|   If you like Mountainbiking in Fruita... | screampint
Oct 18, 2003 8:40 AM | | ...then you need to act now. The biking there is being seriously threatened right now, and if enough of us write letters, we can stop this from happening. This isn't one of those "it's too big of an issue for me and I can't make a difference" kind of a campaign. If even a hundred of us write letters, it's going to seriously shake things up. So PLEASE take a minute and protect biking in Fruita. See my alert below and PASS THIS ON!
ALERT***** ALERT ****ALERT****ALERT
Your help is needed to protect the NORTH FRUITA DESERT
On September 29th, the Bureau of Land Management released a management plan for the North Fruita Desert, the area around what is known to recreationists as the "18 Road area".
THE FUTURE OF NON-MOTORIZED RECREATION IN FRUITA IS BEING THREATENED!
The North Fruita Plan is bad! Here's why:
1.The North Fruita Desert Plan opens up over 90% of the North Fruita area to motorized use, leaving only about 10% set aside for non-motorized recreation and conservation.
2. All of the washes and drainages in the North Fruita planning area are open to motorized use, which means that parts of the non-motorized area are actually OPEN to motorized use.
3. Several of the alternatives feature a motorized trail that runs directly through proposed Hunter Canyon Wilderness.
4. The plan promotes the construction of a motorized loop system in the desert, which will essentially makes the N. Fruita desert a destination area for motor vehicles
5. The plan recognizes that the North Fruita desert is home to threatened species and is critical wintering area for deer, but includes little protections for them.
6. The plan allows for shooting anywhere in the resource area, not designated to specific areas
This means quality opportunities for biking, hiking, horseback riding and wildlife viewing in N Fruita could be lost.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The Bureau of Land Management NEEDS to hear that citizens are not happy with the North Fruita Plan. You can-
1. Attend the public meeting about the North Fruita Plan in Grand
Junction, on Oct 23rd and voice your concerns.
2. Write a letter to the Bureau of Land Management about the plan.
3. Call your local BLM representative.
4. Send an email to your BLM representative.
TALKING POINTS FOR PUBLIC MEETING, LETTERS and EMAIL MESSAGES:
-Use the points listed on the front side of this alert for reasons why you are not happy with the North Fruita Desert plan
-Tell them why the North Fruita Desert is important to you, experiences you have had there etc. This is really important and helps for credibility!!!
-Ask for a plan that:
1. Keeps motorized use on designated trails, out of washes and drainages, and out of the non-motorized area.
2. Keeps all motorized use out of proposed Hunter Canyon Wilderness.
3. Prioritizes protection of the area's natural values and resources.
4. Includes designated shooting areas for the safety of everyone using the N Fruita Desert.
5. Provides for a fair balance of local recreational needs and does not seek to turn North Fruita into a National motorized playground.
NORTH FRUITA PUBLIC MEETING:
Thursday, Oct 23 at 6pm
Grand Junction BLM office
2815 H Rd
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Please attend, and have your talking points ready for the public comment period.
LETTERS must be submitted by Nov 7th!!
Send letters to:
Grand Junction BLM office
2815 H Rd
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Please also send a copy to:
James Cooper
Bureau of Land Management
Grand Junction BLM office
2815 H Rd
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Clare Bastable
Colorado Mountain Club
Grand Junction Field Office
1000 N 9th St #29
Grand Junction, CO 81506
EMAILS must be submitted by Nov 7th!! (They give more weight to actual letters than they do to emails, so if you can write a letter, that would really help. If not, at least send an email!)
Send email messages to: james_cooper@co.blm.gov
Please also send a copy to: bastac@cmc.org |
| Dunnit. Thanks for the heads up. Be in Fruita this winter. nm | Tscheezy
Oct 18, 2003 11:44 AM | | |
| Thank you! All support is much appreciated! nm | screampint
Oct 18, 2003 12:57 PM | | |
| Mr. Segal/hedgehog... I got your email, but... | screampint
Oct 18, 2003 12:45 PM | | I can't reply to it. I keep getting error meseages and it bounces back. I'll try to send it from a different email address (maybe it doesn't like yahoo), but I'll also put my reply in here, as it may help others.
Anyway, here's the email letter:
Dear Mr. Segal,
The letter looks great. Thanks so much for your help in this, it's much appreciated!
However there are a couple things that need to be clarified. The first has to do with the shooting that is currently allowed in the North Fruita Desert. It does not refer to hunting, which has plenty of restrictions and seasons. The shooting that has no restriction is the target shooting. In other words any redneck can set up a makeshift "target range" anywhere in the area, as close to the trails as permitted. Given that the people shooting don't always pay attention to where the trails run, how many other users are in the area, and other safety issues, this definitely poses a problem.
The second issue that must be clarified is that motorized use is currently allowed in the area. There are future problems that can be foreseen for the area. First, the increased growth in the population has meant increased use by those motorized users and has created problems with off trail travel. Keeping 90% of the area open to motorized use allows the impact of poor usership to spread to areas that are unaffected as of yet. Secondly, surrounding the non-motorized area ensures that future non-motorized activities will be severely limited to 10% of the North Fruita Desert Area. While the BLM will argue that it's open to all users, if a trail is open to motorized use then it makes it unsuitable for hiking, horseback riding, or mountainbiking. Hikers and equestrians don't like the noise, smell, or safety issues, and mountianbikers would add the trail conditions left behind by a motorized user as another negative factor. One must also consider user numbers. Giving 90% of the land to a small percentage of the users while limiting the rest of the users (a much larger percentage) to 10% of the land make no sense. Finally, limiting the growth of mountainbiking in the area is limiting the economic potential for tourism in the area. The City of Fruita, Fruita Chamber of Commerce, and Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce would all like to encourage such growth, rather than prohibit such growth.
Hope that helps!
Sar |
| who is "our" one voice in all of this. | KgB
Oct 18, 2003 5:35 PM | | A bunch of E-mails from Ca. mountain bikers is nice but who locally is representing us.
What exactly does their proposal say,I was not able to access it from the BLM site.
A little first hand knowledge would be nice before sending letters
and is there a more localized forum on the subject? |
| who is "our" one voice in all of this. | screampint
Oct 20, 2003 7:03 AM | | Wow, that's a lot of history to cover.
Basically the area has been and was always open to motos. The motos never really used the area (18 RD) much (with the exception of a few locals), instead, they used the 27 RD-30 RD area. One look at the heavily used areas will give you an idea of what happens with motos on the soil (read: no vegetation, dust, dust storms, little habitat for wildlife, increased release of salt into the water table which ends up in the Colorado River, etc., etc.) While the 18Rd area has not been hit in the same way, the population growth for the area has lead an increase in motorized use in the past few years.
The current plan allows for continued motorized use in 90% of the area, reserving only 10% for other uses. Also, 100% of the area will be open for target shooting, a dangerous sort of shared use.
The person that wrote up the alert that I posted is with the Colorado Mountain Club and the Quiet Trails Coalition. Both organizations support the opposition to the BLM proposed plan. The Quiet Trails Coaliltion consists of local business people, residents, environmentalists, mountainbikers, etc. Both organizations support the idea that a more balanced plan should be put into place. One that can include motorized use in given areas, restricted target shooting (read: established shooting ranges), conservation area, and mountainbike area. One thing to remember, there is plenty of land, over 74,000 acres, there is no reason to give 70,000 acres to motorized and squeeze everyone else into the 4,000 left over.
Hope that helps. |
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