Become a Leader

President Obama

 

SHARING A POST FROM SAVE-THE-TRAILS.US

This group is doing great work on the president’s land use initiative.

Thanks to Chris Horgan and Save the Trails: please help out!

 

Off Road Recreation and Access to Public Lands Losing the High Ground

We told you in our last Save the Trails alert that Voting Works and it does. Many of you took two minutes to vote for Ideas in the America Great Outdoors Initiative. Your votes catapulted Ideas like “Enhancing OHV Opportunities on Public Lands”, “More Than Enough Wilderness” and “Preserving OHV Recreation Use for Families” to take the top spots.

However that was back on 7/25/2010. Since that time apparently the anti access folks have been scrambling to negate all of your votes by asking their members to DEMOTE all the Ideas you thought were good and PROMOTE ideas about land closure.

Take a few minutes to VOTE NOW to turn the tables, take back our public lands to keep them open for our children.

 WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT?

A Report will be given to the President next month showing the Top Rated Ideas, so we have a month to Take Back the High Ground and be sure the Ideas we like are on top. We can easily do this; after all we are the majority. So now it is time to show them they awakened the sleeping giant. Please go to the site and see for yourself and PLEASE VOTE FOR (PROMOTE) any IDEAS you think are GOOD and (DEMOTE) any IDEAS you think are BAD
 

Here is the list we provided of IDEAS to PROMOTE and DEMOTE
http://www.savethetrails.us/AGO-Vote.html

TOP INNOVATOR
While yours truly, Chris Horgan, continues to be the Top Innovator that will mean nothing if the Ideas I have posted about keeping public lands open and promoting forest health through much needed active management remain at the bottom of the list. Those are the kind of IDEAS you, your family and friends need to VOTE for with a vengeance.

You can click on my Name under Top Innovator once you get onto their site and see a list of all the Ideas I have posted and easily vote for them.
 
Your votes are going to make a statement to the President to keep public lands open to all

We need to keep the pressure on. VOTE NOW. Please ask your friends and family to vote.

It only takes a minute to register and VOTE. They require only your name, password and city.

If you have already Voted then Please VOTE for any new IDEAS you like.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for a people of good conscience to remain silent”. Many of us have remained silent, but that is changing…..
Thanks for speaking up

Chris Horgan and your friends at Save the Trails

Leaders Wanted

Image via Wikipedia

 

Here is a link to a Fox News story about a scientist who is being fired because his study disagreed with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and California and Federal law requiring diesel soot to be treated as toxic.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/31/pc-professors-firing-fueling-exhaustive-debate/

This is important to OHV because CARB and federal and state laws include Particulate Matter (PM) as a toxin. This PM is otherwise known as DUST. The EPA says:  “Particulate Matter, also known as particle pollution or PM, is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets. Particle pollution is made up of a number of components, including acids (such as nitrates and sulfates), organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particles.” View a map that shows the “toxic” areas, which include the entire Mojave Desert.

http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/greenbk/mappm10.html

These CARB studies list VEHICLES as a major cause of dust.

The scientist is Dr. James Enstrom, an epidemiologist at UCLA’s School of Public Health. Off-Roaders need to contact UCLA and express their support for Dr. Enstrom’s work, which refutes enviro junk science that will be used to close the Mojave Desert to vehicle travel. Follow this link to support Dr. Enstrom in his fight against UCLA:

http://chancellor.ucla.edu/contact-information

Can we get 1000 Off-Roaders to send emails to UCLA to support this scientist who is trying to cut-off this threat from extreme enviros? Can we help stop this junk science the way global warming junk science is being stopped?

Related Articles

• Enstrom und drang: Air quality contrarian fights expulsion (blogs.nature.com)

What S2921 says

BLM Land in the West

Here is  a part of S2921 that deals with the 5 national ohv areas.  In creating OHV recreation areas S2921 relies on the same Federal Act that is used to create wilderness areas.  The staying power of this designation provides a clue to the power of this language and the seriousness of this bill to create permanent OHV areas.

First, the language used to create wilderness areas:

TITLE XV—WILDERNESS

SEC. 1501. DESIGNATION OF WILDERNESS AREAS.

In accordance with the Wilderness Act and sections 601 and 603 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.

1781, 1782), the following land in the State is designated as wilderness areas:

Now, the language used to create OHV recreation areas:

TITLE XVIII—Off-highway vehicle recreation areas

“SEC. 1801. Designation of off-highway vehicle recreation areas.

“(a) Designation.—In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976  and resource management plans developed under this title and subject to valid existing rights, the following land within the Conservation Area in San Bernardino County, California, is designated as Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Areas:

The federal Land Policy and Management Act is the infamous FLPMA, which the enviromentalists have been using for decades to restrict use of Federal land. Section 1701 says:

“congress declares that it is the policy of the United States that–…

(4) the congress exercise its constitutional authority to withdraw or otherwise designate or dedicate Federal land for specified purposes.”

Conservation and resource management are still included for the OHV areas, but the primary mandate created by congress is for OHV recreation. In my view this will relieve the BLM of a large amount of the pressure coming from enviros and courts to curtail OHV use. The courts will have a hard time ignoring this clear order from congress that these areas are set-aside for off-road recreation. Of course, some of the enviros will sue, but instead of using FLPMA against off-roading, they will find themselves fighting it and the clear power it gives to congress to designate federal lands for specific uses.

Related Articles

• Plan for Mount Hood slashes off-road riding (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Why S2921 is different

Hon. Senator Feinstein

This Bill will include off-roading in the legal description of  the Monument’s uses. This will make it more difficult for enviromentalists to close areas or roads by suing. Previous lawsuits are based on mandates given to federal agencies by congress. This bill includes a congressional mandate for off-roading both in the Monument and at 5 permanant, National OHV sites. It is Senator Feinstein’s intent that off-roading be a part of these new areas. PLEASE GET INVOLVED. READ THE MATERIAL BELOW. GET INFORMED AND TAKE SOME ACTION. SENATOR FEINSTEIN WANTS TO HEAR FROM OFF-ROADERS  WHAT THEY WANT IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THIS BILL!

Related Articles

• California lawmakers seek off-road racing data (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Contact the Senate Committee

Follow the Energy and Natural Resources link in the blogroll to leave a message supporting S2921. This committee is currently studying the Bill. Tell them you support the bill’s positive approach to OHV access and want to see more! On the SEND TO menu select FULL COMMITTEE.   For a sample letter click here (copy and paste)

I. Purpose

CALIFORNIA DESERT PROTECTION ACT OF 2010 (S2921)

IF YOU DON’T SUPPORT IT, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S IN IT FOR OHV

Friends of Mojave Trails Group is dedicated to enhancing access to Mojave Trails National Monument  and other areas. We are directly involved in the negotiation process with Senator Feinstein’s office. We believe that through support of the Senator’s bill we can enhance the position of off-roading.  Those who are against  this Bill are against the great benefits that it could provide for off-road access.

GO TO THE BILL EXCERPTS LINK IN THE BLOGROLL TO SEE WHAT THE BILL SAYS ABOUT OHV!

GO TO THE BLOGROLL AND CLICK BILL SUMMARY TO SEE A SUMMARY OF THE BILL(LEAVE A MESSAGE ENCOURAGING THE SENATOR TO CONTINUE TO ENHANCE OHV ACCESS) OR BILL TEXT TO SEE THE ENTIRE TEXT.

II. Our Goals

A. Increase size of the five OHV areas
B. OHV road and trail maintenance
C. Funding for OHV
D. Mitigation for OHV when lands close
E. Mapping and Designation of OHV Routes
F. Writing OHV use into the law

III. Concessions Acheived (if the bill passess)

A. Five Permanent OHV areas:
1. Stoddard Valley
2. El Mirage
3. Johnson Valley
4. Spangler Hills
5. Rasor Road
B. Wider Setbacks
C. Road Corridors between wilderness areas
D. Removal of non-wilderness-quality land