WASHINGTON - March 21 - Behind closed doors and without seeking input from Congress or the public, the Interior Department has been readying a new process for recognizing and allowing construction on thousands of purported highway rights-of-way on federal lands across the West, under a Civil War-era loophole known as R.S. 2477. Before outgoing Interior Secretary Gale Norton leaves her post in two weeks, she intends to finalize the policy. This last-minute road construction policy could cause serious damage to our nation’s finest public lands for years to come, including National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, Monuments, and Wilderness areas.
The policy–which will be issued in the form of a final “secretarial order”–could recognize unfounded highway claims, such as those on cattle paths, streambeds, and little-used or long-abandoned jeep tracks, and turn these routes over to states and counties. It would also make it easier for states or counties to perform widespread, landscape-changing highway maintenance and construction on public lands, with devastating impacts on rivers, streams, and archeological and cultural resources. These actions could be taken with little or no oversight or regulation by federal land managers.
At Wednesday’s teleconference, a panel of speakers will discuss the immediate and potential ramifications of the proposal, including:
· what is the larger context for this proposal?
· how will key Western public lands and private landowners be affected?
· what are the likely next steps for this proposal?
WHAT: Media Teleconference
WHEN: Wednesday, March 22, 2006
1:00 p.m. Eastern, 11:00 a.m. Mountain, 10:00 a.m. Pacific
WHERE: *Call 800-289-0496
Password: “Public lands conference call”
WHO:
Speakers:
· Ms. A.J. Chamberlin, Property Owners for Sensible Roads Policy
· Denny Huffman, former Superintendent of Dinosaur National Monument (Colorado-Utah)
· Jerry Spangler, Utah archaeologist
· Kristen Brengel, The Wilderness Society (moderator)
Other experts will also on the call to answer questions.
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