Well its seems that wherever you look these days there is political news in the headlines. Here is one more issue on Capital Hill for you to watch. I won’t sway you one way or the other on the issue but instead I am just posting their (www.savethetrails.us) letter in this blog so you can be aware of the issue and take action if you see fit. Having access to federal lands should be of concern to all riders in the U.S.. Feel free to sound off in the comments.
TWO MINUTES TO UNLOCK MILLIONS OF ACRES OF YOUR PUBLIC LANDS
Dear Keith,
More Great News for all of us who care about access to public lands, helping our economy, jobs and improving forest health.
The HR1581 ‘Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act of 2011” bill to release 43 million acres of your public lands back to Multiple Use and eliminate the threat of Wilderness Closures is moving quickly forward. On 7/26/11 the House Subcommittee on Natural Resources will hold a hearing on this important bill. I am pleased to have been invited to provide testimony explaining why passage of this bill is needed.
You can watch the hearing and my testimony live at 10 am Eastern Standard Time on 7/26/11 at
http://naturalresources.house.gov/Live/
This is a rare bill that is good for recreation, good for the economy and good for the environment. I think every reasonable person would support it, but there are those who will oppose it because they want to lock you off your public lands no matter what. For example I just heard the Sierra Club is holding a press conference tomorrow in front of Congressman McCarthy’s Bakersfield CA office attempting to claim this bill is bad for children and the Great Outdoors. Nothing could be further from the truth.
| Keith In just Two Minutes you can do something important to stop the closure activists and preserve access to your public lands |
| 1) Call to Ask if your Congressman Supports this Important Bill (even if you called them before)In order to get this important bill passed your Congressman needs to hear from you, so he/she will know that you want them to support it. This will only takes a few minutes, they will be happy to hear from you and you will feel good about doing your part and taking back your government.
Call them and ask them to If you need to find out who your Congressman is then just click here and insert your zip code and then click on the Contact link to get their phone number. http://www.house.gov If your Congressman is supporting the bill please thank them for their support and tell them how much you appreciate it. |
| If you have not already done so please send a letter2) Take TWO MINUTES to Send a Letter Telling Congress to Pass HR1581 ‘Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act of 2011”
Just click on the link and send your letter http://www.savethetrails.us/Default.aspx?PetitionID=49 |
| 3) Click on link at the bottom of this page to Forward To Your FriendsIt does not get any easier than this to help reclaim your public lands for reasonable access and management. We need to make lots of noise in support of HR1581. Please tell all your friends and family to call and send a letter
For more information you can read the HR1581 bill here Here is additional Background Information |
Save The Trails have been working with Congressman McCarthy to develop this legislation over the past year and now we are making a trip to DC to testify, as well as providing you with an easy and effective way to make this bill a reality. Save The Trails is funded purely by donations from people like you. We need your support so that we can keep fighting to keep your public lands open. Please make a Donation to help pay for the trip to DC so we can Save Your Trails
~Chris Horgan and your friends at Save the Trail
Minnesota Adventure Riders 
What I truly wish we could come up with is a designation other than wilderness for areas that we believe need protection or otherwise need to be identified as cool, special, neato, or whatever. I fully support the designation of wilderness for areas that meet the criteria of being wilderness. The intent of the wilderness bill was to identify areas that ARE wilderness and keep them that way, not to create wilderness areas out of areas that are not. I also don’t support the president having the power to designate areas national monuments with the stroke of a pen.
I fully and completely support having areas like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Wilderness. I’ll be there all week next week. However that doesn’t mean that we should turn all of Superior National Forest into wilderness. I personally liked the idea that the Blue Ribbon Coalition had for “Backcountry” designation. Let’s all agree that some areas need special protecting. However I don’t believe it impossible to protect those areas and also have designated, sustainable, inventoried, and well mapped “primitive travel routes” for mechanized travel (OHV’s, bicycles, etc).
There has to be a way to create a happy middle ground. I don’t believe we should turn all of our state forests here in Minnesota into OHV amusement parks. On the flip-side I just read an article on the Sierra Club website about how you stop using clunky old hiking shoes and use these new flat shoes so you can be even more “silent” out in the forest. You gotta be kidding me.