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Show - The Forest Service, (line of command) Secretary of Agriculture, Bob Bergland; Undersecretary of Ag. Research and Environment, Rupert Cutler; Chief of the F.S. John McGuire; Regional Director, Ogden, Vern Hamre; Wasatch N. Forest, SLC, Chandler St. John; Ashley N.Forest, Vernal, Robert Rowan. The Forest Service is responsible for management of wildlife habitat and this includes wildlife species associated with riverine drainages. Moose, beaver, shorebirds, songbirds, and all other wildlife utilizing and depending upon streams and their, ecosytems are the responsibility of this Agency:-to protect. their habitat requirements. Over the years, as the CUP has developed and public opposition faltered, the Forest Service has effectively gone along with the CUP - forgetting its mandate obligations to the public of the nation. I don't know whether you call this "collusion" but the clear line of public responsibility has eroded away in accommodating Utah's development via, curf*'. What we must remember! the resources on the National Forests and BLM lands and Wildlife Refuges, etc., belong to the nation's public. They do not belong to the management Agency. Likewise, the stream waters in Utah belong to Utah's public - not to the Governor; not to the Congressional delegations; not to the Water Conservancy Districts; not to the Bureau of Reclamation. You should not have to get down on bended knee and plead for protection of public waters, wildlife and recreation resources. They belong to you. The determination of how these resources shall be used, in a democracy, must be made through open and free discussion - not through secret meetings and power plays. They must be managed in concert with the laws and policies of the land! In commenting on the Uinta Range South Slopes Land Use Plan and Draft EIS, I charged all levels managing the National Forests with violation of the law. Nowhere in this Draft did the Forest Service deal with issues of the Carter Administration Water Policy, Agency Directives to start implementing this, or Executive Orders to protect Wetlands and Floodplains. It is incumbant on the public to demand management of their resources in compliance with the law. Unless the public in Utah knows what's going on in their State it is difficult to see how Agencies will keep in line. I am still following up on this issue (enclosed here). Since the outcome is directly related to adequate protection of instream flows and wildlife, under CUP development, Utah residents need to get in the action. Tell the Forest Service they should vigorously defend public resources under their jurisdiction. Vocally support the Fish & Wildlife Service trying to fulfill its responsibilities for fish and wildlife resources. (Remember, this Dep't is. also in Interior and can be pushed and shoved and ignored.) Vocally demand that the State Division of Wildlife Resources do their job on behalf of wildlife. You are paying for management of these resources!! I am also providing information and am directing inquiries to Key members of Congress: Budget and Appropriations Chairmenf " Interior Committee Chairmen responsible for project re-autHori-zations; Congressmen sympathetic to "stopping the pork barrel _dam pro.1 ects"; and Wisconsin Congressmen^ - Robert Giamo, Chairman House Committee on the Budget. An expl*hation of that Committee's function relative to water projects is explained in the accompanying letter. It is very important, as Congress holds budget hearings the next few months, that key people on Appropriations Committees and Sub-Committees, be heard from, particularly from Utah. |
