Introductory Resources

Wildlands - The Master Plan
by Taking Liberty

What Is Greenlining?
By Taking Liberty

Federal Government Role:  The Gap Plan
By Taking Liberty

 Additional Resources: 

Why Property Rights Matter
By Taking Liberty

Deep Ecology-The Hidden Agenda
By The Green Agenda

Eco and Wildland Activism Drives Land Use Limits, Open Space and Buffers, Conservation, and Our Land Trusts.  Combined, this is GREENLINING.

• Whatcom County has become a battleground between those seeking to limit the place of humans in the environment vs. residents and landowners struggling to retain the free use of their private property in a manner consistent with traditional understandings of the state and federal constitutions and the county Charter.
• In the last few years, it appears that homo sapiens (we humans) are considered an invasive species that should only be permitted to inhabit the county if their land use has "zero net" impact.  Even the birds and bees have a "footprint."
• Wildlands activists and growth management activists have worked together to employ the strategy of  “green lining” (the requirement for buffers and “open space,” exchange and the outright purchase of “development rights,” conservation easements, and land trust purchases) for the long term goal of seeking regional, and ultimately global biodiversity and “sustainability.”
• On May 9, 2006 with ZERO public review or hearings (see the resolution cover sheet for yourself) Whatcom County Council resolved (see Resolution No. 2006-033) to support the global "Counties and Cities for Climate Protection Campaign" sponsored by ICLEI which is tied to U.N. Agenda 21.
• Mission creep and deliberate overlap has become the modus operandi for Whatcom County's planning exercises.   In the recent Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan update, the "advisory committee" injected every possible progressive theory into their justifications for walking and biking:   energy conservation, health care, economic vitality, cleaner air and water, even that walking and bicycling serve the goal of "promoting social equality" and "Place-ness" (?).  Read briefly through these work session minutes (MS Word format) to get a glimpse at how general welfare is bundled nowadays.   Those are amazing, expansive claims that are theoretical at best.
• The county's Comprehensive Plan, zoning buffer and other site requirements, and resource management programs splice directly into activists' long-range goals through:
• Open space incentives and requirements
• TDRs – transfers of development rights
• PDRs – purchases of development rights
• Agricultural conservation easements
• Publicly funded land trust acquisitions

 
Note and know:  Many of the TDRs, easements, and land trust acquisitions place “conserved” properties in park and trail use.  It's ironic that in public use this land may be used as intensively, if not more intensively, than private citizens would use it.   Think about it.