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Natural Resource |
It was reported at the Convention in 2006 that the proposed budget item of the 2008 Federal Budget was related to the sale of publicly owned US Forest Lands for the purpose of funding the Rural Communities Act for 2008. There was a very limited window of comment time (until Mar.30, 2007) Members of Deep South Region were requested to comment on the sale of the publicly owned forest lands by the March 30 deadline. On April 26, 2006, a federal judge “rejected three Bush administration rules that blocked public scrutiny of U.S. Forest Service decisions.” These rules effectively cut out public comment on U.S. Forest Service decisions and paved the way for the sale of the public lands. Deep South members could have played a part in this action that overturned this rule. However, the plan is still on the table for the FY 2008 Federal Budget. Sales of the following amounts of US Forest Lands acreage of Deep South states are part of the proposal: Alabama - 2,822 acres Florida - 973 acres Georgia - 4,523 acres Louisiana- 3895 acres Mississippi – 7,476 acres Tennessee - 2,996 acres. The funds from these sales are to finance an item in the budget that was formerly funded by the sale of lumber from the forests. Now that there is no excess timber to see, they are proposing to sell part of the dedicated forest land. What will they want to sell next in order to balance the budget? For more information, please go to: http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/rural_schools.shtml This chairman has been following issues such as the water issues between Florida, Georgia and Alabama over their common river interests; promoting the protection of groundwater by using alternative sources of water, writing members of Congress about strengthening the Clean Water Act and not weakening the laws; writing Congressional Members about protecting the National Parks of the US. Congress continues to cut the budget for the National Parks and thus the parks cannot protect and preserve these wonderful resources. I would encourage members of Deep South Region to do the same. Serving in this Chairmanship has been a great honor, and this chairman appreciates the opportunity to address our common interests. Natural Resource Chairman Pat Carver Convention, March 4-6, 2007 |
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Pat Carver Deep South Region Natural Resource Chairman carverge@aol.com |
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