The good news of the whole issue is that Aili will be sitting with the Unit Manager within the next couple of months to pour over maps and designate at least one if not more 4x4 roads. This is totally due to our great working relationship with the forest personnel.
More bad news: Northfield/Erving should be considered CLOSED as well. It is a powerline trail that has been run without too many issues for many years, however, our thought is that before we end up with another Coy Hill, we should get our permissions lined up before we head back. I have asked the NTC step to the fore and make contacts with the landowners. We will keep everyone posted as to what comes of this.
The ATV Bill in CT has PASSED the Environment Committee. This is BIG news as it has never made it out of this committee over the last 3 years of trying. Granted, it appears as though the Environ Com has edited the language a bit to possibly include universal registration. If this is the case, we will end up having to kill our own bill. We are waiting to find out the edited language.
I sure am glad Steve got me writing these blogs every week. With so much taking place, if I was waiting till the end of each month to put these together, I'd have a book or I'd simply be missing items. There is a lot of activity happening and there is obviously enough to write about every week!
As Steve mentioned, the signs are here. Thanx to Scott from NEA and their sign contact, we have 400 white with black arrow signs and about 100 signs that recommend that people Stay the Trail. These will be hung along our public roads to inform the JQ Public of what is legal and what isn't and to direct them in the correct direction. I will be handing them out to clubs at the region mtg in April.
Our second summit meeting between EC4WDA Northeast Region and NEA took place on Saturday, March 15th. Three plus hours of communication is difficult to condense into a sentence or two. Suffice to say that between the two organizations, there will be an definite increase in available places to wheel over the next couple of years. I would even venture a guess that by 2010 we may have been able to double what we currently have available.
Lots of NATIONAL NEWS:
Out in Ohio, our compatriots at OMTA have finally passed their reciprocity bill. This will enable Ohio residents to ride with their OH registrations in neighboring states and vice/versa. They are also in the process of proposing more ATV related legislation.
TELLICO TEAM to the Rescue!
NATIONAL RECREATION ATTORNEYS TEAM UP FOR RESCUE TELLICO
BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) and United Four Wheel Drive Associations (UFWDA) are teaming up with their nationally recognized attorneys in the fight for project "Rescue Tellico." This alliance amongst the groups and their attorneys, in cooperation with Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, is an historic undertaking. The groups will consolidate their efforts, bringing together their collective expertise, resources, and other strengths derived from their grassroots memberships. Collectively BRC and UFWDA represent over half a million recreationists committed to responsible and sustainable vehicle-based recreation on public lands.
"BRC and UFWDA have worked together on other access protection lawsuits in the past, but this effort combines our attorneys and resources into a single litigation team", stated Greg Mumm, BRC's Executive Director. "Unlike past efforts to support each other in various endeavors, this new alliance actually unifies the work of both law offices and the organizations of BRC and UFWDA into a single presence", stated Wayne Groom, President of UFWDA.
Rescue Tellico is a program to protect off-highway vehicle (OHV) access in the Upper Tellico OHV Area located in North Carolina, a premiere OHV destination throughout the Eastern Seaboard and Southern U.S.
Eric Bontrager, E&E Daily reporter
Critics of off-road vehicle use said yesterday that Congress must take a larger role in preventing destructive use that is threatening some of the West's most valuable natural resources.
While administration officials said they are working hard to keep public lands protected, witnesses told the House National Parks Subcommittee yesterday that federal land agencies' inability to enforce rules on ORV use was coming at a great cost.
Unmanaged ORV use can take a great toll on natural resources, destroying vegetation and disturbing wildlife. ORVs can threaten private, historical and cultural lands often without retribution because of overburdened land agencies that cannot manage the problem, critics say.
"Congress must step up to the plate," said Jack Gregory, a former Forest Service official and member of Rangers for Responsible Recreation. "The agencies have demonstrated time and time again their inability to address the problem."
Irresponsible use can also threaten public safety, Gregory added, citing a gathering of ORV enthusiasts at Little Sahara Recreation Area in Utah last Easter weekend that produced more than 37 injuries and more than 300 arrests and citations.
The Forest Service's fiscal 2009 budget proposal calls for a $17 million decrease for its law enforcement activities, further threatening the agency's ability to police ORV use. The Bureau of Land Management's resource protection and law enforcement budget faces a net decrease of $365 million in the president's budget.
Joel Holtrop, deputy chief of the National Forest System, said the explosive growth in ORV use in recent years has put a strain on land managers' ability to enforce proper use.
With 64 million acres of national forest open to vehicle use, Holtrop said the key is increased cooperation with local ORV groups so they understand the costs of irresponsible use.
"We believe most ORV users want to do the right thing," he said.
Russ Ehnes of the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council said the BLM and the Forest Service management plans have shown how active management can be effective against abusive ORV use.
In San Bernardino National Forest, for example, the National Forest Association trains volunteers and organizes patrols to encourage ORV users to use designated routes in the forest so as to minimize their impact.
More from the "What we're up against" file.
KEY WITNESS AT OFF-ROAD CONGRESSIONAL HEARING PULLED — Deputy Sheriff Testimony Blocked as Anxiety Rises in Off-Roading Groups
Washington, DC — In a surprise last-minute move, a key witness will not deliver his testimony at the first congressional hearing on the threats to public safety posed by burgeoning off-road vehicle (ORV) damage to public lands. A deputy sheriff from New Mexico was slated to tell Congress about extensive damage caused by a growing “outlaw” element, according to testimony released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Deputy Sheriff Alan Franzoy of Doña Ana County was not allowed to board a plane to attend today’s hearing before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, chaired by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ). His office offered no explanation for his abrupt withdrawal but off-road lobby groups have mounted a vigorous effort aimed at the first ever congressional oversight hearing on the topic, entitled “The Impacts of Unmanaged Off-Road Vehicles on Federal Land.”
In his un-delivered testimony, Deputy Franzoy, who is himself an ORV rider and instructor and chairs New Mexico’s Off-Highway Vehicle Safety Board, would have sounded this alarm:
“I’ve seen first hand that an outlaw contingent of ORV riders are destroying our land and endangering private property, livestock, wildlife, and other public land users.”
Doña Ana County covers an area nearly twice the size of Rhode Island and sits less than 50 miles from the Mexican border. In his testimony, Deputy Franzoy cited the use of ORVs “by illegal alien and drug smugglers to circumvent Border Patrol checkpoints…” His testimony details other dangers, including –
- “There is absolutely no protection of the remnants of our prehistoric settlers of the Rio Grande Valley” from the ravages of irresponsible off-roading;
- Huge assemblages of off-roaders in unofficial “party areas” which fuel “a variety of criminal activity beginning with underage drinking and drug abuse all the way to violent rapes and murders”; and
- Extensive damage to landscapes. “The scars of misuse will be visible until the end of time.”
“There is no real mystery why this voice was stilled,” commented PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, pointing to a history of intimidation and threats from the off-road community that has caused some agencies to cancel public hearings on ORV issues. “No citizen should ever be afraid to testify before the United States Congress.”
In one off-road lobby alert, the fact that “a sheriff from New Mexico” would testify was known even before the witness list was published. The Blue Ribbon Coalition message urges off-roaders to directly reach out because while their lobbyists “talk to the media often, it's just that most of them are biased against OHV [Off Highway Vehicles] users and rarely print what we say.”
More "get you ticked off" pages from the same site: TestimonyPEER is the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Yeah, it does seem sort of an oxymoron doesn't it? They work for us, paid by OUR tax dollars. Can they have their own personal thoughts and ideas? Of course. Should they be allowed to take those biases and use them to shape legislative processes or "bring them to work"? I don't think so. Something just gets me a bit ticked over it. I don't know.
I'm going to finish off with our need to become politically involved. I've already written on this, but its so important, I'm going to reiterate it as often as I can. When I say politically involved, I mean just being in touch with your legislators.
Let me give you some examples:
Here in CT, we have been working with CTU and OHM and ATV riders. Due to this, we have become more involved with our state forests and have met with several of our legislators. This allowed Aili to pose/answer questions at a legislative hearing that she wouldn't have been able to do normally. We have established new contacts with a couple of state forest unit managers. This all leads to more areas for us to play.
OMTA got their reciprocity bill passed, due to being politically involved.
NEA has developed a secure hold on getting 4x4 designations and changes to their OHV laws in New Hampshire, due to being politically involved.
The planner in Glans Falls has rec'd a whole bunch of emails requesting they include motorized use in the Waterfront Brownfield site planning, due to Steve showing up at a meeting/hearing and speaking.
We will NEED everyone to take a moment at some point and write a letter, email, make a phone call, etc. Know that in doing so, you will be assisting us to better our OHV options here in New England and association wide.
Thats all I can remember right now...
Talk soon,
No comments:
Post a Comment