Kimmy
07-30-2004, 05:20 AM
Take the time to use the sample letter (provided by the "enemy") and change it a bit to our perspective of allowing all uses in America's Natural Forests.
********************************************
WILDALERT -- Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Brought to you by The Wilderness Society
********************************************
New Dirt Bike Rules: Small Step Forward, But Far Short Of The
Mark
The U.S. Forest Service has proposed new rules to govern use of
all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), such as dirt bikes and other
off-road vehicles, on America's National Forests. All our
forests are suffering greatly from improper, and often illegal,
ATV use.
Although the rules represent a step forward, they fall far short
of what we need to address what the head of the agency himself
terms one of the greatest threats to our National Forests. The
deadline for comments on these proposed rules is Monday, Sept.
13, 2004. Please urge the Forest Service to strengthen the draft
rules by sending your comment today.
You can take immediate action at
http://ga1.org/campaign/ORVWA_tws/in7gsg2pibewn
*****************************************
About ATV Damage on Our National Forests
The uncontrolled use of all-terrain vehicles, such as dirt
bikes, four-wheelers and others, damage our National Forests and
the values they protect across the forest system. Their numbers
soar. They are advertised, accurately, if irresponsibly, as
being virtually unstoppable, regardless of terrain. Their power
and range increase with every new model year. So does the
damage.
In many National Forests today, off-road vehicles can drive
almost anywhere. The Forest Service reports that over 273,000
miles of roads and other routes are open to various off-road
machines. On some forests, ATVs and dirt bikes can travel
virtually without limit across hundreds of thousands, even
millions, of acres.
ATV Use Overwhelms All Others
This single use dominates the landscape at the expense of almost
every other activity. According to the Forest Service, millions
more Americans visit our National Forests to hike, see and
experience natural surroundings, hunt or fish than visit to ride
off road vehicles.
But with these vehicles almost everywhere, there are fewer
places where families can go for a quiet walk in the woods or a
picnic, where hunters and anglers can find quality experiences,
or where hikers and horseback riders can avoid dangerous
conflicts. And there are fewer places, too, where wildlife can
live undisturbed.
The Forest Service has failed to effectively manage this use or
consistently enforce even its own most basic rules on off-road
use.
The Agency Acknowledges The Problem
In April 2003, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth identified
unmanaged off-road vehicle use as one of the four greatest
threats to America's National Forests (along with fire, the
spread of invasive species and habitat fragmentation). In this
assessment, he echoed his predecessor, Mike Dombeck.
The Chief catalogued the damaging impacts of uncontrolled
off-road vehicle use. And he called attention to the spreading
spider web of unplanned or renegade ATV and dirt bike tracks
that disfigure so many of our forests. He noted that "the Lewis
and Clark National Forest in Montana has more than a thousand
unplanned roads and trails reaching for almost 650 miles,"
typical, he said, for a lot of national forests, and likely only
to get worse.
An 'Urgent' Call to Action
The Lewis and Clark is just one forest. In 2001, the Forest
Service estimated that 60,000 miles of unauthorized roads, many
illegally blazed by off-road operators, scar our forests
nationwide. The number only grows.
Early this year, Chief Bosworth appropriately issued an urgent
call to action. "We need to address the issue now," he said.
If that clarion call was heartening, the draft rules it produced
on July 7 are a major disappointment. They stop far short of
what we need to respond to the obvious and growing threat. In
fairness, they do include some helpful policy changes, always
assuming that they are effectively implemented on the ground.
The most useful of these changes would:
* Prohibit cross-country motorized travel across entire forests;
* Allow ATV and dirt bike use only on roads and off-road vehicle
routes specifically designated as open for such use; and,
* Allow forests to begin route designations without first
inventorying or mapping unauthorized user-created or "renegade"
routes.
The New Rules Scarcely Reflect the Urgency the Chief Described
Overall the draft rules are extremely tentative, though. They
fail to address critical problems and fail most particularly to
reflect the urgency that Chief Bosworth highlighted only a few
months ago.
The Chief appropriately, if belatedly, cited the need to act
"now." Yet there is no NOW in the proposed rules, no schedule
for starting or completing the study and designation of roads
and routes for ATV and dirt bike use.
The Chief highlighted the serious problem of unauthorized or
renegade routes, but his agency has issued a proposal that's
virtually silent about addressing this pernicious threat.
No Plan To Study Negative Impacts Before Designating Routes
Uncontrolled off-road vehicle use is damaging the land,
polluting water, shredding wildlife habitat, and driving many
other forest visitors away. But this proposal does not clearly
require the Forest Service to study the negative impacts of
specific roads or routes it might consider opening to ATVs, dirt
bikes and other vehicles.
Ensuring the staff and other resources to monitor impacts and
enforce basic rules is essential to successful implementation.
Here, too, the proposal is deficient. It does nothing to boost
on-the-ground management and enforcement ability. Without such
provisions, the rule becomes a paper exercise that will do
nothing to rein in ATVs on our forests.
*****************************************
How You Can Help: Take Action Today!
With your help, we have a chance to strengthen this proposal!
You can comment immediately from
http://ga1.org/campaign/ORVWA_tws/in7gsg2pibewn
If you have time, please write your own comments. Your thoughts,
in your own words, will have the greatest impact. And if
inappropriate or excessive ATV use have diminished your own
enjoyment of one of our National Forests, please describe that.
We've attached a sample letter with the other important points
to make in your comments. We've also provided contact
information. The deadline for comments is Monday, Sept. 13,
2004!
Contact Information
Regular mail:
Proposed Rule for Designated Routes and Areas for Motor Vehicle
Use
c/o Content Analysis Team
P.O. Box 221150
Salt Lake City, Utah 84122-1150
E-mail: trvman@fs.fed.us
Fax: (801) 517-1014
*****************************************
Sample Letter
Dear Content Analysis Team:
I urge the Forest Service to significantly strengthen the
proposed rule for designated routes and areas for motor vehicle
use on our National Forests.
While the rule is a step forward, it stops short of what we need
to sensibly manage burgeoning and destructive off-road vehicle
use on our forests. Indeed, unless it is revised it may succeed
only in dissipating the enthusiasm the Chief engendered in his
call for immediate action against what he termed one of the four
greatest threats confronting our National Forest System.
Specifically, I urge you to include provisions in the rule that
would:
* Require completion of off-road route designations within two
years of the rule's effective date;
* Allow designation of roads and routes, including any
unauthorized or "renegade" routes, only when a thorough process
of public participation and site-specific analysis of
environmental impacts and user conflicts demonstrates that such
use is consistent with the clear criteria of the two extant
off-road vehicle Executive Orders;
* Immediately prohibit use of all unauthorized "renegade" ATV
and dirt-bike routes pending site-specific study and official
designation; and,
* Require that each forest ensure that it can afford to maintain
and manage any system of roads and routes it proposes to
designate for off-road vehicular use.
I support several elements of the proposed rule, notably those
that would prohibit cross country travel, that would allow
off-road vehicle use only on roads and routes officially
designated as open on use maps, and the finding that forests
need neither inventory nor map "renegade" routes before starting
the route designation process. Users created these routes
without authorization; they are entitled to no deference in a
sensible process of route planning and designation. Indeed, any
presumption should be against such routes.
Sincerely,
(Your full name and address)
*****************************************
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this
alert by going to the following URL:
http://ga1.org/ct/PdzvMw613dGc/ORV-Alert
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
http://ga1.org/campaign/ORVWA_tws/forward/in7gsg2pibewn
We encourage you to take action by September 14, 2004
Help Solve the Off Road Vehicle Problem
*****************************************
TO UNSUBSCRIBE: If you would like to unsubscribe from this list,
you can respond to this email with "REMOVE" as the subject, or
you can visit your subscription management page at:
http://ga1.org/wilderness/smp.tcl?nkey=in7gsg2pibewn
TO SUBSCRIBE: If you have been forwarded this message and would
like to subscribe to this list, you can sign up here:
http://ga1.org/wilderness/join.tcl
********************************************
WILDALERT -- Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Brought to you by The Wilderness Society
********************************************
New Dirt Bike Rules: Small Step Forward, But Far Short Of The
Mark
The U.S. Forest Service has proposed new rules to govern use of
all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), such as dirt bikes and other
off-road vehicles, on America's National Forests. All our
forests are suffering greatly from improper, and often illegal,
ATV use.
Although the rules represent a step forward, they fall far short
of what we need to address what the head of the agency himself
terms one of the greatest threats to our National Forests. The
deadline for comments on these proposed rules is Monday, Sept.
13, 2004. Please urge the Forest Service to strengthen the draft
rules by sending your comment today.
You can take immediate action at
http://ga1.org/campaign/ORVWA_tws/in7gsg2pibewn
*****************************************
About ATV Damage on Our National Forests
The uncontrolled use of all-terrain vehicles, such as dirt
bikes, four-wheelers and others, damage our National Forests and
the values they protect across the forest system. Their numbers
soar. They are advertised, accurately, if irresponsibly, as
being virtually unstoppable, regardless of terrain. Their power
and range increase with every new model year. So does the
damage.
In many National Forests today, off-road vehicles can drive
almost anywhere. The Forest Service reports that over 273,000
miles of roads and other routes are open to various off-road
machines. On some forests, ATVs and dirt bikes can travel
virtually without limit across hundreds of thousands, even
millions, of acres.
ATV Use Overwhelms All Others
This single use dominates the landscape at the expense of almost
every other activity. According to the Forest Service, millions
more Americans visit our National Forests to hike, see and
experience natural surroundings, hunt or fish than visit to ride
off road vehicles.
But with these vehicles almost everywhere, there are fewer
places where families can go for a quiet walk in the woods or a
picnic, where hunters and anglers can find quality experiences,
or where hikers and horseback riders can avoid dangerous
conflicts. And there are fewer places, too, where wildlife can
live undisturbed.
The Forest Service has failed to effectively manage this use or
consistently enforce even its own most basic rules on off-road
use.
The Agency Acknowledges The Problem
In April 2003, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth identified
unmanaged off-road vehicle use as one of the four greatest
threats to America's National Forests (along with fire, the
spread of invasive species and habitat fragmentation). In this
assessment, he echoed his predecessor, Mike Dombeck.
The Chief catalogued the damaging impacts of uncontrolled
off-road vehicle use. And he called attention to the spreading
spider web of unplanned or renegade ATV and dirt bike tracks
that disfigure so many of our forests. He noted that "the Lewis
and Clark National Forest in Montana has more than a thousand
unplanned roads and trails reaching for almost 650 miles,"
typical, he said, for a lot of national forests, and likely only
to get worse.
An 'Urgent' Call to Action
The Lewis and Clark is just one forest. In 2001, the Forest
Service estimated that 60,000 miles of unauthorized roads, many
illegally blazed by off-road operators, scar our forests
nationwide. The number only grows.
Early this year, Chief Bosworth appropriately issued an urgent
call to action. "We need to address the issue now," he said.
If that clarion call was heartening, the draft rules it produced
on July 7 are a major disappointment. They stop far short of
what we need to respond to the obvious and growing threat. In
fairness, they do include some helpful policy changes, always
assuming that they are effectively implemented on the ground.
The most useful of these changes would:
* Prohibit cross-country motorized travel across entire forests;
* Allow ATV and dirt bike use only on roads and off-road vehicle
routes specifically designated as open for such use; and,
* Allow forests to begin route designations without first
inventorying or mapping unauthorized user-created or "renegade"
routes.
The New Rules Scarcely Reflect the Urgency the Chief Described
Overall the draft rules are extremely tentative, though. They
fail to address critical problems and fail most particularly to
reflect the urgency that Chief Bosworth highlighted only a few
months ago.
The Chief appropriately, if belatedly, cited the need to act
"now." Yet there is no NOW in the proposed rules, no schedule
for starting or completing the study and designation of roads
and routes for ATV and dirt bike use.
The Chief highlighted the serious problem of unauthorized or
renegade routes, but his agency has issued a proposal that's
virtually silent about addressing this pernicious threat.
No Plan To Study Negative Impacts Before Designating Routes
Uncontrolled off-road vehicle use is damaging the land,
polluting water, shredding wildlife habitat, and driving many
other forest visitors away. But this proposal does not clearly
require the Forest Service to study the negative impacts of
specific roads or routes it might consider opening to ATVs, dirt
bikes and other vehicles.
Ensuring the staff and other resources to monitor impacts and
enforce basic rules is essential to successful implementation.
Here, too, the proposal is deficient. It does nothing to boost
on-the-ground management and enforcement ability. Without such
provisions, the rule becomes a paper exercise that will do
nothing to rein in ATVs on our forests.
*****************************************
How You Can Help: Take Action Today!
With your help, we have a chance to strengthen this proposal!
You can comment immediately from
http://ga1.org/campaign/ORVWA_tws/in7gsg2pibewn
If you have time, please write your own comments. Your thoughts,
in your own words, will have the greatest impact. And if
inappropriate or excessive ATV use have diminished your own
enjoyment of one of our National Forests, please describe that.
We've attached a sample letter with the other important points
to make in your comments. We've also provided contact
information. The deadline for comments is Monday, Sept. 13,
2004!
Contact Information
Regular mail:
Proposed Rule for Designated Routes and Areas for Motor Vehicle
Use
c/o Content Analysis Team
P.O. Box 221150
Salt Lake City, Utah 84122-1150
E-mail: trvman@fs.fed.us
Fax: (801) 517-1014
*****************************************
Sample Letter
Dear Content Analysis Team:
I urge the Forest Service to significantly strengthen the
proposed rule for designated routes and areas for motor vehicle
use on our National Forests.
While the rule is a step forward, it stops short of what we need
to sensibly manage burgeoning and destructive off-road vehicle
use on our forests. Indeed, unless it is revised it may succeed
only in dissipating the enthusiasm the Chief engendered in his
call for immediate action against what he termed one of the four
greatest threats confronting our National Forest System.
Specifically, I urge you to include provisions in the rule that
would:
* Require completion of off-road route designations within two
years of the rule's effective date;
* Allow designation of roads and routes, including any
unauthorized or "renegade" routes, only when a thorough process
of public participation and site-specific analysis of
environmental impacts and user conflicts demonstrates that such
use is consistent with the clear criteria of the two extant
off-road vehicle Executive Orders;
* Immediately prohibit use of all unauthorized "renegade" ATV
and dirt-bike routes pending site-specific study and official
designation; and,
* Require that each forest ensure that it can afford to maintain
and manage any system of roads and routes it proposes to
designate for off-road vehicular use.
I support several elements of the proposed rule, notably those
that would prohibit cross country travel, that would allow
off-road vehicle use only on roads and routes officially
designated as open on use maps, and the finding that forests
need neither inventory nor map "renegade" routes before starting
the route designation process. Users created these routes
without authorization; they are entitled to no deference in a
sensible process of route planning and designation. Indeed, any
presumption should be against such routes.
Sincerely,
(Your full name and address)
*****************************************
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this
alert by going to the following URL:
http://ga1.org/ct/PdzvMw613dGc/ORV-Alert
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
http://ga1.org/campaign/ORVWA_tws/forward/in7gsg2pibewn
We encourage you to take action by September 14, 2004
Help Solve the Off Road Vehicle Problem
*****************************************
TO UNSUBSCRIBE: If you would like to unsubscribe from this list,
you can respond to this email with "REMOVE" as the subject, or
you can visit your subscription management page at:
http://ga1.org/wilderness/smp.tcl?nkey=in7gsg2pibewn
TO SUBSCRIBE: If you have been forwarded this message and would
like to subscribe to this list, you can sign up here:
http://ga1.org/wilderness/join.tcl