Hack-ma-tack Wildlife Refuge

Open Letter from the BVA Board to the Bull Valley Community

June 13, 2011 To: Members of the BVA and the Bull Valley Community Dear Residents: The Bull Valley Association Board set out some months ago to do an in-depth analysis of the impact of including the Bull Valley area within the boundaries of the Hack-ma-tack National Wildlife Refuge (HNWR)1. Hack-ma-tack would be under the control of the Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)2. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the overall short and long term effects on our Community, comparing their goals with those of the Bull Valley Association, and communicating our findings to our members and area residents so they could make informed decisions. As many of you know, the bedrock of the BVA can be summed up in its mission:
To maintain, improve and conserve the environmental character, appearance and conditions of the area commonly known as Bull Valley which area includes, but is not limited to, the Village of Bull Valley in McHenry County, IL; and (2) To maintain, improve and conserve the social and cultural aspects of the area; and (3) To maintain and improve communication among the residents, property owners and others interested in the area regarding matters of common interest.

It is in this spirit that we, the BVA Board, feel it is important to make you aware of our findings, and why the BVA Board has passed a resolution against supporting the inclusion of the Bull Valley area within the boundaries of HNWR. The residents of the Bull Valley area have repeatedly shown overwhelming support for the environment and for land conservation practices. We are already proven stewards of our plants, wildlife, and their habitat; and we have strongly supported the goals of the local conservation agencies3. What is Hack-ma-tack? Our study discovered and analyzed information from published data by the Department of the Interior, USFWS publications and brochures, USFWS town hall meetings with residents, and verifiable materials available on regulations governing these agencies4. The overarching goal of Hack-ma-tack, USFWS, and the friends of Hack-ma-tack organizations is to provide recreational areas for approximately 12 million residents of Rockford, Milwaukee and Chicago for hiking, hunting, fishing, birding and educational uses. This will be done by knitting together existing conservation/refuge lands through agreements with local agencies and through the acquisition of privately-owned parcels5.

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Hack-ma-tack Wildlife Refuge

Open Letter from the BVA Board to the Bull Valley Community On the surface, and from their published information, it would appear that the goals of USFWS for Hack-ma-tack are similar to, and in alignment with, the goals of the many environmental and preservation organizations already working in our area. They include, but are not limited to our own McHenry County Conservation District (MCCD), the Illinois Nature Preserve, the Boone Creek Watershed Alliance, the Land Conservancy of McHenry County, the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water, the Bull Valley Riding Club, and the Bull Valley Garden Club. However, the impact of the proposed refuge on the residents of the Bull Valley area (and McHenry County) will be quite different. Whats the Perceived Benefit? MCCD has the admirable goal of preserving 50,000 acres of which about 25,000 have been purchased thus far mostly through the efforts of our Community taxpayers. Some monies have been made available through federal, state and private sources. In the stated views of MCCD, the perceived addition of USFWS funds would accelerate them toward their ultimate goal of acquiring more lands. In the case of other organizations, they are accomplishing their goals of conservation and preservation through the very successful methods of dedications and easements while maintaining and enhancing private ownership. What is USFWS Currently Doing? Underway currently is an Environmental Assessment of the areas being studied to determine those areas to be targeted for inclusion USFWS6. The 12 person study committee is comprised (by USFWS regulation) of only environmentalists. Two members of McHenry County Conservation District are on the study committee7. Bull Valley was added to the study boundaries by an amendment. While we were not originally considered, we were informed that Bull Valleys addition came at the request of the President of the Village of Barrington Hills8. The results of that study are due out in the fall. Once their study is completed, there will be little anyone can do to influence the outcome in spite of the mandated public meetings9. How will Hack-ma-tack Affect Us? No identifiable additional benefits would result from Bull Valley being within the boundaries of a federally designated National Wildlife Refuge that we, the Community, dont already have by working closely with our local agencies. While the perceived advantages might possibly include: slowed development; lowered demands on resources; and potential buyers for property owners seeking land disposal at any price, the potential disadvantages could be far reaching and would be out of our ability to control. It might well amount to a loss of freedom within our community in exchange for opening up our area to millions of nonresidents for hunting and fishing. Equestrian activities, an extremely important facet to hundreds of our residents, and snowmobiling are severely restricted on refuge lands, and would only be permitted on motor vehicle roads10. Page 2

Hack-ma-tack Wildlife Refuge

Open Letter from the BVA Board to the Bull Valley Community

The Bull Valley Association Board does not feel our residents should give up their rights to an agency that has little knowledge or interest in what our Community represents to its residents. Why is MCCD a Good Fit for Bull Valley and Hack-ma-tack a Poor Fit? McHenry County Conservation District (MCCD) is headquartered in McHenry County. It is this close proximity of agency decision makers to the land that has fostered a solid and close relationship with groups and individuals alike. The conservationists have learned the culture of our community, supported our goals and helped preserve our rural character. They are our neighbors. The Department of the Interior Wildlife & Sport Fish Restoration Program/US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is headquartered in Washington, DC and our region, Region 3, has their offices in Ft. Snelling, MN. They are a federal agency that reports to the U.S. Congress11, and they are budgeted each year for the acquisition of private lands. This budgeting process may vary the annual dollars that are available to them for acquisition and maintenance. Traditional shortfalls in budgets for adequate patrolling and maintenance of refuge lands has created past problems for residents12, and it is unclear at this time as to how adequate patrolling/maintenance shortfalls would be funded.

Probable Community Impact

Hunting/Fishing: USFWS derives the majority of private funding from the sale of Duck Stamps, hunting and fishing licenses, ammunition and gun sales. The focus on these types of recreation is quite different from our areas current focus on agri/tourism. We are a community that prefers a quiet, private lifestyle. Opening the area to the 12 million residents of Milwaukee, Rockford and Chicago for hunting and fishing will not fit well with the culture that attracted us to the area. Equestrian and Snowmobile Activities: would be severely restricted on refuge lands and would be allowed only on already established roadways13. Currently the area has a large, connected equestrian trail system. In 85% of the cases this is made possible through agreements with individual private land owners. These permits would not transfer with title, leading to a fragmentation of the trail system, rendering it unusable over time. USFWS proposal of grandfathering these trail rights would not be enforceable once the property transfers ownership14. Their overall goal is to get horses off the refuge lands. Refuge Goals Land Returned to Pre-European Occupancy Conditions: The goal of refuge lands is to return the flora/fauna/habitats to pre-European occupancy status. Farm and equestrian lands are thought to be undesirable conditions, creating harmful runoff Page 3

Hack-ma-tack Wildlife Refuge

Open Letter from the BVA Board to the Bull Valley Community to habitats and wetland areas. There would likely be increasing pressure to take these existing lands in and around the refuge out of production15. Resources Impact: One of the goals of USFWS is to return the waterways to their original configurations and character. The Clean Water Authority Restoration Act (CWARA) proposes massively expanding the Clean Water Act to impose new regulations on all wet areas. These new regulations will give Fish and Wildlife, the EPA and The Army Corps of Engineers vast powers in the regulation of areas potentially impacting protected waterways and wetlands. The spillover to adjacent landowners may affect their use of current septic systems and may alter the hydrology of existing ground water systems. Unclear Control of existing MCCD easements and lands: We have not been able to ascertain who would ultimately control the easements and the land currently (and in the future) under the management of MCCD. Reduced tax revenues to Village and County: The Federal Government does not pay taxes to local governments on land that it owns16. For Federal Wildlife Refuges, the Federal Refuge Revenue Sharing Act authorized payments in lieu of taxes up to a maximum tax rate of three quarters of one percent (0.75%). Actual payments are less and depend on changing Congressional funding of the reimbursement program each year, and on estimated land values that are reappraised each year. While land acquisition is well funded, maintenance and land value payments are not and have traditionally run between 50 and 75% of the allocated amounts. The difference would need to be made up with local resident tax increases. Severe and expansive regulatory environment: Ever changing EPA and NEPA regulations17 and the resultant expansive restrictions on private land use make the governments definition of harmful or damaging to the refuge/wetlands environments a moving target18. Increasing pressures from well-funded environmental groups outside the Village: The Friends of Hack-ma-tack19 is made up of a number of well-funded environmental organizations: Sierra Club; The Nature Conservancy; The Trust for Public Land; Field Museum; Clear Water Outdoor (Lake Geneva); Environmental Defenders of McHenry County; to name a few. These organizations are very politically active. Their interests are not in preserving our culture or interests, but in expanding the public use refuge boundaries in support of their interests. Eminent Domain/Condemnation: The U.S. Congress has the ability to prohibit the use of Eminent Domain (condemnation) as part of Hack-ma-tacks enabling legislation20. In the case of Hack-ma-tack NWR they chose to allow the use of condemnation in the taking of private lands21. The USFWS has used condemnation in approximately 15% of land acquisition cases. During the Hack-ma-tack town hall meeting held in McHenry County the presenter used their standard phrase of willing buyer, willing seller when Page 4

Hack-ma-tack Wildlife Refuge

Open Letter from the BVA Board to the Bull Valley Community addressing their proposed policy on acquisition. This would suggest that they will only purchase your lands when you are ready to sell and at a price the seller would be willing to accept22. However, USFWS literature states they will use Eminent Domain to: 1) determine the legal owner; 2) settle a difference of opinion of value set by the federal real estate office - (when the owner is agreeable to court action); and 3) prevent uses which would cause irreparable damage to the resources that the units (Hack-ma-tack) was established to protect (they would be the sole determinant of damage)23. Moreover, William Kriz, chief of the National Park Services Land Resources Division (also, Dept. of Interior) made the following statement, The term willing buyer, willing seller is meaningless. Everyone is willing to sell at some price. Willing buyer, willing seller makes it almost impossible for the park to expand. Its a very time consuming process. The standard form letter a private land owner would receive states that should they not be satisfied with the offered price, it must be settled in court or condemnation proceedings will be initiated within 15 days of refusal. Condemned land cannot be sold by the owner. Currently, at a local level, eminent domain is actively being pursued on a 20 acre parcel on Route 14. Summation On the surface it sounds like a wonderful undertaking. However, when the research and a benefit analysis were concluded by our committee we discovered a ratio of 4:1 negativeto-positive impacts. Should any one of the negative impacts occur, the community and our cultural character would be damaged. Further, we question the overall benefits of inviting into our Community an agency with the attitude and willingness to condemn private property to achieve its goals. We, on the BVA Board and in the Community, are deeply committed to sound environmental policies. Presently serving on the board are members of the Sierra Club, a member who sits on the Citizens Advisory Council of MCCD, members who have committed lands to the Illinois Nature Preserve and/or conservation easements, a founding member of the Boone Creek Watershed Alliance, and a member who has led teams planning and designing LEED Certified Green Buildings. Your BVA Board would like our membership to understand the implications of Hackma-tack NWR more fully than the standard published information put out by USFWS. We have cross-referenced articles beyond those directly used in this analysis to assist you in your understanding of both sides of the story. We hope that you will take the time to do your own research and draw your own conclusions. Please send comments and/or questions to thebva@aol.com .

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Hack-ma-tack Wildlife Refuge

Open Letter from the BVA Board to the Bull Valley Community

Partial Listing of References Used in This Letter

1

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Division of Conservation Planning; Midwest Region - Bulletin Site

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Conserving the Nature of America - Dept of Interior/USFWS Public Website
3

McHenry County Conservation District; 2009 Resolutions - MCCD 2009 Resolutions

Partial Reference to Bulletins and Meetings - HNWR Town Meeting, October 2010; Friends of Hackma-tack ; Friends - A Proposal for a National Wildlife Refuge; USFWS, Division of Conservation Planning; Proposed National Wildlife Refuge; Endangered Species Act and Listing
5

Partial Listing of Links to Publications from the Friends Organizations - Friends of Hack-ma-tack ; Friends - A Proposal for a National Wildlife Refuge
6

Hack-ma-tack Environmental Assessment Begins - Environmental Assessment

Information on the Makeup and Nature of the Environmental Study Team - Hack-ma-tack Planning Team
8

Village of Barrington Hills Newsletter - Barrington Hills Newsletter on Hack-ma-tack Study

Letter from the Concerned Citizens of Garfield County to the Russell National Wildlife Refuge Concerned Citizens, Garfield County
10

USFWS Land Acquisition Planning - USFWS, Land Acquisition Planning; USFWS Centralized Library of Servicewide Policies (Div. of Policy and Directives Management) - USFWS Policy Library
11

Federal Funding and Budgeting; U.S. Fish & Wildlife - Congressional and Legislative Affairs Comments from Public Meeting - HNWR Town Meeting, October 2010

12

13

Snowmobile Use on Hack-ma-tack Lands - USFWS; Snowmobiles and Wildlife Refuge Lands Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge Open House [para. 3] - HNWR Open House, October 2010
14

Land Use Definitions; Grandfathering - Vested Rights, Grandfathering and Moratoria ARC Land Matters Land Use Laws and Grandfather Clauses; Commonly Asked Questions - Land Use Laws and Grandfather Clauses; Maine Municipal Association
15

Regulation Impacts on Agriculture - Agricultural Impact of Endangered Species and Related Acts; Ohio Senator lobbies for NWR Bill Damaging Farming Community - Ohio senator undercuts Darby protest
16

See How Federal Reimbursement Works at Refuges - Downeast Coastal Press; Washington County Towns Lose $170,000
17

Ecosystems (EPA) - Science & Technology: Ecosystems | Science & Technology | US EPA; Agricultural Letter from PEER Environmental Group to USFWL on Farming Crops - Letter from Environmental Group (PEER) on Farming in Midwest Region

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Hack-ma-tack Wildlife Refuge

Open Letter from the BVA Board to the Bull Valley Community

National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act (NWRSA) - NWRSA

18

USFWS National Environmental Policy Act; NEPA Guide to States Organizational Friends of Hack-ma-tack - Friends of Hack-ma-tack Organizations

19

20

Heartland Institute Center on Climate and Environmental Policy; August 2001 - Heartland Institute; Environment and Climate News;
21

Letter from Purchasing Office Initiating Acquisition through Eminent Domain - U.S. Dept. of Interior; Real Estate Office Land Acquisition Letter
22

National Park Service (Dept. of Interior) Agree or Else - National Park Service says "willing seller" is meaningless
23

USFWS; A Profile of Land Protection Actions Brochure - Profile of Land Protection; September 30, 2003

Partial Bibliography of Additional Information Researched but not Referenced in Letter.

National Wildlife Refuge System; Planning a New or Expanded National Wildlife Refuge; Frequently Asked Questions - USFWS/NWRS Bulletin; Frequently Asked Questions Range Magazine; Archives, fall 98 - Range Magazine Books; Eminent Domain law ED Law American Farmers and Ranchers; Policy Positions - American Farmers Land Trusts and Environmentalists - Wisconsin Land Trust

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