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- To: "occ@domain.elided" <occ@domain.elided>
- Subject: Alert: National Road Closures
- From: "MORAN_MICHAEL" <MORAN_MICHAEL@domain.elided>
- Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 9:08 -0500
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- Resent-Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 09:15:04 -0500 (EST)
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Folks, we are in serious trouble! Especially if we sit on our hands and let this happen. If you love four wheelin', then READ BELOW!! This should make things easier to understand. This will cost United a bundle to fight. If you are not a member of United, please consider joining to help with this fight and of course donations are very welcome. You can down load a form from the Web Site and use your Visa or Master card if you wish. Keep watching for Alan Lane's alerts and updates. Preston Stevens pstevens@domain.elided United FWDA Director of Marketing United FWDA Web Site (http://www.ufwda.org) Middle Atlantic Four Wheel Drive Association Baltimore 4 Wheelers, Inc., Conservation/Land Use Director 1979 CJ7 Jeep - Hello! Please read this! IT IS AN URGENT ISSUE. The Forest Service is proposing a major overhaul of the rules governing their road system. To summarize, they are intent on eliminating many, many of the primitive roads that we use to recreate. These primitive roads would be actively removed and reclaimed and the resulting areas declared "roadless". You all know what that means. This is more or less the way that Mark Werkmeister stated it. It almost over simplifies this issue. But, to go into any more detail would make this an extremely long thread and none of you would read it. Read on PLEASE! Also, is the issue of Clinton's proposed change in what is a Roadless area. Right now it must be an area 5,000 acres or larger. He proposes to reduce it to 1,000 acres. That would make it even easier to shut us down and fast. Please read all about this in the Forest Service's own words for yourselves at: http://www.fs.fed.us/news/roads/ This needs to be an absolute full court press, even much more so than the one that turned the RPA issue around several years ago. There, we stood to lose over 6,000 miles of roads per year! As I previously stated, if you have never been involved before, do it now! We need to take the following message to our groups/clubs/friends/co-workers,etc: "If you only write ONE letter this year to protect your rights to recreate as we have been, this is the issue to send a letter on." Do so by Feb. 27th. Below is Mark's letter to the Forest Service. There you can get some ideas on what to write. You need not sound like a lawyer. A hand written letter is great, as long as it can be read. You can even call your Congressmen, fax, or e-mail them. Write, fax, or e-mail the Forest Service, don't call. Represent yourself as the concerned citizen. Only have one person represent your club or association. Otherwise, do not even mention your affiliations. Make your letters count! This is extremely serious! Save our roads! Mark & Preston *************************************************** February 6, 1998 Gerald Coughlan, Acting Director Engineering Staff USDA Forest Service PO Box 96090 Washington, DC 20090-6090 Dear Mr. Coughlan: After reading the advanced notice of proposed rule making concerning the Forest Service's transportation system, I would like to register my total disgust at this appalling proposal. The primitive roads in the National Forests that the Forest Service proposes to eliminate (or even refuses to acknowledge by referring to them as "ghost roads") are absolutely integral to my recreational needs and the needs of millions of Forest Service users. These Class II roads that comprise the bulk of the Forest Service road system are heavily used by four wheelers, motorcyclists, hunters, fishermen, cross-country skiers, bicyclists, hikers, ATVers, fire fighters, search and rescue, and many, many other user groups to access, use, and enjoy our National Forests. To eliminate them, leaving only "safe and efficient" heavily traveled roads would deprive millions of people their valid and existing form of recreation. I would also like to register my disapproval for decreasing the requirements of a "roadless area" from 5,000 to 1,000 acres and even include "areas of low density road development" in the proposed interim rule. The 5,000 acre that was mandated under RARE II is sufficient. The proposed rules are vague and ambiguous and I fully expect the Regional Foresters to use this new rule as an excuse to undertake new inventories of "roadless" areas and other administrative actions that further deprive users access to our Forests. Due to the huge impact on many of the Forest users, many of which undoubtedly have not heard of or fully understood the impact of these proposed rules, I strongly urge you to extend the comment period at least an additional 60 days so that more Forest users may provide input to the proposed changes. I would like to remind the Forest Service that closing access on any routes, ways, roads, etc. that existed and were used by the public prior to1976 constitutes a violation of property rights that were conferred to the public by RS2477. Any and all illegal closures will be challenged in court by the wide range of public users who have enjoyed these RS2477 rights of access for many years. Let me repeat, the Forest Service definitions of a "road" have absolutely no bearing on the validity of these existing rights that were conferred by Congress and repeatedly upheld by the courts of this land. Sincerely, Mark R. Werkmeister cc: Senator Pete Domenici Senator Jeff Bingaman Representative Bill Redmond
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