‘Public Land, Private Profit’

We applaud your article on the BLM (May 24), which provides an informative, if rare, peek at what is often called the “forgotten legacy” in the public lands system. The message should be clear to anyone reading about the haphazardness of BLM’s management, especially here in California; the agency’s policy-making apparatus is badly adrift. Ultimately, under federal law, Congress must decide how to protect the California desert.

Today the new regime has failed to offer any substantive, much less minor, changes in the agency’s land management programs or policies. As a result, many illogical, discredited and potentially ruinous practices continue unabated. Current policies, as contained in the California BLM Desert Plan, would also sanction large-scale cyanide gold strip mining. Such practices will dry up surrounding wells and streams and destroy wildlife habitat.

There is a well-documented pattern of mismanagement by BLM in the California desert. There is a significant leadership vacuum at the highest levels of the Department of Interior and BLM. Congress must act quickly to protect the desert. The California Desert Protection Act, introduced by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica), would ensure that 3 million acres of the desert will be preserved as national parklands. The National Park Service, with its respected record on preservation, can be entrusted to enhance the unique natural qualities found throughout areas such as Death Valley, East Mojave and Joshua Tree.

This transfer of land from BLM to the Park Service does not threaten to gut BLM’s management role in the California desert. Under the Cranston-Levine legislation, there would be an additional 4.5 million acres of BLM wilderness to manage. Miners, off-road vehicles and other interests would also have approximately 4.5 million acres to work with, under BLM jurisdiction, of course.

PATRICIA SCHIFFERLE

Regional Director

The Wilderness Society

San Francisco