President: 'Today we celebrate Cesar Chavez'

U.S. NATIONAL PARKS TO BE OFF LIMITS TO AMERICANS PDF | Print | E-mail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Patricia Neill At Yellowstone National Park, United Nations' delegates who surveyed the area last year, called for a "buffer zone" around the Park. So, the Park Service is choking off the local economy by refusing to maintain certain highways and by buying up any property available. Of course, there will be plenty available as more and more owners are denied the use of their own private property which causes businesses to shut down and the economy to show. Inside Yellowstone, the Park Service is shutting down campgrounds as the park is being prepared to become the core of a huge biosphere reserve, as part of the United Nations global plan. Once established, no human activity will be permitted in the area. This represents fulfillment of plans outlined in the United Nation's Biodiversity Treaty - which, though still unratified by the U.S. Senate, is being implemented by the Clinton Administration. The way it is done is illustrated by what happened to the owners of the Crown Butte New World gold mine, which is OUTSIDE Yellowstone National Park. After being threatened with non-stop litigation that could have lasted decades, the mining company finally agreed to a deal which leaves at least $650 million of known gold reserves in the ground. In exchange, the mining company was given the right to explore other federal lines for mining purposes and paid $65 million dollars ($21 million of which must be used for "environmental cleanup." Another recent example was Clinton's declaration of Kaiwoporwits non-polluting coal reserves in Utah a "National Monument" by executive order. This "monument" will cost the Utah Public School system alone $60 BILLION in lost education fees. It will cost the future economy of Utah over a TRILLION dollars. The "monument" consists of 1.5 million acres of Utah land which the people of Utah not only did not KNOW was about to be snatched by Clinton as a key part of a future United Nations "biodiversity" area, but were vehemently opposed to. Other United Nations designations as "biodiversity" areas include the following National Park Service lands: Biosphere Reserves: •Big Bend National Park, Tx. (801,163 acres) •Big Thicket National Preserve, TX (85,750 acres) •Congaree Swamp National Monument (SC (22,200 acres) •Death Valley National Monument, CA (2,067,628) •Denali National Park and Preserve, AK (6,500,000 acres) •Everglades National Park and •Fort Jefferson National Monument, Fl. (1, 571,199 acres) •Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserver, AK (7,523,888 acres) •Glacier National Park, Mt (1,013,572 acres) •Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, AK (3,283,168 acres) •Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN/NC (520,269) •Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI (229,177 acres) •Isle Royale National Park, MI (571,790 acres) •Joshua Tree National Monument, CA (559,954 acres) •Kings Canyon National Park, CA (461,901 acres) •Mammoth Cave National Park, KY (52,708 acres) •Noatak National Preserve, AK (6,574,481 acres) •Olympic National Park, WA (922,651 acres) •Organ Pipe National Monument, AZ (330,689 acres) •Redwood National Park, CA (110,232 acres) •Rocky Mountain National Park (265,727 acres) •Sequoia National Park, CA (402,482 acres) •Virgin Islands National Park, VI (14,689 acres) •Yellowstone National Park, WY (2,219,791 acres) World Heritage Sites •Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM (46,766 acres) •Grand Canyon National Park, AZ (1,217,158 acres) •Mesa Verde National Park, CO (52,122 acres) •Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and Preserve, AK (13,188,325 acres) •Yosemite National Park, CA. (761,236 acres) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1972 Treaty Grants the United Nations Control Over American Historical Landmarks by Melissa Wiedbrauk When our Founding Fathers sparked the American Revolution and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, they sought self-government for the American colonies and an escape from the dominance of England. The Founding Fathers would be shocked to learn that some of their successors have given control of key American sovereign territory to other nations. Through an international treaty, the United States is allowing the United Nations and its member countries access to and control of American soil - in particular, our historic buildings and treasured wilderness. In 1972, our government signed the United Nations' World Heritage Treaty, a treaty that creates "World Heritage Sites" and Biosphere Reserves." Selected for their cultural, historical or natural significance, national governments are obligated to protect these landmarks under U.N. mandate.1 Since 1972, 68 percent of all U.S. national parks, monuments and preserves have been designated as World Heritage Sites.2 Twenty important symbols of national pride, along with 51 million acres of our wilderness, are World Heritage Sites or Biosphere Reserves now falling under the control of the U.N. This includes the Statue of Liberty, Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello, the Washington Monument, the Brooklyn Bridge, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite, the Florida Everglades and the Grand Canyon - to name just a few. Most ironic of all is the listing of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. The birthplace of our Republic is now an official World Heritage Site. The very place where our Founding Fathers signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - the documents that set America apart from other nations and created the world's longest-standing democracy - is no longer fully under the control of our government and the American people. Protection of our treasured places is a sound undertaking, but doing so by ceding control of our sovereign territory to a foreign power is wrong and threatens our rights and freedoms. In 1995, Crown Butte Mines in the New World Mining District in Montana was forced to abandon a mine development project after the U.N. listed Yellowstone National Park as a "World Heritage Site in Danger."3 Crown Butte proposed to mine a medium-size underground operation on private property three miles from the boundary of Yellowstone. The project would have employed 280 people and generated $230 million in revenue.4 This mining project was not unique. The area had been mined for 150 years before Yellowstone National Park was established. Crown Butte had worked along with the U.S. Forest Service to ensure that all of the necessary precautions were being taken to ensure that the project would be environmentally responsible. Crown Butte had won an award for excellence in 1992 and was considered to be a "showcase operation."5 None of these factors mattered to the U.N.'s World Heritage Committee. Citing the project as a potential threat, the U.N. exerted its authority to force the abandonment of the project. It did not matter to the U.N. that this violated Crown Butte's exercise of its private property rights under the U.S. Constitution. Nor did the U.N. care that its action also went against U.S. federal law prohibiting the inclusion of non-federal property within a U.S. World Heritage Site without the consent of the property owner.6 Although it has not happened yet, under the World Heritage Treaty the U.N. has the legal right to someday restrict us, as American citizens, from visiting our