Over a year ago, property rights advocates, timber industry supporters, grazing interests, and other "pro-use" advocates began promoting a common message.   They claimed that federal laws require the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to give special consideration to the views of local county government officials when it comes to what happens on federal lands.   Promoters of this "special local influence" by county politicians define this as agency "coordination."

One nationally known promoter of property rights causes was brought to Tuolumne County to push county officials to demand stronger consideration of local political desires whenever   Forest Service plans and projects are evaluated.  

CSERC's director stood at that time to point out that the laws being cited by the "local control" advocates were being misquoted -- that a careful review of those laws actually showed that only the federal government can determine what is done on Forest Service or BLM lands.

Soon afterwards, the local "wise-use" advocacy group brought together the full array of user interests to craft a wish-list of changes in federal and state policies.   That thick policy document was then brought forward for full board approval by Tuolumne County supervisor Teri Murrison, who has promoted grazing and logging and has complained about restrictions caused by environmental regulations.

Numerous other well-spoken citizens and County supervisor Liz Bass joined in criticism of the pro-use, anti-environmental policies.   Armed with detailed examples from CSERC and others as to why the position document was flawed, County supervisors eventually sent the document back to staff for further review and revision.  

CSERC still bent over backwards to find middle ground with the user groups, even crafting a compromise policy document that recognized the historic and cultural desires of loggers, miners, ranchers, and other user groups.   But CSERC's middle ground efforts were rejected.   It is unclear what a revised document from county staff will look like when it returns.   But certain supervisors are eager to adopt policies they can use to push for more resource extraction and less environmental protection on federal lands of the local region.