Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
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Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 Battle Ground, WA 98604 (360) 687-3087 Fax: (360) 687-2973 ccushman@landrights.org www.landrights.org If You Liked The Kelo Eminent Domain Decision, You'll Love Berryessa Urgent Action Required - Your calls, faxes and e-mails are needed now. You are making a difference. Keep it up. Action Items below. Yes, that's right. Kelo is like Berryessa. There appears to be a skunk at the lawn party. The BOR wants to close seven small resort outfits which now supply all the camping, boating and trailer sites and well as all services and supplies at Lake Berryessa. Instead, BOR wants to turn them over to a giant fat cat recreation conglomerate - Forever Resorts. Its run by a big donor named Rex Maughan. He was one of the Members of the President's Commission on Americans Outdoors which in the 80's made recommendations to stick you with a giant land acquisition program called the American Heritage Trust. It would have given the Federal agencies over one billion dollars a year to wipe you out. That bill set the stage for CARA, the Condemnation and Relocation Act. This truly huge $3 billion per year land acquisition trust fund was defeated by a coalition organized by American Land Rights over the past five years. We have no doubt Mr. Maughan supported CARA too. Somehow Maughan and Forever Resorts have made a deal with the Bureau of Reclamation to take over one resort service company at Lake Berryessa. BOR kicked the other operator out - he lost all his investment. Can you imagine kicking the Boy Scouts out so you can bring in some huge conglomerate billion dollar company. The BOR already kicked out the Boy Scouts from Lake Berryessa. Now they are using Kelo type removal to take out all the other small resort service operators and replace them with Forever Resorts. In the process, 1,300 homeowners are being kicked out too. They rent from the small resort operations. Lots of other small business operations around the lake will be impacted by this giant land grab. Many will go out of business. There is one major difference between Kelo and Berryessa. Kelo was using condemnation (eminent domain) to take the homes, businesses and private land of small people and then turn the land over to a giant corporation. At Berryessa, the people don't own the land. They own trailers and mobile homes that have been used there for 50 years. Lots of newer trailers but generations of people have used the sites. Now the Bureau of Reclamation is using what we call a cultural genocide to get rid of all the little people. Turn it all over to the giant Conglomerate. *****We've told you before about the Bureau of Reclamation trying to get rid of "exclusive use." They say this is an Interior Department policy. The Forest Service is already trying to get rid of "exclusive use.' What that means is they ultimately get rid of most any use, except those "approved" by the giant green groups. You should know that a lot of the Federal agency people around the country are looking at what happens to the people of Lake Berryessa. If you succeed in stopping this giant land grab, then they will be less likely to move against other people using other areas of Federal land. Lake Berryessa is important to you and all other users across America. *****Berryessa Meeting Huge Success - BOR Still Stalls Saving Users Over 700 people showed up in Winters, California to complain about the Bureau of Reclamation plan to eliminate users at Lake Berryessa. Only about 15 greens showed up. So much for public support for the BOR Plan. If you would like a DVD of the meeting, contact American Land Rights. You are on the verge of saving the people at Lake Berryessa. You can help save private property and recreation users. But they are facing grave danger. Stop BOR from moving forward with the Kelo land grab. Stop BOR from taking land use from little people and turning it over to giant conglomerates. Stop this "exclusive use" nonsense. Keep recreation open on Federal lands. Your message to the Administration along with many others is a powerful weapon. We did not elect you to eliminate recreation and drive property owners out. Remember, by standing up for the victims at Lake Berryessa today, they'll be there to fight for you tomorrow. The key is to keep the pressure on. Don't let down. The Bureau of Reclamation is not supposed to release their Record of Decision on Berryessa for two months. Our information is they are going to try to rush it out in the next week or two to head off opposition. That is why your calls to Washington, DC are critical. That is why your calls to your Congressman are critical. This is your chance to influence all Federal agencies about recreation and access. You must make the phones, faxes and e-mails just come off the wall. They must not stop ringing. You can do this. It means so much to so many people. Ask them to hold up the "Record of Decision" for Lake Berryessa. Ask them to stop the "Cultural Genocide" taking place at Lake Berryessa. Ask them to stop the Kelo type land grab. ***** Action Items*** (bury these officials in calls, faxes and e-mails.) -----1. Call, Fax and E-mail -- Secretary of Interior Gale Norton's Chief of Staff Brian Waidman (202) 208-7351 - FAX: (202) 219-2100 - gale_norton@ios.doi.gov or brian_waidman@ios.doi.gov Where is a space between names, it means an underscore. -----2. Call, Fax and E-mail - Deputy Lynn Scarlett - (202) 208-4203 -- FAX: (202) 208-1873 - lynn_scarlett@ios.doi.gov -----3. Commissioner of Bureau of Reclamation - John Keyes (202) 513-0501 - FAX: (202) 513-0309 - jkeys@usbr.gov Request someone from his office attend the November 19th meeting. Tell him how the BOR FEIS hurts people. -----4. Mark Limbaugh - Assistant Secretary for Water and Science - (202) 208-3186 -- mark_limbaugh@ios.doi.gov Request someone from his office attend the November 19th meeting. Tell him how the BOR FEIS hurts people. -----5. Call, fax and e-mail your local congressman if you live in California. The Congressmen whose constituents use Lake Berryessa are listed below. When you call the numbers below, ask for their e-mail and fax numbers as well. Mike Thompson (D-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-3311 - Local (530) 662-5272 Wally Herger (R-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-3076 - Local (530) 893-8363 Dan Lundgren (R-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-5716 - Local (916) 859-9906 John Doolittle (R-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-2511 - Local (916) 786-5560 Doris Matsui (D-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-7163 - Local (916) 498-5600 Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-5161 - Local (707) 542-7182 George Miller (D-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-2095 - Local (707) 645-1888 Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-4965 - Local (415) 556-4862 Barbara Lee (D-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-2661 - Local (510 763-0370 Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-1880 - Local (707) 428-7792 Richard Pombo (R-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225- 2761 - Local ((209) 951-3091 Tom Lantos (D-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225-3531 - Local (650) 342-0300 Pete Stark (D-CA) Wash. DC - (202) 225-5065 - Local (510) 494-1388 Anna Eshoo (D-CA) Wash. DC - (202) 225-8104 - Local (650) 323-2984 George Radanovich (R-CA) Wash. DC (202) 225- 4540 - Local (559) 449-2490 ***Here's your message: ----- No Kelo type land grab at Lake Berryessa. ----- Insist that the Bush Administration officials listed above get involved and force BOR to take back their faulty EIS and do it right. They only listened to the special interest groups. ----- No private property should be taken without compensation. -----The must not remove the 1,300 trailer and mobile homes that cannot be moved under California law. -----They must not remove campsites or reduce access. They've already kicked out the Boy Scouts. -----They must allow the resorts that are at the lake to stay there. -----They must not reduce the use of motorized watercraft. This is man made lake. It is not a Wilderness, no matter how much they are trying to create one. ----- The BOR must follow Public Law 96-375. (see below) ----- BOR must stop the removal of long-term tenants. ----- BOR must stop the discrimination against long-term users and motorized watercraft. -----BOR must throw out the present plan to cut down or eliminate public use and access by the general public, long-term site permittees, boaters, and dock owners. -----Administration officials must require the Bureau of Reclamation be good neighbors at Lake Berryessa. - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - Background: We send you this extra material so that if you have not seen the Lake Berryessa e-mail before, this material will help you catch up. It also helps if you forward this message to others. Remember, this is a team game. You help save the people of Lake Berryessa and they will be there to help you when your time comes. And you know your time will come. Where is the Administration? Why are they not standing up for the people who voted for them? Are they going to roll over for a biased Bureau of Reclamation and special interest groups? Is it possible they are looking the other way while the giant fat cat donor takes over a Federal lake? Could that be? That couldn't happen, could it? *****The people of Lake Berryessa face eviction. This threatens you no matter where you live or what Federal agency you are affected by in the US. Look at this list: You have a lot at stake in the battle to save use at Lake Berryessa. Do you use access to Federal lands? Do you own private land in or near a Federal area? Do you support recreation on our Federal lands? Are you a sportsman, fisherman or hunter? Are you a grazing permittee? Do you own a mining claim? Do you have a cabin special use permit in the National Forests? Do you have any other kind of special use permit with a Federal agency? Do you use boats or motorized watercraft? Answer yes to any of these questions and you need to make calls immediately to stop the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) from getting rid of people who fall under their term -- "Exclusive Use". This is about a policy by government agencies to remove what they call "exclusive use" which is a code word for getting rid of existing users at Lake Berryessa and many other Federal areas. The Federal agencies are saying that if you have what the BOR and others refer to as "exclusive use", then "others" don't have access. That is, of course, nonsense. Actually, this policy greatly reduces public access. What this policy of removing "exclusive use" really means is getting rid of largely all use or limiting use to special interest groups who want all Federal areas made into natural areas. *****The Resources Committee of the House of Representatives asked in a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation to delay the release of their Lake Berryessa EIS which has come under so much criticism. The BOR ignored Congress and this request and released their supposedly Final EIS a three weeks ago. However, there has been such a huge uproar from you and others, that it appears that the Interior Department is beginning to wake up to the looming disaster. The BOR must not be allowed to get away with free lancing. This is a Clinton Era plan being allowed to go forward by the current Administration. Amazing. The Interior Department and the Administration must show they have control over these BOR scofflaws and private property predators. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - Here is the law covering Lake Berryessa. The BOR is largely ignoring this law. Public Law 96-375 October 3, 1980 - 96th Congress - An Act Portion appropriate to Lake Berryessa Sec. 5 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to enter into new negotiated concession agreements with the present concessionaires at Lake Berryessa, California. Such agreements shall be for a term ending not later than May 26, 1989, and may be renewed at the request of the concessionaires with the consent of the Secretary of the Interior for no more than two consecutive terms of 10 years each. Concession agreements may be renegotiated preceding renewal. Such agreements must comply with the 1959 National Park Service Public Use Plan for Lake Berryessa, as amended, and with the Water and Power Resources Service Reservoir Area Management Plan: Provided, That the authority to enter into contracts or agreements to incur obligations or to make payments under this section shall be effective only to the extent and in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriation Acts. (b) Notwithstanding any other laws to the contrary, all permanent facilities placed by the concessionaires in the seven resorts at Lake Berryessa shall be considered the property of the respective current concessionaires. Further, any permanent additions or modifications to these facilities shall remain the property of said concessionaires: Provided, That at the option of the Secretary of the Interior, the United States may require that the permanent facilities mentioned herein not be removed from the concession areas, and instead, pay fair value for the permanent facilities or, if a new concessionaire assumes operation of the concession, require that new concessionaire pay fair value for the permanent facilities to the existing concessionaire. |
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