White House rejects Minnesota wilderness legislation
7/16/96
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Subject: White House rejects Minnesota wilderness legislation
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 14:50:23 PDT
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Clinton administration Tuesday criticized
legislation that would increase motorized recreation in Minnesota's
spectacular lakes wilderness region and give nearby communities more
control over federal lands.
Sen. Rod Grams, a Minnesota Republican, and Rep. James Oberstar, a
Minnesota Democrat, pushed their bills at a House Resources
subcommittee hearing to give motorboat and snowmobiles more access to
the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National
Park.
The bills would establish local councils to have a say in management
of the federal wilderness and national park lands -- breathtaking
lakes and forests along the Canadian border that are among the most
visited federal wilderness areas.
Assistant Interior Secretary George Frampton denounced the measures
on the Voyageurs National Park as ``the first step'' towards
relinquishing federal control over the 218,000-acre park to the state
and said he would recommend that President Clinton veto such a bill.
Gray Reynolds, assistant deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service,
also rejected the bills as threats to the wilderness qualities that
make the region ``a natural, water-based international treasure,
unparalleled in the world.''
The Forest Service manages the Boundary Waters area, more than 1
million acres of lakes and forests that draw about 200,000 canoeists,
hikers and others annually.
Minnesota's congressional delegation is split on the issue, with Rep.
Bruce Vento pushing for stricter controls and others wanting to
retain existing policies. Both sides see the bills as test cases in a
broader debate over whether states and communities should have more
control over federal land.
Conservative Republicans in Congress, with House Resources Committee
Chairman Don Young of Alaska as a leading spokesman, have denounced
federal controls on land, which they say deprive the region of the
best economic uses.
Democrats, spurred by environmental groups, have maintained that
federal lands are owned by all of the country -- not just the nearby
communities -- and should be managed for the broadest benefit.
``Our region's economy has been permanently devastated by federal
land management decisions,'' said Thomas Bakk, who lives in the
region and is a Minnesota state representative.
But Debbie Sease, legislative director of the Sierra Club, said the
bills would reduce a great national park ``to little more than a
local motorboat, airplane and snowmobile theme park'' run by local
proponents of more motorized recreation.