The following letter was signed and sent today to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton.
Full Version: Letter From Trt To Secretary Gale Norton
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January 29, 2004 The Honorable Gale Norton Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C. Street Northwest Washington, DC 20240 Dear Secretary Norton: The purpose of this correspondence is to address a pressing financial issue dealing with the land management of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area (ISDRA) of the El Centro, California Field Office. Preceding our concerns, we would like you to know that the ISDRA Technical Review Team is pleased with its continued involvement in the management protocols at the ISDRA. We have a good working relationship with the El Centro, BLM management and with its staff. We strive at productive exchanges of ideas and the implementing of our strategies. Under President Clinton's administration, the Fee Demonstration program was implemented, thus enabling the formation of the TRT. Upon presentation, Congress and the public were told that the Fee Demonstration program was a funding avenue to augment appropriated dollars. In the past several years, since the implementation of the Fee Demonstration program, the TRT had been instrumental in making sound recommendations to the BLM on how to spend the money to improve the ISDRA. This fiscal year, the Fee Demo program has taken a turn and is now being used as an operational cost recovery program. This is due in part to the loss of Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreational Grant money from the State of California. In addition to the Fee Demonstration funding being used as an operation and maintenance cost recovery, the biological opinion as contained in the Recreational Area Management Plan calls for continue plant and animal monitoring. In answer to this demand, the El Centro Field Office is planning on utilizing Fee Demonstration money to fund this ongoing project. We, the TRT, feel that the fees at the ISDRA are among the highest in the country and, the monitoring studies will drive the fee's even higher. The biological opinion requiring species monitoring levied from one Federal agency to another has placed an unfair financial burden on the visiting public and due to its cost, jeopardizes basic services and resource protection. Due to its current majority makeup, the California Off Highway Motor Vehicle Commission is opposed to the assignment of grants to the BLM for use at the Imperial Sand Dunes. We, the ISDRA Technical Review Team, therefore request your assistance in obtaining annual appropriated funding to operate, manage and to conduct the mandated biological monitoring at the ISDRA. In closing, the Fall 2003 joint BLM and US Forest service publication has listed the ISDRA as one of twelve outstanding locations in the United States where the public can enjoy various types of public land recreation. The ISDRA is a World Class Off Highway recreation area and deserves to be treated as portrayed in this publication. If further assistance or information is needed, please feel free to contact either of us at the addresses or phone numbers listed below. ____________________________ Jerry Seaver, Chairman Phoenix, AZ ____________________________ Lawrence E. Jowdy, Vice Chairman Ontario, CA |
Nice letter! 
Vicki
Vicki
yes..nice letter. copies should go to every senator and congressman as well, asking for their support for the forthcoming funding request.
Thank you.
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