Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
|
Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400, Battle Ground, WA 98604 (360) 687-3087 - Fax: (360) 687-2973 Email: alra@governance.net Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003 landrightsnet@yahoo.com -- 202-329-3574 HR 355 Would Convert National Forest Lands Into National Park Lands Rim of the Valley Land Grab Could Pass In Dark Of Night Tens of Thousands of Private Landowners Could Lose Their Rights It would convert multiple-use lands into off-limits Wilderness areas. *****Action Items: -----1. Call, fax and e-mail your Congressman in opposition to HR 355. Every Congressman can be reached at (202) 225-3121. Tell the staff person about the maps at www.landrights.org. Virtually no Congressman has seen a map. Urge your Congressman to ask for new hearings on HR 355. Most in Congress have no idea of the massive scope of this bill. -----2. Make copies of the map and share them with your friends. If you live in the LA area, get copies of the map in the hands of Newspapers, radio and TV stations. Get your maps at www.landrights.org. Go down to the bottom of the home page and you'll see a box with Rim of the Valley maps listed. -----3. If you live in the Los Angeles or Ventura County area, call the LA Daily News (818) 713-3000 or and the Los Angeles Times (213) 237-7000 to urge them to print a map of the Rim of the Valley. -----4. Get a copy of the map and send it to your Congressman. It is best to send it by fax or e-mail. It is very slow to mail because of the anthrax inspections but the address for every Congressman is: Name _____________ US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. Over 200,000 landowners are in the path of this project. They have no idea what is coming at them. After three years of this proposal, both newspapers have failed to print a map to alert to people in the pathway of this huge bill that they are in danger. The biggest thing that is said to us on these issues is that people find out they are threatened too late in the process. It is only fair to the people in the Southern California region that the local newspapers print a map so they can get some idea of the huge scope of the Rim of the Valley land grab and how it affects them. -----5. Please call, e-mail or fax American Land Rights (360) 687-3087 if you want to help battle this dangerous bill. If you are a member of any local or statewide group who opposes the Rim of the Valley, let us know. alra@pacifier.com. Send a fax to (360) 687-2973. The Rim of the Valley Senate bill, S 153 passed the Senate several months ago. Now Senators and a number of House Members are looking for a way to push it out of the House. They're going to try to attach it to another bill or in some way try to sneak it through Congress. This giant new land grab is part of the huge plan promoted by the Park Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Wildlands Project for a nationwide series of corridors linking all the parks and forests in the United States. This has the potential for a massive takeover of National Forests and other Federal lands by the Park Service. Don't dismiss this because it is in California. It is a model for what could happen in your area. Why should you care if you don't live near Los Angeles or in California? Because there are a number of groups and many individuals throughout the country who are working to convert our multiple-use National Forest lands into highly restrictive National Park lands where you cannot go. If you let this happen in California, it will come to your area later. HR 355 has been held off so far in the House Resources Committee in Congress. But it did pass the Resources Committee two years ago. The last hearing was three years ago - they should hold more hearings. There's no doubt an attempt will be made to slip the bill by anyway. There were few opponents before because most people saw HR 355 as just a ribbon trail around the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. No one had seen a map. Good maps are available now, which show the massive intent of the bill. Tens of thousands of landowners will be in jeopardy. New maps in a variety of versions are now listed at www.landrights.org. When you get to the home page, scroll down and click on the box that says Maps for the Rim of the Valley. In addition, tens of thousands of landowners will be surrounded by this new park the size of Rhode Island. There is an old saying, "Those that fail to remember history are bound to repeat it. " Nothing good happens when your home or land is surrounded by the National Park Service." The only way for local groups to fight local issues when threatened by Federal proposals is to band together nationwide and support each other. You, by calling today, will help save people who will be there tomorrow to help you when you are threatened. Rim of the Valley is a giant new National Park being slipped in by Congress and is listed just as a supposed addition to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. It is far more than that! HR 355 (Rim of the Valley) would surround the Santa Monica Mountains; the Santa Susanna Mountains; the San Gabriel Mountains; the Verdugo Mountains; the San Rafael Hills; and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San Bernardino NF in Calif. with a huge New Nat. Park area. While the proposed park is 491,518 acres, it surrounds a far greater area. Hundreds of thousands of private acres would be put in a strangle hold that is typical of how the Park Service treats inholders. Anyone familiar with how the Park Service works knows that it is the beginning of ratcheting down the regulatory controls and land acquisition. They want it all eventually. HR 355 and the Rim of the Valley would cost well over $2 billion making it the most expensive park in American history. That is the way Santa Monica Mountains NRA started out. It was only supposed to cost $155 million in 1978. Today it is over $1 billion and continuing skyward. HR 355 is called the Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act and would study expanding the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by adding a corridor of all the mountains surrounding the San Fernando Valley, La Crescenta Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Simi Valley and Conejo Valley. The Rim of the Valley consists of parts of the Santa Monica Mountains. the Santa Susanna Mtns., the San Gabriel Mtns., the Verdugo Mountains, the San Rafael Hills, and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San Bernardino Nat. Forests according to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) Why you and American Land Rights (ALRA) should be on the same team. -----ALRA is your political insurance policy; -----ALRA has a powerful record of accomplishment in Congress; -----Through ALRA, your voice is loudly heard in Washington, DC; -----ALRA is known for its aggressive protection of members' rights; -----You can use the landrights.org website for up-to-date information; -----You have access to our full time office and staff in Washington, DC; -----You have a full time Headquarters in Battle Ground, Washington to help you; -----Hundreds of thousands of allies in ALRA e-mail, fax and mail lists to help you win; -----ALRA offers crisis management services to members and allies; -----Day-to-day consulting on land use and environmental issues is available; and -----Grassroots organizing and coalition building to help you save your property or interest. By aggressively working together to stop the Rim of the Valley, you'll save yourself a lot of money in the long term. By pounding hard on this issue, it raises the awareness of all Members of Congress and they are far less likely to consider other land grab legislation in your area. We're in a race to stop the Rim of the Valley (HR 355). It means several hundred thousand e-mails, faxes and letters to educate our allies across the country about the threat and get them to pressure Congress to stop the Rim of the Valley land grab. If they get this land grab, your area may be next. Don't let the land grabbers win. Do your part to make sure HR 355 does not pass Congress. |
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