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Please get involved with this and send letters, make some calls, etc. This is another area we will lose access to forests if we allow them to make a new National Park in these areas !!

See ITEM B below, and please read the entire e-mail to know what's going on.......

LOOK AT THE MAP, folks, at the agricultural and residential areas that will be encircled by this proposed NEW FEDERAL PARK. This was introduced in Sept. of 2004 as S-347. These people NEVER GIVE UP.

See areas affected by Rim of the Valley Land Grab: HERE

Two new federal national parks are also called for in HR1975, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. This is not just a California problem. All citizens must pay attention and take action on this ongoing governmental attack on property, public and private, where-ever it may occur.

From: LandRights Network

Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 10:18 AM

Subject: Call Now. Rim Of The Valley Land Grab Hearing Thursday, June 14th (HR1835)

Land Rights Network

American Land Rights Association

PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604

Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973

Web Address: http://www.landrights.org

Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Urgent Action Required

Call Now. Rim Of The Valley Land Grab Hearing Thurs. June 14th

House Natural Resources Committee

Listen to it live by going to <http: resourcescommittee.house.gov> The hearing time is 10:00 AM Eastern Time, Thursday, June 14th. That will be 7:00 AM in the Pacific Time Zone.

It is urgent that you call your Congressman plus the three special Congressmen listed below. You may also call Members of the Natural Resources Committee.

Send them an e-mail or fax.

It is critical that you call your Congressman today to oppose HR 1835. Any Congressman may be called at (202) 225-3121.

It is especially important to call, fax and e-mail Reps. Elton Gallegly, Buck McKeon and David Dreier. A major portion of the Rim of the Valley will affect their constituents.

The only way for local groups to fight local issues when threatened by

Federal national proposals is to band together nationwide and support each other

You, by calling, e-mailing or faxing today, will save people who will then be there tomorrow to help you when you are personally threatened if you are not now.

Rim of the Valley is a giant new National Park being slipped by Congress as

a supposed addition to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

It will include and threaten 158,000 private parcels in Los Angeles County and 11,000 in Ventura County. These are in addition to those landowners trapped in the existing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

There are many National Forest Permittees in the proposed area. Large portions of the Angeles National Forest will be converted into National Park. The San Bernardino and Las Padres National Forests are also threatened. All cabin owners must oppose HR 1835. The Park Service does not allow permit cabins.

This proposal will be the most expensive Park Service area in history with a cost well in excess of 2 billion dollars hurting many other parks that will suffer a shortfall in maintenance funding as a result.

> > > > > Action Items listed below: (Natural Resources Committee Fax and e-mail addresses listed below). It is especially important to call or write if your Congressman is on the list. A fax is the best way to send your letter. Background:

HR 1835 (Rim of the Valley) would surround the parts of:

the Santa Monica Mountains;

the Santa Susanna Mountains;

the San Gabriel Mountains;

the Verdugo Mountains;

the San Rafael Hills;

and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San Bernardino National Forests.

In California with a huge New National Park area.

HR 1835 and the Rim of the Valley will cost over $2 billion making it the

most expensive park in American history. That is the way Santa Monica

Mountains NRA started out. It was only supposed to cost $155 million in

1978. Today it is over $1 billion and continuing skyward.

HR 1835 is called the Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act and would study

expanding the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by adding a

corridor of all the mountains surrounding the San Fernando Valley, La

Crescenta Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Simi Valley and Conejo Valley.

Don’t be confused when they call it a study. If this bill passes, Congress will ask the giant Park Service bureaucracy if they want more land, more money, more power and more people. What do you think any self-respecting bureaucracy is going to say? Of course they want it. They always want more.

The Rim of the Valley consists of parts of the Santa Monica Mountains, the

Santa Susanna Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdugo Mountains,

the San Rafael Hills, and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San

Bernardino National Forests according to Congressman Adam Schiff.

The study area will encompass 491,518 acres. That is nearly three and a

half times the size of the existing Santa Monica Mountains National

Recreation Area that is 153,750 acres and over two thirds the size of

Yosemite. All that in an urban area.

You can see a map by going to www.landrights.org Just click on the link on the website homepage.

This map was originally produced by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. They have deliberately tried to hide the full impact of HR 1835 by how they have shaded the areas in the map. They call it a corridor but it actually surrounds and includes huge areas of land. The Park Service does not like private land within their boundaries. They will try to buy it all.

**Be sure to call your local newspapers to get them to print a map of the giant new Rim of the Valley National Park Service area.

This is part of the giant plan promoted by the Park Service, the Nature

Conservancy and the Wildlands Project for a nationwide series of corridors

linking all the parks and forests in the United States. This has the potential for a massive takeover of National Forest and other Federal lands by the Park Service.

Don’t dismiss this because it may not be in your area. If they pass this proposal, some Members of Congress will be emboldened to add new and expanded areas where you live.

HR 1835 will put a circle of Park Service control around tens of thousands of

landowners. Anyone familiar with how the Park Service works knows that is

the beginning of ratcheting down the regulatory controls and land

acquisition. They want it all eventually.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Action Items:

-----A. You need to call, fax and e-mail your Congress in opposition to HR 1835

immediately. Every Congressman can be reached at (202) 225-3121.

-----B. Just write a short letter to the Chairman and Ranking Minority member of the Subcommittee with your opposition. Put on it testimony. You can actually send up to 10 pages. It must arrive within 10 working days after the hearing (2 weeks). It is better to send it sooner than later. The e-mails for the Committee Members are listed below. Be sure to send it by fax or e-mail to get it there on time.

-----C. Send a copy of your testimony to your own Congressman.

-----D. Ask your Congressman to attend the hearing and oppose HR 1835. Ask him or her to get you a copy of the map of the proposed area. Virtually no Congressman has seen a map. When they do, they should realize how crazy this idea is. You need to get your Congressman to look at the map.

-----E. Be sure to go to www.landrights.org for a copy of the map of the

Rim of the Valley. You can enlarge it to make it more readable. Make sure you ask your local newspapers to print a map of the proposed Rim of the Valley National Park Service area. People have no idea what is coming at them.

It is especially important to send e-mails or faxes to these three Representatives. They have many constituents in the Rim of the Valley boundary but are not on the Parks Subcommittee. Their voices are very important.

*****

Elton Gallegly (R-CA) – FAX -- (202) 225-1100 – e-mail: Elton Gallegly % of this Legislative Director Brain Feintech at brian.feintech@mail.house.gov

Buck McKeon (R-CA) – FAX -- (202) 226-0683 –e-mail: hanz.heinrichs@mail.house.gov; bob.haueter@mail.house.gov

David Dreier (R-CA)—FAX – (202) 225-7018—e-mail: mark.harmsen@mail.house.gov; alisa.do@mail.house.gov

Here is the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee. All can be called at the Capital Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. You can fax the committee office at (202) 226-7736

Minority Members (Republicans)

Ranking Minority Member: Rob Bishop (R-UT) Fax: (202) 225-5857

e-mail: casey.hammond@mail.house.gov

John Duncan (R-TN) – FAX (202) 225-6440 -- e-mail: scott.fischer@mail.house.gov

Chris Cannon (R-UT) – FAX (202) 225-5629 – e-mail: matthew.landoli@mail.house.gov

Tom Tancredo (R-CO) – FAX (202) 226-4623 – e-mail: Macarthur.Zimmerman@mail.house.gov

Jeff Flake (R-AZ) – FAX -- (202) 226-4386 – e-mail: chandler.morse@mail.house.gov

Rick Renzi (R-AZ) – FAX – (202) 226-9739 – e-mail: jim.lester@mail.house.gov

Steve Pearce (R-NM) – FAX – (202) 225-9599 – e-mail: tim.charters@mail.house.gov

Henry Brown (R-SC) – FAX – (202) 225-3407 – e-mail: chris.berardini@mail.house.gov

Louie Gohmert (R-TX) – FAX – (202) 226-5866 – e-mail: Ashley.callen@mail.house.gov

Tom Cole (R-OK) – FAX -- (202) 225-3512 – e-mail: scott.parman@mail.house.gov

Dean Heller (R-NV) – FAX – (202) 225-5697 – e-mail: leeann.walker@mail.house.gov

William Sali (R-ND) – FAX – (202) 225-3029 – e-mail: matthew.hite@mail.house.gov

Douglas Lamborn (R-CO) – (202) 226-2638 – e-mail: melissa.carlson@mail.house.gov

Don Young (R-AK) -- FAX (202) 225-0425 – e-mail: Pamela.day@mail.house.gov

Majority Members (Democrats):

Chairman -- Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) (202) 226-2301 – e-mail: david.watkins@mail.house.gov

Dale Kildee (D-MI) – FAX – (202) 225-6393 – e-mail: travis.talvitie@mail.house.gov

Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)—FAX – (202) 225-4580—e-mail: wendy.clerinx@mail.hoouse.gov

Donna Christensen (D-VI) – FAX – (202) 225-5517 – e-mail: brian.modeste@mail.house.gov

Rush Holt (D-NJ) – FAX ­­­­– (202) 225-6025 – e-mail: christopher.hartmann@mail.house.gov

David Daniel Boren (D-OK) – FAX – (202) 225-3038 – e-mail: Jason.buckner@mail.house.gov

John Sarbanes (D-MD) – FAX – (202) 225-9219 – e-mail: Jason.Gleason@mail.house.gov

Peter DeFazio (D-OR) – FAX – (202) 225-0032 – e-mail: susan.brown@mail.house.gov

Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) ­­-- FAX – (202) 226-0774 – e-mail: moira.campion@mail.house.gov

Ron Kind (D-WI) – FAX – (202) 225-5739 – e-mail: david.degennaro@mail.house.gov

Lois Capps (D-CA)­ -- FAX – (202) 225-5632 – e-mail: jonathan.levenshus@mail.house.gov

Jay Inslee (D-WA) ­­– FAX – (202) 226-1606 – e-mail: garth.vanmeter@mail.house.gov

Mark Udall (D-CO -- FAX – (202) 226-7840 – e-mail: stan.sloss@mail.house.gov

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) – FAX – (202) 225-5823 – e-mail: josh.albert@mail.house.gov

Heath Shuler (D-NC) -- FAX­­ – (202) 226-6422 – e-mail: sean.obrien@mail.house.gov

Nick Rahall (D-WV) – FAX – (202) 225-9061 – e-mail: Jim.zoia@mail.house.gov

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If HR 1835 passes and the huge expansion eventually passes Congress it will:

-----1. Will threatened thousands of landowners and recreation users.

-----2. By our estimate, it will cost over $2 billion dollars and perhaps a

great deal more to carry out their grandiose land acquisition and regulatory

scheme. It will become a never-ending money pit with Congress having to

keep up with public expectations.

-----3. Would study expanding the Santa Monica Mountains National

Recreation Area by adding a corridor encircling large portions of all the

mountains surrounding the San Fernando Valley, La Crescenta Valley, Santa

Clarita Valley, Simi Valley and Conejo Valley in California on the North

side of Los Angeles.

-----3. HR 1835 includes part of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa

Susanna Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Verdugo Mountains, the San

Rafael Hills, and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres and San

Bernardino National Forests.

-----4. The study area will encompass 491,518 acres, that’s two-thirds the

size of Yosemite. It’s nearly three and a half times the size of the

existing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area which is 153,750

acres. It will run approximately 300 miles giving it a huge scope.

-----5. Will control land use within and adjacent corridors by threatening

eminent domain (condemnation) of the land. That is how they prevent

building and lots of other uses. ALRA saved a ski area in Maine recently

that had been continually threatened with condemnation.

-----6. HR 1835 will ultimately dilute the Park Service budget meaning less

care for other parks.

-----7. The combined length of these corridors is likely to run as much as

300 miles long. The Santa Monica Mountains Corridor NRA is only about 40

miles long and is already costing over one billion dollars.

-----8. The corridors will be like a series of giant nooses put around the

necks of the many communities in the encircled areas. Economic and social

activities will be greatly inhibited. Access people now take for granted

will be lost forever. Frankly, the Park Service has a record of being a

very bad neighbor. Go to www.landrights.org for several socio-cultural

assessments and histories of Park Service abuses.

-----9. There will be a massive increase in regulations controlling private

and community activities with the encircled areas. HR 1835 will interdict

transportation corridors, which will mean new bridges and passageways for

wildlife corridors throughout the region.

----10. They’ll use the wildlife as an excuse for substantial new

regulatory controls. They’ll build bridges for the wildlife over the

freeways but you’ll be locked out. For example over 90% of Yosemite is now

closed off to most of the public. They are closing campgrounds and parking

lots and soon you will have to take a bus just to get into the park.

----11. Force the closure of hundreds of miles of exiting roadways

substantially reducing motorized recreation.

----12. It will be hard or impossible to get communication towers and

other utilities installed in these corridors.

----13. They say they will put in hiking trails, but the area is so hot in

the summer that very little hiking takes place. There is virtually no

water. In the winter, it becomes floods and mud. At the existing Santa

Monica Mountains NRA they have to actually bus people out of the center of

the City of Los Angeles in order to increase visitorship. People who have a

choice don’t spend much time there.

----14. Movie and TV companies who use these areas for films will be

prevented from doing their normal work. The Park Service likes naturalness.

They don’t really like people. They just want enough to justify their

budget.

----15. Creation of the Rim of the Valley Corridor could require tougher

Class I air standards that would have a negative impact on private industry

throughout the San Fernando Valley and the other areas. If you like the

notion of viewsheds and soundsheds, you love the Rim of the Valley Corridor

bill.

----16. The House has not held a hearing on HR 1835. They did hold a hearing

on another very different bill a year ago. The Senate held a hearing but

had no one testify against the bill. That’s fairness for you. You would

think they would want to hear from both sides. So Congress is really

operating in the dark.

----17. Even though there is very little water, what exists is valuable. S

347 will give the National Park Service a large measure of control over all

the high ground around these valleys. Historically that means the agency

uses that power to interdict the goals of local communities and business.

----18. The Park Service also seeks to keep communities from allowing

landowners to use their land by threatening the cities and towns with the

loss of Federal funds of all kinds.

Why is the Rim of the Valley Corridor bill (HR 1835) so important?

It will threaten thousands of landowners and permittees in the mountains

around Los Angeles. It will threaten private owners in the Angeles National

Forest and may threaten owners in the Los Padres and San Bernardino National

Forests as well.

When the Park Service takes over a Forest Service area, landowners and

recreation users lose. The Park Service does not like private uses and has

almost no permit system.

HR 1835 will set a standard nationwide for corridor and greenway bills

involving many urban and rural communities. It will likely lead to other

corridor measures in other National Forests. If you like the notion of

viewsheds and soundsheds, you love the Rim of the Valley Corridor bill. If

they pass it in California, it will be hard to stop in other areas.

HR 1835 is a “study” bill. But it is much cheaper and easier to stop the

study bill than to stop the authorizing bill that will most certainly come

later. They are using HR 1835 because that is the Senate version of the bill

introduced and passed through the Senate by Diane Feinstein (D-CA).

If you don’t live anywhere near Los Angeles, why should you care? Because

these studies are the first step toward a Federal land grab in your area.

They are the camels nose under the tent.

Even if you live in Arizona, Washington, Idaho or Colorado, a few calls to

your Congressman can make a huge difference. As few as ten letters in a

Congressional district will get that Congressman thinking about why he

should vote for this bill. Usually he will get very few calls in support

from greens in your state. So a few calls like yours really count.

Any Congressman can all be reached at the same number by calling the Capital

Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. Ask for the Congressman you are calling when

the switchboard operator answers. When their staff answers the phone, ask

for the person who handles National Parks or Resources Committee matters or

HR 1835.

HR 1835 has already passed the Senate and just passed out of the Resources

Committee. It stands a good chance to get passed by the House because of the

lack of time to really examine the consequences of the bill.

HR 1835 is really creating a monster new national park. The size is huge and

the cost will be even larger. The size could be a series of corridors with

a total length as long as 300 miles and costing you, the taxpayer over $2

billion dollars.

Ultimately what the Park Service will want is a giant network of corridors,

some very wide, covering all the mountains around the North West part of Los

Angeles and part of Ventura Counties. Some of these corridors will likely

mean the conversion of multiple-use land managed by the US Forest Service to

the National Park Service.

The Park Service is famous for its land grabbing and regulatory technique.

One example is that Santa Monica Mountains NRA is well known for being a

park where the Park Service was sued and ultimately had to pay large damages

for initiating a raid against an innocent rancher, Donald Scott, who was

killed in the raid. All because the Park Service wanted his land.

The Park Service has been a nightmare for landowners in Santa Monica

Mountains. Relations with landowners and others who traditionally used the

area have always been bad and continue that way.

It was supposed to be a “string of pearls” with most land left in private

hands. But that concept largely went away as the Santa Monica Mountains NRA

gradually grew and more landowners were wiped out.

The National Park Service promised they would protect private property

owners and that most private land would not be purchased. However, they

continually expand their appetite so the scope and cost of the NRA just

keeps increasing.

The Santa Monica Mountains NRA surrounded thousands of landowners preventing

them from getting access. Then they bought out the major landowners and

just left the small landowners to twist in the wind. Numerous complaints

have been filed about the Park Service creating hardships and doing nothing

about it.

That is what will happen in the Rim of the Valley Corridor. It will start

with a small scope and gradually increase over time until the Federal

Government and the National Park Service take over huge portions of the

mountains around Los Angeles.

The proposed new Park Service area is likely to cost over $2 billion in

additional dollars. That could be grossly understated. The funding

required would detract from existing National Parks that are already

strapped for funds for basic health, safety and visitor services.

If you live in California, call at least three friends to ask them to call, fax and e-mail.

Forward this message as widely as possible.

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