12 March, 2008
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
We, the undersigned sportsmen and representatives of sportsmen’s organizations, thank you for your recent actions to protect roadless areas in California. We strongly support your position that all roadless areas in this state should be managed and protected so as to keep them as they are today – some of the last, best habitat for fish and game.
Specifically, we applaud your filing suit against the USDA Forest Service on February 28th over the agency’s failure to honor its assurances to California that roadless areas in California’s national forests would be protected from district or forest level decisions and policy changes that might be inconsistent with the conditions specified in your Roadless Petition of July 2006, and from the uncertain final outcome of litigation over the national Roadless Areas Conservation Rule.
The Forest Service has repeatedly stated that it understands the value of national forest roadless areas to Californians and that the agency intends to preserve these areas for future generations. Yet the denial of your appeal of the four Southern California national forest plans makes clear that the agency cannot be trusted to protect our hunting and fishing heritage without rigorous advocacy on behalf of public lands that are the birthright of all Americans. Taking the Forest Service to court over its failure to cooperate with the state in the management of roadless areas and for failing to follow proper procedure in its planning for the Los Padres, Angeles, Cleveland, and San Bernardino national forests is in the best interests of all Californians.
We also agree strongly with the response of Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman on March 7 to comments made recently by Mark Rey, Under Secretary of Agriculture, which misstated California’s position on roadless areas and roadbuilding for fire suppression and seemed a thinly veiled swipe at your staunch defense of our roadless areas. Secretary Chrisman properly decried Rey’s statements as “mak[ing] no sense and [being] contrary to the facts.” California’s sportsmen agree that construction of new roads, even in roadless areas, may be necessary to fight wildfires effectively and that existing roads and trails in roadless areas should be properly maintained so as to preserve access for hunting, fishing, and other recreation.
Anglers and hunters have a lot at stake in this issue. Roadless backcountry provides some of the best – and sometimes the only – habitat for popular game species and native trout and salmon, including our state fish, the California Golden Trout. We must act forcefully and consistently over time to protect and restore high quality upland, aquatic, and riparian habitat. Recovery of declining deer and other game populations, and of at-risk fish species such as the Paiute cutthroat trout, coho salmon, and southern coastal steelhead, hinge on such action.
Again, on behalf of the more than two million Californians who fish and hunt, we thank you for your continued action to protect California’s 4.4 million acres of roadless backcountry that presently has no special designation. Please continue to hold firm in the face of federal intransigence and opprobrium from special interests such as the off-road vehicle lobby which would benefit from a weakening of California’s roadless areas policy.
Respectfully,
s/
Sam Davidson
California Field Director, Trout Unlimited
California Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
Salinas, CA
Mark Clifford, Ph.D.
Co-Chair, California Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
Rancho Cordova, CA
Richard Anderson
Publisher, California Fly Fisher
Truckee, CA
Howard Kern
Volunteer Project Coordinator
Golden Trout Restoration Project
West Lake Village, CA
Drew Irby
Council Chair, Trout Unlimited of California
San Francisco, CA
Michael J. Olrich
President, TU North Bay Chapter (Corte Madera)
Kent MacIntosh
President, TU Redwood Empire Chapter (Healdsburg)
John Stirling
President, TU South Coast Chapter (Orange County)
George Sutherland
Project Coordinator, Southern Steelhead Recovery Team
San Clemente, CA
Barbara Bania
President, TU Sac-Sierra Chapter (Shingle Springs)
Joe Hall
President, Golden State Flycasters/San Diego Trout Unlimited
(Carlsbad)
John Williamson
President, TU Feather River Chapter (Graeagle)