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Beaver Creek in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Nearly 12,000 acres within Pictured Rocks is now protected as wilderness, thanks to a REP-supported public lands bill that passed Congress and was signed into law in 2009.
(Photo: National Park Service)
 

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Michigan Public Lands Legislation Enacted into Law with REP Support!

An omnibus public lands bill strongly supported by REP passed Congress with bipartisan majorities and was signed into law in 2009. The legislation includes two significant conservation measures for Michigan. One is designation of the Beaver Basin Wilderness, which covers nearly 12,000 acres at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Several miles of the North Country National Scenic Trail run through this picturesque area on the south shore of Lake Superior. The legislation also authorized River Raisin National Battlefield Park, commemorating an engagement that took place in what is now Monroe County during the War of 1812.

Kudos to Congressmen Vern Ehlers, Candice Miller, and Fred Upton for voting for this important legislation.


Why Republicans should fight urban sprawl

by Meridian Township Supervisor Sue McGillicuddy,
Sue is President of the Michigan Chapter of Republicans for Environmental Protection.

Republicans across the nation, including GOP voters here in Michigan, are increasingly concerned about urban sprawl.

The unchecked spread of sprawl across farmland and forests causes congestion that steals time from our families, raises our property taxes, sucks the life out of downtowns, degrades community, and gobbles up the green spaces that keep our hometowns livable.

Sprawl is not the inevitable result of omnipotent market forces, as some ideologues assert. Instead, sprawl has been the consequence of deliberate government subsidies and policies that drove poorly planned development into the countryside at the expense of older cities. Tax policies, subsidized highways, flood plain insurance, and rigid zoning codes have all played a role in feeding the sprawl machine. In short, sprawl has been the result of bad government decisions. Reversing the tide will take individuals and communities working with their governments to make good decisions.

Why should sprawl worry Republicans? Sprawl strikes at the heart of traditional Republican ideals. Freedom and responsibility. Prudence and stewardship. Family values.

Sprawl diminishes freedom by hollowing out cities, swallowing up towns, and leaving homebuyers little choice but to live in homogeneous subdivisions that all look alike. Sprawl drives the elderly out of their homes by forcing up property taxes.

Sprawl is inherently irresponsible. Adherents of "anything-goes" land development ignore the costs that sprawl forces others to bear. Time spent in traffic jams instead of home with family, air polluted by auto exhaust, and taxes raised to pay for flood control services that forests once provided for free are among the hidden costs of sprawl.

Sprawl takes no account of our responsibility to be good stewards of land, forests, wetlands, and green spaces that clean the air, purify water, and nourish the spirit.

Communities nationwide are fed up and are taking action. Citizens are taxing themselves to buy parks and open space. Major employers are speaking out in favor of reforms to rein in sprawl and protect the vitality of communities where they live and do business.

Containing sprawl won’t be easy. But we must try. We have the destiny of our communities in our hands. We can let sprawl continue to stress out our families, raise our taxes, degrade our communities, and pollute the environment. Or, we can plan carefully and act intelligently to keep our communities livable. We at REP America, the national grassroots organization of Republicans for environmental protection, refuse to see sprawl as "inevitable." We are working to protect our quality of life for future generations.


Sue McGillicuddy, of Okemos, Michigan, is Supervisor of Meridian Township. She has served as president of the Michigan Chapter of Republicans for Environmental Protection from 2002 to 2004, and again beginning in January 2007.

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