Blueribbon coalition invited to testify before congressional subcommittee

[LYIN' KING]

BLUERIBBON COALITION, INC.

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Greg Mumm, BRC Executive Director
Phone: (208) 244-2112
Date: November 9, 2011

BLUERIBBON COALITION INVITED TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL SUBCOMMITTEE

POCATELLO, ID (November 9, 2011)--The BlueRibbon Coalition has been asked to testify before Congress regarding three of the most important issues affecting access and recreation on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Rob Bishop (UT), Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands has requested BRC's Executive Director Greg Mumm to provide testimony on an oversight hearing titled "Forest Service Regulatory Roadblocks to Productive Land Use and Recreation; Proposed Planning Rule, Special-use Permits and Travel Management. The hearing will be held Tuesday, November 15, 2011.

"We are pleased Representative Bishop called on BRC to provide testimony on these important issues. BRC has been urging the Forest Service to steer its planning regulations back to the primary goals of efficiency and expediency in the Forest planning process," Mumm said. Mumm was also encouraged that Rep. Bishop included the recreation permit issue, noting that BRC has recently appealed to legislators to pass a bill that will modify and streamline the Special-use Permit process. "But perhaps most importantly," Mumm added, "Congressional oversight is needed regarding the agency's closure of tens of thousands of roads and trails over the last decade."

BRC has been concerned for some time that recreational access to lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) are threatened by planning regulations that are, in the agency's own words, costly, complex, and procedurally burdensome. Sadly, the USFS has proposed new planning regulations that only make the situation worse. The new "Proposed Planning Rule" threatens to create a situation that will exacerbate, not resolve, the planning gridlock accelerating through the agency. (More information on the web . . . http://www.sharetrails.org/public-la...-planning-rule)

Recreationists across the country, both motorized and non-motorized, have also been burdened by overly complex and expensive permit requirements. The recreation permit process as currently implemented on Bureau of Land Management and USFS managed lands is overly bureaucratic, expensive for both agencies and the public, and often applied in an unfair and arbitrary manner. Efforts to encourage the agencies to modify and streamline the process have failed, even when those efforts were supported by agency policy. The current Special-Use Permit process no longer serves the public interest or supports the goals and objectives of land use planning. (More info on the web . . . http://www.sharetrails.org/public-la...eation-permits)

BRC applauds Representative Bishop for including the Travel Management planning in this hearing. OHV users initially supported the process, however, in some areas it has been used to make landscape level changes to the Forest Plan and close a huge percentage of existing legal trails and even authorized routes. This is contrary to the regulation and has engendered opposition from motorized and non-motorized recreationists, sportsmen, campers and local communities. Recently, the same subcommittee held a field hearing in Northern California that was focused on trail access to federal timber lands. (More info on the web . . . http://www.sharetrails.org/news/2011...sional-hearing)

Source: http://www.sharetrails.org/

[Reid Racing]

Thanks BRC! Keep up the good work!

[LYIN' KING]

Source: http://naturalresources.house.gov/Ca...EventID=267922

BACKGROUND:

This hearing will focus on three regulatory actions currently being undertaken by the Forest Service that have, or will, greatly affect management, multiple-use and access across the 193 million acres of federal land that the agency manages. Decades of increasing land-use regulations and policies, as well as the leadership of the current Administration, have nearly brought multiple-use of federal forest land to a standstill through declining timber harvests, grazing and reductions in recreational access to the detriment of surrounding communities and users. Specifically this hearing will focus on three topics; the proposed Forest Service Planning Rule, conditions being placed on special use permits, and the 2005 Travel Management Rule.