Date: 2000-06-15
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I rise in opposition. Mr. Chairman. this amendment and this debate is really about Americas lands. It is not about the lands that any one Member of Congress controls. It is not about the lands of any one State. It is about the lands of this Nation. the great public lands that belong to all of the people of this Nation. This summer. millions of Americans will set off with their families to visit our wilderness areas. to visit our national parks. to visit our national monuments. to visit our historical sites. one. because they want to enjoy the historical aspects. the cultural aspects of these great lands. of the tradition of our country. of the history of our country. They want to share that with their children. with their grandparents. their grandchildren. Many of them will remember when their parents took them on such a trip. Because of the bold actions of this President. the vision of this President. of this administration. to think about the future. to think about the threat to these lands. they will be able to do that. and their children will be able to do that. and their grandchildren will be able to do that. They will be able to visit the pinnacles of the midcoast of California whose protection is enhanced because of the enlargement of that monument. They will be able to visit the 3.000yearold Sequoia trees that reach 300 feet into the air because this President made them a national monument. Because if we do not do this. we go back to the old management regime. if my colleagues believe what the gentleman from Utah said. that everything just goes back to the way it was. The way it was. we were cutting the Sequoias. We were destroying the environment of the Sequoias. The Sequoias. the cathedral trees. the largest of the largest were threatened by the actions around them. That is why this President took his action. This is a gift. This is a gift to our Nation. just as Yosemite was a gift to our Nation. just as Glacier was a gift to our Nation. the Grand Canyon and the Everglades. This is a gift to our people. of having the foresight to go in. whether it was Teddy Roosevelt or Franklin Roosevelt or President Clinton. to go in and understand the threat and the need to preserve these lands. to understand that this country is filling up with people. that California is filling up with almost 35 million people. and that they want a place to go and to take their families so that they can recreate. that they can enjoy the history. Because of the actions of this President in southern Oregon. parts of the Oregon Trail will be preserved so people can go there and undertake and look at the remarkable actions of the people who had the courage to set out from the Mississippi River to settle the West. A member of my family walked that five times. bringing young people to the west from Missouri. A member of my family set out and he walked that first group. his children. as a wedding gift. because he thought they were too young to cross the country by themselves. They were 15 and 16 years old. they were married and they were going West. They ended up in Eureka. California. where this President had the foresight to protect the Headwaters Forest. the great cathedral trees of the redwoods on the North Coast. like the great cathedral trees of the Sequoias. This amendment should be rejected because this amendment is an attack on our culture. our history. our legacy. and the great environmental assets. If my colleagues go to a foreign nation. their people will talk about our national parks. the socalled crown jewels. Talk to the businesses in these areas. and they will talk about the economic engines that wilderness areas. that monuments. and that national parks become for the business communities and for local communities. This amendment should be rejected and Americas wild lands and Americas great environmental assets should be protected.