FRED KELLY GRANT LTD

P. O. Box 1786

Nampa , Idaho 83653

fred@justicemyass.com                                                                             208-466-1545

February 26, 2008

Hon.  Joel Kretz

Washington State House of Representatives

Dear Representative Kretz,

            Thank you on behalf of Stewards of the Range, American Land Foundation, Liberty Matters and Owyhee County , Idaho for undertaking the effort of trying to halt SB 5318.  The entire Y2Y concept is based on an attack on the economy of western rural areas.  Farmers, ranchers, miners and small loggers will be dealt another severe blow by the bill requiring Washington ’s natural resource agencies to cooperate with the sponsors of the corridor concept.  It has become difficult, at best, for traditional rural workers to sustain a livelihood, caught as they are,  in the vice of government restrictions.  To pass this bill, which links Washington agencies with organizations which are anti-natural resource producers, will add one more detriment to maintenance of the rural economies.

            It is not just the rural workers who will suffer from this step.  It is also every rural community which relies on the business of agricultural and natural resource workers.  Those rural communities rely on agricultural workers to sustain their law enforcement activities, their emergency services (through volunteers), their school coaches and support staffs (through volunteers) and all other community services.  The community cohesiveness in rural areas has been noted by economic and social studies as being stronger than in any urban area.  That cohesiveness rests on the interdependence of business, community efforts and rural workers.  What can be paid for by public dollars in Seattle , cannot be paid for by public dollars in rural Washington .  But, the cohesiveness will disappear if the rural economy suffers the hit of removing thousands of acres of land from fruitful production. 

I am sure that the members of the Washington House of Representatives are aware of the cohesiveness which exists among their rural constituents, and I am sure that they would not intentionally disrupt that community existence.  But, that is exactly what will happen if SB 5318 passes as a first step in development of the Y2Y corridor which attempts to restrict human activities.

            The result of SB 5318 will be the removal of land from traditional and fruitful production.  We don’t need to speculate in order to reach that conclusion.  Keep in mind the efforts we all made to stop the various Columbia River ecosystem plans which would have killed the rural economy.  Without the efforts of former Congressman Nedercutt of Washington , we would be working under the yoke of severe government restrictions inherent in the Columbia ecosystem plans.  The Y2Y corridor concept is nothing more than an expanded ecosystem plan for restricted human use.  A simple review of the website for the Y2Y project shows the intent to restrict human use, and to hit at the heart of the rural economy.

            Why does Owyhee County , Idaho care about SB 5318?  Because passage of the Bill will inevitably cause restrictions to be imposed on Idaho which is included in the corridor.  Passage will be the first domino to start the collapse of the rural economy in Oregon , Idaho , Montana and Wyoming .

            Why do Stewards of the Range and its allies American Land Foundation and Liberty Matters care about SB 5318?  Because our many members in Washington State   oppose land use and private property restrictions of the type contemplated by Y2Y and SB 5318.  The supporters of the Bill might say “this is not implementation of the corridor”, but in fact it is.  To authorize the wildlife agency of the state to work with the sponsors of Y2Y instead of the interests of local citizens is in fact implementation of the corridor.  All over the west, counties and other units of local government are working toward establishing a “coordination” relationship with federal land and resource management agencies in order to give local government a seat at the table to protect the economy and social structure of their rural communities.  This Bill will negatively impact any county in Washington which is trying to establish such coordination. 

If the Washington state wildlife agency is mandated to work with sponsors of the corridor, the federal agencies can use that mandate to work through the state agency to impose restrictions on land users without running the risk of being stopped through county or city coordination. We have seen such federal strategy emerge elsewhere.  In Idaho several years ago, when the Bureau of Land Management was forestalled through the county coordination mandate of the Federal Land Policy Management Act from imposing anti-grazing restriction which would stop grazing when the forage reached a 6 inch level, the BLM attempted to get the State Department of Lands to adopt the 6 inch level as a state mandate.  Fortunately, Owyhee County and Stewards of the Range were able to stop this end run by appearing before the State Land Board and a Joint Legislative Agriculture Committee to point out how the federal agency was attempting to by-pass the federal statute.

Federal agencies will be able to use SB 5318’s passage as a means of avoiding local government by working through your state wildlife agency.  The losers will be landowners, farmers, ranchers, and all rural communities.  Passage will assure that local interests will be subverted to a state agenda developed in conjunction with federal agencies and certain conservation groups which are anti-natural resource production, and thus anti-rural community lifestyle.  The unfortunate result will be a state agenda which local communities cannot afford to resist.  Passage will mean that the Washington legislature has chosen to subjugate local rural communities to the dictates of groups who care nothing for the residents of such communities.

Furthermore, passage of the Bill will adversely affect even residents of urban areas who enjoy snowmobiles, off highway vehicles, horseback, hiking, skiing and all other forms of outdoor recreation.  Just as in the prior Columbia River ecosystem plans, there will be restrictions placed on outdoor recreation uses far beyond what your legislators would specifically impose on residents of their districts.  We urge each member of the House of Representatives to consider the anti-recreation agendas of the conservation groups who support the Y2Y corridor.  Before they vote for SB 5318, they should review the agendas of these groups, and consider the adverse impact of those agendas on their constituents who currently enjoy the great outdoors of Washington .  The mandate to the Washington state agencies inherent in SB 5318 will align them with the conservation groups who oppose outdoor recreation.

The end-run on local coordination, discussed above, will also be used to restrict or eliminate recreation uses.   Owyhee County has several times stood in the path of federal agency attempts to limit recreation use.  A motorcycle group known as SIDRA holds annual competitive races on the federal lands in the County.  When the Bureau of Land Management decided to end the races, it did so by denying a permit at the 11^th hour before a national event.  Hundreds of participants were already en route to Idaho for the race.  Owyhee County invoked its statutory coordinate status under the Federal Land Policy Management Act to intercede for SIDRA.  As a result the race went on as planned.  Local governments in Washington will be deprived of that coordinate status if the federal agencies and anti-recreation conservation groups can utilize the state agency as a barrier to recreation use.

Wallowa County , Washington has used local government authority granted by the Federal Land Policy Management Act to protect its traditional economy against restrictions resulting from species protection plans.  If SB 5318 passes, all the effort made by the citizens of that County could be swept aside by implementation of species programs initiated by the State agency for the anti-rural conservation groups.

An objective of Y2Y, as shown by its website, is removal of the obstacle of private property rights to an all encompassing “nature protection” program.  The recommended expansion of use of conservation easements, the recommended purchase of private property to remove property right limitations to complete emphasis on turning back the clock on human activities, is central to success of the corridor.  With Y2Y, as with the prior Columbia ecosystem plans, private property rights stand in the way of eliminating human influence.

Passage of SB 5318 will have impact far beyond the boundaries of the state of Washington .  Passage of such a bill in any one of the effected states will make passage in the next adjoining state that much easier.  In essence, the Washington House of Representatives finds itself in the position of being the first defender or responder to protecting all local rural communities in Oregon , Idaho , Montana and Wyoming .

Thank you for leading the effort to protect the rural communities of the west, and to protect private property rights throughout the proposed Y2Y corridor.  Your effort reflects the position of our Founders who sacrificed to protect private property rights.

                                                            Very truly yours,

                                                             Fred Kelly Grant

                                                             President, Stewards of the Range

                                                             Planning and Policy Coordinator,

                                                             Owyhee County , Idaho