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—_ _
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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.