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POCATELLO,
ID (Nov. 2, 2005) - The BlueRibbon Coalition is supportive of
the new Forest
Service's final "Off-road-vehicle Management Rule"
announced today in Washington D.C. by USFS Chief Dale Bosworth. The
Rule will restrict off road motor vehicles to designated routes and
areas agency wide.
"I pledged our cooperation to Chief
Bosworth when he told me about his intentions before he even publicly
announced his plans on this issue," said BlueRibbon Coalition Founder
and Executive Director Clark Collins. "I told Bosworth, at that time,
that the key to making this work is involving local recreation users in
the decision making process at the local level. It looks like he agrees
with that view," Collins continued.
A key component of this new rule is that
the agency can still designate "open" areas where appropriate. "Some
areas are appropriate for an 'open' designation and we are glad that
provision is still in the Rule," says Collins.
"Some forests have ignored
off-highway-vehicle management in the past and that is where we have
the most problems," says Collins. "This rule says that OHVs are an
important growing use of our public lands and should be managed to
provide quality recreation opportunities while protecting the
resources."
"OHV users 'put their money where there
mouth is,' supporting state and federal programs that provide funding
for recreation management on public lands," Collins concluded. "We are
committed to assisting our land managers financially, through the
funding programs that we support, and will work cooperatively with the
Forest Service to ensure this Rule is implemented in a way that
benefits a broad range of recreation interests."
OHV recreationists now need to work with
their local Forest Service office to ensure that all the routes they
use are included in a complete and accurate trail inventory. "Keeping
your favorite trails a secret is a sure fire recipe for disaster,"
according to Collins. "If they aren't included in the inventory they
are certain to not be designated and I caution OHVers to not think the
authorities can't catch them. That is a sure fire recipe for making the
entire OHV community look bad."
User created routes were recognized in the
final rule as being eligible for inclusion in the inventory and
considered for designation as part of the final road and trail system.
"We kept reminding the Chief throughout this process that 'user created
routes' needed to be considered. We're delighted to see them included
in the final Rule," said Collins.
"This national Rule has the potential to
help recreationists in areas where the local Forest manager has a
negative attitude toward OHV recreation. Some land managers have
misinterpreted the Chief's intent to mean, 'close down the trails until
it can be proven they don't impact anything - or anyone - in any way.'
Those land managers just need to be reminded by local users that this
Rule stresses responsibly 'managing' OHV recreation, not eliminating
it."
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