Join QWR and Send Letter to Sen. McConnell to Block Massive Lands Bill

A number of riders have asked the Recreation HQ what they should be doing to advance a pro-access agenda in Washington, DC during this Lame Duck session. As you know, this is a hectic time on The Hill and often our messages can get lost in the confusion.


However, HQ believes that we should encourage Senator Mitch McConnell to block any Omnibus Land/Water Legislation during this Lame Duck session and only allow votes on bills that lower our tax burden, reduce the deficit, and reduce the size and scope of bloated federal agencies.

Link to McConnell’s Dec. 1 Statement
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=585ae38d-746a-4a17-8065-72073226bdf3&ContentType_id=c19bc7a5-2bb9-4a73-b2ab-3c1b5191a72b&Group_id=0fd6ddca-6a05-4b26-8710-a0b7b59a8f1f

Here is a link to potential land/water bills that could be included in an Omnibus Bill – A big thanks to our friends at the Western Business Roundtable for this list!

About 60 Land/Water Bills Slated for Inclusion
http://docs.westernroundtable.com/water/2010/Analysis_LandsPackage_11-10.pdf

HQ knows a lot of recreation groups have or are sending/Faxing in letters today to support McConnell’s effort to have the Senate only vote on fiscal issues. To help support those efforts, QWR sent in a letter today and is asking you to do the same. Here is the text of that letter.

QWR LETTER (feel free to cut and paste, etc)

December 1, 2010

Senator Mitch McConnell
Republican Leader
361-A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
FAX: 202.224.2499

RE: Oppose Lame Duck Omnibus Land/Water Legislation

Dear Senator McConnell:

As an outdoor recreation advocate, I urge your office to oppose any effort by the Lame Duck Congress to pass an Omnibus Land/Water Bill. The recreation leaders I work with in the equestrian, hunting, off-road, and snowmobile communities do not support the bundling of individual land/water bills into one massive Omnibus package.


Here at Quiet Warrior Racing, we believe that each piece of legislation should be vigorously debated in the public arena. Only the land-use bills that have legitimate consensus and are thoroughly vetted with local and diverse stakeholders should merit a vote.

During this Lame Duck session, QWR urges your office to focus on those legislative items that deal with reducing our tax burden, lowering our deficit, and reducing the size and scope of bloated federal agencies. Thanks for reviewing QWR’s request.


Sincerely,


DON


Don Amador, Owner
Quiet Warrior Racing
555 Honey Lane
Oakley, CA 94561
Office: 925.625.5309
Email: damador@quietwarriorracing.com

You can FAX a short letter to Senator McConnell at: 202.224.2499 or use the email comment form below:

McConnell Comment Form
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactForm

ARRA has a letter generator that sends a note to your own U.S Senator (do this too)
https://secure3.convio.net/arra/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=249&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=dqjp5pqxa1.app332a


Thanks in advance for your help in stopping a massive land-use bill from being shoved down our throats by this Lame Duck Congress.

HQ is Back - Help Stop Omnibus Lands Bill in Lame Duck Congress

The General on One of the OHV Trails in the Stonyford NCA Plan

The Recreation HQ is back on the trail after a brief hiatus during the 2010 Election Cycle. As some of you know, there are a number of Wilderness, National Monument, or National Conservation Area proposals throughout the country pending action in the Lame Duck Session of the current Congress or waiting for action by the president via executive orders if they are not voted on and passed in the Lame Duck Congress.

Today, the BRC issued a national alert regarding its concerns about an Omnibus Lands Bill being voted on and passed into law between now and when this Congress adjourns.

BRC Alert on Lame Duck Omnibus Lands Bill
http://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/?alert=1261

HQ agrees with the BRC position that land-use bills should be bill-specific and decided on an acre-by-acre analysis with a substantive stakeholder process. These bills should not be lumped into one massive one-size-fits-all land-use plan.

As you know, some environmental groups are proposing legislation for a National Conservation Area that bisects the main Stonyford and Upper Lake OHV Areas on the Mendocino National Forest. The General, on behalf of BRC, has communicated that it does not feel a NCA designation is warranted for this area and is a bad idea. However, we have stated that if a NCA bill is proposed that it has language to protect existing OHV recreation, permitted OHV events, and other recreational uses of the affected area.

Proposal for the “Stonyford” NCA
http://wilderness.org/content/americas-great-outdoors-should-protect-berryessa

It is important for you to communicate with your elected officials (that are still in office) that you do not want an Omnibus Lands Bill voted on in the Lame Duck Session of Congress.

Send this letter today so the Lame Ducks have this on their desk when they return to the Hill.

Thanks for your service!

Pro-Access Members of Congress Vote Down S.22

Who says writing letters and making phone calls don’t work? I believe the ever growing national grassroots movement against having condescending elements of Congress or overzealous bureaucrats trying to shove “dark-of-night” legislation or regulations down our throats was best evidenced today when Pro-access and pro-business Dems and Republicans voted NO on S.22.

See BRC March 11 Alert on S.22 Vote

http://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/?alert=971

The Senate Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (S.22) failed to get the 2/3 votes needed to pass under suspension. I don’t think this was a vote against common sense Wilderness bills such as the 2006 Boxer/Thompson Wilderness Bill for Northern California (HR 233). Rather it was a vote against a misguided bill that was anti-access and anti-job.

The BlueRibbon Coalition and House Members from both parties worked hard on HR233 to see that it was fair and balanced.

See article below:
http://www.legrange.net/id94.html

House panel OKs land preserves
Wilderness measure includes Lost Coast area, adds sites for off-road motor sports.
Published Thursday, July 20, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Legislation that would add wilderness protection to more than 275,000 acres of federal land along California's North Coast cleared a key House committee Wednesday, a crucial step that virtually assures the bill will become law this year.

The measure by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, emerged from the House Resources Committee on a voice vote with the blessings of its California chairman, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, after the two lawmakers, working with California's two Democratic senators, negotiated furiously over the last few weeks to compromise.

The final deal lops about 25,000 acres of land, almost all of it from the Six Rivers National Forest in Del Norte and Humboldt counties, from the original measure Thompson introduced in the House and that Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein twice moved through the Senate.

But the agreement also designates about 75,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management lands in the Cow Mountain area of Mendocino County as a "recreational management area" for off-road vehicles and mountain bikes that was not part of the original bill.

The compromise was a last-minute addition to the House panel's agenda. It could come to the floor of the House as soon as next week. That would clear the way for passage by the Senate before Congress ends for the year in early October.

In introducing the compromise Wednesday, Pombo told his committee the changes make the bill "more broadly supportable." Thompson, meanwhile, said the changes don't damage his overall goal of giving the highest level of land protection to the North Coast's most spectacular wild spots.

As wilderness, the areas will be closed to all mechanized access except firefighting equipment. Some privately owned property also will remain accessible but only to the landowners.
Among the most spectacular areas are coastal lands in the King Range National Conservation Area along California's Lost Coast. Once open to logging and farming, the BLM said the King Range additions will become the "crown jewel" of its wilderness inventory.

The original bill also called for wilderness protection for about 30,000 acres in the Cache Creek area in Lake County, a popular whitewater rafting area; a 50,000-acre expansion of the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness in the Mendocino National Forest; 48,000 acres of additions to Siskiyou National Forest wilderness; and 53,000 acres in the proposed Yuki Wilderness Area of the Mendocino National Forest. Other rivers would be protected under national scenic river designations.

Those areas remain in the bill, but exact acreages won't be known until maps are redrawn to reflect the compromise.

Wilderness has been controversial in Del Norte County, and designations there were slashed by 10,000 acres, to about 28,000 acres. Another 15,000 acres around Mad River Buttes, the Underwood area by the Trinity River and Orleans Mountain in the forest in Humboldt County were also dropped.

Still, Jon Owen, Washington representative for the Campaign for America's Wilderness, hailed the compromise. ""This demonstrates that wilderness truly is America's common ground," he said.

The deal also drew begrudging nods from some of the fiercest opponents of wilderness designations. "I think Representative Pombo did his best to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," said Don Amador, spokesman for the Blue Ribbon Coalition of off-road enthusiasts. Amador said he was disappointed that the Black Sands Beach area of the King Range north of Shelter Cove was not reopened to public access, as his group had sought. But he took solace in the recreational management area for off-road vehicles in Mendocino County.

Boxer and Feinstein said they, too, were pleased with the deal, which has been six years in the making. "I am more optimistic than ever that we will soon see this bill signed into law," Boxer said.
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Sure there were compromises, but I still feel today that having a vigorous debate between the various stakeholders did turn HR 233 …”into a silk purse.”

Wilderness bills are hard work and I think those politicians who stifle debate and try and cram such proposals down the throats of access minded stakeholders do themselves and their movement a great disservice.

The ongoing battle for responsible access to public lands is sure to continue, but let’s hope that debate is encouraged and time is taken to improve those Wilderness bills so that both resources and access are treated in a fair manner.
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The General's Thoughts on Omnibus Land Bill S22

Thoughts on Omnibus Federal Lands Bill – S. 22

I think a lot of recreationists who voted for “Change” in 2008 are disappointed by the Senate’s recent action to move S22 in the “dark of night” last weekend. Many OHVers in Nevada are still stinging from Harry Reid’s Black Rock Desert Wilderness Bill which he inserted into a non-related appropriations or defense spending bill at the 11th hour some 8-9 years ago.

I understand there were some Wilderness bills in S22 that had buy-in from local OHVers, counties, and other access interests, but those access provisions are jeopardized by the Senate’s late night maneuvers.

Many access and resource interests worked hard on the 2006 North Coast Wild Heritage Wilderness Bill (HR233) for a number of guaranteed access tenets and also some local economic relief in the form of grand-fathering historic commercial surf fishing permits in the Orick area - http://www.klamathforestalliance.org/Newsarticles/newsarticle20060930.html

Those victories came about by vigorous debate in an open forum, not crafted or deleted behind closed doors.

I can almost guarantee that many access tenets that users and pro-recreation Republicans
and Democrats fought for in the proposed Wilderness Bills in S22 will be penciled out or somehow compromised.

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