How about a great audio program on this issue? 

Click here to listen!

What is a monument?  Unfortunately it is not a really big statue of a man on a horse with a sword ... that's the bad news.  It could be 600,000 acres if you're talking about the Siskiyou Crest National Monument being proposed in far Northern CA and Southern OR.  It might also be 3,000,000 acres if we're discussing the Modoc Plateau National Monument being proposed in our poorest CA county.  How's that going to help them keep their hospital and other vital facilities open?  These are but 2 of the 9 monuments in the works for President Obama.  You can read all of the gory details in the leaked memo from the Dept of the Interior listed below.

Where do monuments come from?  They arrive sort of like babies from the stork all magical and mysterious in the night.  Shhhh, the president usually pens these executive orders quietly in the final days of his presidency.  The 1906 Antiquities Act is the cover for the lack of congressional approval. This has been done over 100 times and how often have you heard of it?  I rest my case ... the stork is more familiar to us.  Check out the list from Clinton's final days in the links below. 

Who is affected?  It ranges from small wild animals to trees to cattle to business owners to your grandparents and everything in between.  In the Siskiyou Crest proposal there are some 599 private parcels of land that will be enveloped by this 1,000 square mile of monument.  Yep, 600,000 acres is 1,000 square miles!  Will cattle be allowed to graze ... probably not.  Timber harvested ... unlikely.  Roads improved ... closed is the ultimate goal.  Property values increase ... with no ability to improve the most basic things like their roads how likely is it that someone would want to buy the property?  There's always Uncle Sam with our wallet to take that land off their hands ... see the big picture unfold yet?  You already have enough information to see the immensity of this land grab using our tax dollars.

Who benefits?  In a puppies and blue sky world it's all about the earth and the woodland creatures and saving every blade of grass and creating an ecological utopia where trees just grow and grow and manage themselves and the skies were not cloudy all day ... OOPS, that's a line from "Home on the Range" and well, ahem, that's not going to work for the blue sky and puppies crowd who will be managing this new found wealth of 14 MILLION acres in Obama's 9 monuments.  They want to keep all those nasty, rotten humans in the city where they belong!  Bravo for BLM and the Forest Service and KS Wild and the Nature Conservancy and Earth First (log the other planets later) and Greenpeace.  Wow, throw the recyclables in the landfill or  throw up ... your option.  The fun is over.  Bottom line: YOU the taxpayer do NOT benefit but you get to pay the bill.

Why should you care?  The people you have elected to represent you are not able to change this process without passing new legislation to limit the power of the president.  Isn't it about time we gave the power back to our LOCAL political leaders because they know our area best and are directly accountable to us every election?  Two bills outlined below will be reintroduced in this congressional session.  Make sure your federal representatives hear that you support the return of this power back to congress where it belongs and WE the PEOPLE can be heard once more!

What can you do? I would start by asking friends and family if they know what a monument is.  I freely admit that I picture a man on a horse with a sword and they always laugh.  Tell them that it's really a large amount of land and start with the 600,000 acres in Siskiyou County.  It's a big number and their eyes will bug out.  Now move in for the kill.  Whisper that this isn't really very big compared to the Modoc Plateau.  Ask them to guess how big that one is and WAIT for an answer.  They always guess 1 Million acres.  Say nothing and hold up 3 fingers.  Peel them off the ceiling and have them check out a few of the links below just so they can be sure you're not making all of this up.  Encourage them to tell everyone they know and pass on the information to their friends.  Join the Monuments and Land Use Issues Group on this site and stay connected!

What's the rush?  The stork comes in the 2012 election when Obama becomes a one term president.  If congress has not limited the 1906 Antiquities Act we'll watch another 14 Million acres (thatFwww.conservapedia.com/United_States_Congress" title="United States Congress">United States Congress and signed into law by The Antiquities Act of 1906

The Antiquities Act of 1906, officially An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities (16 USC 431-433), was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906 giving the President of the United States the power to restrict the use of public lands owned by the federal government by Executive Order, bypassing Congressional approval. The Act has been used over one hundred times since its passage. ^[1] It is also significant for establishing penalties for the vandalism or destruction of artifacts on public lands.   

click to read full version

Helpful Links

• Department of Interior leaked document on Obama's proposed monuments

• Review of Clinton Monuments in congressional brief

• Introduction to Forest Management Planning

• Debate on CA Forest Management

• Timber Harvest Plan Issues and Costs

• Letter to the editor Medford Mail Tribune

  Taking Liberty  

http://www.discerningtoday.org/ALF/TLmenu.html

•     Marsha Armstrong’s Monuments Page - TONS of great information can be found here!
  

http://users.sisqtel.net/armstrng/monument.htm 

•  KS Wild Siskiyou-Crest Monument (proponents of the monument)

http://www.siskiyoucrest.org/

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  These bills will be reintroduced in the 2011 congressional session.  This will put the power back into the hands of congress where it should be!!  Ask your congressman to="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-4703">http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-4703

   

  H.R.4703

  •  House Bill 4703 (authored by Congressman Wally Herger)

  3/2/2010 Referred to House subcommittee. Status:
  Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

  
  

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  Latest Title: To prohibit the further extension or establishment
  of national monuments in California except by express authorization of
  Congress.
  Sponsor: Rep
  Herger, Wally [CA-2] (introduced 2/25/2010)      Cosponsors (9)
  Latest Major Action: 3/2/2010 Referred to House subcommittee. Status:
  Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

  
  

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  SUMMARY AS OF:
  2/25/2010--Introduced.

  Prohibits any further extension or establishment of national parks and monuments
  in California from being undertaken, except by express authorization of
  Congress.

  
  

  •  HR 5580: National Monument Designation Transparency and Accountability Act of 2010

  http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-5580