    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [April 15, 2000]
    [Pages 720-722]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Proclamation Establishing the Giant Sequoia
    National Monument in Sequoia National Forest, California
    April 15, 2000

        Thank you very much. Thank you, and good morning. I think we should
    all be very grateful for the beautiful day we have. I know it was
    exciting that it snowed here last night--[laughter]--but I was watching
    Alexander give his fine remarks, and I
    was thinking that growing older has some merit, but one thing it doesn't
    have is the ability to withstand cold better. [Laughter] We took this
    whole walk, and there he is in his short-sleeve shirt, and he never
    flinched, he never shivered, he just walked right on. I want to thank
    Alexander for his remarks and for his
    example and the work that he has done and the other young people he has
    exposed to this magnificent grove.
        I want to thank Secretary Glickman and Art
    Gaffrey. Secretary Glickman did a lot of
    work on this, and he talked about it in advance, and I'll say a few more
    words about it, but I appreciate it. Art told me he's been here almost 5
    years now.
        And I want to thank Marta Brown, who
    is, herself, a remarkably devoted and accomplished public citizen. I
    wish George were here with us today. I think he's smiling down on us,
    and I'm glad you could be a part of this. Thank you, Mike
    Dombeck and Jim Lyons.
    And I'd also like to thank my main environmental adviser, George
    Frampton, who runs our Council on
    Sustainable Development, Environmental Quality, for being here.
        I'd like to thank the representatives of the Tule River Tribe who
    are here, who also cherish these great trees. Thank you for coming.
        About 100 years ago, Theodore Roosevelt dedicated America's first
    national monuments. He said he was doing it because we couldn't improve
    upon our native landscape. In his words, ``The ages have been at work on
    it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is keep it for your
    children and your children's children.''
        Well, as we have already heard today, these giant sequoias clearly
    are the work of the ages. They grow taller than the Statue of Liberty,
    broader than a bus. They are the largest living things on this Earth, so
    perfectly adapted to their environment that one has never been known to
    die of old age. And as has already been said, many we have seen today
    are more than 1,500 years old. They began when America was not even
    imagined and Europe was in the Dark Ages.
        Once these groves flourished all across the American West. Today,
    they exist only here in the Sierras. Our second national park was
    created in 1890 to protect them. Yet half the remaining groves lie
    outside the national park. And although sequoias on Federal lands are
    currently protected from logging, the environment around them must also
    be protected for the great trees to grow and reproduce.
        That is why we're here today. We're looking forward to the first
    Earth Day of the 21st century, and I think the best way to celebrate it
    is to designate the Trail of 100 Giants, more than 30 nearby sequoia
    groves, and the magnificent forest that surrounds them, the Giant
    Sequoia National Monument.
        These lands will continue to be managed by the Forest Service, as it
    once again embraces the conservation ethic that inspired its creation 95
    years ago. More and more Americans are discovering our national forests,
    with places to hike, camp, ride horses, enjoy a few hours of quiet
    contemplation. Years from now, Americans will come here to do all these
    things, and these

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    majestic trees will continue, as John Muir said, to ``preach God's
    forestry fresh from heaven.''
        I know there have been strong and sometimes conflicting views about
    the best way to manage these Federal lands. Secretary Glickman
    recommended that they be protected after careful analysis and
    consultation with the residents of the area, State, tribal, and local
    officials, and Members of Congress. The Forest Service will work with
    the local community closely to develop a long-term plan. We want to
    ensure that all of the interests are respected and that we help to bring
    jobs and opportunity to the area.
        This is not about locking lands up; it is about freeing them up for
    all Americans for all time. We're here because we recognize that these
    trees, though they live to be very old and grow very large, like life
    itself are still fragile. The roots are surprisingly shallow, and the
    greatest threat to the trees' life is any disturbance to the tenuous
    balance between the tree and the ground that anchors it.
        Thirty years ago next week, Americans celebrated the first Earth Day
    because they understood that we, too, have shallow roots on this planet
    and that our future depends upon balance among all living things. The
    story since then is a story of American progress to protect and preserve
    that balance.
        Since 1970, we've cleaned up many of our worst toxic waste sites and
    waterways, cut toxic factory emissions almost in half. The American
    people have made environmental protection part of their daily lives.
    They have demanded that government and industry act to protect our
    national treasures.
        I am profoundly grateful for the opportunities that Vice President
    Gore and I have had over this last 7 years and a few months to act as
    stewards of our environment. We have adopted the strongest air quality
    protections ever, improved the safety of our drinking water and food,
    cleaned up about 3 times as many toxic waste sites as the two previous
    administrations combined, helped to promote a new generation of fuel-
    efficient vehicles and vehicles that run on alternative fuels, launched
    new efforts to fight the sprawl that threatens so many of our quality of
    life. We've helped hundreds of communities to turn dangerous brownfields
    deserted by industry into safe, productive space. And yes, we have tried
    to protect a lot of our Nation's precious treasures.
        It seems to me that these last 7 years should finally have put to
    rest the idea that you can't have a strong economy and a cleaner, safer,
    more balanced environment. And I hope we will never have that debate
    again.
        On this Earth Day I would like to emphasize three things: first,
    obviously, this national monument; second, what more we can do to
    preserve the most beautiful places in this country for all our
    children's futures. We have a lands legacy initiative to protect green
    spaces, from the most remote mountains to the nearest city park. This
    year I've asked Congress to provide $1.4 billion to protect those
    special places, including nearby Dillingwood Grove, the last privately
    held grove of giant sequoias. I hope we get the money for that, too. But
    the thing I want all of you to understand is that if this fund passes,
    most of the money will go to States and communities to help them pursue
    their own conservation priorities, including communities here in
    California. It will empower people all across America to protect those
    things that are most dear to them, close at hand, on a permanent basis.
        I'm happy to report that there's strong bipartisan support for this.
    We had a great meeting last week at the White House with Republican and
    Democratic congressional leaders, and I think we've got a good chance to
    build the lands legacy initiative this year.
        Second, we need to invest in the future of our environment not just
    at home but around the world. Tropical forests--where a lot of us would
    like to be right now--[laughter]--tropical forests are home to more than
    half the known species on Earth. Yet they're being lost at the rate--
    now, think about this; we came here to save these trees--tropical
    forests, the home of many indigenous peoples as well, are being lost at
    the rate of 50 acres a minute. This year I have proposed a greening the
    globe initiative to help developing countries protect their endangered
    forests and better manage their natural heritage.
        And all these efforts to preserve biodiversity are important. But
    the last point I'd like to make is, they won't do much good--if I get
    killed by this falling ice--[laughter]-- they won't do much good unless
    we band together to meet the greatest environmental challenge of the new
    century, climate change and global warming.
        The 1990's were the hottest decade on record. Scientists say that
    the temperature rise is at least partly due to human activity, and that
    if

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    unchecked, climate change will result in more storms and floods, more
    economic disruptions, more permanent flooding of coastal areas, perhaps
    the entire flooding of island nations, and more threats to unique
    habitats such as the one in which we are today.
        So the last point I want to make is, I hope all of you will help us
    to build a national consensus to cut down our emissions of greenhouse
    gases and to work with others around the world to use existing
    technologies to help them do the same. I urge those in Congress who have
    opposed our efforts to drop their opposition, to recognize that we now
    have the technology--and we will soon have much more--to cut emissions
    while continuing to grow the economy.
        For example, we have the technology to reduce by 85 percent the
    amount of energy it takes to run a refrigerator. We will soon have cars
    on the street that routinely get more than 60 miles a gallon and new
    technologies such as fuel cells and biofuels to give us the equivalent
    of hundreds of miles from every gallon of gasoline. Just by changing the
    lights in the White House, I cut the power bills $100,000 a year.
    [Laughter] And we put in a new heating system, a more fuel efficient
    roofing system.
        If the changes we made in the White House were made in every Federal
    building, which I'm trying to get done, we would take the equivalent--we
    would reduce greenhouse gases so much it would be the equivalent of
    taking 1.7 million cars a year off the road. These things are out there
    now. They will generate jobs; they will generate economic activity. And
    it is profoundly important that all of us who think about these things
    continue to talk to our friends and neighbors until we build a vast
    national consensus for concerted action.
        Now, I've asked Congress for over $2 billion for this, to fund
    local, national, and international efforts to reduce greenhouse gases,
    to fund clean technologies, to provide tax incentives for those who
    produce and those who purchase these kinds of products.
        Now, before I sign the proclamation, let me just remind you that for
    over 100 years, beginning with the residents of Visalia, California,
    Americans have sought to save these giant sequoias. Earth Day brought
    groups of Americans together on a crusade to save the treasures of our
    planet.
        Today let's remember, even here on the Trail of 100 Giants, the
    global village presses even closer upon us. We have to look within our
    communities and beyond our borders for allies to deal with our common
    environmental challenges. We're doing our part today to make sure that
    the monarchs will be here after we're long gone, rooted strong in the
    web of nature that sustains us all.
        It has been a great honor for me to be here. I thank all of you who
    have supported these decisions. I thank you, again, Secretary
    Glickman. But I ask you, when you walk out of
    here today, remember that not every person can come to this gorgeous
    giant grove, but every person can benefit from our continued efforts to
    improve our environment and sustain our natural heritage. And we still
    have a very great deal to do.
        Thank you very much.

     Note:  The President spoke at 9:10 a.m. on the Trail of 100 Giants. In
    his remarks, he referred to Eagle Scout Alexander Reed-Krase, who
    introduced the President; Arthur L. Gaffrey, forest supervisor, Sequoia
    National Forest; and Marta Macias Brown, widow of former Representative
    George E. Brown, Jr. The proclamation is listed in Appendix D at the end
    of this volume.