Good luck and THANK YOU
... to anyone that is able to go and just announce that you are in favor of increased responsible access.
sorry I can’t make it, but I truly would love to share some considerations, and trust me I am fighting the good fight every day, unfortunately I am often wore out from the biased paradigms that people with little or no experience with the real world have. Anyone is welcome to use or share anything I have posted on Snowest. I am a little afraid of negative repercussions with my job for pointing out the facts and actually caring about the world and the quality of life of all. So I will only include my e-mail if it truly needed and there is an opportunity to further communicate.
Powderminer’s thoughts…
What I am seeing, in real time, is the degradation happening in our mid to lowland forests by the same people trusted and empowered to manage and protect them, and the total injustice perpetrated to the recreational access (motorized and wheeled) is mind-boggling and just screams for some hard thought by the DOI (FS), all recreational users, State DOE, DNR, and all those who’d knowingly or ignorantly use false and maybe more often speculative ideas to demonize and over exuberantly limit responsible recreational access.
Federal land has been and is being managed by the Forest Service under very strict guides and potentially to some great environmental achievements; all the while motorized access has been and continues to be the most restricted with no real consideration to the type of space and terrain uniquely ideal for such recreation.
As an environmental sciences professional, what I am talking about is the fact that State DNR and private forest land, that happens to be located in arguably more environmentally critical areas, is not being effectively managed and almost exclusively excluded from any motorized and wheeled access. The land is being stripped of natural resources with little or no oversight for true environmental impacts. This is insane, there needs to be a comprehensive open discussion about all the lands use including federal, state and private to include needed natural resources and the recreational uses that can be managed for negligible impact. I intend to further point this disgusting mismanagement out to the proper authorities in other venues.
As an outdoorsman, conservationist, father, concerned citizen, and utilitarian; I am interested in the management of public land effectively and fairly not as a tool of exclusion or punishment of a minority user group. There are 1,600,000+ hikers a year in Washington, the trails are manufactured and maintained by the use of motorized and non-motorized equipment to dig and cut a path through vegetation and topsoil to provide access to almost all locations in the state. Along these trails surrounding vegetation is contacted, removed, utilized for fire, shelter and collection. Many unintended trails are formed many in sensitive areas. These trails are easily seen from aerial photos. Careful observation of a majority of managed motorized trails has led me to believe that the impact from properly managed areas is of a similar impact as the non-motorized trails. A vast, staggering, infinite majority of these trails are off limits to any motorized or wheeled access. Most of the trails, roads, parking, etc. that is used by motorized and wheeled recreation are contained in a minute area used to access for these non-motorized trails. The infinite number of these trails are considered to be of little detriment, wouldn’t it be said that the same could be said of managed motorized trails and motorized non-trial forming (snowmobile) access? This limited access is continually shrinking and further limits applied by those without knowledge of the use or exposure and often with uninformed and blatant unjust bias directed at the users and not the activity.
Most of the motorized users are very conservation oriented seeking access to witness the glory of the environment. Many motorized recreation groups are made up of people who believe in leaving the land as it was, and often organize cleanup efforts and report violators. This very limited access to motorized users causes an over consolidation of this activity not managed for consideration such as; improved/considered locations (meeting users and managers requirements), leading to unfortunate abused and over impact on non-managed areas. Where improper and disgusting actions affect us all and are a clear sign that current restrictive measures are not working and possibly contribute to detrimental events.
The solution…
Working together to form a comprehensive partnership to actively manage the space including user groups to create more local access enhancing the ownership and caretaker rolls of the users. Increase access and engage users in the management of the access, maintenance and responsibility of the areas. Revisit excessive encompassing restrictions, which do not pertain or make sense to particular use/impact to allow proper recreation needs and allow for better location selection, less consolidation of distinct user groups and less impact on tighter areas.
Continued problems…
The fact that this meeting is taking place as far away from any true engagement of the user groups as possible. The reinforced ignorant ideology of “management” is a bad word when pertaining to public land.
If I really didn’t care I’d say, “that’s fine stay in Seattle, manage from afar, and I’ll get the rest of my useful recreation time in adequately”. I do care; I am on the front lines of responsible shared, multi-use recreational access and enjoyment for present and future generations. Stay in Seattle, Olympia, Washington D.C. to snub your nose at truly very low impact responsible motorized access; all the while, the true critical areas are being raped by the State and polluted as a direct result of poor policy and the lack of open engaging management.
Sincerely, on the lookout for solutions,
Brett
brettnliz2004@yahoo.com
