Letter from PCU 4/12/95
12 April 1995
PCU // Freedom of Assembly Project
Mr. Jim Lyons, Assistant Secretary
USDA / Natural Resources & Environment
Administration Building - Room 217E
14th & Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20250
RE: USFS Proposed Rules --
Update Info, Senate Ag Appeal
Dear Mr. Lyons:
We met again last summer under 'better circumstances' --
the convocation
of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, in
Chicago.
We spoke briefly about the pending USFS rules affecting free
assembly,
and the significance of events in Wyoming last 3rd of July,
when gatherers saved Bridger National Forest from a major fire.
You said things were getting "turned around" -- now it doesn't
look that way:
The bureaucratic wheels churned on, to criminalize free Citizens
this 4th of July.
Enclosed is an 'Update' package on the proposed 'Group Use'
and 'Law
Enforcement' regulations, and how they impact the Bill of Rights
in the
National Forests.
This information has gone out to the incoming leadership in
several
Congressional committees, calling for bipartisan action to
redirect these
Forest Service policies. Our dialogues were especially
productive with
Senator Craig, now Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee
on Forestry,
Conservation, and Rural Revitalization:
His staff asked that we follow up with focused ideas on the
issues raised
by these rulemakings, and what steps to take.
Our 2/14/95 response is also presented here: It speaks
directly to the
Constitutional costs of this regulatory scheme, and the situation
we now face.
Please give this position letter your careful review, with a sense of urgency...
The USFS "Unified Agenda" published in November, and the
"Forest Service
Reinvention" report released in December failed to respond to
public critique.
Since then OGC and RCRWM Staff have confirmed that the final
'Group Use'
rules will come out this Spring -- Federal Register publication
is imminent,
and time is short.
Why is the Forest Service proceeding with these unconstitutional
policies?
The Senate Committee also heard about some recent incidents--
the Fire at the Gathering in Wyoming, and the contining pattern
of law
enforcement abuses --
with deep concerns over how Forest Service authority has been
exercised.
When you withdrew the 'Law Enforcement' proposal last May,
it was a good first step.
You should now intervene decisively to stop the 'Group Use'
rulemaking
and set a mandate for new policies of Consensus and Cooperation.
...The outcome will define the future of Citizen Rights
and Stewardship on Public Land.
The 'Law Enforcement' proposal was withdrawn last May; it can
be done again.
It makes a difference if the 'Group Use' rules become law.
YOU HOLD FINAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Please act now -- Set a mandate for new policies of Consensus and
Cooperation.
..for Peace on the Land,
The PCU Volunteers /
S.C. Addison
Certified Mail # P 023 831 184
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