SHARE sign-on 2017-09-12 - Wilderness Watch

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Sep 12, 2017 - 1324 Longworth House Office Building 1329 Longworth House ... Re: Oppose Wilderness-Damaging Provisions i
Alliance for the Wild Rockies • Appalachian Mountain Club • Comeback Farm • Conservation Congress • Environmental Protection Information Center • Friends of Bell Smith Springs • Friends of the Clearwater • Friends of Sparta Mountain • Heartwood • Idaho Sporting Congress • Indiana Forest Alliance • John Muir Project • Justice for Wolves • Kentucky Heartwood • Klamath Forest Alliance • Kootenai Environmental Alliance • Los Padres ForestWatch • Massachusetts Forest Watch • Mountain Lion Foundation • Nevada Wildlife Alliance • New Jersey Conservation Foundation • New Jersey Highlands Coalition • Northeast Oregon Ecosystems • Old-Growth Forest Alliance • Project Coyote • RESTORE: The North Woods • Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance • Swan View Coalition • Wilderness Watch • Wildlands Defense • WildWest Institute

September 12, 2017 Rep. Rob Bishop, Chair Committee on Natural Resources 123 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Ranking Member Committee on Natural Resources 1511 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

Rep. Tom McClintock, Chair Subcommittee on Federal Lands 1324 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, Ranking Member Subcommittee on Federal Lands 1329 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

Re: Oppose Wilderness-Damaging Provisions in H.R. 3668, SHARE Act Dear Chairman Bishop, Chairman McClintock, Ranking Member Grijalva and Ranking Member Hanabusa: The 31 undersigned organizations strongly object to provisions in the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act, HR 3668, that would damage every unit of America’s 110 million-acre National Wilderness Preservation System. The provisions are hidden in Section 403 of HR 3668, particularly sections 403(e)(1) and 403(e)(2). These provisions would give hunting, fishing, recreational shooting, and fish and wildlife management goals top priority in Wilderness, rather than protecting the areas’ wilderness character, as has been the case for over 50 years under the 1964 Wilderness Act, 36 U.S.C. 1131-1136. These provisions would allow endless, extensive habitat manipulations in Wilderness under the guise of “wildlife conservation” and for providing hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting experiences. These provisions would allow the construction of “temporary” roads in protected Wilderness areas to facilitate such uses and would even allow the construction of dams, buildings, or other structures within Wildernesses. Section 403(c) of HR 3668 would also exempt road, dam, and building projects within protected Wilderness areas from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)— eliminating critical environmental analysis of potential impacts and alternatives, and public comment and involvement. To read a more complete analysis of the wilderness-damaging provisions, please see http://bit.ly/2vlQShz.

Please protect our National Wilderness Preservation System and remove these offending provisions from HR 3668. Sincerely, Wilderness Watch, Missoula, MT WildWest Institute, Missoula, MT Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), Salt Lake City, UT Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Helena, MT John Muir Project, Earth Island Institute, Big Bear City, CA Idaho Sporting Congress, Boise, ID Conservation Congress, Chico, CA RESTORE: the North Woods, Hallowell, ME Los Padres ForestWatch, Santa Barbara, CA Friends of Bell Smith Springs, Stonefort, IL Klamath Forest Alliance, Orleans, CA Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Arcata, CA Project Coyote, Larkspur, CA Swan View Coalition, Kalispell, MT Nevada Wildlife Alliance, Reno, NV Kootenai Environmental Alliance, Coeur d’Alene, ID Heartwood, Tell City, IN Wildlands Defense, Boise, ID Kentucky Heartwood, Berea, KY Friends of the Clearwater, Moscow, ID

Mountain Lion Foundation, Sacramento, CA Northeast Oregon Ecosystems, Joseph, OR Justice for Wolves, Eastham, MA Appalachian Mountain Club, Boston, MA Comeback Farm, Asbury, NJ New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Far Hills, NJ New Jersey Highlands Coalition, Boonton, NJ Friends of Sparta Mountain, Sparta, NJ Massachusetts Forest Watch, Northhampton, MA Indiana Forest Alliance, Indianapolis, IN Old-Growth Forest Network, Easton, MD