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For Immediate Release
Contact: Don Amador
Phone: 925.625.6287
Date: July 25, 2002
Email: damador@cwo.com
LOCAL USERS WARNED CLINTON ADMINISTRATION
OF SEQUOIA NF FIRE
DANGER IN 2000
OAKLEY, CA -- In the summer of 2000, recreationists and local
access groups warned the Clinton administration of the fire
danger in the Sequoia National Forest. The BlueRibbon
Coalition and others held a rally and filed an RS 2477
rights-of-way assertion at the Trail of 100 Giants trailhead.
This was in the very area that is today threatened by the
fires created by the anti-management agenda of the so-called
environmental movement and their political allies.
The groups gathered to oppose the many road and trail closures
of president Clinton's new Sequoia National Monument. They
also said the lack of active management would create the very
fire that is burning through this important resource today.
At the rally two years ago, Tom Barile, a spokesman for the
SAMs Coalition, said on local TV, "It's their (Clinton
administration) obligation to protect the health and safety of
all the users of the forest as well as the forest. What they
are doing is bordering on criminal negligence."
Don Amador, the western representative for the BlueRibbon
Coalition, stated, "I think all of us at the rally two years
ago were afraid that the non-management policies of the
Clinton/Gore administration would lead to the destruction of
valuable resources and recreation opportunities in the Sequoia
National Forest."
"As fires burn throughout the West, I hope the Bush
administration does something very quickly to address the
excessive fuel-loading in our public forests." Enough lives
and property have been lost. It's time to act." Amador said.
Bill Dart, the Coalition's public lands director, comments,
"Senate majority leader Tom Daschle acknowledged the severity
of the catastrophic wildfire problem, and the inability of the
land managers to deal with the excessive fuel loading issue
due to interference by obstructionist groups and policies put
in place by the Clinton Administration. Daschle recently moved
to exempt all of the National Forest and BLM lands in his home
state of South Dakota from the normal planning processes, even
blocking any potential lawsuits Unfortunately, he is only
willing to extend these protective measures to his own state,
while the rest of the western forests burn."
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