented in Siskiyou County;

(5) An Appendix showing timber harvest trends for the past two decades on several of our local National Forests.

Siskiyou County joins with other western counties in asking for your assistance in: (a) restoring balance to the management of our National Forests; (b) recognizing the direct relationship between active forest management and multiple use and the economic health, cultural vitality and prospects of our local communities and Counties; (c) mandating a real and substantive voice for local government to communicate local needs and provide input on the management of our Federal lands; (d) recognizing the value of retaining our surviving timber infrastructure and the need for a stable supply of material for our wood products industries;(e) stepping up the pace and scale of wildland fuel reduction in the name of public safety (HR 1485 Herger Catastrophic Wildfire Community Protection Act [here]) - providing and supporting new opportunities for biomass utilization; and (f) passing reforms to the Equal Access to Justice Act so that a handful of special interests from outside our area cannot hold the active management of our National Forests hostage for profit.

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