SAWS WA/OR News: Access Update Fall 2007
I realize that the list of issues below is rather
long, but this only reflects on the fact that snowmobiling is under constant
attack by those that would like to see our form of recreation banned from
public lands. It took hours to compile this list with links to issues important
to snowmobilers in WA and OR, but is should only take you minutes to get up to
speed on the status of these important issues and learn what action you can
take on the issues that are not yet decided.
I hope that all of our current SAWS
members will not only read this list of issues (and this is not even a complete
list of issues), and refer to the provided links for additional information if
needed, but that you will also share the information below with your riding
friends and club members that are not members of SAWS.
Remind them that SAWS is
free to join and encourage them to do so. (They can sign up on our website here: http://www.snowmobile-alliance.org/join.asp). We
need their help as much as they need ours. Without action from one heck of a
lot more snowmobilers on issues such as those listed below, we will not be able
to win very many of these battles to keep our current riding areas open.
WDFW proposed new WAC 232-13-200 (Still limited time remaining
to submit a comment letter)
The final wording in the new proposed Washington
Administrative Code 232-13-200, to restrict snowmobiles to roads on Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife managed lands is not yet a done deal. The final
decision is scheduled to be voted on at the Fish
and Wildlife Commission meeting to be held December 7 and 8 at the Red
Lion Hotel, 221 N. Lincoln, Port Angeles, WA
Thank you to all of our SAWS
members that have previously submitted a comment letter on this issue. It is
still not too late to write a letter requesting that Chapter 200 be revised to
exclude snowmobiles from the restriction to be required to remain on designated
roads. Refer to our previous SAWS Action Alert from August 2007 for additional details on this issue and
where to write:
SAWS
Action Alert: WDFW proposed chapter 232-13-200
To view
the testimony from the October 12 and 13 meeting in Olympia, I have copied links below, with
the approximate time of discussion regarding WAC 232-13-200.
Segment A
- Public comment - Time in video = 11:24:39: Gary Harris (Member SAWS and WSSA) spoke opposing the
wording in WAC 232-13.
Segment
A Link
Segment B
- WAC 232-13 detail discussion - Time
in Video = 00:14:15, and in particular 00:25:30.
Segment
B Link
Here is a
link to a copy of WA State Sen. Janéa Holmquist’s excellent opposition letter opposing the
language of WAC 232-13-200.
WA
State Senator Holmquist WDFW WAC-232-13 Opposition
Letter
WA and OR Forest Plan
Revisions
SAWS has been warning our members
through numerous SAWS Action Alerts about the forest
plan revisions in WA and OR, and requesting that our members submit comments
since the summer of 2004. SAWS is VERY concerned with
what we believe will be large portions of public land in the Colville, Okanogan
and Wenatchee (COW) National Forests and the Malheur, Umatilla, and
Wallowa-Whitman (Blue Mountains) National Forests, that will be proposed for
non-motorized recreation only. We also believe that there will be large parcels
of land in these forests recommended for wilderness. And although Congress has
sole authority to create new wilderness areas, a very disturbing trend has been
occurring in some Forest Service regions (Region 1 in Montana) where the FS recommends new
wilderness areas and then closes these areas to snowmobile use prior to
Congress making any decision.
The release of these plans and the
proposed closures they will most likely contain, should be quite the wake up
call for snowmobilers in WA and OR that have heard about proposed closures in
other states, but have seen relatively few large closures in recent years in
the Pacific
Northwest.
Most snowmobilers do not think that the areas they ride will ever be restricted
from snowmobile use just because snowmobiles do not damage the land. Well I
have news for them; this is about to change.
Snowmobilers will need to provide
substantial comments in very large numbers if we want to have any chance in
altering the restrictive outcome that will most likely be proposed in these
plans. That means we need all of your riding friends as members of SAWS too, so that they will also be
ready to act when we send out the next SAWS Action Alert on this issue. The
future belongs to those that show up and take action to help guide the future
of snowmobiling. You know very well that those that would like to see
snowmobiling banned from ALL public lands ALWAYS show up. Will you take action to
guide the future of snowmobiling? Non-SAWS members can sign up for free on
our website here: http://www.snowmobile-alliance.org/join.asp
COW Forest Plan Revisions
The COW
draft forest plans were originally scheduled to be released in spring 2006. It
has been slid twice, and is tentatively scheduled for release in spring 2008.
There will be a 90 day public comment period. The reason for the most reason
delay was the suspension of the 2005 Planning Rule that was being used for
these plan revisions by these forests.
Refer
to our previous SAWS News release regarding the 2005
Planning Rule Suspension at this link:
2005_Land_Mgnt_Planning_Rule_Suspended
(June 2007)
Link to
the COW Forest Plan Revisions website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee/forest-plan/
Link to COW Forest
Plan Revision News (October 2007)
10-10-07
plan revision newsletter
Link to Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision Website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/blue_mtn_planrevision/
Links to some of the previous SAWS News and Alerts on this issue:
SAWS
News: WA State Forest Plan Revisions - Where are we at? (December 2006)
SAWS
Action Alert: WA and OR Forest Plan Revisions - Last chance to make a
difference! (March
2006)
SAWS
Action Alert: WA State Forest Plan Revisions (October 2004)
Could Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument be converted to national park?
The Board of Cowlitz County Commissioners rescinds their support for this bad
idea to convert MT St Helens National Monument into a national Park. SAWS members did show up in force
against this proposal. One of the commissioners made the statement “We received voluminous emails and other communications on this issue right
up to the hour before our public hearing”. Thank you to our SAWS members who either wrote a letter, showed up in person, or both,
to oppose this idea. SAWS
does
not believe that we have heard the last of this issue. We must all be ready in
the future to once again speak out in large numbers against this proposal.
Here is a
link to the response letter from the Chairman of the
Board of Cowlitz County Commissioners, Kathleen A. Johnson:
BOC
Response Regarding Mt. St. Helens Volcanic Monument becoming a National Park
Link
to October 31,
2007 article in The Daily News:
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2007/10/31/area_news/news10.txt
Minutes
from the October
30, 2007 meeting should be posted soon at this
link:
http://www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/commissioners/Minutes_&_Agendas.htm
Refer to
our previous SAWS Action Alert from October
30, 2007
on this issue:
WA/OR
SAWS Action Alert: Could Mt St Helens NVM be converted to a NP?
Roaring Thin
Restoration Project near Stampede Pass
Dave Hurwitz (SAWS Chairman) met with the Forest
Service Friday October 26, 2007, at the Cle Elum Ranger District
Headquarters to further discuss his concerns regarding this project.
The
Forest Service indicated at this meeting that only 6 comments (including
Dave’s from SAWS) were received from individuals
opposed to the proposed changes that negatively affect snowmobile use and access
in this area. Due to the lack of concern by SAWS members and snowmobilers in
general regarding this issue, SAWS has decided not to pursue this
issue further.
Here is a
link to Dave’s minutes from this FS meeting:
Roaring
Thin Restoration Project FS Meeting Minutes 10-26-07
SAWS would like to remind our members
that SAWS can only make our members aware
of proposals like this through our SAWS Action Alerts which attempt to
implement changes that are negative to snowmobile use.
Our member’s actions, or in this case lack of actions, will help determine the
final outcome. SAWS does not have a magic stick that we
can pound on the table to obtain our desire to keep ALL current snowmobile riding areas
open. The future is made by those that show up (in person or through comment letters).
Snowmobilers did not show up and act on this alert!
See our Previous SAWS Action Alert from August 2007 for reference on this issue:
WA
SAWS Action Alert: Roaring Thin Restoration Project
House subcommittee hearing on the Northern
Rockies
Ecosystem Protection Act (HR1975)
The
hearing on HR1975 (NREPA) was held as scheduled on October
18, 2007,
but thankfully at that time no vote or any other action was taken by the House
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.
Thank you to all of our SAWS
members that contacted their U.S. House Representative and requested that they
vote NO on this bill in case it did happen to make it to the floor for a full
House vote. Although SAWS does
not believe that this bill has enough support in the House to pass at this
time, the fact that it even received a hearing in this House sub-committee is
down right scary.
Link to
our previous SAWS Action Alert from October
9, 2007
on this issue:
SAWS
Action Alert: Hearing on Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act
Wild Sky
Wilderness
Although HR 886 was passed by the
House last April, it is currently blocked in the Senate by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma. Not on the
grounds that he opposes designating this area as wilderness, but based on the
grounds that the $19 million cost of creating this new wilderness area needs to
be cut elsewhere from the budget before he will allow it to go to a full Senate
vote.
SAWS believes this that is only a temporary setback for Sen. Patty Murray and
the rest of the pro Wild Sky crowd, and that the Wild Sky Wilderness proposal
is still pretty much a done deal for the most part. SAWS has opposed this legislation since our inception. We have sent numerous SAWS Action Alerts on this issue to our members over the years. We still
adamantly oppose the creation of this wilderness, but we are also realistic and
feel that our options to stop this legislation from going forward at this point have finally
run out.
Link to
Seattle PI article from September 2007:
Senator puts block on Wild Sky bill
Links to
previous SAWS Editorial and Alert regarding
Wild Sky:
SAWS_Editorial: Wild Sky Wilderness - The long and winding
journey may soon come to an end (March 2007)
SAWS
Action Alert: Wild Sky Wilderness (March 2005)
Dave Hurwitz
Snowmobile Alliance of Western States
Copyright 2007, Snowmobile Alliance of
Western States. All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted
to distribute this information, in whole or in part, as long as Snowmobile
Alliance of Western States (SAWS) is
acknowledged as the source. If you are not yet a member of SAWS, and
would like receive our emails, please sign up on our web site today. SAWS is Free to join! http://www.snowmobile-alliance.org