Our amendment 12 is presently being written into Forest Service Management Plan rules. Heather Provencio is correct that Amendments have more local input, but either a rules change or an amendment can be a stealth attack. Both would require considerable effort on the area/City’s part to thwart. Remember it was the 19 environmental groups who fought the Bush era attempts to weaken ALL forest service rules to “developing land resource management plans” feeding powerful development interests. It took 6 years and plenty of MONEY to do that. An NSA would prevent such attacks, rules changes or amendment proposals, and better protect the area. The NSA designation would also be good for local business! After all the product Sedona sells to tourists is our environment.

Thank you for printing this rebuttal.

Marlene Rayner, Chair
Sierra Club Sedona-Verde Valley group

Marlene Rayner

“Good evening. My name is Marlene Rayner and I am Chair of the 500 member Sierra Club Sedona-Verde Valley Group. I welcome you to this wonderful party of the coalition in support of the designation of a National Scenic Area for the National Forests surrounding Sedona. The 14,000 members of Arizona’s Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, which includes our local Sierra Group is proud to be part of the effort also. Our National Park system composed of our National parks, National Monuments, and National Scenic Areas is the envy of the world. Such a system not only preserves and protects the US spaces of beauty, but shares them at reasonable cost to us and international visitors alike. Such places awaken our souls to the significance of the natural world and pass the reasons for protection to the next generation.

My main point to make here tonight is the importance of joining such a national system with the designation of the NSA. Our present Amendment 12 to the Forest Service Rules governing the National Forests around Sedona has served us well. However, now the Amendment is being “written into” the updated Forest Service Plan due out in 2010 or so. With this in mind I’d like to point out something I was dumbstruck by recently concerning how easily political and corporate interests can affect Forest Service management by simple planning rule changes.

This event was a short article I read in the NYTimes on July 1 this year. The headline read “Judge Tosses Bush-Era Forest Management Regulations”. These federal “planning rule” changes festering since put out by the Bush Administration in 2003 to support powerful corporate interests, such as timber and mining, set out the process for “developing land resource management plans”. The rules change subtly, but basically, eliminated the National Environmental Process Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act Review for these lands’ development.

In this case the Judge Claudia Wilkins, agreed with two prior court decisions. If it were not for a powerful coalition of environmental groups fighting this rule change attempt, 19 by this last case – including the Sierra Club, we would be in a far different place with our National Forests. So here we are with the big picture of a Rule change attempted at the Federal level. When it comes to protecting precious places with subtle rule management changes locally one by one – who do you think is going to stand up against greed for us?

The bottom line is that we need this protection. The NSA designation protects us better than Forest Service Rules.”

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