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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1983)
Picking the brains of Secretary of Interior James Watt would not be a pleasant experience One would find this public servant bent on disqualifying thousands of federal lands as possible wilderness. The shrewd but garbled grey matter told him to order the Interior Department to take acreage in 10 western states out of an ongoing study. He did this during the Congressional break — undiplomatically and illegally. Watt gave smallness of area (5,000 or less acres), the nearness to existing designated wilderness and “split es tate" lands (lands in which the mines are owned by one party and the surface land by another), as reasons for exclusion from the Bureau of Land Management’s 15-year study Enough for reasons Lack of sizeable acreage, nearness to other wilderness, and split ownership are not statutory reasons for disqualifying land for wilderness study. In fact, Douglas Baldwin, Interior’s director of public affairs, said the lands will continue to be studied for “other kinds of protec tion.” So why take these lands out of one study only to reassign them to a similar study? With all the problems Watt has had with Congress, why set himself up for a late winter of Congressional hearings? Because under his direct supervision the iand can be used for multiple usage long before 1991. True to his industrial-use outlook on the American forest, Watt pre-empted the public process of study, hear ings and review. The House Interior committee, when they finally form (By Feb. 3), intends to hold a Congressional hearing. They should force Watt to withdraw his order or invoke their own power and legislate to consider these lands wilderness. The Department of Interior was not set up to become an adversary of the Congress. The department was formed to save some of the existing wilderness — at least in the West — after the official "closing” of the frontier in 1890. The department was going to work with timber interests, miners and conservationists to stop the wholesale exploitation of land opinion Reconsider Watt If Watt cannot fulfill his job as a disinterested third party, he should reconsider his position. It would be time and land saving if his boss would reconsider his appointment Clean up bike path Members of the Cycling Alternatives Network — the core of the hardcore Eugene bicyclists — are coordinating a Saturday clean-up of the bike paths that feed into the University And they’re looking for volunteers Since University students are the primary users of the paths, it would behoove them to take some of the respon sibility for keeping them in shape Currently, fallen leaves and twigs pose a slippery hazard to cyclists who like to lean into corners The city parks department used to take care of the paths, but funds ran out last year and they have had to rely on volunteers To pitch in ride over to Lamb Cottage, located near the playground at Alton Baker Park, by 9:30 a m. Volunteers from the Eugene public works department will distribute equip ment and supervise the effort. Last month, nine people managed to clean the path from Autzen bridge to the Springfield outlet. Just think what 50 could do r—_ _ Oregon daily emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. at the University ot Oregon Eugene OR. 97403 The Emerald operates independently ot the University with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press News and Editorial SM-SS11 Display Advertising and Business **63712 Classified Advertising 8M-4343 Production 6SS4JI1 Circulation «N-SS11 Editor Managing Editor News Editor Assistant News Editor Editorial Page Editor Photo Editor Sports Editor Associate Sports Editor Entertainment Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Higher Education Departments and Schools Student Government Features Politics General Staff Advertising Manager Classified Advertising Production Manager Controller Harry ESteve John Healy Marian Green Cort Fernaid Joan Nyland Bob Baker Mike Ripltnger Paul Danger Jonathan Siegi© Cort Femald Sandy Johnstone Frank Shaw Richard Burr Sean Meyers Michele Mstassa Darlene Gore Sally oifar Victoria Koch Joan Own bey m f letters Not Watt It is important that concerned citizens respond now to the recent action by Interior head, James Watt, to revoke the “wilderness study" status of hundreds of thousands of acres of wild lands in the United States Before the interim ses sion of Congress, Watt promised our representatives that he would take no such ac tion without further study and congressional approval. Three days after Congress convened, the wilderness lands were revoked As Americans, we should feel a deep frustration from such blatant violations of the public trust. The issue transcends en vironmental concerns, indeed, Watt's action ignores the fun damental tenets of the checks, balances system and our basic freedoms as individuals Watt's action was taken with out the recommendation of any subcommittee hearings or peti tion to the American people His assurance of an open forum was slammed to the ground when he took this independent action The official label of "wilder ness” reserves the right to act in the future, if need be, for the development of resources Such designation does not “lock away" land forever Hence, I am confused as to the reason that Watt revoked this status There is no shortage of timber; the recent closure of most Oregon mills speaks to that There also does not appear to be any shortage of strategic minerals, or at least Watt never mentioned this issue as a rea son for his action. Why, then, has he violated our trust in this way? Is he respond ing to the pressures of unnamed interest groups? If so, who are these groups and what is their justification for this drastic action? I urge concerned citizens to let the people on Capitol Hill know that we are alarmed. Our congressmen need to know our opinions now Many of our leaders are considering charg ing Watt with contempt of con gress We need to voice our support for such a move Urgent correspondence should be addressed to: House Office Building, Washington, D C. 20515; Senate Office Building, Washington, D C. 20510 The phone for both houses is: (202) 224-3121 Daniel Henry graduate, rhetoric and communications Convincing After having observed various activities which have taken place this year on campus in response to various U S poli tico-military policies, such as the proposed intermediate nu clear force (INF) modernization program in Europe. I feel com pelled to write this letter I see a distressing tendency on the part of many students to rely only on vague generaliza tions and outright scapegoating when attempting to persuade someone of the virtues of op posing militarism With all due respect, muttering something about warmongers and the nefarious mililtary-industrial complex just isn't convincing In fact, I don t see much difference between that and the actions of those who labeled returning servicemen from Vietnam baby burners, war criminals If one is truly motivated and dedicated to their cause then he or she owes It to themselves to know and articulate all sides of an argument. Including that of your opposition The way to accomplish this Is to inform yourself The information isn't hard to find Two extremely easy ways to get Informed would be to spend some time in the govern ment documents section at the library or to contact Senators Hatfield or Packwood and ask them to send you a copy of this J year's National Debate Topic for High Schools enititled "What Should Be the Level of U S. Commitment for National Defense?” The document number is 97-34. Remember, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. David Isenberg Eugene Americas We are Americans who have made our home in Latin Amer ica for seven years Lately, we are seeing much distorted news about the Americas coming out of the United States and would like to set the record straight for the Emerald readers. When we first moved to Costa Rica — baggage, grandmother, teenagers and pets — we spoke no Spanish and knew little about the country But, soon, our rural neighbors accepted us and graciously, taught us their language, culture, and how a city-bred family could enjoy ranch life in a foreign land Truly, our delightful adven tures there merit a book, at least My husband's love for the sea (Pearl Harbor survivor, retired Navy), prompted a further move two years ago, to Columbia's Caribbean coast We found a lovely, old coconut plantation on the Pan American Highway near Santa Marta, the oldest (457 years), most fascinating city in all of the Americas Imagine, green palms waving In gentle ocean breezes, blue sea and sky, pounding surf and golden sand and towering 19.000 feet snow-capped, majestic Mount Colombus We feel we have incompara ble beauty, fine neighbors, per fect climate, a stable democra tic government and a satisfy ingly-low cost of living Like Colombus. we have dis covered a new frontier, with a vast potential and. being human, are driven to tell others about our dream-come-true Juanita Bird Santa Marta, Colombia Bird promises to answer letters from interested readers. Her address is P O. Box 5222, Sanfa Marta, Colombia.
