| I was
recently asked, „What
is the Washington State Snowmobile Association (WSSA) doing
about the possible
Lake Ann and Van Epps pass snowmobile closure? by another
member of WSSA. This question kind of surprised me, because
I assumed that all WSSA members were aware of the situation
with the I-90 Wilderness Study and are writing letters to help
try and keep this area from being added to the Alpine Lakes
Wilderness. The Land Use and Legislation Committee (LULC),
through an Action Group Alert and our article in the January
SnoFlyer, have provided detailed information on this proposal.
The main task of this committee is to keep WSSA members and
Washington state snowmobilers in general informed on what YOU
can do to keep our riding areas open around the state, and
in some cases around the country (as with snowmobiles in Yellowstone
National Park).
The LULC has written numerous letters stating
that WSSA supports Alternative 1, no action, for this Wilderness
proposal to the forest service, Ann Venemen (Secretary of Agriculture
the forest service is under this Department), and our congressional
representatives. We have also posted information on the WSSA
web site and I even posted this information on www.snowest.com
in an attempt to get the word out to all non-WSSA members.
We have also contacted the BlueRibbon Coalition to help us
in this matter. They have agreed to send out an Action Alert
to all of their members. Unlike the extreme green groups, WSSA
does not have any paid staff we are an all-volunteer effort.
We rely on YOU to make a difference on land use decisions.
What can YOU do to make a
difference? Every single WSSA member needs to write a letter
stating your support for
Alternative 1, no action, for the I-90 Wilderness Study. Refer
to the information found in the January SnoFlyer, the WSSA
web site at www.wssaonline.com, or send me an email at sledhead.dave@attbi.com if you need more information. These letters must be submitted
by February 18th, 2003. I challenge every member of WSSA to
submit at a minimum 10 additional letters. It doesn‚t
really matter who the letters come from, as long as the letters
state they support Alternative 1. Print 10 copies of the sample
letter on our web site and get your maid, paperboy, or even
your dentist to put their name and address on these letters.
Have your kids get other kids at school to sign letters. Snowmobile
clubs should go to every sno-park in the state and get letters
signed by snowmobilers that arrive at the sno-park. Snowmobile
rental companies should get every renter to sign a letter.
Most non-WSSA snowmobilers will never hear about these closures
until they show up to these areas to go snowmobiling and see
the big orange signs that say „National Forest Wilderness.
Help protect this Wilderness area by not operating motorized
vehicles, including snowmobiles, within it‰.
I can guarantee you that the
extreme green groups do whatever they can to lock snowmobilers
out of our public
lands. When I was at the forest service I-90 Wilderness meeting
in North Bend on January 16th, it appeared to me that the Washington
Wilderness Coalition had shipped in a bus load of high school
kids to submit comments and also to give the impression that
more people support the Wilderness designation than people
against this proposal. They were even handing out expensive
full color brochures with pre-printed post cards to submit
to the forest service. You may ask why doesn‚t WSSA do
this? The answer is because these brochures cost a lot of money.
We don‚t have this kind of money to spend unless we doubled
the cost of membership, which in turn would cause many members
to quit and therefore we would not accomplish much with the
increase.
If you have any doubts about our competition on this subject,
go to the Washington Wilderness Coalition web site at http://www.wawild.org/action/take_action_dec02.htm
and read what they have to say about the I-90 Wilderness proposal. They state, „Resist
pressure from special interests to shrink Lake Ann and Lower Fortune Creek
Boundaries‰. Guess who the „special interests‰ are? That
would be you, your children and me.
If you say to yourself, „I never ride there, so this doesn‚t affect
me‰, then you would be mistaken. This closure would be one more nail
in the coffin of snowmobiling in Washington State. Once all the nails are pounded
in, and the lid is sealed tight, none of us will be snowmobiling anywhere.
What a sad thought.
_________________________________________________
The information below is from my Action Alert I sent out last month and it
contains a copy of a form letter that you can use, but it is always best to
modify a form letter some to give it a more personal touch. You would be surprised
how much difference it can make by sending a personal letter compared to a
form letter.
Thanks for your help,
Dave Hurwitz
I-90 Wilderness Study
For all you fellow snowmobilers that are unfamiliar with what the I-90 Wilderness
Study will include, or should I say what areas will be off limits from you
being able to snowmobile in, please go to the link below and read the I-90
Wilderness Study document. The bottom line is, Lake Ann and Van Epps areas
north of Cle Elum will be closed to snowmobiling if this proposal is approved.
This area is heavily used by snowmobilers from all around the state and offers
some of the best backcountry snowmobiling in the state. Although we should
send our comment letters to the forest service to be included in their report,
the final decision will not be made by the forest service. The Secretary of
Agriculture and Congress will decide if and how this proposal is implemented.
Your letter at a minimum should state:
· You support Alternative 1, No Action.
· Study area 8 (Scatter), area 9 (Lake Ann) and area 10 (Van Epps) have
had traditional and current heavy snowmobile use and should be removed from consideration
as Wilderness designation.
· Several of these study areas do not meet the qualifications of Wilderness
designation.
· 45% of the 2.2 million acres that make up Wenatchee National Forest
is currently Wilderness. Very few people visit Wilderness areas, especially during
the winter months, per the forest services own studies. 45% of the land mass
in WNF is enough Wilderness.
· There is no documented need for additional Wilderness in Wenatchee National
Forest, in fact there is evidence that the true need is for more developed sites
· You would support this area being classified with a new designation
called Backcountry Recreation as an alternative to Wilderness.
I have included a sample letter at the bottom of this note that you can use
if needed.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee/planning/i-90-wilderness-study-deis.pdf
After you have read the above document, you need to write a letter and send
it to the following people:
1) Send a copy to the forest service at:
I-90 Wilderness Study
Attn: Floyd Rogalski
frogalski@fs.fed.us
803 West Second St.
Cle Elum, WA 98922.
Comments must be postmarked by: February 18, 2003
2) Send a copy of your letter to:
Ann Veneman
ann.veneman@usda.gov
Secretary of Agriculture (The forest service falls under this Department).3)
Send a copy of your letter to your elected US House of Representative and both
US Senators. Look up your rep here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/
Sample Letter:
Subject: I-90 Wilderness Study Report and Draft Legislated Environmental Impact
Statement http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee/planning/DLEIS-Transmittal-Letter.pdf
I support Alternative 1, No Action, for the I-90 Wilderness Study Report and
Draft Legislated Environmental Impact Statement. This alternative would result
in no Wilderness expansion. I also do not feel that all of these study areas
meet the qualifications of Wilderness designation.
There is significant snowmobile use in study Area 8 (Scatter), study Area 9
(Lake Ann) and study Area 10 (Van Epps). During the winter months, snowmobile
use is the primary means of recreation in these areas. It is very unusual to
see any foot traffic, due to their distance from plowed roads. These areas
are very unique, as they offer the only high elevation, deep snow, open play
areas in the state of Washington.
Wenatchee National Forest (WNF) has approximately 1 million acres currently
designated as Wilderness. This amounts to about 45% of the 2.2 million acres
that make up WNF. Few forest visitors currently use Wilderness areas this is
especially true during winter. Per the forest service National Visitor Use
Monitoring (NVUM) study only 12% of WNF recreationists visit the Wilderness,
even though the Alpine Lakes Wilderness is within close proximity to over half
of Washington State's population in the Seattle metropolitan area.
I do not feel that there is a need for more Wilderness designated areas in
Washington State. In WNF, the acknowledgement by the forest service that non-wilderness
areas are full on weekends, clearly demonstrates a greater need for more developed
areas, not more Wilderness.
I care about the environment and I am proud of
the fact that snowmobiling is a very low impact sport. Once
the snow has melted, there is no evidence of snowmobile use
on the forest floor. I would support this area being classified
with a new designation called Backcountry Recreation as an
alternative to Wilderness. The Blue Ribbon Coalition is currently
proposing this designation as a means of protecting our national
forests across the nation, while still allowing responsible
motorized recreation to continue. Refer to the Blue Ribbon
Coalition web site for additional information. http://www.sharetrails.org/index.cfm?page=39
Sincerely,
Name ______________________________
Address______________________________ |
