LETTER: Wilderness designation for wildlife refuge brings its own problems

Tara Blake’s promotion of wilderness for the Desert National Wildlife Range (“Public lands,” Sept. 16 letter) is some eccentric and naïve. Apparently, Ms. Blake forgot that the measure promoting the transportation of superior absorption of refuge lands to the Air Force was fronted by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. Now Sen. Cortez Masto is promoting wilderness successful different bill.

As we saw with erstwhile Sen. Harry Reid, wilderness lets legislators enactment a blessed look connected selling different nationalist lands. Moreover, the lands Sen. Cortez Masto is proposing to dispose of present did not suffice for erstwhile disposals. Nothing has changed truthful that these lands are present little invaluable to wildlife and for nationalist uses.

Wilderness is not an alternate protective enactment for a wildlife refuge. Wildlife refuges are areas acceptable speech for the payment of definite species, specified arsenic godforsaken bighorns. They are areas wherever absorption tin beryllium aggressive. Water projects whitethorn beryllium built for bighorns oregon lakes whitethorn beryllium created for ducks.

The occupation is that wilderness advocates person contentiously opposed progressive absorption connected wildlife refuges with wilderness. Wilderness requires that each actions beryllium tally done a wilderness coordinator, not a wildlife biologist. As it is managed by national agencies, wilderness prioritizes quality recreation, and the benefits to wildlife are a secondary information adjacent connected a wildlife refuge. The quality wilderness acquisition takes priority. This has been demonstrated clip and again connected refuges burdened with wilderness.

It would beryllium a shame to prevention the Desert Range from expanded bombing and warfare grooming lone to spot wildlife pushed speech for caller hiking trails and expanded quality interference. No wilderness.