[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 21542]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING NATIONAL PUBLIC LANDS DAY

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, on September 30, will once again observe 
National Public Lands Day. For the 13th straight year, thousands of 
citizens across the country help clean up public parks, rivers, lakes, 
forests, rangelands, and beaches. These volunteers will hit the ground 
running and spruce up trails, build bridges, plant trees, and much 
more. I commend each and everyone of them for their important public 
service. Their work inspires us to step back and consider just what our 
public lands mean to us.
  Almost 100 years ago, the great conservationist President Teddy 
Roosevelt addressed a special session of Congress on the subject of our 
natural resources and spoke words that should be listened to carefully 
by everyone who has an interest in keeping the United States the most 
prosperous and dynamic nation on the face of the Earth. ``These 
resources, which form the common basis of our welfare, can be wisely 
developed, rightly used, and prudently conserved only by the common 
action of all the people . . .'' Listen to those words and notice the 
wise approach of a man considered one of our most radical 
conservationists, a President who put 234 million acres into the public 
trust. This is not a man who lived on the ideological extremes. He did 
not advocate roping off all the land and allowing no admittance. Nor 
would he stand by and let the land be ransacked and misused. Let me 
speak again his words: ``. . . wisely developed, rightly used, and 
prudently conserved . . .'' That approach was correct in 1909, and it 
is the right one now.
  Today's younger generation understands that our natural resources are 
not limitless, that we can not endlessly exploit them. They are more 
environmentally savvy perhaps than their parents. And I believe they 
also grasp the need for smart conservation, for devising collaborative 
policies that ensure public access to public land now and in the 
future.
  Some lands ought to have restrictions on use. I do not dispute that, 
and I do not advocate any careless ``rollback'' of environmental 
regulations. But this is not a time to exact an economic toll on our 
country by ignoring the resources available for use in our public 
lands. It is a time to tap into our ingenuity and devise ways to 
utilize them while responsibly mitigating any environmental impact. 
This is not an insurmountable challenge; Americans have accomplished 
more difficult tasks in our history.
  Lastly, I would like to emphasize the issue of public ownership. 
These lands are owned by the people. We policymakers need to always 
keep that in mind and not just pay this fact lipservice. National 
Public Lands Day is a perfect time to remind ourselves who owns this 
land. We must be flexible with the different types of recreation and 
access to public land that people want.
  Mr. President, in closing, let me add that Americans have always had 
a strong relationship with public lands and have always understood the 
need to preserve them for posterity. Sometimes we hear it said that 
people only care for what they themselves privately owned that what is 
held in common will often fall into disrepair. The work that will be 
accomplished this September 30th disproves that idea. And I am 
optimistic that future generations will be enjoying the same public 
lands we do today.

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