|
 The American Recreation Coalition is champing at the bit, desperate to put their man, Lyle Laverty, into the #3 slot within the Department of Interior. If confirmed, Laverty will be the best friend the motorized / commercial recreation community could hope for.
Pasted immediately below is a memo issued days ago by the ARC's President. It was send to the ARC's wise-use members and it provided them with an Action item. I encourage the conservation community to take the OPPOSITE action and to ensure that the President's appointment is not confirmed.
Below that is a recent article from the Rocky Mountain News. From 2001 until 2007, Laverty was the Director of Colorado's state park system. This article from his home state explains how lousy a job he did in that position. It should also make it clear why President Bush and the ARC want this man installed within the Department of Interior.
And if anyone has any doubts about where Laverty stands on motorized recreation in particular, please see this article on the BlueRibbon Coalition's website. The image above is that of Lavery (left) receiving an award from BRC President Jack Welch
Scott
--- begin quoted ---
9/10/07
ISSUE:
CONFIRMATION OF LYLE LAVERTY AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS
BACKGROUND:
The President has nominated Lyle Laverty to serve as Assistant
Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Hearings on
the nomination have been held by both the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources and the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
The hearings have ably demonstrated the special capabilities and
experiences of this nominee, who most recently served as Director of
Colorado State Parks
but also had a long and distinguished career with the USDA Forest
Service. Support for the nominee is broad and enthusiastic. Both
committees have now voted to report the nomination favorably.
Consideration of the nomination has been delayed by a hold placed on
the nomination by Senator Ron Wyden. We are advised that his action is
largely unrelated to the nominee but instead reflects his concerns
about decision-making at the Department of the Interior relating to
scientific evidence and opinions. We are also told that both Secretary
Kempthorne and the nominee have sought to address the Senator’s
concerns.
The Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks
is a key player in federal recreation policy matters and the recreation
community has been challenged by the lack of a skilled official in this
spot for more than 18 months
ACTION NEEDED:
We ask for your assistance in scheduling a vote on the nomination as
soon as practical in a way that will allow Senator Wyden to display his
concerns without preventing the confirmation of this talented nominee.
MORE INFORMATION:
Derrick A. Crandall, President
American Recreation Coalition
1225 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 450
Washington, D.C. 20005
202-682-9530 FAX 202-682-9529
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
September 1, 2007
Back on course
Great Outdoors Colorado is on the rebound, but the Division of State Parks
By Andrew Wallach
After a rocky period of uncertainty and of conflict with its state government cousins, Great Outdoors Colorado is back on track.
However, the recipient of about one in four GOCO dollars - Colorado State Parks - badly needs an overhaul.
Colorado voters created GOCO in 1992 and charged the new state agency
with distribution of about half of Colorado's lottery proceeds.
In its 15-year life, GOCO has funded preservation of more than a
thousand square miles of Colorado land as open space and wildlife
habitat. This is a land area greater than the combined sizes of Denver
and Douglas counties.
In the upcoming state legislative session, GOCO will face powerful
challenges to its hold on its revenues. State colleges and
universities, public school districts, state veterans' groups and
others have all tried to persuade state legislators that they should
share GOCO's lottery riches.
A few years ago, the future didn't seem to hold much promise for GOCO advocates.
After Gov. Bill Owens' election in 1998, his administration pushed GOCO
away from its early focus on land protection. Instead, Owens favored
bolstering thinly stretched state agency operating budgets and curbing
expansion of public land ownership.
But now GOCO seems to be back in the land protection business in a big
way. In June of this year the GOCO board earmarked $100 million for
grants this year, with the majority for land protection and GOCO's
high-profile Legacy Grants.
State agency partners
GOCO's two largest constitutionally mandated grant recipients are the
state divisions of Wildlife and State Parks, each receiving 25 percent
of GOCO's grants.
Early on, GOCO and the state agencies had seemed able to manage their
arranged marriages successfully. In the late 1990s, as GOCO provided
grants for preservation of more than 230,000 acres, Wildlife used GOCO
funds to significantly expand its protected habitat lands. State Parks
embarked on its ambitious "Crown Jewels" park acquisition program.
GOCO's direction changed as the decade closed, with Owens' appointment
of Greg Walcher as the director of the Department of Natural Resources.
The department oversees both the state parks and wildlife agencies, and
has an important voice on the GOCO board.
Walcher acted quickly to assert independence from GOCO, essentially
terminating two DNR agencies' participation in major land acquisition
programs.
In the Division of Wildlife, which faced decreased growth in its
fishing and hunting fees, Walcher pushed to channel GOCO funding into
salary support for agency staff. At their peak in 2001, these staffing
support programs consumed $8 million per year in GOCO funds and
elicited growing resistance from the GOCO board.
Unrealized ambitions
In State Parks, efforts to preserve the state's most desirable mountain
properties peaked in 1998. That year GOCO funded acquisition of 17,000
acres for four spectacular parks around the state, sites labeled the
"Crown Jewels" by State Parks staff:
• Scarce Front Range foothills open space at Cheyenne Mountain, adjacent to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
• Foothills ranchland at Staunton Ranch, near Pine at the frontier of the southwest Denver exurbs.
• The nearly pristine mountain valley at Brush Creek, now part of Sylvan Lake Park near Eagle.
• And the remote but spectacular 11,000-plus-acre Lone Mesa in southwestern Colorado, near Dolores.
In 2001 Walcher appointed Lyle Laverty, a former U.S. Forest Service official, as State Parks director.
Laverty faced shrinking legislative appropriations for parks
operations. He quickly shut down agency land acquisition and deferred
basic development programs at two new parks. He replaced these efforts
with a program using GOCO funds to develop "resort-level" amenities in
the parks.
Laverty argued these embellishments would provide a revenue windfall
for the financially struggling agency. Among his first efforts using
GOCO's "free" capital was investment of $820,000 in "three exceptional,
lodge-caliber cabins" at Mueller State Park. While net revenues on this
investment have never been published, staffers acknowledge that new
cabin "profits," if any, are meager.
Meanwhile, two of State Parks' four "Crown Jewels" are languishing.
Lone Mesa, with some of the most spectacular scenery in the state, has
yet to open to the public except for seasonal hunting use. And the
scenic Staunton site is also closed to the public. It awaits, according
to State Parks, improvements on nearby U.S. 285.
In February of this year, when Laverty approached GOCO for funding to
construct a wedding and banquet "events center" at Cheyenne Mountain,
the GOCO board dug in its heels. A commitment from current DNR Director
Harris Sherman to thoroughly review State Parks finances has put that
project on hold.
State parks users need Gov. Bill Ritter and Sherman to find a new, less
capital-intensive approach to using GOCO funds to help restore our
existing parks and allow the public to enjoy our new "crown jewels."
Opening the new parks to dispersed camping, and funding youth and
volunteer groups' construction of new trails seems one good
possibility. This would avoid the heavy infrastructure investment
necessary to accommodate recreational vehicles and resort-level lodging.
In the meantime, GOCO has consistently been graced with talented and
conscientious board members since its inception. It continues to
creatively and energetically address the mission Colorado citizens set
out for it 15 years ago. The agency deserves undiminished support from
the state and its citizens.
Andrew Wallach held management positions in three Denver mayoral
administrations and served as deputy director of Great Outdoors
Colorado from 1998-2000.
|
- Activism 
