Douglas, congressional delegation reach wilderness compromise

By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian

Posted Sept. 27, 2006

Editor's Note: This story was updated Thursday morning to correct information regarding Scudder Parker's radio ad. The ad is already on the air and the campaign will wait until the bill passes before deciding whether to discontinue it.

WASHINGTON — After several days of public sparring, an 11th hour compromise between Gov. Jim Douglas and Vermont’s congressional delegation will expand wilderness in Vermont by about 42,000 acres.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office announced this evening that Douglas has agreed to a compromise proposal to reduce by about 6,000 acres the wilderness acreage included in a bill that had passed the Senate and had been set for approval in the House on Monday.

The legislation was derailed after Douglas circumvented the Vermont delegation, contacting Rep. Richard Pombo, the California Republican who heads the House Resources Committee, with concerns about the proposal.

In a statement this evening, Leahy’s office said the Vermont delegation “proposed again to Gov. Douglas that 6,066 acres of the northern part of the proposed Glastenbury wilderness area be removed from the bill. The governor has accepted it and has agreed to weigh in, if needed, with the same House Republican leaders he had written to earlier — this time to urge its approval.”

The delegation’s members pledged to “work around the clock” to bring the modified bill to House and Senate votes before the regular congressional session adjourns on Friday.

The announcement came just a few hours after Leahy’s spokesman, David Carle, criticized Douglas’ all-or-nothing approach to the measure and said Douglas had rejected the same compromise two weeks ago.

“Sen. Leahy, on behalf of the delegation, offered a compromise to the governor on the wilderness acreage, which was rejected,” Carle said in an e-mail to the Vermont Guardian. “He and his staff took the position that it was all his way or nothing, and 'nothing' is what his intervention produced in the aftermath.”

Douglas' spokesman Jason Gibbs said he was unsure if the previous offer was much different than the one agreed to today.

"For some reason that’s not clear. There was a miscommunication between our office and Sen. Leahy’s office," said Gibbs. "We’ve been able to move past that miscommunication in the past few days and come to a responsible compromise that the governor supports. He looks forward to assisting in whatever ways are necessary with the delegation’s efforts to move this bill through the Congress."

Gibbs said Douglas would be willing to contact Pombo, or "any members of Congress who have questions about this issue, and he will certainly reiterate his support for this compromise."

The last-minute compromise threatened to negate a new ad campaign by Douglas’ challenger, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Scudder Parker, who said this morning at a press conference that his new radio ad criticizes the governor’s approach to the wilderness proposal.

In his ad, the text of which was released by the Parker campaign, Douglas is criticized for “ignoring five years of hard work and compromise on a bill to protect Vermont's environment, a proposal that thousands of Vermonters weighed in on.”

“Democrats and Republicans agree that Congress should preserve Vermont's wilderness lands. But not Jim Douglas,” the ad states.

Parker issued a statement after the compromise was announced asking why Douglas accepted the proposal now when he had rejected the same offer weeks ago.

"Two weeks ago, Governor Douglas rejected the very same compromise that he agreed to today. Why did he change his mind? Probably because Vermonters expressed their outrage that the Governor would reject this common sense compromise that brought Vermonters together, and instead acted to divide us,” said Parker. It's unfortunate that it takes political pressure for Jim Douglas to do the right thing. He should have agreed to this compromise when it was presented to him two weeks ago.”"

A campaign spokeswoman said Parker would wait to see if wilderness legislation does indeed pass by Friday before deciding whether to continue running the ad.

As it was originally introduced in April, the legislation would have increased Vermont wilderness by about 48,000 acres, including the creation of two new wilderness areas, Glastenbury in southern Vermont and Batell in central Vermont.

At a press conference in Brattleboro today, Parker accused Douglas of playing politics with the wilderness plan, waiting until the last minute before voicing complaints that Douglas knew would derail the bill when it was too late to save it.

“It was not a secret that this bill was introduced. He had an obligation to intervene clearly and forcefully earlier,” said Parker, who has launched a new campaign radio ad criticizing Douglas’ approach to the measure.

“Jim isn’t even clear about what his agenda is on this,” Parker told reporters. “He says he doesn’t want to stop the wilderness bill, but he knows that writing this letter was explosive … I think what is most outrageous about it is the failure to participate in good faith during the process itself.”

Gibbs said the administration has been actively engaged throughout the process, and would now "take our cues from [the congressional delegation as theymove the bill through the process."

The wilderness proposal came about after years of review and public participation. A U.S. Forest Service process included 73 public meetings over two years to devise a new management plan for the Green Mountain National Forest. Included in various land uses for the 400,000-acre forest, the plan recommends adding 27,000 acres of wilderness.

Only Congress can designate wilderness, however, and Vermont’s delegation proposed adding nearly 20,000 acres more than the Forest Service proposed.

In addition to eight towns affected by the wilderness designation, the timber industry, sportsmen’s and outdoor recreation groups have opposed wilderness expansion. These groups also oppose other aspects of the new management plan, including how much timber can be harvested annually.

Earlier this month, on Sept. 13, the Douglas administration joined these groups in opposing parts of the plan, and went so far as to criticize the Forest Service for not finding ways to expand wilderness in the towns that did not want the additional designated areas.

Gibbs said the administration would communicate the changes with the affected towns in due time.