| Missouri
Wilderness Campaign Update
by Eileen McManus, THB ExCom
Between 1976
and 1984 Congress passed four separate bills designating seven wilderness
areas in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri: Hercules
Glades, Bell Mountain, Rockpile Mountain, Devil's Backbone,
Piney Creek, Paddy Creek and the Irish Wilderness. Wilderness conservation
efforts on behalf of these areas were coordinated through the Missouri
Wilderness Coalition, or MWC, which included all the major
conservation organizations in the state. At that time MWC also
identified seven additional areas which were designated
for administrative protections as “Sensitive Areas”:
Lower Rock Creek, Big Spring, North Fork, Smith Creek, Spring Creek,
Swan Creek, and Van East Mountain.
In 2005 the
Forest Service produced another management plan for the Mark Twain
National Forest; instead of strengthening protections for these
seven sensitive areas, the plan actually weakened them. The MWC
has been reactivated with a renewed and reinvigorated commitment
to work together to complete the wilderness agenda for Missouri
by proposing that these seven areas, totaling less than 50,000 acres
of federal public land, become part of the National Wilderness Preservation
System. MWC's first major goal is to have legislation
introduced by April 23, Earth Day of 2009, based on these four points:
- These areas
have been successfully managed as wilderness for more than 25
years.
- Congress
must pass wilderness legislation to protect these nationally recognized
wilderness areas that provide important bird habitats, clean streams,
and healthy forests.
- These areas
will bring economic and tourism benefits and would cost no jobs.
- Wilderness
allows hunting, fishing, horseback riding and other non-motorized
recreation opportunities for all.
Permanent protection
of these sensitive areas can be assured only through wilderness
designation which requires an act of Congress. Contact your
Congressional Representative and Missouri Senators to support
this proposal. Also, consider adding the name of your organization
or business to the growing list of endorsements.
See for yourself
the beauty of two of the proposed areas on a spring outing
to Lower Rock Creek and Van East Mountain the weekend of April 17–19.
Contact Eileen McManus,
816-523-7823 or eileen4250@sbcglobal.net.
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