Take Lake Berryessa Off The Map! Once again Congressman Mike Thompson is trying to slip one by the voters - this time with the help of President Obama and radical exclusionist groups. Thompson and proponents of the Berryessa Snow Mountain NCA, knowing that Cong. Thompson’s highly unpopular NCA bill will never pass Congress, are trying to bypass the voters and have the President declare Lake Berryessa a National Monument under the Antiquities Act - simply by a stroke of his pen! Lake Berryessa does not meet the basic standards of an NCA. And it especially doesn’t meet any criteria to become a National Monument. The Antiquities Act states that National Monuments should contain “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest” and be “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.” Lake Berryessa meets neither criteria and clearly falls into the “Rural Developed Setting” under the government’s own Water and Land Recreation Opportunity Spectrum Users Handbook (WALROS) quoted below. This designation should immediately exclude it from National Monument or NCA consideration. Lake Berryessa and the surrounding areas are already highly protected. Lake Berryessa is a man-made lake with no special historical or environmental significance, created by a minor dam and surrounded by bedroom communities and private land. There are seven resort areas for public recreation access. It has historically been a major public recreation destination. By law only genetically-manipulated rainbow trout are allowed to be stocked in it - not even normal trout! The lake is not even geographically connected on the map to the rest of the proposed NCA/National Monument which stretches far into Northern California. Just look at the map yourself! lakeberryessanews/2014/NCA%20Minus%20lake.jpg At a minimum, Lake Berryessa should be removed from the boundaries of any proposed National Monument or NCA, and the NCA should be renamed the Mendocino Snow Mountain NCA. Even then it does not meet any reasonable criteria to be designated a National Monument. WALROS Excerpt: A rural developed area is beyond a metropolitan area and the suburban ring of development. Rural developed areas may serve as bedroom communities for urban areas and may contain working farms, ranches, and towns. In this setting, primary road networks are common. Although development will be prevalent and common, the setting has a pastoral sense because of an interspersing of forests, water resources, hills, valleys, canyons, wetlands, open spaces, and agricultural lands. Naturally appearing shoreline edges are common, although various water controls or other structures are also common. Recreation management is prevalent and common but not as extensive as in an urban setting.” A National Monument designation would negatively affect residents, property owners, and ranchers in the boundaries. A National Monument designation could severely restrict public access to and future sustainable development at the lake - as could an NCA designation. Although proponents claim that a National Monument designation could have a positive economic impact, detailed studies of several National Monuments found none of the predicted increases in economic activity. And economic development is not why national monuments should be created in the first place. Monuments created under the Antiquities Act were meant to preserve scientifically and culturally valuable sites. Lake Berryessa, especially when compared to other valid National Monuments, is clearly not one of those. And the NCA map includes only half of the Snow Mountain Wilderness Area and only half of the Mendocino National Forest! What’s up with that? Glen and Colusa counties, which include that half of the Mendocino National Forest, oppose the NCA, that’s what’s up.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 15:59:06 +0000
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