ROKTAXI
January 12th, 2011, 08:59 PM
I went to a Town Hall meeting Monday night. An "ad" was placed in the local paper (Times Independent) regarding having a discussion on recent trail / road closures. Seems that "Sala-zar" is pressuring Nat. Forest Service & BLM to crank up road closures.
The meeting room was filled beyond capacity, I'm guessing 250 - 300 people. And where they PISSED. Most were hunters and ranchers. Others were miners and land owners. A much smaller percentage were off roaders (??). Ironically NFS and BLM officials were NOT present. It may have been ugly if they had of been???
The La Sal Mt. has had many closures this last summer / spring. BLM is also doing the same with "Road Closed: Revegitation in progress" signs. Also putting up new signs that say "Stay on DESIGNATED road only" No apparent justification. Local BLM office just says they are just doing (their job) whats ordered from their superiors. Our (Grand) County Council is not happy about it either. San Juan County (Behind The Rocks area to Blanding) is also VERY displeased. The heavy hand of the new Secretary Of The Interior at work. He also has much more on his agenda.
The best way to help / fight this is to become a member or just donate a few bucks to BRC (Blue Ribbon Coalition) . They have the resources to do battle anywhere in the COUNTRY that has road closure issues. They have stopped road closures in many states. It's now beyond interaction with local NFS and BLM offices. All this stuff is at the White House and has to be addressed by professional full time lobbyists such as BRC.
Their (BRC) website is at: http://www.sharetrails.org/
Donate what you can. $5 or whatever you can afford. They have a program to donate $10 a month, which is what I do.
Here in Utah, we also have an organization called USA_ALL. http://www.usaall.org/
You can sign up for their notification / alerts that keep you up to speed on road closure issues. (no charge)
Watch out CO... you're also on their radar....
Expect serious concerns this coming year.
The meeting room was filled beyond capacity, I'm guessing 250 - 300 people. And where they PISSED. Most were hunters and ranchers. Others were miners and land owners. A much smaller percentage were off roaders (??). Ironically NFS and BLM officials were NOT present. It may have been ugly if they had of been???
The La Sal Mt. has had many closures this last summer / spring. BLM is also doing the same with "Road Closed: Revegitation in progress" signs. Also putting up new signs that say "Stay on DESIGNATED road only" No apparent justification. Local BLM office just says they are just doing (their job) whats ordered from their superiors. Our (Grand) County Council is not happy about it either. San Juan County (Behind The Rocks area to Blanding) is also VERY displeased. The heavy hand of the new Secretary Of The Interior at work. He also has much more on his agenda.
The best way to help / fight this is to become a member or just donate a few bucks to BRC (Blue Ribbon Coalition) . They have the resources to do battle anywhere in the COUNTRY that has road closure issues. They have stopped road closures in many states. It's now beyond interaction with local NFS and BLM offices. All this stuff is at the White House and has to be addressed by professional full time lobbyists such as BRC.
Their (BRC) website is at: http://www.sharetrails.org/
Donate what you can. $5 or whatever you can afford. They have a program to donate $10 a month, which is what I do.
Here in Utah, we also have an organization called USA_ALL. http://www.usaall.org/
You can sign up for their notification / alerts that keep you up to speed on road closure issues. (no charge)
Watch out CO... you're also on their radar....
Expect serious concerns this coming year.