PUBLIC LANDS: Panel to review hunting and monument bills, explore recreation opportunities
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Monday, May 6, 2013
A House panel Thursday will consider bills aimed at strengthening opportunities to hunt and fish on public lands and to designate a 55,000-acre national monument in southeastern New Mexico.
The Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation tomorrow will also hear from outfitters and guides about challenges of offering recreational services on federal lands.
Thursday's docket includes a draft bill by Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Mich.) that would promote access for hunters, anglers and target shooters on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands.
A version of Benishek's bill passed the House last Congress as part of a broader sportsmen's package, though that measure was opposed by some conservation groups and many Democrats amid concerns it could impair roadless lands and national parks. It was never taken up in the Senate.
The Benishek bill last Congress was backed strongly by sportsmen's groups including the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, National Rifle Association and Safari Club International, whose members this week will be canvassing congressional offices in support of the new bill.
"For hunters, it is critical that legislation be passed that will ensure future generations of sportsmen and women have every opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors," said SCI President John Whipple, in a statement Friday. "We hope to have this common sense legislation move quickly through both the House and Senate."
Benishek last Congress said the bill would create an "open until closed" policy for hunting and fishing on public lands that would prevent environmental lawsuits seeking to hinder such activities.
Some environmental groups that support hunting remain opposed to the measure.
"The bill opens the door to road building and motorized vehicle use in more than 100 million acres of wilderness," said Paul Spitler, director of wilderness campaigns at the Wilderness Society. "Destroying the habitat that fish and wildlife rely on is not going to benefit hunters and anglers."
Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate in January by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) but has yet to receive a hearing (E&E Daily, Jan. 30).
Another bill on Thursday's docket by Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) would designate a 55,000-acre national monument in southeast New Mexico's Organ Mountains.
"This legislation was developed with close involvement and significant input from local ranchers, business owners, conservationists, sportsmen and other constituents," Pearce said in a statement last month. "All New Mexicans want to protect the Organ Mountains. This proposal achieves our shared conservation objectives and ensures economic health by making sure that this national treasure is protected without threatening local jobs."
While conservation groups would normally rally around such a bill, H.R. 995 is significantly smaller in scope than a proposal last Congress by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and former Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) that would have designated 241,000 acres of wilderness and created a 100,000-acre National Conservation Area in the Organ Mountains area.
Wilderness, which bars road building or motorized access, provides a higher standard of protection than national monuments.
In a statement issued in March by the Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce, Doña Ana County Commissioner Wayne Hancock and Las Cruces Councilor and Mayor Pro-Tem Sharon Thomas said Pearce's bill would fail to protect historical and cultural sites including the Buttefield Stagecoach Trail, Apollo Space Mission training sites and rare American Indian petroglyphs.
"While we are glad to see that Rep. Pearce agrees that we should establish a National Monument in Doña Ana County, we are disappointed that he has once again chosen to ignore the wishes of the Doña Ana County Commission, and the cities of Las Cruces and Mesilla to establish a comprehensive Monument," they said.
The panel Thursday will also consider H.R. 1411, by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), which would add 1,255 acres to the California Coastal National Monument, and H.R. 586, by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), which would allow for microhydro development and a land exchange in Denali National Park.
The panel's hearing tomorrow is titled "Impediments to Public Recreation on Public Lands" and will hear from outfitters and tour guides who depend on public lands.
"This hearing will examine obstacles put in place by the federal government that only put more costs and burdens on small businesses and limit public access to public lands," said Michael Tadeo, a spokesman for the committee.
