JeepinIan
06-25-2001, 04:49 PM
http://archives.sun-sentinel.com/cgi-bin/get_fldoc.pl?DBLIST=fl01&DOCNUM=34754
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE TO BAR OFF-ROAD VEHICLES
HUNTERS OPPOSE 45-DAY CLOSURE TO PROVIDE RELIEF FOR EVERGLADES. <IMG SRC="smilies/pissed.gif" border="0">
Published: Sunday, June 24, 2001
Section: LOCAL
Page: 6B
By Patrick Reyna The Associated Press
The National Park Service is closing Big Cypress National Preserve to off-road vehicles for 45 days this summer to ease pressure on the Everglades reserve in a move opposed by hunters.
Off-road vehicles will be banned starting July 6 under a park management plan recently adopted in response to a congressional call for vehicle regulation in the park.
"The National Park Service has a congressional mandate to restore the wilderness character of the preserve, and a period without motorized vehicles will help us meet that obligation," preserve superintendent John Donahue said in a statement on Friday.
The management plan calls for a 60-day ban, which Donahue plans to impose in full next year. For now, he said he would allow extra scouting time for hunters.
A national hunters' rights group sued the Interior Department in January over vehicle restrictions imposed last year limiting drivers to 400 miles of trails and 15 access points.
About 2,250 off-road vehicle owners have federal permits to ride, mostly for so-called swamp buggies, homemade contraptions with high-rise seating above marshy waters.
Those restrictions amounted to "a political move, and we have a problem with that," Doug Jeanneret, a spokesman with the Wildlife Conservation Fund of America, said at the time.
There was no response on Saturday to messages seeking comment from the Columbus, Ohio-based group or from Jeanneret.
Big Cypress' 729,000 acres are home to more than 90 protected animal and plant species, notably the endangered Florida panther.
For the second straight year, the preserve is among 10 federal parks considered the most threatened by overcrowding, air pollution and urban sprawl. That list was compiled by the National Park and Conservation Association, a private park advocacy group.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE TO BAR OFF-ROAD VEHICLES
HUNTERS OPPOSE 45-DAY CLOSURE TO PROVIDE RELIEF FOR EVERGLADES. <IMG SRC="smilies/pissed.gif" border="0">
Published: Sunday, June 24, 2001
Section: LOCAL
Page: 6B
By Patrick Reyna The Associated Press
The National Park Service is closing Big Cypress National Preserve to off-road vehicles for 45 days this summer to ease pressure on the Everglades reserve in a move opposed by hunters.
Off-road vehicles will be banned starting July 6 under a park management plan recently adopted in response to a congressional call for vehicle regulation in the park.
"The National Park Service has a congressional mandate to restore the wilderness character of the preserve, and a period without motorized vehicles will help us meet that obligation," preserve superintendent John Donahue said in a statement on Friday.
The management plan calls for a 60-day ban, which Donahue plans to impose in full next year. For now, he said he would allow extra scouting time for hunters.
A national hunters' rights group sued the Interior Department in January over vehicle restrictions imposed last year limiting drivers to 400 miles of trails and 15 access points.
About 2,250 off-road vehicle owners have federal permits to ride, mostly for so-called swamp buggies, homemade contraptions with high-rise seating above marshy waters.
Those restrictions amounted to "a political move, and we have a problem with that," Doug Jeanneret, a spokesman with the Wildlife Conservation Fund of America, said at the time.
There was no response on Saturday to messages seeking comment from the Columbus, Ohio-based group or from Jeanneret.
Big Cypress' 729,000 acres are home to more than 90 protected animal and plant species, notably the endangered Florida panther.
For the second straight year, the preserve is among 10 federal parks considered the most threatened by overcrowding, air pollution and urban sprawl. That list was compiled by the National Park and Conservation Association, a private park advocacy group.