Here’s why President Biden should create the Range of Light National Monument near Fresno | Opinion
Based upon 48 years of exploring the Sierra and Stanislaus national forests, logging is the predominant activity that I have seem there. That logging is being done in an irresponsible way that degrades ecosystems and increases the likelihood of severe fires and greenhouse gas emissions.
Right now, the Sierra National Forest is logging 600 feet from nearly one thousand miles of roads, disrupting the forest ecosystem and ultimately harming the economy. So much of the forest has been lost in recent fires that only 10% of landscape is available for commercial logging. And that supply won’t support the logging industry for much longer.
This is why management of the National Park Service management is essential — contrary to what a recent column published in this newspaper argued. And this is also why it is essential that President Joe Biden create the Range of Light National Monument, which would better manage 1.4 million acres of public land northeast of Fresno through greater protections stemming from this designation.
This new national monument for California will certainly not be supported by the Trump administration. That means that if Biden does create it, Trump may try to kill it. But is that is no reason to not move ahead and do the right thing.
The majority the efforts to create most of our national parks and monuments went through the same — or very similar — trials and tribulations before they became a long-term reality. That is why this effort must continue regardless of the short-term outcome.
It’s true that the federal government doesn’t change management easily. Yet, today, depending on how one counts, there are 81 national monuments administered by the National Park Service, 13 more administered by the Bureau of Land Management and five administered by the Forest Service. There is long history of Park Service management; they are also the agency most suitable for performing restoration and recreation, which in turn support a new economy.
Logging in national forests
Historically, logging has been a primary focus of the Forest Service. In the Organic Act of 1897, Congress established the purpose of national forests to be for “securing favorable conditions of water flows and (furnishing) a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of the citizens of the United States.” The act authorized the harvest and timber sales of “dead, matured or large growth of trees.”
Decades later, Congress expanded the purposes for national forests and developed management goals to achieve those purposes, through the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act of 1960. Congress added the provision of fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, energy and mineral development and livestock grazing as official purposes of the national forests, in addition to timber harvesting and watershed protection.
It’s fair to wonder whether a Range of Light National Monument would lead to greater federal investment and tourism. The Giant Sequoia National Monument arguably has not lived up to its potential because it has been managed by the Forest Service, not the National Park Service. It’s been a problem ever since, with the agency repeatedly being sued because they’ve failed to manage the landscape appropriately.
That said, there is large support for the Range of Light National Monument. The movement has been built over the last 11 years, beginning with an inaugural endorsement from the Fresno Chapter of Audubon and building upwards, with support from more than 300 businesses and environmental organizations, including more than 50 California state legislators.
Each layer of support was built over time, with careful consideration and discussion of monument ideals. Parks and monuments have always been hard to achieve, but once created, they are heralded as achievements for the greater good of humanity.