In a July 28 letter to Eleanor S. Towns, Young issued 19 demands that she provide information on her employees and how they interact with environmental groups. Young is chairman of the House Committee on Resources. Young's first demand asks for information on how her employees agreed to limit cattle grazing in the 11 Arizona and New Mexico national forests to settle a Tucson-based Southwest Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit. In two agreements with the Southwest Center and Santa Fe, N.M.-based Forest Guardians, the Forest Service vowed in April and June to keep cattle away from 330 miles of streams on 80 grazing allotments. The two environmental groups had filed similar, overlapping lawsuits.
Ranchers are angry about the settlements and protested by picketing in New Mexico last month.
Mary Zabinski, a spokeswoman for Towns' office, said she has not yet responded to Young. She believes employees' personal lives are their own. Peter Galvin, the Southwest Center's conservation biologist, reacted angrily to Young's letter. I hope the civil servants do not cave in to this gross abuse of power.