Americans for Responsible Recreational Access
July Newsletter

The news reports of major wildfires throughout the western United States provide vivid reminders of the consequences of permitting the dangerous buildup of flammable fuel in our National Forests and other public lands. Resource recovery in the form of timber harvests and selective thinning have all too often been halted through court intervention by anti-access groups, all operating under the guise of wanting to protect our forests.

The House Resources Committee will soon be holding a hearing on how the management of federal lands is increasingly affected by the courts as a result of lawsuits brought under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. ARRA will be watching with interest the work of this Committee. We can’t help but wonder how many endangered plants and animals were destroyed when hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands were needlessly destroyed by fire.

ARRA is concerned about these issues because the same entities that are against the careful management of our public lands are all too often opposed to access to public lands for recreational use. Our friends in the mountain bike community have long thought they were immune to such threats and that access to public lands was simply a motorized problem. In early June they found out that this was no longer the case. A very popular National Park Service singletrack trail near Tucson, Arizona has been closed to bicycle use because of a threat of a lawsuit by an anti-access organization. The Cactus Forest Trail in Saguaro National Park, a trail that has been used by mountain bike enthusiasts for more than ten years, is now closed because of the mere threat of this lawsuit being filed against the National Park Service. This is a perfect example of how legal intimidation appears to have no limitations in adversely affecting the entire recreation community. We are told that other mountain bike trails in other National Parks are also threatened with closure because of potential lawsuits. If these anti-access groups are successful in forcing mountain bike riders out of our National Parks, it will be a sad day for all recreation enthusiasts.

Despite the depressing reports of forest fires and land closures, we do have some good news to report. One of the issues that has been of concern to ARRA is finally being addressed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho has introduced a measure, H.R. 2114, which would limit the President’s power to create national monument areas without Congressional input. Simpson’s bill would amend the Antiquities Act by requiring Congressional approval within two years of any designation of a monument area that is larger than 50,000 acres. During the last year of Bill Clinton’s term in the White House, he created by executive order monument areas encompassing millions of acres of Federal and private land. He took this action without input from the Congress or from the citizens living adjacent to the affected areas. Simpson’s bill will provide a mechanism for such input. We find this very important because many of the actions taken by the former President adversely affected recreational activities on the newly designated monument areas. While this legislation is not retroactive, it will prevent future abuse of the statute by future Presidents. We anticipate that the full House of Representatives will adopt this measure sometime later this summer. Once that happens, the measure will go to the Senate for its consideration. We will keep you apprised of any future developments on this important legislative measure.

Further good news is the fact that we continue to make progress in obtaining additional co-sponsors to H.R. 3808, the Consistent Public Land Laws Enforcement Act of 2002 introduced on February 27th by Rep. Scott McInnis of Colorado. We now have 22 co-sponsors and we expect to get more. If you haven’t already done so, write your Representative to let him or her know how important this measure is to the recreation community. Without enhanced enforcement, more public lands will be placed off limits to responsible recreation enthusiasts. Please check this website to learn more about this legislation or to communicate with your Representative.

ARRA is aware that many in the recreation community are fighting important access issues at the state and local levels. While ARRA’s primary focus resides with Federal issues, we are also concerned about what is happening and affecting recreational opportunities at other levels of government. If you have areas of concern in your state or community that you would like to share with other ARRA members, please send us information about your issue and we will try to make this information available on our website. Please be in touch with the ARRA Webmaster with the necessary information. Please include a contact person and a telephone number where we can reach you in the event we have specific questions about the information you have submitted to us.

http://responsiblerecreati on.policy.net/proactive/newsroom/release.vtml?id=18760&PROACTIVE_ID=cecfcfcfcdcccbc6cec5cecfcfcec5cecfc7c6c7cacdc7ccccc5ce://http://responsiblerecreati on.polic...7cacdc7ccccc5ce://http://responsiblerecreati on.polic...7cacdc7ccccc5ce

[ 07-15-2002, 05:14 PM: Message edited by: gotdunes ]