www.whiteriverforestalliance.org

  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

Additional Information

Thursday, 03 September 2009 15:02
E-mail Print PDF

SAVE OUR LAND!

PictureI am writing you all tonight to ask for your help in preserving our club, our sport and most importantly our way of life. This is way bigger than just a "snowmobile thing". Last night Kristy and I along with other snowmobilers from the valley attended a meeting held at Fire house in the town of Thomasville above the town of Basalt. The meeting was held by the Frying Pan Caucus and was a presentation presented by the Wilderness Work Shop of Carbondale. The presentation was the Hidden Gems Wilderness proposal act. What was presented to us the scariest thing I have ever seen in the form of a threat against our sport and motorized recreation as a whole. The proposal is to make up to a quoted 670,000 acres of the White River and Gunnison National Forests into wilderness. What makes this scary is that they are proposing to do this in the next few months and have the ability to do so. While we have all heard this song and dance before what made this proposal different was the following. The Wilderness Work Shop has done the following things ...

  1. They have figured out a way to end run Forest service type studies and the "normal" process of proposing wilderness
  2. They have found a congress man ( Jared Polis 2nd district US house of Rep) to sponsor the Bill as soon as they have it done
  3. They intend to get the bill shoved thru congress this year while they have a favorable congress.
  4. They have very deep pockets but they want to avoid having to deal with the motor sports community at all costs

What this means to you. What this means to you is that if they continue as they have planned they will have up to a quoted approx. 670,000 acres new wilderness in White River and Gunnison Nationals forests by this time next year.
How this effects you? The main reason this effects you is that it would make over 75% of Four mile, Clear Fork, Spruce Mnt, Basalt Mnt, Red Tables, Hagerman pass, Huntsman's ridge and Thompson Creek area all wilderness, off road to ALL MECHANIZED use. If you look at their maps and overlay it with our own trails and play areas we would loose all our best areas and trails. There is no comprise with these folks, snowmobiles can in no way or shape fit into their plans, they finally admitted this to us on Monday night. The only way their proposal works if we are gone. If they accomplish their next step will be to next year to take the WHOLE FLATTOPS north of I-70. Basically if 4-Mile falls the Flattops are next. If you use anything from a Chainsaw, Mnt Bike, ATV, Snowmobile, 4Wheel Drive to a Motorcycle this will defiantly effect you! This is a very complicated issue and we have arrived into this battle at a late hour. I do however feel like we have a very real chance to win this thing or at least keep these people somewhat honest. What I am asking for from you folks is a few things ...

  1. Ideas on how to get a hold of other folks that don't belong to clubs that stand to loose from this proposal.
  2. Different ways and means to bring attention to this huge land grab
  3. Ways to get more information to the public that this is going on
  4. The final thing for now is to be ready to respond when the time comes with letters and calls to county commissioners, senators, house reps, ect.

I will be the first to admit I hate writing letters, much less for things like this. Sadly this is what it's going to take to win this deal. We as a group have to reach our elected officials and tell them we do not want this. What myself and others in the next few days are going to do is prepare a simple letter with maps and info that we can email to friends and family and give to the local power sport dealers to mail out to their customers. What this letter will contain is a short summation of what is happening and what we can do about it and who to contact and how. I want to make this as easy as possible for people to be able to get their opinions to our elected officials. Please pass this on to all you know that have a something to loose from this fight. The website with all the info and maps is the following http://www.whiteriverwild.org/p-roaring-fork-14.html click on the areas for the maps and details. It is flat scary. Hopefully we will have something ready in a few days. Believe me, I know we all work regular jobs, have family's, ect and I can think of million things I would rather be doing but this is a going to be fight for what we all love an cherish and it will take everyone's help to win this battle. If anyone has ANY ideas or would like to help please let me know.

Thank You,

Sean Martin
Mount Sopris Rec Riders

Hello Folks, After the letter I sent out the other night in regards to Hidden Gems Wilderness Proposal I have had a ton of positive feed back and the letter seems to be making the rounds. I just wanted to drop this note with a few "Key Points" that you can tell other people to help them understand this.

  1. This Proposal is not thru the forest service. This proposal is from private groups that are well funded that are basically paid lobbyists.
  2. Since this not thru the forest service none of the usual process apply. What would normally take years is going to take months. This whole thing is going to be decided within a couple of months.
  3. The wilderness proposal shuts this off to everything mechanical from Mountain Bikes,Chainsaws, vehicles, atvs, snowmobiles, motorcycles, ect.
  4. Once something is designated wilderness, that is it. Game over, there is no reversing it or going back.
  5. This proposal as it written will eliminate all of our favorite snowmobiling and motorized recreational areas. As a snowmobiler, the only thing we would still be left with is Baylor Park nothing else. No more Twin Peaks, Burn area, Clear Fork, Jones Trail, Spruce Mountain, Thompson Creek, These areas would be done, finished.
  6. The next big thing is the implications of what happens. If we loose Four mile, the Flattops are next. It says it right there in their plans. So just because you don't use the south side of Interstate 70 for recreation does not mean it will not effect you eventually. This is all tied together if one goes it all goes.
  7. This is not a "Snowmobile thing" or a "Dirt Bike thing" or a "Mountain Bike thing" or even a" wheel drive thing" this is bigger than all of us. It is going to effect us all. Like it or not we are all tied together. IF we loose one, we will loose it all.
  8. The most important thing for people to understand is this thing is 100% real and it happening right now, not 1 year from now or 10 years from now but right now TODAY. The time for action is now.

The website for all the info on what these folks are proposing is the following. Go to maps and it will show you detailed maps of everything they are proposing. Everything is there, all locations no matter what county or what forest. http://www.whiteriverwild.org/p-roaring-fork-14.html

The congress man who is going to sponsor it is here http://polis.house.gov/Issues/Issue/?IssueID=4706. As we get our plan of attack ready I will be sending out more info on what we can ask people to do. If you have any love for the outdoors please pass this on to everyone you know. Forward it people like the Blue-ribbon, COVCO, or any off highway vehicle groups. The more people we can get to respond the better. If anyone has any ideas or wants to help please let me know.

Thank you ,

Sean Martin
Mount SoprisRec Riders

Last Updated on Wednesday, 09 September 2009 13:46  
Donation

Search


Membership

Newsflash

The White River Forest Alliance would like to extend a thank you to everyone
who attended the public dialog and forum held on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at Dos
Gringos in Carbondale. Thanks also to Nelson Oldham and the staff of Dos
Gringos who graciously kept the place open late for this forum.

More than 100 wilderness advocates were present, representing a wide
spectrum of user groups, including ranchers, the disabled community,
mountain bikers, dirt-bike riders, hikers, snowmobilers, 4-wheel drivers,
and cross- and backcountry skiers. The forum primarily focused on what is
the true definition of Wilderness, what it means to us as a community and
how we can better work together and develop protocols to preserve our wild
lands while still being able to continue to utilize them.

Scott Fitzwilliams of the White River National Forest and Perry Will from
the Colorado Department of Wildlife were on hand to answer questions
pertaining to their specific organizations. Fitzwilliams spoke directly of
how we can all help augment the staff of the White River National Forest in
maintaining our public lands and educated us as to the process of the WRNF
Travel Management Plan. Will explained in detail the effect of what might
happen to funding for and care of wildlife in the event of blanket closures
of wilderness lands to Wilderness designation.

The White River Forest Alliance is a purely volunteer, Wilderness advocacy
group representing the multiuser in working for protection of our public
wild lands. The goal of the White River Forest Alliance is to create
awareness through education that alternative ways of protecting public lands
exist while still maintaining access and encouraging individuals to take
personal responsibility in gaining a better understanding of and
collaboration between user groups. We encourage the community to become
educated as to what Wilderness means and the processes of what constitutes
Wilderness designation.

White River Forest Alliance