In this Wilderness Update:
1. Senator Barbara Boxer re-introduces her California (statewide) Wilderness Bill (S1555)
2. Wilderness proponents are attempting a piecemeal approach to California wilderness designations
3. Take action!!
4. Support our advocacy
On Friday, August 1st, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer introduced a bill to
designate 2.5 million acres of public lands in California as wilderness. It
is the second time that Ms. Boxer has introduced the bill, called the
California Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, (S1555).
Opponents of the bill argue that the state does not need new wilderness
areas and that lands are already protected against unsustainable activities
by the NEPA process, the Endangered Species Act (which has been abused by
use of fraud to close off areas) and the Forest Planning process.
Senator Boxer is trying to set aside areas that should be left open for
multiple use and protection from catastrophic wildfires.
Under the bill, an additional 246,000 acres of Los Padres would be
designated as wilderness, bringing the total wilderness to nearly two-thirds
of the forest. Los Padres spans six counties from Monterey to Ventura and
covers 1.7 million acres. Many other areas throughout California including
popular riding areas near Los Angeles, the White Mountains, Mammoth and Lake
Tahoe will also be affected.
Senator Boxer introduced her wilderness bill last year and withdrew it for
lack of support, but by taking a piecemeal approach, one piece of the
legislation that had little opposition survived; the designation of 54,000
acres of Big Sur as new wilderness.
As we mentioned in our previous alert, wilderness proponents are using a
strategy to advance the wilderness designation in California by attempting
to slip them in piecemeal, where they could stay below the radar and become
law. While the focus many be on Senator Boxer's statewide California
Wilderness Bill (S1555), we must all be alert to this tactic of implementing
piecemeal wilderness designations.
U.S. Representative Mike Thompson has introduced a wilderness bill,
H.R.1501, which contains the Northern California areas in Senator Boxer's
state wide wilderness proposal.
If not resisted from the beginning, this and similar bills can slide
through, giving opponents no time to organize and respond.
It is urgent that all mountain bikers contact Senator Diane Feinstein and
request that she not support these wilderness bills. Mountain bikers should
also contact Representative Mike Thompson and ask him to reconsider his
Northern California specific wilderness bill.
It is also important to contact Representative Pombo, Chair of the House
Resources Committee, who has already voiced his opposition to wilderness
designations and support his position. Our Legislative Representative
Candace Oathout will be submitting written testimony to Rep. Pombo stating
our opposition to these and other wilderness designations, as well as our
other concerns regarding management policies and laws that have locked out
recreation from our public lands. Candace hopes to meet with Rep. Pombo in
August to reiterate our concerns.
When contacting these representatives it is important to state the following
talking points.
1. Wilderness designation prohibits mountain bikes and other recreational
activities, which would have an adverse affect on the local communities that
rely on recreation to support their economies. If you are familiar with or
have ridden on the trails in the proposed bill, state that in your letter to
show a personal connection with the area.
2. Mention that there are existing laws and policies such as the Endangered
Species Act, the NEPA process, Forest Plans, etc. that offer existing
protection to these areas to prevent exploitation and unsustainable
activities.
3. Wilderness designations prevent the use of management techniques needed
to address the catastrophic fires we have been experiencing in the west.
Wilderness designations tie the hands of Forest Service, BLM and other
agencies in the use of preventative measures to address the overgrowth of
fuels in our forests and in fighting fires once they start. Billions of
dollars of damage and wasted tax dollars are the result of abandoning the
management of our forests.
CONTACT INFO:
SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN
Attn: John Watts
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (619) 231-1108
Fax: (310) 914-7318
Fax: (415) 989-3242
Fax: (559) 485-9689
HONORABLE MIKE THOMPSON
Attn: Jonathan Birdsong
119 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3311
Fax: (202) 225-4335
HONORABLE RICHARD POMBO
2411 Rayburn HOB
Washington D.C., 20515
Tel: (202) 225-1947
Fax: (202) 226-0861
We have no paid staff and operate under a very low overhead in an effort to
use your contributions as efficiently as possible. Our representatives have
years of experience in land use issues and are motivated by a passion to
protect your access to your public lands. They are only reimbursed for
travel costs.
We depend upon your participation in our events to help fund our advocacy.
Our next event is the Toad Festival on Saturday, October 25th. For more
information on the Toad Festival click here.
We are also offering Warrior's Society hats and t-shirts for sale to assist
us in our advocacy. The money raised by these sales will be specifically
earmarked to assist us in our state and federal advocacy efforts to protect
our access.
The hats come in black and tan with the Warrior's Society feather on the
front and "Warrior's Society" on the back. The t-shirts are tan and feature
the Warrior's Society logo and staff on the front pocket with the choice of
a graphic of a wheel on the back incorporating the Warrior's Society logo
and staff or our "protect our access and conserve our public lands / it's up
to you" statement and graphic.
The hats and t-shirts are both $11.99 plus mailing (insured) and sales tax.
Up to 3 items can be mailed for the same cost of shipping 1 item. View the hats and shirts
here.
You can order clothing using our printable order form.
You can order online at active.com.
(click on "register now" and follow the directions to order using your credit card)
You can also purchase these items at:
Switchback Cyclery
In Orange at 3426 E. Chapman at Prospect (714) 628-3913
The Path bike shop
In Tustin at 215 W. First Street, east of the 55 Frwy. (877) 425-2453
Rock and Road Cyclery
In Mission Viejo at 27825 Santa Margarita Pkwy (949) 859-5076
In Laguna Niguel at 27281 La Paz Road Laguna (949) 360-8045
We thank you for your support and promise to continue to do our very best to
protect your access to our pubic lands as efficiently as possible. We will
also continue to push for sound scientific management practices that are not
biased against access.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. [Ref. www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml]
Click here for a list of all the wilderness alerts
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