[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 129 (Monday, October 1, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S9947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE VALUE OF PUBLIC LANDS
Mr. CRAIG. If I could for a few moments talk about something that is
near and dear to my heart, that is public lands. My State of Idaho is
63-percent public land. Last Saturday was a time for all Americans to
recognize the value we have in our public lands and a time for all of
us to give a little something back, by volunteering a Saturday to lend
a helping hand to improve our public lands. Last Saturday was National
Public Lands Day.
This year, National Public Lands Day focused on ``Keeping the
Promise'' by asking Americans to come together to improve the nation's
largest resource, our public lands, and to honor the work and sacrifice
of the members of the Civilian Conservation Corps.
They are unsung heroes who built over 800 of America's national and
state parks.
Between 1933 and 1942, 3.5 million Corps members planted almost 4
billion trees, and they built parks, roads, and hiking trails.
They laid the foundation for the public lands system that America
enjoys today.
This year the Corps held their final national reunion on National
Public Lands Day.
The ceremony remembered the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corp
at Virginia's Shenandoah National Park, and the Corps Alumni
symbolically passed the responsibility of caring for public lands to a
new generation of concerned citizens.
This year, this new generation totaled approximately 50,000
volunteers, who took some of their precious time and performed over a
million dollars worth of improvements to our public lands.
I believe National Public Lands Day is an opportunity to build a
sense of ownership by Americans--through personal involvement and
conservation education.
In recognition of National Public Lands Day and this sense of
ownership we should all have for our public lands, I want to spend a
few minutes today and reflect on the value of our public lands and on
what the future holds for them.
There are around 650 million acres of public lands in the United
States. This represents a major portion of our total land mass.
However, most of these lands are concentrated in the West, where as
much as 82 percent of a state can be comprised of Federal land. In
fact, 63 percent of my own home state of Idaho is owned by the Federal
Government.
This can be beneficial, as our public lands have a lot to offer.
For starters, there is a great deal of resources available on our
public lands--from renewable forests to opportunities to raise
livestock to oil and minerals beneath the surface--public lands hold a
great deal of the resources we all depend on and that allow us to enjoy
the abundant lives we live in this country.
Having resources available on public lands affords us the opportunity
for a return on those resources to help fund government services, from
schools to roads to national defense, and ease the burden on taxpayers.
Just as important, though, is the recreation opportunities our public
lands offer.
Every day, people hike and pack into the solitude of wilderness
areas, climb rocks, ski, camp, snowmobile, use off-road vehicles, hunt,
fish, picnic, boat, swim, and the list goes on of the abundance of
recreation on these marvelous lands.
Because the lands are owned by all of us, the opportunity has existed
for everyone to use the land within reasonable limits.
However, times are changing. We are in the midst of a slow and
methodical attack on our access to public lands.
It started with the resources industries. It will not stop there.
At the same time some radical groups are fighting to halt all
resource management on our public lands, they are working to restrict
and, in some cases, eliminate human access to our public lands for
recreation.
Yes, we must manage our public lands responsibly, which includes
restrictions on some activities in some areas.
What we must not do is unreasonably restrict or eliminate certain
activities.
Some people like to hike in backcountry areas where they can find
peace and solitude while others prefer to ride ATVs into the
wilderness.
Some prefer to camp in more developed facilities while others prefer
primitive spots.
The point is that recreational opportunities on our public lands
should be as diverse as the American public's interest.
On the same note, we can use the natural resources we need in an
environmentally responsible manner and still have plenty of
opportunities to recreate.
In fact, recreation resource, and environmental interests can team
together to help each other out. In my own State of Idaho, on the Nez
Perce National Forest, representatives of these interests and many
others have come together though a stewardship project.
These groups are working with the Forest Service to implement a
project that works for everyone and addresses all of their needs in
some fashion.
In order to achieve such success, each group has had to compromise to
agree on a prescription that works for everyone. No one gets their way
all of the time.
This is just one example of differing interests working together to
help each other out and improve the opportunities on our public lands
for everyone and to secure a sound environment.
We need to see more of this around the country.
Public land management has become embroiled in fights, appeals, and
litigation. The result is that the only ones who are winning are those
who want to ensure we don't use our public lands.
This must stop. Differing interests have to come together and realize
that we all have one common goal--use of the land in a responsible and
environmentally sound manner.
We can not continue to make the same mistakes of the past on these
marvelous public lands.
That being said, I would like each of my colleagues to think about
how public lands benefit their State and how they might work to support
the new generation of Americans who are just beginning to find the
wonders of our public lands.
Last Saturday was National Public Lands Day, and many walked upon
those lands and rode water equipment on the lakes of those lands. Some
even cut down a few trees to make a home or to provide saw timber to a
sawmill. Some were herding cattle on the public lands of Idaho, taking
them from the summer range to the fall range and heading them home for
the winter season. Soon many will be hunting on the public lands of the
West--hunting the elusive elk, or the deer, or other forms of wildlife
species that are abundant and managed both in balanced and purposeful
ways.
That is the great story of our Nation's public lands. It is not
simply to lock them up and look at them, to call them, as medieval
Europe once used to call them, ``the King's land.'' The lands of the
public are not the King's lands, and they are not the Government's
lands; they are the people's lands.
These lands must be managed in a way that ensures their environmental
integrity while allowing all Americans to enjoy them in their lifetime
and in their style.
I yield the floor.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the
quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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