WASHINGTON – Rep. Jo Ann Emerson said she would fight a proposal to secure federal wilderness protection for additional Missouri land in her district “with every last breath of my body.”
Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, said such a move is unnecessary and would make it harder to safeguard the forest from fires and pests.
“We could be faced with devastation for part of the forest,” Emerson said.
Her opposition dims the prospects for a proposal by the Missouri Wilderness Coalition, which says the 50,000 acres of unspoiled land, mostly in the Mark Twain National Forest, is at risk for environmental damage by logging, mining and other threats.
The group wants Congress to pass legislation designating the parcels of land as wilderness areas, which would bar all-terrain-vehicle riding and other activities that environmentalists say blemish the landscape. Such a move would almost double the amount of federally protected land in the state.
Emerson said federal protections would hamper efforts to clear dead trees that could fuel forest fires and could prevent treatment of trees endangered by pests. Most of the land in the proposal lies in her congressional district.
“The Mark Twain is so well taken care of, and so I just don’t see the need to have a wilderness designation,” she said.
Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., has expressed interest in the proposal but with a major caveat.
“I will be looking at the proposal and considering the views of all stakeholders,” Bond said in a statement last week. “I cannot support any proposal that does not have the clear support of local citizens and all affected members of the delegation. Also, many have expressed concern with the impact this plan would have on good forestry management.”
An aide to Sen. Claire McCaskill said the Missouri Democrat was interested in the proposal but was waiting for more information from the Wilderness Coalition.
The coalition would need to find a key Missouri lawmaker to champion the proposal for it to advance in Congress.
Scott Merritt, a spokesman for the group, said he and others would press on despite Emerson’s resistance.
“It’s not a good thing to hear,” he said. “But we really want to talk directly with her so she can hear our voice on this. We really think it’s a very modest, moderate proposal that maybe if she understands more about she will feel better about supporting.”
Last year, Emerson and other members came out strongly against a proposal by the Bush administration to sell off as many as 21,000 acres of the Mark Twain National Forest. It was part of a broader Bush administration plan to sell protected forest land across the country to raise money for rural schools. The proposal failed to advance in Congress.
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch