Small-Scale Miners Are Not Represented On The Forest Service Advisory Committee

In February I published a post here about the Forest Service seeking applicants for an advisory committee to assist in the implementation of the new Land Management Planning Rule regarding use of the national forests.

It seems the Forest Service has now chosen the members of this committee and, unsurprisingly, the small-scale mining community has been passed over.

According to an email received recently, here is the breakdown of membership on the committee by interest group (emphasis added):

Representing the Public at Large - 2 members
Representing American Indian Tribes - 1 member
Representing Commercial or Recreational Hunting and Fishing - 1 member
Representing Conservation Organizations or Watershed Associations - 3 members*
Representing County or Local Elected Officials - 2 members
Representing Developed Outdoor or Commercial Recreation - 1 member
Representing Dispersed Recreation - 1 member
Representing Energy and Mineral Development - 1 member
Representing National, Regional or Local Environmental Organizations - 2 members**
Representing Private Landowners/Grazing - 2 members
Representing the Scientific Community - 1 menber
Representing State Elected Officials - 1 member
Representing the Timber Industry - 2 members
Representing Youth - 1 member

As the reader can see, conservation and environmental organizations (for all intents and purposes one and the same), the most vociferous foes of small-scale mining, enjoy a combined total of 5 seats on the committee compared to 1 for mining interests.  But it gets worse.  The mining representative is Greg Schaefer, Arch Coal vice president, external affairs, western region, of Gillette, Wyoming.  While I have no reason to think that Mr. Schaefer is anyone other than a fine and upstanding individual, as a coal company executive he is hardly representative of the small-scale precious metals mining community.  While it may be that no one from our community applied for a position on the committee (which would be unfortunate, if true), the author knows of one such individual who contacted him who was interested in doing so.

For those readers interested in seeing which individuals, and the organizations they represent, were selected by the Forest Service, I have uploaded a copy of the email to the link here.

*The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, Blue Mountains Forest Partners
**The Wilderness Society, Defenders of Wildlife