Crowdog
07-15-2002, 07:42 AM
Think the government needs the Roadless Area Conservation Act to close down roads in your area? Think again. But if Congress passes the Roadless Act, it will be even easier for them to get away with this type of action.
Jon
www.crowley-offroad.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Montana: Big Sky country nation's largest gated community
by Mike Aastrom
Published 07. 14. 02 at 16:18 Sierra Time
In 1997 the United States Forest Service [USFS] adopted the Road Management Plan [RMP] which identified every forest road in the state and scheduled them for either maintenance or obliteration. Though there is a statewide strategy yet to explore, this article will concentrate on Flathead County. A large portion of Glacier National Park lies within the boundaries of the Flathead.
The federal government claims to control 70 percent of Flathead county's 5,099 square miles. There are 2,104 roads in what the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) describes as a forest system. At present, according to the state of Montana, 1,910 of those 2,104 roads have been gated or rendered impassable by permanent Kelly humps made by government bulldozers. Or by some kind of closer, being it gates or the such, they all say, "We can't access our state land in which we pay taxes for our use by a sovereign state under the constitution of the united States."
The public no longer has access to 90 percent of the public lands in Flathead County.
We have talked to our local officials on these issues, but the road closures continue according to plan. Motor sports recreation is a thing of the past in this region except for the few overused places still open. And if we continue to use these areas, they will be over used as well. Hunting, fishing and hiking are also becoming pastimes that are not favored by forest managers. Flathead forest supervisor Superintendent Kathy Barbeulateos has a degree in hydrology, but doesn't have much experience in the science of road management or the science of good sound forestry stewardship.
How are we going too fight the fires to come if all the roads are locked or blocked off? A little bit of common sense explains that: We can't!
She does not seem to question the authority of the FW&P or the USFS with regard to the road closure/obliteration agenda--regardless of how it affects the livelihoods or traditional recreation habits of the good people of the Flathead. We are good stewards; why else would we live here. Montana is special! We are 49th in the nation as far as wages go, but we stay here for the beauty and the way of life.
According to the Montana RMP there is a difference between obliteration and closure. Obliteration is a process that involves removing culverts, moving road bed materials, and reshaping the terrain to resemble what the experts believe it used to be. Then they replant the disturbed areas with indigenous plants. This is a very expensive process that usually seems to be disastrous for the landscape as the new plants cannot hold back the forces of Mother Nature which erode tons of material into the fish habitats they are arguably intending to protect.
On the other hand, a road that is to be closed must be gated permanently for four years. At the three-year mark, the USFS plants trees on them. After six years the gates are removed because by then the roads are no longer drivable anyway.
According to the RMP
Roads that are scheduled for closure are being planned for permanent closure. The end result is an obliterated road. It is much better for several reasons: It is less expensive, it is less harmful to the environment, FW&P claims to be saving funds, and the public doesn't realize a road is being obliterated until the gates come down and it's no longer a road.
We are being locked out of the lands we pay to maintain through our taxes. The militant environmentalist Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) use the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) as the major legal hammer to accomplish their every objective with regard to “preserving the ground for Gaia.” {environmentalism by religion} Which isn't even legal after 1994. The federal government just subsidies it year after year
In the Flathead we have grizzly bear habitat, wildlife corridors, and the such. The
tri-states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have complied to the wolf management plan. We have a number of wolf packs, but they want more. We believe that the federal government is using the NGOs to prosecute the ESA in court so that bears, wolves and lynxes (and I've seen the lynx issues) can have their own corridors. You guys lied about the lynx study and you got caught. Where's your credibility now? So sad you had to resort to lying to keep the public out of our lands that we pay taxes of all sorts to keep up in a good stewardship, common sense point of view.
Our resource-dependent communities in northwest Montana are dying. These town's sprung out of the ground with mining, logging, ranching, cattle grazing, farming and the such. With the money earned from these industries we fed our families and supported local business. We funded everything from schools to county roads with money made from this bountiful land. Now we are all going broke and yet they still tax from us through the passage of levies and bonds. New levies on every ballot.
Adding to the criminal nature of what is happening all around us; our taxes and levies are not enough to fund a school bus for the high school football team or new text books for the elementary school kids; but county government employees voted themselves a 14 percent pay raise this year.
But we should be grateful here in Flathead {UNESCO County}. There are seven plaques in the park that say "UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Biolife Reserve."
© 2002 SierraTimes.com
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/07/15/arma071502.htm
Jon
www.crowley-offroad.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Montana: Big Sky country nation's largest gated community
by Mike Aastrom
Published 07. 14. 02 at 16:18 Sierra Time
In 1997 the United States Forest Service [USFS] adopted the Road Management Plan [RMP] which identified every forest road in the state and scheduled them for either maintenance or obliteration. Though there is a statewide strategy yet to explore, this article will concentrate on Flathead County. A large portion of Glacier National Park lies within the boundaries of the Flathead.
The federal government claims to control 70 percent of Flathead county's 5,099 square miles. There are 2,104 roads in what the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) describes as a forest system. At present, according to the state of Montana, 1,910 of those 2,104 roads have been gated or rendered impassable by permanent Kelly humps made by government bulldozers. Or by some kind of closer, being it gates or the such, they all say, "We can't access our state land in which we pay taxes for our use by a sovereign state under the constitution of the united States."
The public no longer has access to 90 percent of the public lands in Flathead County.
We have talked to our local officials on these issues, but the road closures continue according to plan. Motor sports recreation is a thing of the past in this region except for the few overused places still open. And if we continue to use these areas, they will be over used as well. Hunting, fishing and hiking are also becoming pastimes that are not favored by forest managers. Flathead forest supervisor Superintendent Kathy Barbeulateos has a degree in hydrology, but doesn't have much experience in the science of road management or the science of good sound forestry stewardship.
How are we going too fight the fires to come if all the roads are locked or blocked off? A little bit of common sense explains that: We can't!
She does not seem to question the authority of the FW&P or the USFS with regard to the road closure/obliteration agenda--regardless of how it affects the livelihoods or traditional recreation habits of the good people of the Flathead. We are good stewards; why else would we live here. Montana is special! We are 49th in the nation as far as wages go, but we stay here for the beauty and the way of life.
According to the Montana RMP there is a difference between obliteration and closure. Obliteration is a process that involves removing culverts, moving road bed materials, and reshaping the terrain to resemble what the experts believe it used to be. Then they replant the disturbed areas with indigenous plants. This is a very expensive process that usually seems to be disastrous for the landscape as the new plants cannot hold back the forces of Mother Nature which erode tons of material into the fish habitats they are arguably intending to protect.
On the other hand, a road that is to be closed must be gated permanently for four years. At the three-year mark, the USFS plants trees on them. After six years the gates are removed because by then the roads are no longer drivable anyway.
According to the RMP
Roads that are scheduled for closure are being planned for permanent closure. The end result is an obliterated road. It is much better for several reasons: It is less expensive, it is less harmful to the environment, FW&P claims to be saving funds, and the public doesn't realize a road is being obliterated until the gates come down and it's no longer a road.
We are being locked out of the lands we pay to maintain through our taxes. The militant environmentalist Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) use the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) as the major legal hammer to accomplish their every objective with regard to “preserving the ground for Gaia.” {environmentalism by religion} Which isn't even legal after 1994. The federal government just subsidies it year after year
In the Flathead we have grizzly bear habitat, wildlife corridors, and the such. The
tri-states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have complied to the wolf management plan. We have a number of wolf packs, but they want more. We believe that the federal government is using the NGOs to prosecute the ESA in court so that bears, wolves and lynxes (and I've seen the lynx issues) can have their own corridors. You guys lied about the lynx study and you got caught. Where's your credibility now? So sad you had to resort to lying to keep the public out of our lands that we pay taxes of all sorts to keep up in a good stewardship, common sense point of view.
Our resource-dependent communities in northwest Montana are dying. These town's sprung out of the ground with mining, logging, ranching, cattle grazing, farming and the such. With the money earned from these industries we fed our families and supported local business. We funded everything from schools to county roads with money made from this bountiful land. Now we are all going broke and yet they still tax from us through the passage of levies and bonds. New levies on every ballot.
Adding to the criminal nature of what is happening all around us; our taxes and levies are not enough to fund a school bus for the high school football team or new text books for the elementary school kids; but county government employees voted themselves a 14 percent pay raise this year.
But we should be grateful here in Flathead {UNESCO County}. There are seven plaques in the park that say "UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Biolife Reserve."
© 2002 SierraTimes.com
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/07/15/arma071502.htm