Received this via email, it refers to the need for ATV'ers to get organized and get involved on the Colville NOW!

The Colville is also open to suggestions about additional dirtbike (SINGLETRACK) opportunities so we also need to be more involved on these meetings. More will be coming up so check back!



From: Dave Hiatt [mailto: dhiatt@hpgmc.com]
To: tomcrimmins@verizon.net
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:56:57 -0700
Subject: ATV Involvement NEEDED NOW on the Colville NF


Tom,

Thank you for the heads-up on this! This email is going to everyone I know that may be or know an ATV person in the Colville area.

ATV people - Get your buddies over there involved in this or they will miss one of the best opportunities they will ever have to expand their riding opportunities in that area!

Please contact Tom directly tomcrimmins@verizon.net

Thanks,

Dave Hiatt



-----Original Message-----
From: Tom's Crimmins [mailto:tomcrimmins@verizon.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 9:20 AM
To: dhiatt@hpgmc.com
Cc: Tom !Crimmins
Subject: ATV Involvement on the Colville NF


The Colville NF is actively working on their access management planning.
There is a desperate need for ATV folks to become involved in the process
and to step up to the plate as volunteers. The Forest is receptive to
suggestions for new routes etc. The problem is that the ATV folks in the
area don't seem to be interested in helping the process move forward. If
they continue on the current path we will all lose and the window of
opportunity will close. Do you have any contacts in the area or know of any
clubs that might be interest in getting involved. I can help them from here
by providing some training and assistance but do not have the time to do
their work for them. If you can help please let me know or give me a call
and we can discuss. This is becomming URGENT.

Tom Crimmins, Trail Consultant
12662 N Avondale Loop
Hayden Lake, ID 83835
208 762-2298

Article in the paper today says the FS just abandoned expanding ATV usage increase

Can you be a bit more specific about the article you are referring to? Which paper? Which headline?

I looked through the Spokesman Review from yesterday and the only article I could find was one about the National Park Service which has nothing what so ever to do with the Colville National FOREST. Totally separate entities.

If you have information that the Colville National Forest which is managed by the National Forest Service, not the National Park Service is abandoning their plan to link the new OHV routes, I would like to see it. We just attended a meeting last week with the Colville Ranger and they were still totally on track to expand the motorized trail systems on the Colville.

Please be more specific, I would hate for interested ATV'ers to read your post and believe it if it is indeed incorrect, and I am pretty sure that you are incorrect.

Is this the article you were referring to?


Park Service changes stance on recreation
Proposed policy would have expanded use of snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles
Associated Press
October 19, 2005

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service has backed off of a proposed new management policy that critics said would have shifted the agency's priorities toward recreational use of the parks and away from preservation.

The agency released a draft proposal for revising its management policy Tuesday, scrapping one that had been criticized by environmentalists and some of its own employees.

The previous draft, authored by Assistant Deputy Interior Secretary Paul Hoffman earlier this year, proposed softened guidelines on what activities are allowed in parks. Hoffman's proposal placed more emphasis on recreational use of the parks, the groups said.


Hoffman's draft would have expanded the use of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles on federal land. And it proposed that in order for activities to be prohibited in parks, they must be something that "irreversibly" harms the parks instead of only harming them.

Park Service officials said the new draft would leave current snowmobile and off-road regulations in place, and the word "irreversibly" has been removed.

Environmentalists said Tuesday they were still going through the new document, which is more than 200 pages long. But most said they were cautiously optimistic that the new guidelines would be closer to current regulations and not as damaging to public lands as the Hoffman draft.

The Park Service will receive comments on the policy for 90 days.