Carrizo Plain Visitor Guide

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Carrizo Plain Visitors Guide Seeking Advertisers for the 2018 Edition Last year, were produced nearly 8,000 copies of our very popular and high demand Carrizo Plain Visitors Guide. The 48 page visitor guides are distributed all over the South Valley, the Central Coast and many local restaurants, hotels and visitor centers. The guides are available free at over 150 locations.... Our ad rates are very resonable, with non-profits receiving a 25% discount. You will also receive 25 copies. The Guide is published by the Taft Independent. Please call us at 661 765-6550 to reserve you ad space today. The Guide will be published in early November 2017 and be distributed in time for the Spring 2018 tourist season. You can view a digital version of the last issue at https://issuu.com/taftindependent/docs/carrizo_plain_2017

Unofficial Report Suggests Carrizo Plain National Monument Will Not Be Reduced or Eliminated San Luis Obispo, Calif. Late yesterday evening, the Washington Po...st published a leaked copy of Interior Secretary Zinke’s final recommendations to President Trump on whether to eliminate or reduce 27 national monuments. The report recommends changes to ten of these protected landscapes. The Carrizo Plain National Monument is not listed amongst the ten monuments slated for changes. Such a conclusion would be consistent with the widespread public support recently expressed for the Carrizo Plain National Monument, including 153 businesses throughout the Central Coast region, 32 local elected officials, 4 chambers of commerce, 45 community organizations, and nine newspapers along with thousands of residents who submitted letters and postcards urging that the Carrizo Plain remain protected. However, it is unclear whether the leaked report is the final report that Interior Secretary Zinke transmitted to President Trump last month. The undated report consists of 19 pages compiled from photographs of a computer screen. The document is titled Final Report Summarizing Findings of the Review of Designations Under the Antiquities Act but also contains a Draft Deliberative Not For Distribution notation on the bottom of each page. The Washington Post article announcing the report did not disclose its source, and a White House spokeswoman refused comment, calling it an internal draft that was still under review. Interior Secretary Zinke has refused to formally release his final list of recommendations to President Trump on the fate of national monuments under review. The final report was required to be submitted to the White House on August 24, 2017. As the leader of the Save the Carrizo Plain coalition, ForestWatch continues to call on Interior Secretary Zinke to publicly and officially release his report so that the public can learn about the fate of these iconic landscapes. We will continue to fight for its protection until an official announcement is made that the Carrizo Plain is no longer under review. Boundary Reductions The leaked report recommends boundary reductions and other changes to Bears Ears (Utah), Cascade-Siskiyou (Oregon and California), Gold Butte (Nevada), Grand Staircase-Escalante (Utah), Katahdin Woods and Waters (Maine), Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks (New Mexico), Rio Grande del Norte (New Mexico), and three marine monuments in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The elimination of vast portions of America’s national monuments will deal a major blow to local economies and the multi-billion outdoor recreation economy that America’s public lands and waters support. Illegal Recommendations We are also concerned by several misstatements and errors in the leaked report. Throughout the document, Interior Secretary Zinke encourages the lawful exercise of the President’s discretion to shrink the size of several national monuments. However, legal scholars have pointed out that the President holds no such discretion, and that any unilateral action by the President to change national monuments would violate the law. Only Congress has the legal authority to make changes to monuments designated by previous presidents. Biased Analysis of Overwhelming Public Support for Monuments In addition, the leaked report contains a biased analysis of the 2.8 million public comments received during the formal comment period. The report dismisses attendees of public hearings associated with recent monument designations as advocates organized by non-governmental organizations (NGO) to promote monument designations, and discounts most public comments received over the past few months as form comments associated with NGO-organized campaigns. The entire premise of this review ordered by President Trump in April 2017 was to gather public comments for monuments that may not have received a formal comment period prior to designation. A recent analysis of the 2.8 million public comments showed that 98% of them were in support of keeping protections in place for national monuments. We do agree with the statement in Zinke’s leaked report that the public comments were overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining existing monuments. Interior Secretary Zinke asked for the public’s opinion, and he got it. It is disingenuous for him to now try to dismiss and minimize the public’s overwhelming support for keeping our national monument lands and waters intact. Review of Monument Management Plans We also remain concerned about the announcement in the report that DOI plans to undertake a review of existing monument management plans to ensure that they are not impeding certain uses of monument lands. The Resource Management Plan for the Carrizo Plain National Monument was completed in 2010 after a multi-year process that involved public meetings, formal comment periods, and input from various stakeholders. During the seven years since its adoption, the Carrizo Plain management plan has served as a valuable tool to manage the monument, and enjoys universal support amongst various stakeholders including oil companies, livestock operators, Native American tribes, land management agencies, conservation organizations, and the public all of which are represented on the Carrizo Plain National Monument Advisory Committee which has helped manage the monument since its designation. There is no reason to chart a new course for the Carrizo Plain when the current one seems to be working just fine. We will vigorously oppose any attempts to weaken the Carrizo Plain management plan. Weakening the Antiquities Act Finally, we join with our colleagues across the country in expressing deep alarm at Interior Secretary Zinke’s recommendation urging that Congress amend the Antiquities Act. Specifically, the leaked report states, it is also recommended that you request that Congress clarify the limits of Executive power under the Act and urges the establishment of a new monument designation process through legislation, regulation, or executive order. As demonstrated over the past five months, the public cares deeply for the conservation and protection of public lands, and supports the legal authority of any president Republican or Democrat to use their discretion to designate national monuments of whatever size they deem appropriate under the law. Any Congressional attempt to impede this long-standing power of the Presidency will be met with widespread public opposition.

Salvaggio Urges Taft Chamber of Commerce to take Stand on Preserving Carrizo Plain By Mark Salvaggio I am having a hard time understanding why the Taft Chamber ...of Commerce and Visitors Bureau did not take a stand on supporting the preservation of the Carrizo Plain in light of the Secretary of Interior's recent "Review" of 27 of our national monuments. Many visitors to the Carrizo Plain stop in Taft to eat and get gas on there way to this national monument. The Carrizo Plain could still be in jeopardy of being downsized or diminished. In short, and as the attached presentation of the Carrizo Plain notes, "The Carrizo Plain is the largest remaining remnant of original San Joaquin Valley habitats." This fact alone makes the protection of this vital tract of public lands paramount. Taking a "no position" sounds wan and jaded. It sends the wrong message to the many people who visit this natural wonder. 29 businesses in Kern County's District 4 have sent a letter of support for the Carrizo Plain to the federal government. The entire Westside is in District 4, including my beloved Taft where I lived and graduated from Taft College. The Carrizo Plain National Monument is still in danger of future changes by the Trump Administration. Secretary Ryan Zinke has indicated further national monument changes are being reviewed for shrinkage. Being proactive rather than reactive is usually the best course of action. A resolution from the Taft Chamber would send a strong local message to the President and the Secretary of Interior. I call to your attention The Wildlands Conservancy spent tens of millions of dollars acquiring its Wind Wolves Preserve, with the expressed intention of forming a land bridge from the Sierra Nevadas to the coastal mountains through the Carrizo Plain. 30 years of hard work by the public and private sector is being threatened. Are you aware camping, hiking, biking, equestrian use and small game hunting is now permitted on the Carrizo Plain? Are you aware that at least two oil companies have failed to find any oil in the Carrizo Plain? There is a common misconception about national monuments being federal "land grabs." National monument lands are already owned by the federal government and managed accordingly. In addition, The Nature Conservancy a private, non-profit conservation organization with world-wide respect purchased around 100,000 acres of what is now the Carrizo Plains in the late 1980s and then deeded it to the federal government to protect the land in perpetuity. The only "land grab" is the federal government trying to take land from private conservationists. Big Brother government must not be allowed to take part of this public land from posterity and future generations. I respectfully ask you to reconsider your position and push for a resolution supporting the Carrizo Plain National Monument. This 204,000 acre national monument is a treasured place. It would be nice if the Daily Midway Driller and Taft Independent would print my writing in their respective newspapers so more people on the Westside could read this point of view. I hope you enjoy the presentation on the future of the Carrizo Plain below. Thank you. Sincerely, Mark C. Salvaggio Future of Carrizo Plain https://docs.google.com//1GuVeKeaSzqAz5oQxf-EXtSOWnI/edit Asks Taft Chamber of Commerce to

https://www.washingtonpost.com//interior-secretary-recom/