by Sam Chaney | WeaponizedNews.Com | May 8, 2015
California is in the 4th year of a man made (government) drought and suffering from decades of forest mismanagement. The State Fire Service Cal Fire has issued a warning that there is a high probability of catastrophic wild fires this year. The primary reason for this urgent warning from Cal Fire and bad forest management is Neo-Environmentalist Lawyers abuse of the Equal Access To Justice Act [1].
Frivolous lawsuits [2] by Neo-Environmentalist Lawyers have drained the US Forest Service budget causing a misallocation of funds to fight lawsuits and forest fires caused by those lawsuits rather than proper forest management.
Precedence for the County claiming jurisdiction has already been set in Apache County, Arizona [3].
Concerned Citizens of Central California have a Tri-County Solution to stop Equal Access To Justice Act Abuse. The three Counties include Fresno, Madera & Mariposa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHzqd2uV9ig
Report via Concerned Citizens of Central California:
- CalFire presented a state of the county overview, using a few slides which showed the massive the amount of dead trees due to the severe drought. Millions of trees are dying in California’s forests, this has made an attractive environment for the bark beetle which is doing further damage to the trees. Just one pair of breeding bark beetles can produce millions of offspring through subsequent generations.
- Recent rains has made the already dangerous fire season worse with more weeds and grasses that will fuel wild fires. Cal-Fire stresses how important it is to keep at least 100 feet of defensible space around our properties, and to be very careful not to accidentally start fires.
- CalFire made a great introduction into Randell’s presentation regarding the health of the forest due to mismanagement which has exacerbated the drought. He was under a tight time constraint, so he briefly went over of the documents in the green binder that board members received previously. In addition, the board members were each given copies of the Predictive Services 2015 Fire forecast that that Cal-Fire also uses and referred to in their presentation, a list of the top 20 largest California wildfires from Cal-Fire’s website, and the current WildCAD – Sierra National Forest showing 50 wildfires from January to May 2015.
- Randell also explained to the board the matter of jurisdiction, and that the 3 counties of Fresno, Madera, and Mariposa have legal jurisdiction over their portions of the Sierra National Forest. It is only managed by the Federal Government and it is not Federal land. The board was given an explanation about how the Tri-County Proposal will work, by appointing a member from each county board to a committee. They would oversee the management of the forest, by approving the annual plan. The Equal Access to Justice Act could no longer be used, because lawyers would no longer be able to sue the Federal Government on behalf of their environmentalist clients. EAJA can only be used to in Federal lawsuits, and cannot be used to sue individuals, cities, counties, or states.
- The Supervisors understood the Tri-County Proposal, and by the comments he made, showed that they had read our material. Anxious to go forward until Daniel C. Cederborg, County Counsel, said that the forest was Federal Land.
- Chairwoman Debbie Poochigian wanting to get a legal brief as to ownership of the Sierra National Forest, before voting on a stronger resolution. To this purpose she appointed Buddy Mendez and Attorney/Supervisor Andreas Borgeas (who was absent) along with a staff member to an ad hoc committee to work on our project.
- The CCCC has requested Legal briefs from Congressman Tom McClintock, who is the Chairman of the Congressional Public Lands committee, and recently gave a speech on this subject. We also contacted Assemblyman Jim Patterson’s office requesting the same legal brief, and we’ve contacted the Constitutional Law Professor at the San Joaquin School of Law (where Supervisor Andreas Borgeas and my daughter both teach), requesting his written opinion.
- These legal briefs regarding the ownership of the Sierra National Forest, will be forwarded to the Fresno, Madera & Mariposa County Board of Supervisors. In the meantime we sent the following link to the members of the Board, which clearly states that the forest is public land.
What is the Forest Service?
According to their own website: The Department of Agriculture/the US Forest Service is a Federal agency that manages public lands in national forests and grasslands. http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/sierra/about-forest [4]
Further Reporting & Documentation via Concerned Citizens of Central California:
Below are the documents required to validate our statement that the U.S. Forest Service is a management organization operating in the Sierra National Forest for the counties of Mariposa, Madera & Fresno.
We have requested from our Congressman Tom McClintock, as the Chairman of the Congressional Public Lands Committee, a legal brief or opinion that clearly states the ownership, responsibility & liability of our Sierra National Forest.
I’m also including the Tri-County Proposal designed by Assemblyman Jim Patterson, which lays out the framework for cooperation between the counties.
Along with the resolutions that have been passed by Madera & Fresno Counties to retake local control of our forest.
- Federal Jurdictional Status [5]
- Challenge to Federal Jurisdiction [6]
- Federal Jurisdiction [7]
- Tri-Counties Proposal [8]
- Fresno Resolution [9]
- Madera Resolution [10]
Sources:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/2412 [1]
http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/uploads/immigration/immig_west/F.pdf [2]
http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/sierra/about-forest [4]
http://www.defendruralamerica.com/DRA/ApacheCounty.html [11]
Concerned Citizens of Central California