A PROCLAMATION
Obama Proclaims September as National Wilderness Month
Does proclamation mean more attention will be given to preserving roadless lands?
By Guest Writer, 9-04-09
Editor’s note: On September 3, 2009, the 45th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964, President Obama issued this statement applauding the Act and proclaiming September as National Wilderness Month. It comes shortly after he took his family on a quasi-vacation to see some of the wonders of our national park system such as Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon. Enjoy....Bill Schneider.
The American wilderness has inspired wonder and imagination for centuries and is an irreplaceable part of our Nation’s heritage. Even before the birth of the United States, visitors from near and far were struck by its splendor and purity. The unaltered American landscape stood apart from any other in the world. During the years of westward expansion, the wilderness frontier became synonymous with pioneer values of steadfastness and rugged independence. This month, we celebrate this history and renew our commitment to preserving the American wilderness for future generations.
Forty-five years ago, the United States achieved a landmark success in protecting these magnificent wild spaces. The Congress passed and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act, which sought to secure “for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.” The Act has been widely recognized as one of our Nation’s most important conservation laws. This law and the National Wilderness Preservation System it established have served as a model for wilderness protection laws in many of our States and in countries around the world.
The vision and structure established in the Wilderness Act continue to receive broad support. This pioneering law created a framework for bringing Federal public lands under additional protection. Over the past 45 years, the Congress has enacted numerous laws extending wilderness protection to vast swaths of public lands. These laws have enjoyed bipartisan support. Ranchers and anglers, small-business owners and conservationists, and Americans of diverse backgrounds have come together to preserve many of our Nation’s most cherished public spaces.
My Administration has already demonstrated a commitment to protecting our wilderness heritage. On March 30, 2009, I signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which established the most recent additions to our Wilderness System. As my Administration continues to prioritize wilderness protection, we will work closely with the Congress, organizations, and private citizens to ensure that all stakeholders can make their voices heard. United by a common purpose of preserving our precious natural spaces and our wilderness heritage, we will ensure that future generations inherit the unique gift of knowing nature’s peace.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 2009 as National Wilderness Month. I call upon all Americans to visit and enjoy our wilderness areas, learn more about our wilderness heritage, and explore what can be done to protect and preserve these precious national treasures.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
BARACK OBAMA
[End of article]I support and applaud President Obama's Wilderness Proclamation. Although President Obama already has an overwhelming number of important issues on this plate, I hope that his administration will add one more: working with Congress and federal agencies to move forward on several long-stalled state-by-state or regional wilderness bills. There is a massive list of "wilderness in waiting"; roadless areas that have been identified by their respective federal land management agency as having wilderness characteristics worthy of permanent protection. These areas generally receive interim protection, but they still remain somewhat in limbo. For example, many large areas in some national parks are designated as interim "proposed wilderness". If the National Park Service supports designating these areas as wilderness, and there should be minimal or no management conflicts in park backcountry, what's holding them up? The Obama administration could be pivotal in moving forward with Congress and the federal agencies to decide which of these areas should receive permanent wilderness protection, and which should be released for other non-wilderness uses. Windows of political opportunity like this often only arise every few decades, and I hope we don't miss this one.
Mr. President, loved your Wilderness Proclamation and where you said to "explore what can be done to protect and preserve these precious national treasures." Now the time is ripe for you to walk your own talk!
Oh, please ... "Guest Writer" my arse.
Is it really necessary to regurgitate the "anointed one's" propaganda here? Good grief, I see his self-righteous mug and pseudo-sincerity every where I look. Just like the "big brother" of Orwell's '1984,' we can't seem to escape his canned image anywhere we turn.
Here's a clue: I don't believe him, I don't trust him, and I believe he just may be the most dangerous mistake the American people have ever elected to public office. No amount of propagandist blather will convince me otherwise, for ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. Words, platitudes and "proclamations" are cheap. But lies just keep piling up, and come back to haunt you.
Give it a rest. Go get a life of your own.
OGolly, we don't need any rude comments from any of Rex Rammell's psychotic followers. Your kind of nonsensical mean-spirited trash is making me wish for the kind of "civil" and thoughtful comments that we used to get from posters like "Hellpig" and "Smashicus" and some of the other Tea Party lowlife, geniuses by comparison to you guys in the Rammell camp.
Comment By OGolly, 9-04-09"Real Mike" - Well, I guess one "rude comment" deserves another from you - and some one-upsmanship to boot.
Was I speaking to you personally? If so, I wouldn't have known it, since the original post is not signed, and the only other comment was from "Rick."
If you were somehow personally offended, than I do apologize.
But I won't hold my breath waiting for you to apologize for referring to me personally as a "psychotic, nonsensical, mean-spirited lowlife." Lessee - did I miss anything? There were so many adjectives ... I may have missed a few.
Further, you seem to assume that I actually support Mr. Rammell. Why is that? In fact, I am uncommitted and hope for some better alternatives. It is the *tactics* of personal destruction I was writing against (as opposed to "thoughtful comments").
You seem to be quite familiar with the tactic.
OGolly, you have already gone on record, in another posting, defending a comment threatening the President, in that case a comment made by Rammell. Now, you post a tirade about what you allege is the "self-righteous mug and pseudo-sincerity" of the President of the United States, brand a proclamation commemorating an Act of Congress as "propagandist blather" on the part of the President of the United States, imply that the President of the United States is spreading "cheap... lies" in his proclamation, and then feign offense when you're called on it, all the while spouting about your commitment to defense of the Constitution and accusing others of the "politics of destruction." I'm sorry, but, your random and inconsistent understanding of the Constitution seems so irrational as to be nonsensical and psychotic; the intensity of your insults against the President seem mean-spirited; and your lack of patriotism seems lowlife.
Comment By bearbait, 9-05-09President Obama has been led down the garden path by his advisors since the inauguration, and his "Wilderness Month" is another glaring example of bad advice. "The unaltered landscape stood out..." is blatant denial of science. The landscape had been altered by man for more than ten thousand years when Europeans arrived here. Man had set fires for millennia to "alter" the landscape to meet their needs. That is just plain based in facts. That is what archeologists, forensic botanists, anthropologists, historians, and various branches of science have found and are finding every year. Eden was created by man. Right here.
Of course they did not have tractors and track hoes. They had burning brands with which to set fires, and they set thousands of them every year across the continent, from sea to shining sea. They altered the landscape and the conquerers from Europe loved what they had gained. And then promptly let it all go to hell in a hand basket. Yes, by degradation and overuse, but also by not setting fires.
So here we are hell bent for leather to further manage by benign neglect, and lose what remains of what once was. If only our President was advised by someone who had experience with Shinola and not emotion based science and landscape preservation, the path to conflagration and loss of all the values we would like to protect.
Obama has become the most recessive "progressive" we have had for President. How about them wars? eh? And that top down declarations from above governance? Got health care, eh? Are ya gonna get it, eh? No wonder Obama is lost in the Wilderness right now. Maybe we ought to send him tins of Shinola so he can tell the difference in the advice he gets.