Crunching Numbers | 49,000,000

The estimated number of acres of American wilderness and public land that would be threatened if Congress passes the current version of H.R. 1505

["Numbers rule the universe," said Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras. For the month of May, 13.7 Billion Years will reprise the numbers theme that first appeared in September 2010, presenting a new number to think about each weekday with the series "Crunching Numbers."]


Introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT1), the National Security and Federal Lands Protect Act (H.R. 1505) seeks to "prohibit the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture from taking action on public lands which impede border security on such lands, and for other purposes."

Essentially, this bill, which the Wilderness Society has described as "dangerous" and "the latest in a series of bills aimed at giving away our great outdoors to those who would exploit it for profit," would give the U.S. Border Patrol control over national parks, national forests and wildlife refuges near the Canadian and Mexican borders.

It would open up iconic American wild places like Glacier and Acadia National Parks to construction and road building—and close these beautiful public lands to hiking, camping and other activities.

"The legislation should be called the 'Border Patrol Takeover Act"—because it would treat all public lands within 100 miles of the Canadian and Mexican borders as 'Operational Control Zones,'" according to the Wilderness Society. "In doing so, it would sweep away 36 bedrock environmental and land management laws. These so-called 'Zones' would cover national parks, wilderness, forests and wildlife refuges…It is an extreme and radical measure that would put at risk 49 million acres of public lands in 17 states."

Read more: http://wilderness.org/content/wilderness-under-siege-act-now-stop-attacks

• Do you want the border patrol to have control of America's wilderness? [add comment]


• Is the shutting down of public parks to hiking and camping a fair price to pay to secure the nation's borders? [add comment]

ACTION ALERTS

• Tell Congress that you oppose H.R. 1505, the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act (Wilderness Society)
• Tell Congress that you opposes legislation that undermines decades of wilderness protection and take away vital conservation tools. Since last year, the 112th Congress has mounted an unprecedented attack on the nation's wild places. Over a dozen separate pieces of legislation that want to sell America's wild places have been introduced, from dangerous drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which threatens endangered polar bear habitat to closing off parts of Glacier National Park. (Wilderness Society)
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image: Assaults on Public Lands Across America Interactive Map, Wilderness Society