Date: 09/21/2009 The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) last week announced that on October 1, 2009, their massive Utah Wilderness bill, known as the America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, will be heard in the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee. According to SUWA, the bill would designate 9.4 million acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Utah as Wilderness.
In their announcement, they write: "This visionary wilderness proposal was first introduced as legislation in Congress in 1989 by former Utah Congressman Wayne Owens."
Visionary my eye. After Clinton traveled to Arizona to announce a massive 2 million acre National Monument in Utah, Utah's voters showed Owens the door. When he left, SUWA's bill stood at 5.7 million acres, an increase from a previous proposal of 4.1 million acres.
According to a Congressional Research Service report, 5.7 million BLM acres is nearly 3 times the BLM wilderness recommendations and 75% more than the BLM's Wilderness study acreage. The 5.7 million acres amounted to 26% of all BLM lands in Utah, and 11% of the entire state.
In 1995, not even the radicals at SUWA "visioned" that 14 years later their 5.7 million acre bill would balloon to 9.4 million acres. That's over 45% of all BLM lands in Utah off limits to all mountain bike and motorized recreation.
Utah's political representatives need to know that the majority of Utahans oppose this. And they need to hear it from you. Today please.
Rep. Rob Bishop: 202-225-0453
Rep. Jim Matheson: 202-225-3011
Rep. Jason Chaffetz: 202-225-7751
Be polite. None of Utah's Representatives or Senators support SUWA's madness. If you call now, you can make SUWA's bill like toxic waste, so that none of Utah's representatives will ever come near it. Ever.
As always, please call or email if you have questions or need help.
Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102
http://feeds.feedbur.../~4/v-TILZtIrQg

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i dont even live in UT but I have no problem contacting these reps to help oppose this garbage. This stuff fires me up, highly motivated to end this onslaught to our public lands.

Subject: U.S. House subcommittee to consider banning riding on 9.4 million acres


Sept. 23, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


U.S. House subcommittee to consider banning riding on 9.4 million acres
Hearing on Oct. 1 to focus on a ban of off-highway riding on more than 9 million acres of Utah land
PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- In a surprise move, the chairman of a U.S. House subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for next week on a proposal that would ban off-highway motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and bicycles from more than 9 million acres of public land in Utah, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports.
The AMA is urging all riders to contact their U.S. representatives immediately to ask them to oppose the proposal, H.R. 1925, which is the America's Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2009. Concerned riders can contact their federal lawmakers by going to the Rights section of the AMA website at AmericanMotorcyclist.com and then clicking on the "Issues and Legislation" link.
While U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, who is chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, has yet to officially announce his intention to hold the hearing, the AMA has confirmed that H.R. 1925 will be considered on Thursday, Oct. 1.
The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York, would ban motorized recreation on 9.4 million acres of public land in Utah by inappropriately designating it as Wilderness.
The devastating proposal would impact the Moab, San Rafael Swell and Chimney Rock riding areas, among others.
"The measure is totally unreasonable and completely unacceptable," said Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations. "Continued responsible access to public lands is a vitally important right for current and future generations.
"This is just the latest step in a massive land grab being orchestrated nationwide by anti-access forces who are seeking to eliminate responsible off-highway riding on public lands by any means necessary," Moreland said. "They want to turn all public land into their own exclusive playground.
"It's important to note that this legislation would make sweeping changes to existing riding areas despite the fact that much of the land to be classified as Wilderness is already managed by federal agencies through local processes and decisions," Moreland added. "The best management of public lands is through local input, and the fact that a member of Congress from New York is proposing closing land in a state where none of that state's own representatives support the bill makes this measure even more unfair to those who live and recreate in Utah."
In 1964, Congress approved the National Wilderness Act that essentially set the criteria for designating land for Wilderness protection. That law was to preserve land that "generally appears to have been affected primarily by the force of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticed."
The law led to a nationwide survey of public land to determine whether it should be designated as Wilderness. Since 1964, some 107 million acres nationwide have earned the designation.
"The AMA strongly supports properly designated Wilderness areas," Moreland said. "But anti-access opportunists who oppose off-highway riding are misapplying the intent of Wilderness as a means to push responsible riders off our nation's public lands. It is a disturbing trend that, if allowed to continue, may ultimately spell the demise of responsible motorized recreation on public lands. Indeed, as we speak, there are about a dozen Wilderness bills being considered on Capitol Hill that would close about 36 million acres to off-highway riding. It's patently unfair that so many appropriate off-highway riding areas are being taken away without additional new opportunities being introduced."
Earlier this year, Congress fast-tracked a bill with little public input that President Obama then signed into law to designate as Wilderness some 2 million acres in several states nationwide.
"So with the stroke of a pen, off-highway riding was banned forever, and even more public land is threatened now with closure," said Moreland.
All riders who want to take action on this matter can immediately contact their federal lawmakers by selecting the Issues and Legislation link in the Rights section of the AMA website at AmericanMotorcyclist.com.
About the American Motorcyclist Association
Since 1924, the AMA has protected the future of motorcycling and promoted the motorcycle lifestyle. AMA members come from all walks of life, and they navigate many different routes on their journey to the same destination: freedom on two wheels. As the world's largest motorcycling organization, the AMA advocates for motorcyclists' interests in the halls of local, state and federal government, the committees of international governing organizations, and the court of public opinion. Through member clubs, promoters and partners, the AMA sanctions more motorsports competition and motorcycle recreational events than any other organization in the world. AMA members receive money-saving discounts from dozens of well-known suppliers of motorcycle services, gear and apparel, bike rental, transport, hotel stays and more. Through its Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, the AMA preserves the heritage of motorcycling for future generations.

BLM withholds support for Utah wilderness bill
By Lee Davidson

Deseret News

Published: Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 2:10 p.m. MDT

The Obama administration withheld support Thursday for a bill that would designate one-sixth of all Utah land as wilderness, saying instead that it seeks to break a 20-year-old logjam on the issue by working out conflicts on an area-by-area basis through smaller bills.

"We'd like an opportunity to go back and revisit each of these areas that are being proposed for designation and work (for) … more manageable boundaries and to address some conflicts that exist in some of these areas," U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Robert Abbey told a House hearing.

But the administration didn't exactly oppose the bill either, and praised it goals. As Abbey also testified, "We believe there are areas in Utah worthy of wilderness designation. He listed several including Desolation Canyon, Grand Gulch, parts of the San Rafael Swell, and the Deep Creek Mountains.

In fact, he said the BLM through the years has identified 6.6 million acres with some "wilderness characteristics" that merit further study. But the "America's Red Rock Wilderness" bill by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., which has been pushed in various forms for 20 years, now proposes designating 9.4 million acres.

Abbey said the best way to finally pass something and resolve conflicts is to address them in a county-by-county or landscape-by-landscape process in smaller bill, as was done recently in a bill just about Washington County.

"We hope this (Washington County) model can be extended to the rest of Utah, and we suggest an approach that is more geographically focused. We would welcome the opportunity to work cooperatively … to address and hopefully resolve wilderness issues in Utah," Abbey said.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, both sponsors of the Washington County bill, made the same suggestion. They said their approach looked not only at wilderness, but also how to best protect land through conservation areas, expanding national park boundaries, and wild and scenic river designations, among other options.

Bennett said Hinchey's bill "does not represent progress, but rather the entrenchment of a small cross-section of interest groups who refuse to acknowledge there is a better way."

Matheson said, "If we want to make progress, a collaborative process that engages all of the stakeholders needs to occur."

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources subcommittee that held the hearing, said virtually all parties on all sides agree some more areas in Utah merit wilderness designation, but Hinchey's bill "far, far overreaches."

To demonstrate, he showed pictures of roads, oil derricks and mines in areas proposed in the bill for wilderness, even though Bishop noted wilderness is supposed to be untrammeled by man.

Abbey also noted in testimony, "Some of the proposed wilderness areas include existing (oil and natural gas) leases some of which are currently producing, and others that we expect will produce in the future."

Hinchey countered by showing pictures of scenic red rock country he says now has no protection, and is being damaged by off-road vehicles and other threats. He said trying to work out wilderness through small bills will take too long, and said more wilderness will actually help Utah's economy by increasing tourism.

While many Utah officials say it will tie up too much land and hurt the oil industry, Hinchey said, "The land that we're planning to designate holds less than a few days worth of oil, and a few weeks worth of gas …. What is there is less than 1 percent of the nation's oil reserve and less than 2 percent of the nation's gas reserves."

Opposing the bill at the hearing, either in person or by letter, were all five members of Utah's congressional delegation, Gov. Gary Herbert, Lt. Gov. Greg Bell, leaders of the Utah Legislature, commissioners from all 16 counties that have acreage proposed for wilderness, Utah education officials (who say it will hurt school trust lands), the oil industry, ranchers, and off-road vehicle manufacturers.

Among those praising the wilderness in person or by letter bill were former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, current Mayor Ralph Becker, former GOP legislator Bryson Garbett, actor Robert Redford (by letter), environmental groups, manufacturers of camping and outdoor equipment, and several religious groups.

Carbon County Commissioner John Jones said the big wilderness bill "would put the nail in the coffin of rural counties," by not allowing development of minerals or by closing off access to lands used for grazing.

Anderson, however, said recent polls show a majority of Utahns favor creating more than 9 million acres of wilderness. He said, "Utah's red rock wilderness is a gift we should not squander. Please embrace this far-sighted opportunity, in service to the world and to later generations, without any further delay."

e-mail: lee@desnews.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

:lame: So suwa is in hinchey's back pocket.This guy is disgusting! How can some jerk from new york try and dictate what goes on in utah?he should piss in his own backyard.Down to hinchey.