Tues. Nov. 13th.
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
It is very important that you testify.
HR 3287, the Tumacacori Highland Wilderness Area is a proposed new Forest Service Wilderness Area in Arizona on the border with Mexico. It will have a hearing in the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee Tuesday, November 13th.
Below is a Testimony Questionnaire for you to fill out and e-mail or fax back to the Committee by November 13th. Send it before that date if you can.
For this document to be considered highly valuable by the Members of the Committee, you need to fill in the appropriate space with your own personal comments or borrow from the statements we have included.
The Testimony Questionnaire gives you the opportunity to agree, disagree or offer no opinion on a series of statements.
We're not trying to trick you. American Land Rights agrees with all the statements, but you don't have to. Be sure to return the Testimony Questionnaire by November 13th so it gets there in time for the hearing.
-----Alert -- Be aware of the legal concept called "laches" or "sleeping on your rights." You may lose legal rights later if you fail to comment or testify on HR 3287. So at least send a letter opposing HR 3287. It can be as short as one page or longer.
HR 3287 would open a huge clear path for illegals and drug running while limiting the ability of law enforcement to intercede.
The HR 3287 Wilderness border bill is a fast track for illegal immigration
Rep. Raul Grijalva has introduced two bills that combined could be used to create a virtual freeway for illegals and drug smugglers into the United States.
Please use the attached Testimony Questionnaire to get on the record of the Hearing on HR 3287 opposing this vast opening in the border with Mexico.
See Action Items below.
Rep. Grijalva is Chairman of the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. As Committee Chairman, the Members almost always support their Chairman. We've included a complete list of Committee Members with their fax and e-mail addresses below.
The bill subject to the hearing is HR 3287, the Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Act of 2007 that creates a new Forest Service Wilderness Area in Arizona on the border with Mexico.
HR 3287 creates a new Wilderness area exactly where a major illegal immigration traffic area and drug smuggling pathway already exists.
Technically the proposed Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Area is not "on the border with Mexico." It is contiguous with the small, old, Pajarito Wilderness Area that is directly on the border and links the Pajarito Wilderness Area with Interstate 19 and the Interior of the country.
The other bill you should comment on is not on the official hearing list but you really cannot consider HR 3287, the Wilderness Bill, without considering HR 2593, The Boderlands Conservation and Security Act of 2007."
HR 2593 is not on the official subject list for the hearing on November 13th, but it is impossible to consider HR 3287 without also considering HR 2593. You should include comments about it in your testimony on HR 2593.
HR 2593 which would shackle the hands of the Border Patrol on Federal lands. HR 2593, called the "The Boderlands Conservation and Security Act of 2007," is authored by Subcommittee Chairman Raul Grijalva. It is full of misleading words to throw the reader off as to its true intent.
But you might as well just handcuff the Border Patrol on all Federal lands all along the Mexican Border if HR 2593 passes Congress. This bill will have a huge impact on the traffic of illegals and drugs. It even blocks the building of a fence along the border.
These two bills together create a freeway for illegal immigration and drug smuggling that will be protected while the Border Patrol is handcuffed.
By passing these two bills, Congress would create a massive area open to illegals and vastly strangle the ability of law enforcement and the Border Patrol to fight drug importation and illegal immigration.
Action Items:
-----1. Fill out and e-mail your Testimony Questionnaire on HR 3287, the new Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Area, to your Congressmen and the Members of the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee. Their e-mails and fax numbers are listed below. Please try to send it by Tuesday, November 13th.
-----2. Call your Congressman to ask him to call and write Members of the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee opposing passage of both HR 3287 and HR 2593. Any Congressman may be called at (202) 225-3121.
-----3. Get a copy of both bills. It's easy. You can read an actual copy of both bills by simply clicking on the bill number on the website of American Land Rights home page at www.landrights.org.
Click on the Grijalva Wilderness Corridor link and then click on the link to both HR 3287 and HR 2593.
-----4. Get a copy of the map of the proposed Tumacacori Highland Wilderness Area and see how it fits adjacent to other Federal lands along the border. See how it enhances an already highly used path used by illegals and drug runners into the United States. You will also see how what we call the HOBLE bill (HR2593) covers a huge section of the border all along the border with Mexico and prevents the Border Patrol and law enforcement from securing the area.
We've made up a rough map which has been posted to our website.
Go to www.landrights.org and look for Grijalva Border Wilderness Bills on the home page as well as the map of the proposed Wilderness Area.
-----5. Call any organizations you work with that should be informed about these bills. Don't assume they know already. Ask them to go to www.landrights.org for a copy of both bills as well as the map. Urge them to take immediate action with Congress to protect our border security.
-----6. Send a copy of your Testimony Questionnaire to Rob Bishop (R-UT), Ranking Minority Member of the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee. Send by e-mail to: casey.hammond@mail.house.gov or jason.knox@mail.house.gov
-----7. Rep. Raul Grijalva is Chairman of the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. Unless you turn them around, most of the Democrats are likely support Grijalva because he is Chairman. Some of the Republicans may also.
Your calls, faxes and e-mails can head off these terrible open border bills.
-----Below this line is your Testimony Questionnaire. Be sure to save it to your word processor and edit out our instructions and any other things you think are inappropriate. E-mail the completed Testimony Questionnaire to the e-mail addresses below plus that of your own Congressman. Be sure to write in the name of your Congressman and the other Congressman on the Committee you are sending this to.
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E-mail and Fax Deadline Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Congressional Testimony Questionnaire
Testimony For The Record -- HR 3287 --
Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Area
House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
You may go to www.landrights.org to get a fully formatted version of this Testimony Questionnaire to print out. Or just save this e-mail to your word processor and then send it out in your e-mail program.
Honorable __________________
US House of Representatives
HR 3287, the proposed Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Area, is a proposed new Forest Service Wilderness Area in Arizona that would open wide an existing clear path through the Coronado National Forest for illegals and drug running while limiting the ability of law enforcement to intercede.
The other bill you should consider is not part of the official hearing list but you really cannot consider HR 3287, the new Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Bill, without considering HR 2593 "The Boderlands Conservation and Security Act of 2007." HR 2593 would greatly handicap law enforcement and the Border Patrol in the proposed Wilderness Area and all Federal lands all along the border. It does not allow the Border Patrol to operate on Federal lands anywhere but is focused on a 150 mile stretch of border in just Arizona alone. HR 2593 is full of misleading words to throw the reader off as to its true intent.
The HR 3287 Wilderness border bill is a fast track for illegal immigration. Combined with the proposed HR 2593, these bills could be used to create a virtual freeway for illegals and drug smugglers as a fast track into the United States in an area exactly where a major illegal immigration traffic area and drug smuggling pathway already exists.
Technically the proposed Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Area is not "on the border with Mexico." It is contiguous with the small, old, Pajarito Wilderness Area that is directly on the border and links the Pajarito Wilderness Area with Interstate 19 and the Interior of the country.
Below are my concerns and testimony regarding the proposed HR 3287, the Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Area. Please include it in the official record of the November 13th hearing on HR 3287. Please also consider my concerns about HR 2593. Please consider a photocopy of this document as valid as the original.
Signature ________________________________
Print Your Name ______________________________
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Dear Private Property and Multiple-Use Advocate:
You must send your testimony in immediately. HR 3287, the proposed Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness Area in Arizona, will come up for a hearing in the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee on Tuesday, November 13th. It is imperative that you act now.
This bill proposes a new Wilderness area in National Forest administered land in the Tumacacori and Atascosa Mountains in Southern Arizona. The primary qualifications for Wilderness classification in the original legislation creating Wilderness Areas in the U.S. in 1964 was that the area be a "roadless area".
The Tumacacori area is crisscrossed by roads and the previous attempt to have it classified as "Wilderness" in about 1984 was rejected on the basis that it was not a roadless area.
While HR 2593, the Boderlands Conservation and Security Act of 2007," is not on the official subject list for the hearing on November 13th, it is impossible to consider HR 3287 without also considering HR 2593. You should include comments about it in your testimony on HR 2593.
HR 2593 would shackle the hands of law enforcement and the Border Patrol on Federal lands. But you might as well just handcuff the Border Patrol on all Federal lands all along the Mexican Border if HR 2593 passes Congress. This bill will have a huge impact on the traffic of illegals and drugs. It even blocks the building of a fence along the border.
A vast historic network of roads still exists with a huge increase in population of Arizona. The roads receive much greater use now than when the previous effort was made to classify the area as "wilderness".
The current effort to create a Wilderness Area endeavors to circumvent the "roadless" requirement by "cherry stemming" the Wilderness Area into multiple strips of Wilderness between existing roads. The resulting map of the "Wilderness Area" is ridiculous: a large number of fingers of Wilderness between roads.
It is our understanding that officials of the Forest Service have said that if the Wilderness Area is approved by Congress, they will have to convert it into a "roadless area" by closing all the roads. This will make it impractical for the large number of hunters with limited means to hike many miles into the places where they previously hunted.
The off-highway vehicle group who previously drove on the roads will be kept out. The bird watchers and nature lovers will also be excluded unless they pack in. The elderly and handicapped will be eliminated from enjoying the area. The new Wilderness Area would have much increased administrative costs with no additional funds and a very negative effect on the local economy by keeping people out.
Local ranchers have worked hard to protect the area for many years. For example the Atascosa Ranch, most of which is in the proposed Wilderness Area, has now voluntarily reduced stocking to only16% of the permitted cattle stocking 25 years ago and to only 25% of the current permitted stocking. This ranch, and the other eight ranches affected by the Proposed Wilderness, look very much as Coronado may have seen them 300 years ago.
Law enforcement will be affected severely. The Border Patrol will be excluded from the existing roads, but the aliens who are breaking Federal and State laws will continue to use the roads and be protected in their criminal activity.
The small existing Pajarito Wilderness Area on the Mexican border will become contiguous with the large proposed Tumacacori Wilderness area that in turn connects with the I-19 and Arivaca highways past the existing Border Patrol checkpoint on I-19. This is in the currently most active route of ingress of illegal immigrants in the Country.
Please act on this as soon as you get this message. Do not put it off until tomorrow. That may be too late. Supporters of this bill are trying to ram this bill through before people like you know how dangerous it is.
Below is a Testimony Questionnaire for you to fill out and send back to your Congressman and the Members of the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives.
Make sure you fill in the name of your Congressman and each of the Congressmen on the Committee that you intend to e-mail your Testimony Questionnaire to.
In the next section you will see a series of statements about HR 3287 that American Land Rights agrees with, but you don't have to. Please mark them with your opinion. You may write in additional comments.
Simply save this file in your word processor, edit it as you see fit, and then e-mail it back to the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee and its various members. Personalize your Testimony as much as possible. Don't just circle our Agree, Disagree or No opinion. Add personal comments in the space provided. All the Committee e-mails and fax numbers are listed below. Be sure to delete the portions that are instructions from us or not appropriate for Congress.
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This Testimony Questionnaire is about getting your testimony. Your Congressman and the Members of the Committee want to know what you think. It is critical that you write your responses to the statements with your opinion and not what you think we would want you to write. You are free to disagree with us.
-----1. It does not make sense to change the definition Wilderness Area from a "roadless area" to parallel strips of Wilderness between existing roads?
Agree..Disagree...No opinion
-----2. It is not fair or right for the Forest Service to in effect prohibit hunting in an area long popular for Arizona hunters and specified as hunting units and administered by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The ordinary hunter has difficulty hiking five miles over mountainous terrain, kill a deer and then carrying it five miles back outside the Wilderness Area. Motorized transportation in this area is critical.
Agree..Disagree...No opinion
-----3. The Federal Government should not be allowed to prohibit the use of existing roads by off-highway vehicle enthusiasts who are obeying State laws and have driven over these roads for 60 years?
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----4. Prohibiting ranchers from motorized access and the use of pumps for stock wells and the maintenance of ranch improvements is not fair and appears to constitute the Regulatory Takings of the ranchers' livelihood? Retroactively forcing ranchers to use nineteenth century tools is completely unreasonable.
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----5. The Border Patrol should not be excluded and part of the National Security of the United States should not be sacrificed in order to create a Wilderness Area that is not even Roadless as required by law.
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----6. It's not right that illegal immigrants and drug smugglers should take precedence over honest, hard working Americans whose recreation or livelihood is damaged?
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----7. The flood of illegal immigration through the proposed Wilderness Area has produced almost a state of war over drugs and immigration The Forest Service has advised hiking clubs that the Proposed Wilderness Area is too dangerous to hike in. In Green Valley and vicinity there have been almost continuous home break-ins, high speed chases, fatal and non-fatal shootings, and other atrocities. The proposed Wilderness Area would make these problems worse.
Agree..Disagree...No opinion
-----8. The most pristine parts of the Proposed Wilderness Area have already been trashed by illegal immigrants who leave ribbons of garbage along their well defined trails. The Forest Service has already lost control of illegal immigration from Mexico, but it will worsen if the Wilderness bill is passed.
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----9. The Federal Government should not usurp the rights of the State of Arizona in regulating hunting and recreation?
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----10. Wilderness is an important tool for protection of pristine areas. The proposed Tumacacori Wilderness does not qualify as a Wilderness because of far too many well-traveled roads exist and are needed by local citizens.
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----11. Law enforcement and the Border Patrol must not be handicapped by arbitrary placement of Wilderness Areas that prevent the authorities from protecting and enforcing our borders.
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----12. Creation of the new Wilderness will lock people out of the area causing financial harm to local businesses and local communities.
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----13. HR 2593 would shackle the hands of law enforcement and the Border Patrol on Federal lands. You might as well just handcuff law enforcement and the Border Patrol on all Federal lands all along the Mexican Border if HR 2593 passes Congress. This bill will have a huge impact on the traffic of illegals and drugs. It even blocks the building of a fence along the border.
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
-----14. The area of the Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness is rough country and often very hot. A vehicle with water is often the life support system for the driver and other occupants. Excluding motorized vehicles unnecessarily places many citizens at risk.
Agree...Disagree...No opinion
(Your written individual comments here are essential if you want Members of Congress to really pay attention to this document. You may borrow or expand on the statements above and write them in below.)
(If needed, use additional sheets or attach a personal letter)
To validate your comments please fill in completely (PRINT or TYPE) and be sure to sign.
Signature_________________________________ Name____________________________________________
E-Mail_______________________________ Fax ___________________ Phone ____________________
Address_______________________________ Town______________________ State_____ Zip____________
Please do not fail to send this testimony questionnaire even if you receive it late. It will often be accepted.
E-mail and Fax Deadline Tuesday, November 13, 2007
End of Testimony Questionnaire. Please edit out beyond this point before you e-mail it to Members of Congress.
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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. E-mail them using the e-mail of the staff person we have listed. If you use that list and the e-mail that fails to work, just call the staff member at the Capitol Switchboard number we've listed and get the correct e-mail. Be sure to let us know about the correction. Congressional staff are changing all the time.
Minority Members (Republicans)
Ranking Minority Member: Rob Bishop (R-UT) - Fax: (202) 225-5857 - email: casey.hammond@mail.house.gov
John Duncan (R-TN) - Fax (202) 225-6440 - email: scott.fischer@mail.house.gov
Chris Cannon (R-UT) - Fax (202) 225-5629 - email: matthew.landoli@mail.house.gov
Tom Tancredo (R-CO) - Fax (202) 226-4623 - email: macarthur.zimmerman@mail.house.gov
Jeff Flake (R-AZ) - Fax (202) 226-4386 - email: chandler.morse@mail.house.gov
Rick Renzi (R-AZ) - Fax (202) 226-9739 - email: jim.lester@mail.house.gov
Steve Pearce (R-NM) - Fax (202) 225-9599 - email: tim.charters@mail.house.gov
Henry Brown (R-SC) - Fax (202) 225-3407 - email: chris.berardini@mail.house.gov.
Louie Gohmert (R-TX) - Fax (202) 226-5866 - email: ashley.callen@mail.house.gov
Tom Cole (R-OK) - Fax (202) 225-3512 - email: scottparman@mail.house.gov
Dean Heller (R-NV) - Fax (202) 225-5697 - email: leeann.walker@mail.house.gov
William Sali (R-ND) - Fax (202) 225-3029 - email: matthew.hite@mail.house.gov
Douglas Lamborn (R-CO) - Fax (202) 226-2638 - email: melissa.carlson@mail.house.gov
Don Young (R-AK) - Fax (202) 225-0425 - email: pamela.day@mail.house.gov
Majority Members (Democrats):
Chairman -- Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) - Fax (202) 226-2301 - email: david.watkins@mail.house.gov
Dale Kildee (D-MI) - Fax (202) 225-6393 - email: travis.talvitie@mail.house.gov
Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)-Fax (202) 225-4580 - email: wendy.clerinx@mail.house.gov
Donna Christensen (D-VI) - Fax (202) 225-5517 - email: brian.modeste@mail.house.gov
christopher.hartmann@mail.house.gov
David Daniel Boren (D-OK) - Fax (202) 225-3038 - email: jason.buckner@mail.house.gov
John Sarbanes (D-MD) - Fax (202) 225-9219 - email: jason.gleason@mail.house.gov
Peter DeFazio (D-OR) - Fax (202) 225-0032 - email: susan.brown@mail.house.gov
Ron Kind (D-WI) - Fax (202) 225-5739 - email: david.degennaro@mail.house.gov
Lois Capps (D-CA) - Fax (202) 225-5632 - email: jonathan.levenshus@mail.house.gov
garth.vanmeter@mail.house.gov
Mark Udall (D-CO) - Fax (202) 226-7840 - email: stan.sloss@mail.house.gov
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) - Fax (202) 225-5823 - email: josh.albert@mail.house.gov
Heath Shuler (D-NC) - Fax (202) 226-6422 - email: sean.obrien@mail.house.gov
Nick Rahall (D-WV) - Fax (202) 225-9061 - email: jim.zoia@mail.house.gov