Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

RE: Protect our public lands--Support R.S. 2477 Rights-of-Way Act of 2003

Dear Representative ,

As a concerned U.S. citizen and taxpayer I urge you to cosponsor the R.S. 2477 Rights-of-Way Act of 2003, H.R. 1639. This legislation would help protect national parks from an ill-conceived Bush administration policy that revives an antiquated law that would facilitate the giveaway of thousands of miles of trails, roads, rivers, and streams on our federal lands -- including some in our national parks.

H.R. 1639 would block the administration's apparent goal of giving away tens of thousands of unsubstantiated claims for federal rights-of-way under the provisions of the 1866 Mining Law known as R.S. 2477. This provision, which Congress repealed in 1976, is now being viewed as a loophole for bulldozing thousands of miles of new roads across some of this country's most sacred federal sites and protected areas.

In fact, the revival of this Civil War era law is one of the primary reasons Wrangell-St. Elias National Park was listed as one of America’s Ten Most Endangered National Parks by the National Parks Conservation Association. The revival of this law could result in more than 1,700 miles of new roads through this pristine park.

These new regulations exclude the ultimate owners of our federal lands -- the American people -- from the disclaimer process, and provide no opportunity for advance public notice and comment before a final agency disclaimer decision is made against our interests.

For more than a century, this country has created national parks that are the envy of the world. Now is not the time to abandon the protection of these treasured places. Please cosponsor this important legislation and protect Wrangell-St. Elias and all the parks in our National Park System threatened by this ill-advised plan.