Property owners express concerns with Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area Boundaries http://sun.yumasun.com/google/ysarchive3804.html

 

Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation Homepage http://www.state.va.us/dcr/dnh/index.html

 

http://www.state.va.us/dcr/dnh/invent.htm (see the Inventory Section)

 

http://www.state.va.us/dcr/dnh/index.html and did a simple site search for a few keywords. "JTHG" and "Hallowed" didn't turn up anything, but a hunch -- "battlefields" -- did.

 

"To amend the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area Act of 2000 to adjust the boundary of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, and for other purposes. (Reported in Senate) HR 326 RS"

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.326.RS:

 

 

Virginia Invasive Species Management Plan

 

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/dnh/vaisc/documents/VISMP_final.pdf (82 pages)

 

Page 5 (Acknowledgements): "Special thanks also go to The Nature Conservancy for providing funds for the planning process..." Appendix C, page 35; TNC is listed as a member of the Virginia Invasive Species Advisory Committee (no surprise there; TNC is probably on such committees in every state).

 

Page 13: "Geographic Extent of this Plan: This management plan covers all lands and waters within the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as that portion of the Chesapeake Bay from its mouth to the Virginia-Maryland state line, and near-shore waters of the Atlantic Ocean. However, it must be understood that invasive species are not limited by political boundaries. Therefore, elements of this plan call for coordination and partnerships with regional and national efforts to prevent and control invasive species infestations."

 

See page 39 for reference to battlefields.

 

Page 37 references "voluntary compliance"

 

Page 46: "Homeland Security Pests & Diseases"

 

Page 51 makes reference to "compliance agreements" ... "to ensure compliance"

 

Page 59: "VDACS’ CAPS/Invasive Species position compiled and disseminated information about the presence, distribution and population levels of exotic plant pests in Virginia. This position develops and provides informational material to VDACS inspectors and other stakeholders to enhance pest detection activities and to ensure compliance with exotic/invasive pest regulations and quarantines. Plans are to establish a VDACS web site to provide educational information on exotic plant pest species."

 

http://www.dot.ca.gov/ser/cumulative_guidance/defining_resource.htm

 

"Welcome to the home page of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's (DCR) http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/index.htm Natural Heritage Program, an agency of the Natural Resources Secretariat. Our mission is conserving Virginia's biodiversity through inventory, protection and stewardship. The Natural Heritage Program represents a comprehensive effort to save Virginia’s native plant and animal life and the ecosystems upon which they depend through inventory, conservation information provision, protection and stewardship. As a member of NatureServe http://www.natureserve.org the Virginia Natural Heritage Program contributes to an understanding of global biodiversity and helps to provide for the conservation and recovery of the earth’s common, and rare and endangered species and threatened ecosystems." http://www.state.va.us/dcr/dnh/index.html http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/dnh/

 

Natural Area Inventory - "DCR's natural heritage inventory is the most comprehensive, statewide inventory documenting the location and ecological status of rare plant and animal species and natural communities. This ongoing inventory is conducted by staff ecologists, botanists and zoologists, contract staff, volunteers and cooperators. Inventory efforts focus on globally rare species and communities. Aerial photographs, geology, soil and topographic maps and a good understanding of the species and communities habitat requirements direct the scientists efforts. All work is conducted with the permission of the landowner. Natural Heritage scientists collect information on approximately 233 natural community types, 194 vertebrates, 611 invertebrates, and 625 plants representing approximately 36% of the state's vertebrate species and 28% of the state's plants. Over 1800 conservation sites, containing more than 5000 rare species populations and natural communities have been found to date. In addition to inventories for specific plants and communities, inventories are conducted to assist private and public land managers. Recent inventories have included: all National Park Service lands, the Appalachian Trail, major Department of Defense facilities, National Forest lands, State Parks, and others. Inventory staff also took the lead role in a multi-state, coastal migratory songbird study, which served as a model for follow-up projects in the northeast and gulf coast. The work is leading to the development of sound conservation measures for migratory songbirds on Virginia's eastern shore. To see the staff of the Natural Heritage Inventory section:" http://www.state.va.us/dcr/dnh/employ.htm#inv http://www.state.va.us/dcr/dnh/invent.htm

 

Virginia Invasive Species Management Plan http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/dnh/vaisc/documents/VISMP_final.pdf (661 KB, 82 pages)

 

CAPS - The USDA Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey program

 

CB - Chesapeake Bay

 

CBFO - The Chesapeake Bay Field Office, Annapolis, Maryland

 

DCR - Department of Conservation and Recreation

 

DM - Data Management

 

EFOIA - Electronic Freedom of Information Act http://www.blm.gov/nhp/efoia/index.htm

 

FGF - Federal Grant Funding

 

NHP - National Historic Park

 

NHP - Natural Heritage Plan

 

PFW - Partners for Fish and Wildlife - USFWS

 

Political boundary - no definition

 

RSA - Resource Study Area

 

SAMP - Special Area Management Plan

 

Sanctuary reef - no definition

 

VAISC - Virginia Invasive Species Council

 

VANHP - The Virginia Natural Heritage Program http://www.state.va.us/dcr/dnh/index.html

 

VISMP - The Virginia Invasive Species Management Plan http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/dnh/vaisc/documents/VISMP_final.pdf (661 KB; 82 pages)

 

 

Anti-Property Rights Initiative Gets Boost from Unlikely Source: Senator George Allen

 

 

August 18, 2006

 

To: National Desk

 

Contact Peyton Knight of the National Center for Public Policy Research, 202-543-4110

 

Washington, D.C. /U.S. Newswire/ - Nearly one year after the U.S. Supreme Court's shocking Kelo v. New London decision touched off a firestorm of bipartisan support for stronger property rights protections, some anti-property rights groups are receiving support from a surprising source: Senator George Allen (R-Va.).

Senator Allen is the chief sponsor of legislation that would create a massive federal "National Heritage Area" that would stretch from Charlottesville, Virginia, through Frederick County, Maryland, and end in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Such areas are best described as heavily regulated corridors where property rights may be strictly curtailed.

Allen's bill would deputize special interest groups -- many with clear anti-property rights agendas -- and federal employees to oversee land use policy in the corridor.

"Senator Allen often describes himself as a 'Jeffersonian' conservative, which he defines as someone who doesn't like 'nanny, meddling, restrictive, burdensome government,'" said Peyton Knight, director of environmental and regulatory affairs at the National Center for Public Policy Research. "However, if you fail to support your rhetoric with substance, you're all hat and no cattle."

Sen. Allen's initiative in some ways resembles a pork-barrel earmark, as it disburses funds to pre-selected preservationist interest groups. Unfortunately, it is even worse than an earmark, as it would threaten property rights by:

1) Creating a "management entity" to oversee land use policy in the area composed of groups that have a record of being hostile to property rights.

2) Directing this management entity to create an inventory of all property it wants "preserved," "managed" or "acquired."

3) Giving the management entity the authority to disburse federal funds for the purpose of land acquisition and restricting land use -- an enticement for such activities.

"This is a transparent effort by "not in my back yard" elitists to milk millions of dollars from the nation's taxpayers to mandate gentrification of their rural landscape. These bluebloods want their pretty views and bucolic fields preserved in perpetuity at the expense of property rights, small landowners and farmers, and taxpayers," said Robert J. Smith, a senior fellow at the National Center.

"It is remarkably similar to the exclusionary zoning for 'green space' and 'open space' that roiled New Jersey politics and communities for a quarter century," Smith adds. "Such policies were ruled unconstitutional by the New Jersey Supreme Court in the Mount Laurel decisions for being economically and racially discriminatory, and as an effort to lock out low and moderate income families and especially people of color, blacks and Hispanics."

Mychal Massie, national chairman of the African-American leadership network Project 21, which is affiliated with the National Center, notes the impact of Allen's bill will be felt disproportionately.

"Senator Allen's Heritage Area scheme is further evidence of the chasm that develops between working families and elected representatives once they are in office," said Massie. "Allen's measure would restrict and limit land use to all but the very wealthiest, and would severely and unjustly handicap families and individuals of moderate means."

Roger Pilon, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies, notes the irony that overzealous preservationists at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello are corrupting Jefferson's legacy, ostensibly in an effort to protect it: "They want to traduce Jefferson's views in order to save his views."

Citizens of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania might look to property owners caught within the boundaries of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area in Arizona to catch a glimpse of their possible future.

The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources has filed a report explaining the situation in Yuma. The report, which accompanies legislation designed to amend the Yuma Heritage Area in order to protect property owners, states:

"When the Yuma Crossing Heritage Area was authorized in 2000, the public in Yuma County did not understand the scope of the project and was surprised by the size of the designation ... Concerns were raised by citizens about the size of the designation and the potential for additional Federal oversight. The fear of adverse impacts on private property rights were realized when local government agencies began to use the immense heritage area boundary to determine zoning restrictions."

Thomas Jefferson was quite clear in his views regarding property rights when he wrote: "The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management."

Robert J. Smith adds: "No one supporting such plans and legislation attacking the underlying principles of a free society can conceivably then have the hubris to attempt to wrap themselves in the mantle of Mr. Jefferson's belief in individual liberty, or in Ronald Reagan's inclusive conservative Republicanism."

"It dishonors 250 years of American history and freedom - from Abraham Lincoln's genuine Hallowed Grounds in Gettysburg to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello mountaintop," he said.

~~~~~

For more information on this issue, see "The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area: An Example of How Pork- Barrel Politics Can Threaten Local Rule and Property Rights," by Peyton Knight, available online at http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA540HallowedGround.html - or "Assertions vs. Reality: The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act of 2006," by Peyton Knight, available online at http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA548.html

The National Center for Public Policy Research is a non-partisan, non-profit educational foundation based in Washington, D.C., founded in 1982.

 

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=70941