Showing posts with label deficit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deficit. Show all posts

Friday, December 16, 2016

Report card for Pro Monument Campaign Gets all D’s

By Janet Wilcox

The campaign driven by the Conservation Lands Foundation over the past two years to designate the Bears Ears in Utah as a National Monument has promoted Disparity, Discrimination, Deceit, Divisiveness, Disillusionment, Dissembling, and Debt.

Disparity between states:
There is a huge disparity between eastern states who have large amounts of private land and thus the wealth, and most western states who have low median incomes and little private land. There is a correlation between private land and wealth.  Former San Juan Commissioner Bill Redd often stated, “The wealth of a people, or a country is always linked to land.”  75.2% of Utah’s land is public. Only 24.8% is privately owned.  Only two other states in the nation have more public land than Utah – Alaska and Nevada.  Our neighbors in Colorado have twice as much private land - 56.7% and their public land is 43.3%.  

San Juan county has an even more dismal ratio-- 92% of the land is already public and is managed by BLM, Forest Service and five existing parks, monuments, and reservations. This is why this is a poor county.  If the option of “multiple use” is done away because of a National Monument,  many jobs that foster self-reliance and freedom from debt will also be impacted, thus there will be even more disparity. Since Obama took office in 2008, he has set aside more than 550 million acres in two dozen monuments — the most of any president in U.S. history.  Such wanton disregard of local economy has become a legacy of disparity and despair, nothing a President of the "United" States should be promoting.


Federally Fueled Discrimination:  
There exists not only discrimination in the United States between those who have private land and those who don’t, it also exists when citizens live in areas where they are prevented from using initiative and free enterprise to earn a better living.  Wealthy lobbies have poured millions into Obama’s environmental campaign for more monuments, which increases the disparity between the haves and the have nots. Other rural areas fighting this same “Folly Green Giant” have the same disadvantage.  Though San Juan County is rich in land, it is ranked 29th out of 29 Utah counties based on per-capita, annual income.  Another layer of discrimination appears when schools become underfunded or under achieving because of environmentally imposed restrictions on lands which can no longer provide funds for school children.  San Juan County’s tax valuation which determines budget decisions, is based on roughly 20 companies. All but two are tied to the land. Even Verizon, which is a leading cellphone provider, is tied to the land. That is why sections of San Juan county land must continue to be multi-use.
Ironically, some areas in the proposed 1.9 million acres do NOT even meet the definition of “public lands.”  This includes 43 grazing allotments, 661 water-right infrastructures, 151,000 acres of state trust land, 18,000 acres of private property, and hundreds of miles of roads and infrastructure which are granted a RS2477 right-of-way.  These lands are legally private or state owned and must continue to be available for private enterprises and access. 

The Environmental Lobby Discredits State Sovereignty, laws, and freedoms.  Lobbies working for the "Folly Green Giant"  make Utah sound like a thief when congressmen and state officials take a stand to protect and use SITLA lands which are scattered throughout the proposed areaMerri Shumway, SJC school board member explains: Four sections of every township was designated at statehood for the purpose of supporting public schools. The State Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) has the responsibility to manage these lands that are in trust for school children in the state of Utah. The lands that do not have the potential to generate revenue are sold off or traded for land that can produce revenue to support public schools. When land is sold, the money from the sale is deposited into the Permanent School Fund. Interest and dividends from the fund are distributed to each public school in the state of Utah each year. Community councils that consist of school faculty and parents of students attending the school make the decision of how the SITLA money is spent.”  Those pockets of state land need to be utilized for the benefit of local schools.

The Environmental Lobby is Dishonest. 
The tribal coalition organized by the Conservation Lands Foundation, is NOT a grass roots effort as advertised, but is planned, paid for, and orchestrated by behind the scenes wealthy millionaires, such as Hansjorg Wyss.  According to Dave Skinner a Montana writer, Wyss has done more than any other man in the world to bring rural states to their knees by donating millions to environmental campaigns.  The PEW Foundation, Hewlet Packard, and dozens of other foundations get tax benefits for donating to environmental causes.  Their $$$ has created a huge slanted campaign for more land. This Green Machine uses scare tactics and hyperbole as it exaggerates what is happening and what will happen if a monument is not designated. Overused phrases such as, “rampant looting” and “desecration of land” has caused environmental hysteria and misled thousands of people who do not see the true picture. By up-playing negativity without giving actual facts, the nation has been led to believe local people don’t care about the land.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Good citizens have been protecting this area for generations, but there will always be those who are up to no good, just as occurs in cities on the east and west coast.  Establishing a monument will not stop that, and in addition increased visitation will only bring more vandalism while eliminating traditional uses. This has occurred in Grand Staircase Escalante since its designation 20 years ago, and we have no reason to believe it will be different here.


A recent incident in the Bears Ears area of Comb Ridge was caused by Fort Lewis College students who were supposedly supervised and educated. They didn’t just leave footprints, but graffiti.  This paradox plagues every preservation effort. In order to protect special places, advocates must get public support. To do that, they need to let the public know why the place is so special, to let the masses in on their secrets. Such a campaign acts as a travel council publicist with many of the same negative effects.
Whether it is outright deceit, or poorly studied economics, the Folly Green Giant, has also promised Native people that there will be new jobs through tourism and “Industrial-strength recreation” (see recent article in Canyon Zephyr by Jim Stiles.) This dangling carrot strategy would replace ranching, and fossil fuel industries in SJC, yet expect people to drive hundreds of miles to get here while utilizing their smart phones and gear which is at least partially dependent upon fossil fuel products.

Tourist towns like Moab and Jackson Hole, Wyoming are too expensive for middle income families to live in. They are sustained by people who must work 2-3 part time jobs to maintain a household.  People who actually reside there aren’t able to purchase homes on minimum wage salaries.  The median household income in San Juan County is already 4th from the bottom in the state, but interestingly both Grand and Wayne county which are adjacent to National parks and Monuments have an even LOWER median income, yet the façade of tourism makes outsiders think things are booming because of all the toursits. (http://img.ksl.com/slc/2607/260770/26077053.jpg)



Divisiveness:   The CLF strategy of forming a native coalition has ended up dividing tribes and sometimes families.  Environmental CEO's and strategists never made any effort to inform tribal members at large, but instead gathered hand picked consultant/leaders to represent their cause.  It makes one question why they so readily joined this crusade, when they have much to lose?  There must be thousands of tribal members both in and out of Utah who have no idea what Bears Ears is all about. Yet supposedly 5 tribes endorse it.  Commissioner Rebecca Benally warned early on, “Trusting the federal government has historically resulted in broken promises for Native Americans."  As native people in Utah started investigating what was at stake the tables turned and coalition members of the Ute Mt. leadership were voted out of office as a result.

Another D goes to Dissembling or pretending to support one idea, when in fact you support a differing philosophy. Many of us heard Navajo leaders speak passionately against oil drilling at the Sally Jewell hearing in July, yet ironically the Navajo tribe is in the process of trying to buy Resolute Oil, the #1 tax payer in San Juan County.  So obviously, it’s not the issue of owning an oil company or drilling that is the problem, but who gets the benefits from it.  This certainly sends a mixed message from the Navajo nation. San Juan County Navajos have always been at the bottom of the totem pole of the Navajo Tribe.  Why some Utah Navajos would support the Navajo Nation's stance makes no sense, unless they were dangled big "green" carrots.

Finally there is the BIG D words – Debt and Deficit.  The Nation’s $20 Trillion debt has put all of us in debtor’s prison.  We are being held hostage by land collateral. We have given away our birthright. We see the results of national debt when existing National parks and Monuments are put under a two-year deferment. Thirteen of Utah’s parks are hampered because of no maintenance to the tune of $278,094,606.  The maintenance deferment nationwide totals $ 11,493,168,812. The federal government is not taking care of existing needs. This further illustrates government inefficiency; as a nation we cannot continue to spend money on wants. We must focus on needs. Leave San Juan lands managed as they are with an emphasis on cooperation and community/county-wide efforts to protect and live in hoz ro’.  A National Monument is not the answer to peace and protection. By working together, we can eliminate those D’s.  It's obvious we need a non-partisan mediator not a heavy handed dictator.
by Janet Wilcox



Sunday, October 16, 2016

National Trust of Historic Preservation is Untrustworthy

Published Oct. 12, 2016 in the St. George Spectrum
By Janet Wilcox
45 year Blanding resident, retired school teacher and co-founder of Blue Mountain Shadows

On Oct. 5 the National Trust of Historic Preservation issued a press release stating, that “the Bears Ears region has been added to its 2016 list of 11 most endangered historical places.”  To the unwary mind, “historical preservation” seems like something we should all believe in.  But believe me, this is not a national organization you can “trust.”
UTHP was chartered by Congress in 1949, and in 1966 when Congress passed the national Historic Preservation Act, Congress also provided federal funding to support the National Trust’s work, and it was federally funded for 30 years!  Thankfully, today it is privately funded.  But where do those private donors come from?  What countries do they represent? Why have they shifted from preserving historic buildings and sites, to vast landscapes like the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears?  The antiquities act of 1906 was designed to protect specific features under immediate threat, not to be used as a landscape management tool.  The current administration has overused this executive ax, as it hacks away at state lands throughout the nation.

In 2013 the National Trust of Historical Preservation had an annual expense budget of $52 Million and paid out approximately $3.8 million in grant support; another $23 Million went to payroll for 497 employees, 36 of which were paid over $100,000.  That sounds like a lot of money and people to micro-manage your state and mine.

One of their 2013 smaller grants for $7,500 went to Utah based Friends of Cedar Mesa to develop two films showing why the greater Cedar Mesa “is deserving of protection.” Basically they fund organizations who will promote their pre-planned preservation agenda. If Cedar Mesa were still their focus, it would likely qualify as a site worth protecting because of thousands of Anasazi sites, but that is no longer the focus.  Acting on environmental whims and avarice, the proposed monument of 2013 suddenly expanded in Dec. 2014 onto a very important mountain range in San Juan County, including The Blue Mountains, Elk Ridge, and Bears Ears. This location is a dearly beloved and valuable resource to all of San Juan County. From this mountain has come much of their wealth, recreation, solitude, and resources.

The article did get one fact right, “low federal agency staffing” has made protection of some of the proposed Bears Ears 1.9 acres a problem.  And why is that?  It’s because our nation is now dealing with a $20 Trillion debt.  Currently US National Parks and Monuments are under a 2 year deferred maintenance totaling nearly $11.5 Billion. Utah alone is behind $278,094,606 in park maintenance.  There is no money to support EXISTING parks, much less new ones.  If our nation has to be bailed out again in 2016, what foreign countries are paying the bills, and how much US land collateral are they accumulating?  The power of a nation is in its land and citizens who care about it.  Don’t give more Utah land away. There are at least 13 such parks, monuments, wilderness areas in our state.
San Juan County is already home to six of those federal designations/ destinations:  Natural Bridges Nat’l Monument, Hovenweep Nat’l Monument,, Canyonlands National Park, Dark Canyon Wilderness area, Grand Gulch Wilderness area, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.   We have learned from others’ mistakes, that tourist destinations have a heavy negative impact on public lands. We want to keep these lands pristine, as Secretary Jewell so aptly described them when she visited in July. The environmental scare tactics would tell you otherwise, but they are not based in reality.  Come visit our public lands and see for yourself.

San Juan County residents, Ute, Navajo, Hispanic, and Anglos are against converting another 1.9 M. of public county acres, into another poorly cared for National Monument. Private property rights exist in the proposed Bears Ears monument area, that do not meet the definition of “public lands”, including 43 grazing allotments, 661 water-right infrastructures, 151,000 acres of state trust land, 18,000 acres of private property, and hundreds of miles of roads and infrastructure which are granted a RS2477 right-of-way. 

Sign our petition, join our protest, and let sovereign state’s rights speak louder than rich lobby coalitions.
www.savebearsears.com