SAVE ST. JOE STATE PARK!
From: www.midwestjeepthing.com
Subject: [Legalert] EPA Seeking to Close St. Joe State Park
OHV Community - http://www.midwestjeepthing.com
As many of you may have heard or read, the EPA is proposing more closures in our area. This time it's the popular St. Joesph (St. Joe) State Park. For years, an OHV recreation area, the park may soon face closure.
OHV access is quickly being yanked away. Get involved and voice your opinion. It will take a few minutes, but think of all that free time you'll have on your hands when there's no place to recreate any longer....
Additional information and letter suggestions can be found at the website Save St. Joe State Park
U.S. Forest Service Policies Threaten Off-Highway Vehicle Enthusiasts By Carla Boucher, United Four Wheel Drive Associations
Off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation is facing
the loss of nearly all access on public lands. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
has three policies being developed right now, all dealing with managing our
national forests. Each of these policies will have a potentially devastating
affect on the OHV enthusiast community.
First, USFS "Roads Policy" hopes to close all "unneeded" roads on public land. According to the USFS, each year Congress gives it only enough funding to maintain 125,000 miles of roads out of 373,000 miles total -- leaving 248,000 miles it cannot afford to maintain, and likely will close to OHV enthusiasts.
Second, USFS "Planning Policy" looks to change the way forest plans are made. One of the many changes includes striving to return forests to the wilderness condition they were around the year 1565. Imagine what forest conditions were like in 1565 -- 300 years before Lewis and Clark, 400 years before the steam engine and 200 years before electricity. Under this unrealistic plan, our national forests would somehow return to a state untouched by man or any technological means. This policy will certainly be easier to implement if the Roads Policy closes 248,000-plus miles of roads!
Finally, the USFS "Roadless Conservation Policy" proposes to prohibit road building in Roadless and other "unroaded" areas in our national forest. Prohibiting
more roads, in and of itself, is not the problem. The problem is how the USFS defines what a "road" is and when an area is considered "unroaded." Currently an area could be categorized as "unroaded" even if the area has hundreds of OHV roads on it, and those roads, under the Roads Policy, are slated for closing. Remember, the only reason the Forest Service has for categorizing an area as "Roadless" is to study its suitability for wilderness designation under USFS Planning Policy. No motorized or mechanized recreation is permitted in wilderness areas.
In a nutshell, the USFS is threatening the very future of legitimate OHV recreation: 1) The USFS Roads Policy would close 284,000-plus miles of roads. 2) The USFS Roadless Conservation Policy would categorize all these areas as Roadless and prohibit any new roads from ever being built. 3) The Planning Policy aims to return forests to a state found before any technology was invented. And all this will happen without Congress taking one vote to specifically approve these programs.