Obama signs landmark wilderness bill; restoration of key California river includ

Date: March 30, 2009
Contact: Kendra Barkoff
(202) 208-6416
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s Remarks at Today’s Presidential Signing of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009

Washington, D.C. – Today, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar praised President Barack Obama’s signing of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 into law at the White House. The measure put into law the 26-million acre National Landscape Conservation System within the Bureau of Land Management and adds 2 million acres of new wilderness across the country. It will also preserve 1,000 new miles of wild and scenic rivers.

Secretary Salazar’s introduction of President Barak Obama and remarks at today’s signing, as prepared for delivery, are below:

Remarks of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
At the Signing of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009
March 30, 2009

It is an honor to be here today with all of you who worked so hard, for so many years, to write this new chapter for America’s treasured landscapes.

Over the last two centuries, America’s best ideas for protecting our vast lands and open spaces have often arrived while our country has faced its greatest trials.

It was in the midst of our nation’s bloodiest conflict – the Civil War – that President Abraham Lincoln set aside the lands that are now Yosemite National Park.

It was at the dawn of the 20th century, with our cities and industries growing and our open lands and watersheds disappearing, that President Teddy Roosevelt expanded our national parks and set aside the world’s largest system of lands dedicated to wildlife conservation, the national wildlife refuge system.

And it was in the darkest days of the Great Depression that President Franklin Roosevelt put three million young Americans to work in the Civilian Conservation Corps. They built the trails, campgrounds, parks, and conservation projects we enjoy today.

In these moments when our national character is most tested we rightly seek to protect that which fuels our spirit.

For America’s national character - our optimism, our dreams, our shared stories – are rooted in our landscapes.

We each have places we love. For me, it is the San Luis Valley in Colorado. It is the lands my family has farmed for five generations. The waters of the San Antonio River. The snows on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

As Americans, we are defined most by our people and our places. President Barack Obama is one of those Americans. As a young boy he discovered the beautiful landscapes of America with his grandmother, mother, and sister. They drove from Seattle down the coast to California. They saw the Grand Canyon, the Great Plains, and the Great Lakes. And then: Yellowstone.

Those experiences – those places – bind us together as one people.

Yes, we are in a time of deep uncertainty and economic pain. But for Americans, moments of crisis are opportunities to rebuild, renew, and restore the places we cherish.

We are now at such a moment in our nation’s history. A transformational moment. A new beginning, led by a president who tells us it is time once again for America’s best ideas.

It is time once again to create for our children, and our grandchildren, a legacy of stewardship on the scale of the challenges we face.

Our population has nearly doubled since President John F. Kennedy created the Land and Water Conservation Fund in the 1960s. And though we have made progress, our open lands, wetlands, and wildlife are still disappearing.

But in a few minutes, President Obama will sign legislation that represents one of the most significant protections for our treasured landscapes in a generation. He will do so less than 100 days into his presidency.

This legislation will put into law the 26-million acre National Landscape Conservation System within the Bureau of Land Management. It will add 2 million acres of new wilderness across the country. It will preserve 1,000 new miles of wild and scenic rivers. And it will better protect some of America’s most special places - from Oregon’s Mount Hood to the dinosaur tracks of New Mexico to Virginia’s wild forests.

This bill is a Herculean first step in President Obama’s agenda for our open lands.

It would not have happened without the patient and tireless efforts of the people in this room and Americans across the country: hard-working citizens who are saving historic sites in their communities so that we never forget our past; tribal leaders who are forging solutions to complex and long-standing natural resource challenges; mayors and county commissioners who are protecting the backcountry for hunting and fishing and hiking; business leaders who know that good stewardship makes good economic sense; and the many members of the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats – including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi - whose leadership and persistence made this possible.

This historic legislation lays the foundation for the agenda for America’s treasured landscapes that President Obama asked me to work on.

I am proud this bill is here today. I am proud of the bipartisan work that went into it. And I am honored to introduce to all of you the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.




— DOI —

Sounds good although I was hoping there might be a reprieve for my favorite source for oysters - Drake's Bay Oyster Farm at Point Reyes National Seashore. Frankly it's been a mess between Superintendent Don Neubacher, the new owner (the Lunny Family) and a park wildlife biologist. The new owner has invested in much needed improvements and cleanup, but is facing an expiration of a special use permit in 2012. They want to eventually convert the current land of the farm into wilderness area. Apparently he's got a shellfish harvesting permit (expiring in about 2029) from the State of California, but without nearby land operations it'll probably be impractical to harvest.

I'm really torn on this. Certainly I can understand the desire for more wilderness, but this is special case where I think the advantages weigh the disadvantages. The farm has been very good at minimizing impacts on harbor seals and mitigating the poor conditions in which the previous owner left the operations. At one point this area was going to be turned into a subdivision, but I think they have a really nice balance between cattle/dairy operations, low-impact farming, and NPS control.

Right now the farm's owners are hoping for legislative action to renew the permit, while the Superintendent claims his hands are tied that they must remove an obstacles to declaring this area wilderness.