This (the article below written 26 years ago) is what the English did to the Scots (The Highland Clearances), the Irish (Land Seizures) and the French (Nova Scotia). It is what the Chinese did to the Tibetans and what ISIS is doing to Christians. It is what the Germans began doing to Poles and what Japanese began doing to Phillipinoes, Koreans and Chinese when they occupied all or portions of those countries.
The fact that there is not the accompanying raw pillaging and killings by these powerful perpetrators in the US today aside, the results are the same; dispossessed families, community destruction and the loss of traditions and cultures. Our central government; that was created to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility… and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”; has become a hostile outlier bent on using the power we gave them to protect us - to destroy us for the benefit of themselves and others!
Federal land acquisition; Federal/radical (TNC, etc.) land easements; Federal land control (EPA regulations, USFWS “Critical” Habitat, USFS/BLM/DOD regulatory land closures and access restrictions, Wilderness/Scenic/Historic Designations, Catastrophic Wildfire Creations with fuel accumulation and access eliminations); radical federal restrictions on energy creation and development resulting in unavailability and prohibitive costs; radical animal “welfare”-i.e. animal “worship” - laws and law enforcement akin to Hindu protection of cows; gun control programs; and the introduction, protection and spread of deadly and destructive carnivores like wolves, grizzly bears and mountain lions in intolerable densities and locations are ultimately intended to destroy rural America leaving only a husk of this nation’s former prosperity and freedom as we sink back into the darkness from which we emerged 223 years ago with the adoption of the Bill of Rights.
Such a radical campaign requires radical reactions or else it is like expecting ill-armed and ill-equipped Kurds to stop the well-equipped ISIS killing machine. Anything short of repeal of the laws underlying these travesties and the scouring of 90+% of the federal regulations they have spawned, “WON’T CUT IT”. Unless and until this is done, all the “work groups”, “partnerships”, “compromises”, “romance biology”, new laws, regulatory tweaks, good intentions and respect for unlawful authority are merely buying time for injustice to grow stronger like Chinese Overlords “meeting” with dissenters in Hong Kong or Neville Chamberlain “meeting with Mr. Hitler”.Jim Beers
9 October 2014
by Jim Beers
FROM:
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: alra@pacifier.com
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003
Willing Seller A Myth, Stop San Gabriel Mtns National Monument
"John Jones is a willing seller. He didn't want to sell and held out as long as he could. First the Park Service came in and purchased the homes, farms and timberlands of his neighbors who did want to sell.
There will always be some.
Then the agency began to search out those families who were in some kind of financial distress such as from a death, divorce, loss of job and other reason.
"Jones watched as his community was checker boarded by the Park Service. He remembered being told when the park was created that he would not be forced out. But a huge Trust Fund passed Congress which gave the Park Service money automatically every year without going through the appropriations process. The Park Service had more money than it knew what to do with. Eminent domain and condemnation were now commonplace.
Jones remembered that the Trust Fund has been slipped in to a bill dealing with the Gulf Oil Spill in by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. He could not explain what buying billions of dollars of private property had to do with an oil spill. Or why Reid and the Congress had acted so quickly before their own investigations and Commissions were complete.
Now the Park Service was targeting local businesses and the county itself. Many small businesses were purchased and put out of business.
Others just withered and died due to lack of business. The Park Service purchased the holdings of several large timberland companies and large farms.
There were always hints of eminent domain, and some were already in court. People were told they would have to sell eventually, so they might as well do it now as "willing sellers" while the Park Service was spending money here and before the infrastructure deteriorated.
Smaller timber owners and farmers began to sell as they saw that the logging and agriculture infrastructure might eventually not be there.
The mill eventually had to close because it could not get enough wood.
Like a natural ecosystem, the economic s ecosystem of a community can become increasingly fragile, but all the government and the environmentalists talked about were the fragility of the ecosystem while pretending they were improving the economy.
"As more timberland and farms were purchased, more homes and then more farms began to disappear. The Park Service began to focus on the farmers and ranchers. Many residents wanted to hold out but with fewer jobs in the county, the value of their homes and property began to go down. As the Park Service purchased them, they lay empty for months or even years because the agency said they it did not have the funds to clear them out. They became havens for vandals and drug houses, and targets for mysterious fires.
It is hard to understand how the Park Service and other agencies have the money to buy out local communities but according to reports we have seen, they are over $5 billion behind in deferred maintenance.
"The Nature Conservancy and other land trusts began to circle like buzzards. They would buy from financially distressed landowners, and then turn the land over to the Federal government. Time after time this happened, quietly, secretly and silently they helped undercut the community gradually eliminating the tax base, the economic base, and the population. Yet nicer homes with nice views seemed to be selectively occupied by strangers with connections, who were frequently heard touting the Park Service. Some of them were park officials.
"We called our Senators and Congressman for help to stop the Eminent Domain and Condemnation. They would write a letter to the Park Service but the mass land acquisition just kept on and on.
"One Senate staff person told me that if the Senator had known he would end up as a management consultant for continuing problems between landowners and the Park Service, he would never have voted for the bill.
He had not realized that getting a park appears to mean a never ending conflict between the Park Service and the local community that had somehow been targeted for removal and replacement by a favored political class. The staff person said he had not heard of the history of what the Park Service had done before in other areas. The Senator and his staff had believed the reassurances by officials and the environmentalist lobbyists.
"Local officials can vouch for that ever the present conflict. Local elected officials were not consulted as the Park Service and land trusts purchased easements on large parcels without notifying or discussing the issue with local elected officials. Elected officials would wake up in the morning to find their tax base gone, and their future with it. And they had no say in the matter. No advance notice.
Virtually no companies would invest in their county now. There was no land base. One day they had a future and the next day it was gone."
"As properties were taken off the tax rolls, the schools and county services began to suffer. Several closed, making longer trips to school necessary for families. The school district didn't have the money for the necessary busses. Roads began to close. As the Park Service purchased large areas, the agency put up chains across the roads. Some of these roads had been used for years by neighbors as access points to the river or to go camping, woodcutting or berry picking. Usually we knew another way around but over time, all the access was closed off to large areas.
"Churches, service clubs and other community services began to close.
The library was in trouble. The hours were cut for it and other county services. There had been several markets in town and three gas stations. There is only one of each now and it looks like the store will close. That means an 80 mile drive to Millersville for groceries.
Over time, other essential services and stores began to disappear.
"When the park was created they promised tourism. I don't know where it is. We gave up a lot of good jobs for this park and the tourists don't come. We had always had the scenery. The Park Service didn't create that, and didn't do much else either besides the restrictions it imposed. Several motels and restaurants were built in anticipation of the visitors. All but one restaurant is closed, and it cut its hours back. We have two motels still open but they are struggling.
We have a very nice ski area but a Park Service trail runs through it. The agency has harassed the owners so often that they're close to giving up. They can't get any kind of commitment from the Park Service as to a final trail location so they can't invest in modernizing and expanding the ski area. There sure are a lot of people in town who would benefit if the ski area were allowed to meet its potential.
We had thought the Park Service supported recreation. Now it seems the opposite is true. We heard from people out West that the Park Service and the environmental groups were increasingly becoming anti-recreation. It couldn't be true we said. It looks like we were wrong. They seem to be against skiing and snowmobiling. It doesn't make sense.
"The county and the town had no choice but to raise our taxes. The tax base for the county was shrinking almost daily. We had one local bank and several bank branches. Now there is only one branch open as part of the market, but it may go away too. The banks have not made loans in our town for several years now because the future is unstable. They won't make loans to loggers, farmers, ranchers, equipment suppliers, or small businessmen because of the threat from the Feds. No new houses have been built in some time. The theater closed and the cable television company is considering shutting down.
It feels like a ghost town.
"Some of my neighbors are determined to stay and suffer the consequences and severe hardships of living within a now nearly all Federal enclave. I love my town. I was born and raised here, went away to college and came back. It looks like that even though I stood up to those Federal land acquisition agents, there will soon be nothing left to stand up for. I never thought I'd be a willing seller. But I am now. They didn't tell us that this is what 'willing seller' means."
-----The "willing buyer, willing seller procedure of acquiring land touted by park officials is 'meaningless' and a more proactive method is generally used," said William Kriz, chief of Land Acquisition in an article in the Concord Journal (Massachusetts) in 1988.
http://www.moosecove.com/propertyrights/index.shtml#willingsellermyth
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Get Maps Of Rim of the Valley And San Gabriel Mt Land Grab
It’s critical that you get copies of the maps of the National Park Service San Gabriel River Watershed Study and their study of the Rim of the Valley area which has not been finalized yet.
However, maps of both areas are on the respective websites listed below.
Join the effort to protect access and use of the San Gabriel Mountains and not allow the National Park Service to take over the Angeles National Forest or the San Bernardino National Forest.
You certainly do not want the Park Service to take control over the huge amount of private property the proposed new Federal Monument or National Park will surround. There are two studies in process.
The most important thing you can do now is order a printed copy of both the San Gabriel River Watershed Study as well as digital access to the study and the maps. The final study has been sent to Congress.
-----1. San Gabriel Mountains Watershed. Completed. You can download maps and order a copy of the study by going on the following website:
***** Here is the website for the San Gabriel River Study. This study is complete and has been sent to Congress.
To understand the scope of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, look at the maps for the Rim of the Valley and the San Gabriel River Watershed and combine the area. We believe it is likely that the San Bernardino National Forest will also be included in any National Monument declaration by President Obama.
For a map of the Study Area, go to the following site and click on Study Area.
-----San Gabriel River Study: http://www.nps.gov/pwro/sangabriel
If you have trouble getting the website to work, just copy the URL above into Google and that will get you where you want to go.
-----Get on the e-mail list for the new San Gabriel Mountains NRA (National Park). Here is their e-mail: pwr_sangabriel@nps.gov
Proposed Park Service San Gabriel Mts Nat. Park
Go to the San Gabriel Watershed and Mountains Study to see the size of this new park proposal that will be added eventually to the huge Rim of the Valley National Park ultimately locking up hundreds of thousands of acres around Los Angeles and area communities.
There are 172,000 landowners who own property within the boundary of the proposed Rim of the Valley National Park. We do not have the current information for the San Gabriel River Watershed Study area.
Go to www.nps.gov/pwro/sangabriel to see the Park Service announcement. You can also see a map.
Urgent Action needed to stop this huge new threat to landowners and cabinowners. The Forest Service must maintain control over the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests.
Don’t believe them when they say this is not a proposal for a National Park. In my first meeting with the Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in 1978 he told me that: “If Congress puts a circle around a land area, we’re going to own it all.” And he meant it. (Said by David Hales in 1978.)
Study Area –Rim of the Valley and the San Gabriel River Watershed Park Plan.
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-----2. Here is the website for the Rim of the Valley Study. Go to the website and see a map of the Rim of the Valley. It is not a perfect copy of the map. But it is good enough.
Website: http://www.nps.gov/pwro/rimofthevalley
Mail: National Park Service
Rim of the Valley Corridor Special Resource Study
570 W. Avenue 26, #175
Los Angeles, CA 90065
To see an Map outline of the Study Area go to: Look for and Click where it says: Study Area.
Get on the Park Service e-mail list for Rim of the Valley.
Here is the Park Service Rim of the Valley Contact Information.
E-mail: pwr_rimofthevalley@nps.gov
Phone: Anne Dove, Project Manager (323) 441-9307
Margie Steigerwald, Planner (805) 370-2373
You can see a more complete map by going to http://www.landrights.org and click on Rim of the Valley on the Homepage.
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Critical: There are two processes going on. One is the Rim of the Valley National Park or NRA and the other the San Gabriel River Watershed or San Gabriel Mts NRA. They will likely eventually be combined into a giant National Park or National Monument.
-----Rim of the Valley will place a Park Service noose around the necks of 172,000 threatened landowners. 158,000 in LA County and
14,000 in Ventura County. Thousands more people in the San Gabriel River watershed will also be affected.
The regulatory cost is staggering. Landowners and cabinowners have no idea what is coming at them.
Rim of the Valley:
The Rim of the Valley National Park would surround the:
parts of the Santa Monica Mountains;
the Santa Susanna Mountains;
the San Gabriel Mountains;
the Verdugo Mountains;
the San Rafael Hills;
Nearly the entire Angeles National Forest, part of the San Bernardino NF and adjacent connector areas to the Los Padres National Forests will be made part of the Rim of the Valley National Park and change control to the National Park Service. This means the loss of access and closed roads in the Angeles National Forest and the San Bernardino National Forest. It will mean huge loss of recreation.
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 Congressmen Adam Schiff.
The study area will encompass 491,518 acres not including all of San Gabriel River Watershed. 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. Thousands of homes, businesses and land parcels will be lost or affected.
You can see a high quality map prepared by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy by going to www.landrights.org <http://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 the Rim of the Valley by how they have shaded the areas in the map.
They call it a corridor but it actually surrounds and includes huge areas of private land and areas of Forest Service cabins. The Park Service does not like private land within their boundaries. They will try to buy it all or regulate it all over time. They will get rid of the cabins over time.
**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 as well as the San Gabriel Mountains NRA.
If you found this worthwhile, please share it with others. Thanks.
Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist, Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting. You can receive future articles by sending a request with your e-mail address to: jimbeers7@comcast.net