HomeMy WebLinkAbout080326 email - Updated Letter on Jamestown Land Transfer ActALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
I cannot be at the meeting today, as I have another important meeting about a house remodel. I’ve just read the new draft letter you plan to formalize today and send to U.S. Representative
Emily Randall. A few thoughts.
First: Thanks for moderating this letter to validate the real concerns of those of us who fought for establishing this National Wildlife Refuge. I would suggest you remove your insulting
paragraph about those of us in disagreement with you are “ironic and arrogant”.
You mention that it is your “sense” that the Tribe would continue to manage to a standard “that would meet or exceed federal standards.” However this is simply hope rather than understanding
that the Tribe will have legal capability to do *anything* they desire with the Island and the Spit. They have *already* decided and acted on putting a non native oyster aquaculture
farm right up to the beach on the Dungeness Spit.
Additionally, The tribe has admitted that they look forward to writing their own rules for use of the island. In an interview in the local Port Townsend Leader Tribal Vice Chair Loni
Greninger stated, “If we’re able to have that fuller ownership instead of co-management, then I don’t have to rely on any other government and their rules and regulations (highlight
is mine). I can take my deeper regulations from an ancestral standpoint and be able to infuse that and implement it.” This does not make those of us concerned about the future of the
National Wildlife Refuges feel like we should “sense” that the Tribe will continue to manage to a standard that would meet or exceed federal standards.
I am astonished that you would also frame this discussion as somehow “ironic and arrogant” by those of us not wanting our public lands handed over (which is exactly what you are discussing)
to another sovereign nation.
I have been the chairman of the Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee, whose basic task as stated in our charter was to ‘protect the shorelines of Jefferson County”. I also worked
for the Tribe as a documentary filmmaker, filming with the express consent of the Tribal Council, and specifically from Chairman Allen, who I also interviewed for their film I produced
and directed “Treaty Resources” which documented the exact issues that this land transfer addresses. I worked under the cultural tribal guidance of the late Tribal Elder Marlin Holden
as well as with the Tribe’s own cultural manager (who was non-native by the way). I also was producer and director of the film that was funded by the tribe, “Working for the River”
on the Dungeness River Management Team’s outstanding work. This is in addition to the fact that I worked with Seattle Audubon, Lorna Smith (nee Campion) and Eleanor Stopps in the 1980
timeframe to help establish the Protection Island Wildlife Refuge. It is an insult to me to read that you somehow think that keeping our National Public Lands in the hands of the United
States Public is somehow arrogant. I have lived and voted in Jefferson County, I have participated in our county’s public committees and paid substantial property taxes and business
taxes here for over 25 years. I have helped mentor a foster child and his foster parents and brother. I have earned the right to disagree with such a substantial proposal without being
insulted by the very elected officials I helped put into office.
Perhaps you have a misunderstanding of what “Public Lands” means. From U.S. law:
Legal and Broad DefinitionsStatutory definition: Under 43 U.S.C. § 1702, “any land and interest in land owned by the United States within the several States and administered by the Secretary
of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management... except... Outer Continental Shelf; and lands held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos.”, as stated in the U.S. Code.General
federal usage: Commonly refers to all real property owned collectively by the American people and managed by various federal stewardship branches.
NOTE that the *exception* is lands held for the benefit of INDIANS. This means that once transferred to the BIA those refuges are *no longer public lands*.
"The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service manages wildlife refuges to conserve America’s fish, wildlife and plants….With at least one wildlife refuge in every state and U.S. territory (and one
within an hour’s drive of most major cities), they offer a chance for urbanites and so many others to connect to nature.
While national wildlife refuges work to safeguard wildlife populations and their habitats, more than 500 of them provide a wealth of recreation opportunities, including hiking trails,
canoeing and kayaking, auto tours, wildlife viewing, hunting, fishing and more! These natural treasure troves see more than 50 million visits from the public each year.” https://www.doi.gov/blog/ame
ricas-public-lands-explained
Where does this idea of giving public lands to private hands end? Do we give over our state forest lands? Our Olympic National Park? Mt. Rainier?
Your new draft does at least come off less positive about supporting this without a lot more due diligence. I didn’t expect you to disagree with Chairman Allen, since so much of what
you do relies on Tribal buy-in and support. They are also an economic engine in the county. But I appreciate that you finally recognized the position of those of us who don’t support
this land transfer. But ending your letter with an insult of those of us who have supported all three of you in your election bids, is really something you could and should remove before
sending this.
Al Bergstein
Port Townsend
Editor/Publisher The Olympic Peninsula Environmental News
www.olyopen.com
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