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Victory in Wyoming opposed by tree-huggers - boo!
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Group appeals motocross trails
By BRODIE FARQUHAR
Star-Tribune correspondent Wednesday, August 22, 2007
A conservation group has filed an administrative appeal against the
U.S. Forest Service's decision to open part of a roadless area to
motorbike traffic in the eastern Snowy Range.
Forest officials have opted to dramatically increase motorized
recreation on almost six miles of trails and 422 acres of the Middle
Fork Roadless Area, currently managed for nonmotorized summer
recreation.
The negative effects of noise, pollution and wildlife disturbance will
extend far beyond the actual borders of the 422-plus acres, the
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance says.
The Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest has billed its travel
management plan as a workable compromise. That's how J.R. Riggins,
president of the Motorized Recreation Council of Wyoming, sees it,
calling the Snowy Range travel management plan "the best I've seen on
any forest."
A dirtbiker who discovered the sport in his 30s, Riggins said the plan
closes more than 200 miles of illegal trails.
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance Wild Species Program Director Duane
Short said the group supports the remainder of the travel plan. He
noted that there are more than 2,500 miles of motorized roads and
trails on the Medicine Bow, and the travel management plan adds 92
miles of off-road vehicle trails. But only about one-fourth of the
forest is designated for quiet recreation under the new forest plan.
"We deserve to have unique areas in the Med Bows set aside for quiet
enjoyment," said Bob Needles, owner of All-Terrain Sports in Laramie.
"Wyoming already caters to motorized vehicles in many other parts of
the state. The Medicine Bow Forest Service should resist giving in to
the will of the outspoken groups who lobby for more access to off-road
vehicles."
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A bicycle shop. If motorized is banned, then all mechanized should be
banned.
BTW, talking with these people is a complete waste of time. They will keep
espousing their distorted views of the situation with enough zeal that the
uneducated masses will believe them. The only thing that really matters at
this point is the USFS appeal process.
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Yah! How wacky is that. False advertising maybe. LOL
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Short said the newly approved motorbike trail would degrade the
wilderness quality of the Middle Fork Roadless Area and introduce
increased soil erosion and stream sedimentation, vegetation loss and
the introduction of invasive, nonnative plants, create chronic
disturbance to wildlife, and destroy the quiet solitude sought by many
forest visitors.
"The Forest Service is trying to shoe-horn motorized recreation into
one of the few areas that the forest plan earmarked for quiet
recreation," Short said. "They could have easily accommodated
motorbike use a few miles to the west in lands outside the roadless
area as the travel management plan originally proposed."
The alliance's appeal alleges that the Forest Service amended the
forest plan in the middle of the process and failed to adequately seek
public input on a major change, violating the National Environmental
Policy Act. The appeal also notes that forest officials did not
perform a more demanding environmental impact statement, opting for
the less rigorous environmental analysis, despite the fact that the
motorbike trail will have major effects on wildlife, such as elk, and
quiet recreation.
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