House Republicans & Democrats Vote to Protect New Wilderness Areas in the Monongahela National Forest, 368-17, But Anti-Green Rep. Jeff Flake Votes No

Yesterday 161 House Republicans joined all Democrats voting to pass the Wild Monongahela Act: A National Legacy for West Virginia’s Special Places.

Rep. Jeff Flake, the reddest opposite of green there is, of course voted no. Maybe he hates nature? Hikers? Trees? Creeks?

The Wild Monongahela Act will protect over 47,000 acres of forest as wilderness – existing wilderness Areas as well as protecting 4 new wilderness areas across the forest.

Allen Johnson, founder of Christians for the Mountains, emphasized the religious values of wilderness in the Monongahela National Forest, saying

My organization not only supports wilderness, but has been working for the past year to convey to other faith based organizations and congregations the spiritual value these places hold. Protecting Wilderness, however, is more than about what it can do for humans. Wilderness is space for God's untrammeled creation. Wilderness is a reminder that ‘The Earth is the Lord's, and everything in it belongs to God’ (Psalm 24: I). Wilderness is an ecological yardstick to measure our ability to use the rest of the earth well.

As noted on the Wilderness Society website, wilderness areas are also critical in protecting our native trout streams. “Wilderness is the watershed management most conducive to healing and recovery of trout streams.” stated Don Gasper, retired DNR fisheries biologist and long-time fisheries manager on the Monongahela National Forest. In a poll conducted on wilderness in West Virginia in 2006, 90% of respondents who identified themselves as hunters or anglers supported wilderness for the Seneca Creek area which has been rated as one of America’s top 100 trout streams.

Over 100 West Virginia businesses supported this legislation for more wilderness in the Monongahela National Forest. Nearly all GOP House members joined them. But not Jeff Flake.

Exactly 38 years ago I was at the first Earth Day celebration on April 22, 1970 and wrote about it here.

Like any Democrat -- like almost all Republicans -- I would have voted to protect West Virginia's wilderness in the House yesterday.

Jeff Flake is an ineffective publicity hound whose contrary-for-the-sake-of-controversy view makes him a terrible Congressman.

For the sake of Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, for the sake of our children and our planet, Jeff Flake must be replaced by a Democrat.