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IMBA ACTION ALERT: Save California Singletrack
For Immediate Release: July 23, 2004
IMBA ACTION ALERT:
1. COMMENTS NEEDED ON SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DRAFT FOREST PLANS (DEADLINE AUG. 11) -- Your input TODAY will affect riding for the next 15 years!
2. ASK GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER TO WITHOLD NORTH COAST WILDERNESS BILL ENDORSEMENT UNTIL IT ACCOMMODATES MOUNTAIN BIKE CONCERNS
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1. COMMENTS NEEDED ON SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DRAFT FOREST PLANS - DEADLINE AUG. 11
-- Your input TODAY will affect riding for next 15 years!IMBA is calling on all California mountain bikers to comment on the draft plans for the four national forests of Southern California: the Cleveland, San Bernardino, Angeles and Los Padres national forests. Your comments now will affect the next 15 years of mountain biking in these forests. Please help protect and improve bicycling opportunities by getting involved today.
IMBA representatives and other mountain bicyclists have been involved at every step of the process and the U.S. Forest Service is treating cyclists fairly. But, anti-bike advocates are asking for extensive trail closures. You need to write to help the Forest Service provide balance.
THE COMMENT DEADLINE IS AUGUST 11, 2004.
Each forest has its own plan. You need to comment on the plan for each forest where you ride. You may comment either online, by mail or by fax:
ONLINE:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/scfpr
Use the Forest Service web site to place your comments "in" the text of the plan or "on" the maps.MAIL:
Southern California Forest Planning
Re: (Specific forests you're commenting on: Cleveland, San Bernardino, Angeles, and/or Los Padres)
USDA Forest Service Content Analysis Center
PO Box 22777
Salt Lake City, UT 84122
FAX:
You may also fax your comments to: (801) 517-1015You should tell them who you are, where you ride, what your concerns are. In your own words, please comment on the following issues (which we explain in full on our website and linked below):
1. The plan is welcome and well done. We generally support the Forest Service's preferred alternatives (except as explained in points 2-4, below).
2. We support the agency's proposed Wilderness areas in the Los Padres and Angeles national forests. But in the San Bernardino, the Forest Service should recommend a protection plan other than Wilderness for the Sugarloaf area near Big Bear and the San Gorgonio Southwest area east of Redlands. In the Cleveland National Forest, the agency should protect Cutca Valley with a Protection Area instead of Wilderness. Those places offer critical singletrack riding opportunities.
3. The plans should NOT restrict bicycling to official, system trails until and unless a thorough inventory and travel planning process occurs with public involvement. Until then, the plan should only require bikes to stay on existing trails.
4. The plans should allow bicycling in Critical Biological Areas and should address recreation/ecosystem conflicts with constructive management measures. The impact of bicycling on natural resources is about the same as the impact of hiking, which the plans would allow in Critical Biological Areas.
5. You can add other comments, such as:
* Bicycling is human-powered, low-impact recreation.
* Shared-use trail systems are best.
* The plan should protect all the roadless areas. Roadless areas allow bicycling while preserving the land.
* The plan should also resurrect the California Riding and Hiking Trail, and it should consider where bicycling is appropriate on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.For more information on these topics, and a detailed explanation of IMBA's position, please visit IMBA's web site at: http://www.imba.com/
Finally, please forward this email to every cyclist you know in California. We need to make sure the Forest Service hears IMBA's message and protects and improves cycling in these four forests for the next 15 years.
Thank you for getting involved in this critical matter.
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2. ASK GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER TO WITHOLD NORTH COAST WILDERNESS BILL ENDORSEMENT UNTIL IT ACCOMMODATES MOUNTAIN BIKE CONCERNSThe California Wilderness Coalition and other groups have launched a campaign to get Governor Schwarzenegger to endorse U.S. Representative Mike Thompson's bill for Wilderness areas along the northern coast. Wilderness land designations categorically prohibit bicycles. IMBA supports protecting all the areas in the bill, but for one-quarter of the areas under consideration, Congress should use alternative designations or other method of addressing bicycling conflicts than Wilderness. The bill would close more than 150 miles of singletrack trails to bicycling.
Please contact the governor to explain the perspective of bicyclists. Some talking points:
* We support preservation of lands, but believe in a greater diversity of preservation tools. Wilderness is not the only way to protect public lands.
* This bill is not ready for passage and needs to better accommodate bicycling. It would close more than 150 miles of trails cyclists have ridden for years.
* Mountain biking started in California and is a popular sport - 5.2 million Californians participated last year (Outdoor Industry Association).
* Mountain bicycling brings a tremendous amount of revenue to the state's economy through bicycle related industry, tourism, bike shops, touring companies and more.
* Mountain bicycling is a great way to help combat America's societal trend toward obesity.The best contact in this case is by phone. Please call: (916) 445-1456 or (916) 445-2841 (press option 7).
You should ask that the governor to please withhold his support of H.R.1501 and its Senate companion, S.738. Ask the governor to seek changes in the bill that will protect the lands while allowing bicycling. Available options include: Protection Areas, improved National Conservation Areas, Non-Wilderness Trail Corridors, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and boundary adjustments.
For more information about this bill and IMBA's position on Wilderness visit: http://www.imba.com
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