Dear San Juan Citizens,
Wow! We have the Audubon Society and other organizations having their members sign form letters asking to have our BLM lands be made a National Monument. Why not have a local discussion on the issue? Are we simply going to concede local control of our economy and community to the Federal Government? History suggests that if you have a National Marine Sanctuary, National Monument, National Conservation Area, National Park…., several things happen:
* The process is started by a small group of individuals who “know best” and who lobby quietly behind the scenes for federal control.
* Control of the designated areas, and many adjacent areas to these lands, end up managed with a superior authoritarian attitude via a bureaucracy that is thousands of miles away.
* A planning line is drawn around the areas that are eventually intended to be controlled/affected. In our case that area was identified by a green line on a map, at the request of Representative Rick Larsen.
* Agriculture uses are usually restricted or phased out over time. Ag is messy and in general, is not pretty or desirable to bureaucrats and tourists.
* Local economies change and become less diverse. This causes a loss of community/culture/heritage for local communities.
* Property owners lose rights, use, and value of their lands. Over time inholders and adjacent landowners are made to be willing sellers through a variety of regulations, restrictions, and bureaucracy and eminent domain actions.
I believe in promoting ways to protect our heritage and lands, without giving away our children’s sovereignty. We can promote Conservation over Prohibition (Gary Tripp) through education and actions that make a real environmental difference. As 2009 Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Elinor Ostrom, noted in her scientific studies, the best strategies for managing a commons is local control because it allows rules to be “based on unique aspects of a local resource and culture”. Dr. Ostrom found that, “local people usually know more about what’s best for their communities than expert planners.” Dr. Ostrom promoted education and low cost sanctions for rule violators. Most humans want a clean nest and to protect and to care for where one lives and what one owns. Thriving communities want vibrant businesses and to have the money to spend on enhancing and protecting the environment.
If you want to get involved, call me- 378-6473
Frank M Penwell
San Juan Island
BLM lands are under national control already Frank. BLM is short for Bureau of Land Management and is part of the US Department of the Interior. They currently have complete control of management plans and activities related to these lands. Based on this fact I don’t understand your points.
I have been in localities that are absolute garbage dumps. The land abused, the commons destroyed by local developers and business interests that care nothing for the wellbeing of the community.
There is nothing magic about local versus national regulation. Local determination is subject to abuse and coercion by local special interests. It’s a complex problem no matter how you approach it. But looking at it through the ideological filter of big government versus local is but one of many ways to view this stuff.
I agree–BLM lands are under federal protection and control already. Which raises the more fundamental question–why the push now for yet another federal designation? First “we” wanted designation as a National Conservation Area; now, a controversial National Monument. The “land” in question has been described by Interior as principally comprising 1000 offshore rocks, which is correct. There are a few lighthouses and one or two former pieces of state park that are covered as well. These are managed just fine by BLM; nor are these likely to be sought for resource exploitation. If that were truly a concern, a simple restriction against use for resource extraction could be adopted. Instead, we are looking at a new entity, a new logo, a new bureaucracy, new limits on activities; yet another local advisory group; and a continuing push toward the Disney-fication of the islands. Soon we’ll have little “wayshowing signs” and locals in costumes approved by the “Scenic Byway.”