78-03-A3

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Redwoods

Transcript No one can quarrel with the idea of preserving the Cathedral like groves of Coast redwood trees which are found only in California. And, likewise, it's hard to be against a national park when one thinks of the exceptional beauty spots preserved now in parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite. Why then do I think the idea of a National Redwood park doesn't make sense? I think I have an answer. The Los Angeles Times, in an editorial, recently referred to the long struggle that --QUOTE--" led first to the creation of the original 58,000-acre park to the preserve." --UNQUOTE-- I believe the people of the United States who are being asked -- make that told -- to put up millions and millions of dollars for the added acreage plus $40 million or more on a job training program for the lumber jacks and others who will be thrown out of work should know there isn't a 58,000-acre National Redwood park. Back in 1968 when diehard preservationists were going all out for a national park the federal government learned that virtually all of the superlative redwoods, the cathedral-like groves were already preserved in a number of state parks totaling 282 square miles. That is more than 180,000 acres. The only way there could even be a pretense of a national park would be to include one of our existing California state parks. The Federal government bought 28,000 acres (not 58,000) and 16,000 of those acres were either non-t mber or cut-over land. Only 320 acres consisted of the superlative trees, plus 10,000 acres of old growth redwoods similar to the kind used for lumber. When I left the California Governor's office in early 1975 nothing had been done to incorporate the state park into the national holding. The promise of more than one and a half million visitors a year as a boost to the local community turned out to be about 35,000. Nor had the Bureau of Land management opened the 40,000 acres of commercial-type forest to timber cut ting which had been promised to avoid hardship in the lumber industry. The state park that was supposed to make the National purchase look like a park has almost six times as many acres of superlative trees and twice as many old growth forest. It only has one-fourth the open or cut-over land as the federals bought. I'm sure this is known to Senator Cranston and Congresssman Phil Burton of California who honchoed this measure through Congress. But, I wonder if it is to all those others who voted "aye"? The 48,000 acres approved for purchase are not the ancient giant trees that we have already preserved in those state parks. This purchase is for a so called buffer zone and is a run of the mill mix of redwoods and fir trees. I have no doubt the push will continue to acquire more thousands of acres of timber land to act as a buffer zone for the buffer zone. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-03-A3 Production Date 02/20/1978 Book/Page RPtV-266 Audio Youtube? No
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