KG6BWS
Explorer
this might have already been posted. if it has im sorry. a friend of mine emailed this to me today regarding senators boxer and mckeons views and plans for the eastern sierras.
Greetings Folks, Ron Schiller has worked long and hard withrepresentatives of Senator Boxer and Representative McKeon regarding theareas affected with their proposed bill outlined below. I sincerelybelieve these beautiful areas should be kept accessible to all of us;rockhounders, offroaders, hunters and lovers of the outdoors. We'retalking of areas here that historically have had few roads simplybecause of the vertical terrain. What access is available should be leftthere for our children in my opinion.Please use the link below to generate a note showing your concern forthis bill. Thanks for your help Ron's letter is copied here in itsentirety and with his permission.
Charlie As you might already know, Senator Boxer and Representative McKeonintroduced the Eastern Sierra and San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act, H.R.6156 in the House and S. 3069 in the Senate last May. This bill has been in the works for quite some time and over thelast two years many stakeholders have met with and worked withCongressman McKeon to make the bill more reasonable and workable.However, recent amendments to the bill are totally unreasonable andcontrary to the previous discussions with his staff.
Among the changesare additional inappropriate wilderness expansions in the WhiteMountains, expansion and Congressional designation of the Ancient Bristlecone Forest, and the designation of the entire length of thenorth fork and main fork of Cottonwood Creek as a Wild and Scenic River. Almost all of the White Mountains north of the Inyo/Mono Countyline is to be designated as wilderness in the original bill. The latestamendments include wilderness designation for the entire CottonwoodBasin including the Eva Belle Mine all the way along Crooked Creek tothe Inyo/Mono County line. Although some of the roads are cherry stemmed into the proposedwilderness, it would adversely affect many forms of recreation traditionally occurring in the area including camping, hunting, and rockhounding. The expansion of the Ancient Bristlecone Forest would eliminate rockhounding in several key locations and possibly eliminate traditional motorized access used for hunting and four wheeling.
If this legislation is enacted, it will eliminate motorized accesson the Furnace Creek Road. The Furnace Creek Road is a spectacular fourwheel-drive route that begins just inside California near Dyer, Nevada.The route has spectacular scenery and stretches into the White Mountainsto Tres Plumas Meadow, a beautiful meadow at 10,500 feet with the bestbackcountry recreation and deer hunting in the White Mountains. Theroad was featured as one of the best routes in Roger Mitchell's 1969publication "Inyo/Mono Jeep Trails". During the development of the Inyo National Forest Land andResource Management Plan, the Furnace Creek Road was a topic ofconsiderable discussion. During the process there was a collaborativeworkgroup made up of representatives from a very diverse group of publicinterests. The workgroup concluded with a consensus agreement that theFurnace Creek Road would remain open for motorized use and in returnother areas would be recommended for wilderness designation in theForest Plan. Unfortunately, the very same environmentalrepresentatives, the Forest Service, and Senator Boxer's and Congressman McKeon's staff refuse to honor that commitment.
HOW YOU CAN HELP The good folks at Pirate 4X4.com have offered to help us effectivelyoppose this ill-conceived and unfair legislation. The Pirate 4X4website has put up a letter generator which will allow you to generate aletter to Senator Boxer and Representative McKeon with very littleeffort. You simply fill in the blanks and type in a short personal noteand then click on the "submit" button. It should only take you fiveminutes or so to generateyour letter and it would really help defeat the bill. If we areable togenerate 2500 letters, our friends at Blue Ribbon Coalition have offeredto print them and hand-deliver them to the Senate Natural ResourcesCommittee. That would really be a big deal! The letter generator is located athttp://www.pirate4x4.com/letters/ PLEASE SUBMIT A LETTER AND PASS THIS MESSAGE ON TO ANY FRIENDS ORASSOCIATES THAT SUPPORT PUBLIC ACCESS TO PUBLIC LANDS. FURTHER DETAILS AND INFORMATION REGARDING THE BOXER/McKEON WILDERNESSBILL. Maps associated with the bill are at:http://mckeon.house.gov/eastern_sierra_maps.aspx The original text of the bill as introduced on May 22. 2008 can be foundat the following website but it hasn't been updated to reflectsubsequent amendments shown on the maps. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h6156ih.txt
===================================================== This information is provided by Ron Schiller, Chairman of the HighDesert Multiple Use Coalition. As usual, please feel free to pass thisinformation on to any other interested parties. Anyone wishing toreceive future information regarding issues related to the management ofpublic lands in the California Desert should send an e-mail toschiller@ridgenet.net and request to be placed on the distribution list.Please print "PLEASE ADD TO LIST" in the subject line.
Greetings Folks, Ron Schiller has worked long and hard withrepresentatives of Senator Boxer and Representative McKeon regarding theareas affected with their proposed bill outlined below. I sincerelybelieve these beautiful areas should be kept accessible to all of us;rockhounders, offroaders, hunters and lovers of the outdoors. We'retalking of areas here that historically have had few roads simplybecause of the vertical terrain. What access is available should be leftthere for our children in my opinion.Please use the link below to generate a note showing your concern forthis bill. Thanks for your help Ron's letter is copied here in itsentirety and with his permission.
Charlie As you might already know, Senator Boxer and Representative McKeonintroduced the Eastern Sierra and San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act, H.R.6156 in the House and S. 3069 in the Senate last May. This bill has been in the works for quite some time and over thelast two years many stakeholders have met with and worked withCongressman McKeon to make the bill more reasonable and workable.However, recent amendments to the bill are totally unreasonable andcontrary to the previous discussions with his staff.
Among the changesare additional inappropriate wilderness expansions in the WhiteMountains, expansion and Congressional designation of the Ancient Bristlecone Forest, and the designation of the entire length of thenorth fork and main fork of Cottonwood Creek as a Wild and Scenic River. Almost all of the White Mountains north of the Inyo/Mono Countyline is to be designated as wilderness in the original bill. The latestamendments include wilderness designation for the entire CottonwoodBasin including the Eva Belle Mine all the way along Crooked Creek tothe Inyo/Mono County line. Although some of the roads are cherry stemmed into the proposedwilderness, it would adversely affect many forms of recreation traditionally occurring in the area including camping, hunting, and rockhounding. The expansion of the Ancient Bristlecone Forest would eliminate rockhounding in several key locations and possibly eliminate traditional motorized access used for hunting and four wheeling.
If this legislation is enacted, it will eliminate motorized accesson the Furnace Creek Road. The Furnace Creek Road is a spectacular fourwheel-drive route that begins just inside California near Dyer, Nevada.The route has spectacular scenery and stretches into the White Mountainsto Tres Plumas Meadow, a beautiful meadow at 10,500 feet with the bestbackcountry recreation and deer hunting in the White Mountains. Theroad was featured as one of the best routes in Roger Mitchell's 1969publication "Inyo/Mono Jeep Trails". During the development of the Inyo National Forest Land andResource Management Plan, the Furnace Creek Road was a topic ofconsiderable discussion. During the process there was a collaborativeworkgroup made up of representatives from a very diverse group of publicinterests. The workgroup concluded with a consensus agreement that theFurnace Creek Road would remain open for motorized use and in returnother areas would be recommended for wilderness designation in theForest Plan. Unfortunately, the very same environmentalrepresentatives, the Forest Service, and Senator Boxer's and Congressman McKeon's staff refuse to honor that commitment.
HOW YOU CAN HELP The good folks at Pirate 4X4.com have offered to help us effectivelyoppose this ill-conceived and unfair legislation. The Pirate 4X4website has put up a letter generator which will allow you to generate aletter to Senator Boxer and Representative McKeon with very littleeffort. You simply fill in the blanks and type in a short personal noteand then click on the "submit" button. It should only take you fiveminutes or so to generateyour letter and it would really help defeat the bill. If we areable togenerate 2500 letters, our friends at Blue Ribbon Coalition have offeredto print them and hand-deliver them to the Senate Natural ResourcesCommittee. That would really be a big deal! The letter generator is located athttp://www.pirate4x4.com/letters/ PLEASE SUBMIT A LETTER AND PASS THIS MESSAGE ON TO ANY FRIENDS ORASSOCIATES THAT SUPPORT PUBLIC ACCESS TO PUBLIC LANDS. FURTHER DETAILS AND INFORMATION REGARDING THE BOXER/McKEON WILDERNESSBILL. Maps associated with the bill are at:http://mckeon.house.gov/eastern_sierra_maps.aspx The original text of the bill as introduced on May 22. 2008 can be foundat the following website but it hasn't been updated to reflectsubsequent amendments shown on the maps. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h6156ih.txt
===================================================== This information is provided by Ron Schiller, Chairman of the HighDesert Multiple Use Coalition. As usual, please feel free to pass thisinformation on to any other interested parties. Anyone wishing toreceive future information regarding issues related to the management ofpublic lands in the California Desert should send an e-mail toschiller@ridgenet.net and request to be placed on the distribution list.Please print "PLEASE ADD TO LIST" in the subject line.
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