August 3, 1999
1) Sen. Sessions Sponsors Pro-Parks Amendment
2) Dugger Mountain Wilderness Bill Introduced
3) City of Daphne Saves Its Last Undeveloped Waterfront
4) "Lost In Ozone" A B'ham News Editorial
5) SouthWings - Alabama's Environmental Air Force
6) Forever Wild to Hold Special Public Hearing in Fairhope
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BEN's "Thumbs Up" Department:
BEN would like to give two "Thumbs Up" to Senator
Jeff Sessions and Rep. Bob
Riley for their environmental leadership on LWCF (Sessions) and
Dugger
Mountain (Riley). Good Work!
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1. Senator Sessions Sponsors Pro-LWCF Amendment - Last
week, Senator Jeff
Sessions of Alabama (R) added his name to a proposed amendment
to the Senate
Interior Appropriations bill that will restore $30 million dollars
to fund
the Land Water and Conservation Fund's (LWCF) state matching grants
program.
LWCF is one of the most successful conservation projects in Alabama
and U.S.
history. Since its creation in 1965 more than 600 parks, recreation
areas
and open spaces have been created in Alabama alone. Nationally,
more than
37,000 parks have been founded.
By joining Senators Murkowski (Ala), Lautenberg (NJ) and Boxer
(Ca), in
co-sponsoring this amendment, Senator Sessions became the first
senator from
the South to sign on to this pro-parks amendment. It is great
to see an
Alabama Senator leading the South on this very important conservation
issue.
If you would like to thank Senator Sessions for providing his
leadership to
this issue, please contact him at: 202-224-3121 (Capital Switchboard).
The
amendment will be voted on this week, so you may also want to
contact other
senators and encourage them to follow Sen. Sessions and support
parks and
open space.
2. Dugger Mountain Wilderness Bill Introduced - Yesterday,
(August 2)
Republican Congressman Bob Riley announced at a press conference
in Piedmont,
Alabama that he has introduced a bill designating Dugger Mountain
as a
wilderness area. Dugger Mountain is the second highest peak in
Alabama, and
is one of the largest roadless areas and biologically diverse
regions in the
Alabama National Forests system. The bill (which is HR 2632) will
protect
more than 9200 acres from commercial logging, cattle grazing,
mining and
permanent road construction. The wilderness proposal has received
overwhelming public support, including the unanimous support of
the Calhoun
County Chamber of Commerce and local public officials.
Today, Rep. Riley is scheduled to testify in front of the House
Resources
Committee in support of Dugger Mountain. For more information
about Dugger
Mountain legislation and how you can support it, contact Pete
Conroy at
256-782-5681 or e-mail pconroy@jsucc.jsu.edu
3. City of Daphne Saves Its Waterfront - On Thursday
July 29th, officials
for the city of Daphne made the first of three payments to obtain
51 acres of
the city's last expanse of undeveloped waterfront property. The
city now
intends to develop the area as a park.
Fulfilling a lease-purchase agreement unanimously approved
last month by the
City Council, the city paid $963,333 toward the $2.89 million
price of the
property. The Trust for Public Lands a national nonprofit land
conservation
group negotiated the deal on the city's behalf.
The tract that was once slated to become a 43 - lot residential
subdivision
will now be developed as a park with emphasis on recreational,
historical and
environmental features and attractions. Among the historical attractions
is
a gigantic, ancient oak tree where Gen. Andrew Jackson is said
to have given
a speech to his troops on their march to Pensacola. For more information
on
this exciting project, contact the Trust for Public Lands at 850-222-7911.
4. "Lost In Ozone" B'ham News Editiorial -
Here are some excerpts from a
Birmingham News editiorial titled "Lost in Ozone" (July
29) on
Jefferson/Shelby counties ground-level ozone crisis.
"The federal Environmental Protection Agency, anticipating
even more breaking
of ground-level ozone limits in Jefferson county, has ordered
the
cancellation of all early-season college football games at Legion
Field.
Citing the fuel fumes and emissions thousands of cars and campers
will
create, the EPA has pulled the plug on September games for the
University of
Alabama and the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Canceled are
UA games with
Houston and Louisiana Tech, and UAB's game with Houston. There,
Got your
attention?
These are just jokes, of course. The EPA can't cancel football
games because
of air pollution. But that may be the kind of drastic action it
will take to
get lawmakers, cringing before an incensed , football deprived
public, off
their duffs and doing something - anything - about Birmingham's
ozone problem.
....Two of the best ways to make an impact on ozone are through
a vehicle
inspections program designed to identify polluting clunkers and
get them
repaired or off the road, and with improved mass transit that
helps reduce
the number of vehicles on the road.
Yet all we've gotten out of our lawmakers is repeated failure
to pass a fair,
sensible vehicle-inspection progam for Jefferson and Shelby counties,
and
their refusal to allow a small percentage of highway funds to
be earmarked
for public transportation instead of road-building."
5. SouthWings: Alabama's Environmental Air Force - An
"Environmental Air
Force"? You bet. In 1996, SouthWings, a non-profit corporation
out of
Chattanooga, Tennessee was founded to become just that - the "Air
Force" for
the environmental movement in the South. Southwings' mission is
to use light
aircraft for the sole purpose of educating public officials and
decisionmakers, conducting environmental research and promoting
advocacy work
to protect landscapes, historical landmarks and biological diversity.
SouthWings has already done extensive work (flying) in the Southern
Appalachian region and the coastlines of Alabama.
To learn more about SouthWings visit their website at:
http://www.southwings.org
or call their director Hume Davenport at
1-800-640-1131.
6. Forever Wild to Hold Special Public Hearing In Fairhope
- The Forever Wild
Board of Trustees has scheduled a Board Meeting to be held Friday
August 6th,
10:00 A.M. at the Fairhope Civic Center in Fairhope, Alabama.
At this
special meeting, the Forever Wild Board will receive public comments
relating
to the use and management of the recently acquired Mobile Delta
property.
The general public is invited to attend this meeting and urged
to submit
comments. If you cannot make this meeting written comments may
be sent to :
Forever Wild Land Trust, Room 464 Folsom Administrative Building,
64 North
Union Street, Montgomery, Alabama, 36130. For more additional
details about
the meeting please call 334-242-3484.
******
As the central district environmental representative for the Forever
Wild
Board, I am very interested to hear people's views on how we should
manage
the Delta lands. You can e-mail me at pkbyington@aol.com or call
at
205-226-7739 to give me your thoughts and advice. I will share
your comments,
especially written ones, with the board. P.B.
Please share BEN with friends and fellow conservationists.
If you have any questions about BEN, contact Pat Byington at
205-226-7739 or pkbyington@aol.com
