[Steamboater]

Hey Homers - I'm posting this here because so many of you are passionate about the terrain found in Western Colorado and of course Utah. This message is sent out from Robert Redford through the NRDC Action Fund.

Bush and Cheney pushed this through on Election Day, while no one was paying attention. This is absurd!

Anyway, I thought it might get some action here. Thanks!

------------------------------------

The following message from long-time environmental advocate, Robert Redford, urges Americans to protest President Bush's plan to auction off Utah's Redrock wilderness to oil and gas speculators on December 19. It was sent to you by

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org

Dear Friend,

No one voted on Election Day to hand over Utah's Redrock wilderness to oil companies.

But the Bush Administration cynically chose that very day to advance an outrageous plan that will sell off leases for some 300,000 acres of spectacular Utah canyonlands to oil and gas speculators.

While America was voting for Barack Obama and his vision of a clean energy future, Bush and Cheney's underlings were conspiring to plunder one of the crown jewels of our natural heritage for their fossil fuel cronies.

Please register your own opposition right now.

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/wilderness_giveaway

The auction of Redrock country will take place on December 19. At stake are world-renowned vistas near Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, as well as near Dinosaur National Monument. The highest bidders will earn the right to turn vast tracts of pristine wilderness into industrial wastelands.

It's bad enough that Bush officials went behind the backs of the American people with this disastrous scheme. But what's worse, they didn't even tell their own National Park Service until after the fact.

In my mind, this theft of our heritage goes beyond the cynical -- it's criminal. What will be left to give to our children and their children if we allow this administration, in a parting shot, to destroy our legacy of public lands for short-term gain?

I hope you're as angry as I am about this blatant land grab, because we've got to stop it -- and we have to act fast. The NRDC Action Fund is mobilizing more than one million Americans in an outpouring of protest over the coming days.

Send your own message of opposition immediately. Tell the Bush Administration that you will not allow it to destroy one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/wilderness_giveaway

We'll automatically send copies of your message to your two Senators, your representative, and to the Obama transition team, which has signaled their opposition to this disastrous attack on our Redrock heritage.

The Bush Administration is racing to complete the auction of our lands before Inauguration Day, which will make sales difficult to reverse.

We must fend off this land grab now -- before the oil and gas companies can lay claim to the spoils.

Those spoils include stretches of Desolation Canyon, which has been proposed for national park status. Bush's own Interior Department describes the canyon as "a place where a visitor can experience true solitud -- where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape."

The very idea of oil and gas operations invading these remote sanctuaries -- which have remained untouched for millennia -- is deeply upsetting. Once the dirty deed is done, our wilderness can never be restored. That's why I'm asking you to help us sound the alarm and organize now.

Tell the Bush Administration to cancel the Redrock auction. Remind them that we the people are the rightful owners of this majestic wilderness and that we won?t stand for its destruction.

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/wilderness_giveaway

And thank you for joining with me and the NRDC Action Fund to save these beautiful wildlands for all future generations.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford
NRDC Action Fund

P.S. After you send your own message of protest, I'll let you know of an easy way to spread the word to your friends and family. With only 10 days to mobilize one million Americans, I'm counting on you to rally everyone you know to speak out and save this precious wilderness from destruction.

 

[TLL]

164,000 acres

Update here:

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=104&sid=1519136

 

[slcrockymountainrider]

I believe all public comments on this had to be in to the BLM office about a week ago. From what I understand, it got a lot of negative responses and non-support from a lot of Moab businesses as it would have just killed the tourist (a big part being mountain biking) economy down there.
Don't think some family traveling from Michigan would like to have their picture taken in front of Delicate Arch with a couple of oil drills in the background.

 

[TLL]

None of the proposed lease sites would have been within park boundaries. Most of the sites close to park boundaries have been trimmed from the list.

Mind you, I don't want speculative drilling anywhere near a State or National Park/Monument, but the letter that NRDC is circulating has the usual "the sky is falling" rhetoric that the NRDC is famous for.

 

[cutthroat]

None of the proposed lease sites would have been within park boundaries. Most of the sites close to park boundaries have been trimmed from the list.

Mind you, I don't want speculative drilling anywhere near a State or National Park/Monument, but the letter that NRDC is circulating has the usual "the sky is falling" rhetoric that the NRDC is famous for.

Agreed - I always wonder why NRDC and Sierra Club repeatedly lie about pristine "wilderness" being drilled or logged. By definition, if it's designated wilderness, you can't ride a mountain bike there, let alone drill, mine or extract.

 

[slcrockymountainrider]

Agreed - I always wonder why NRDC and Sierra Club repeatedly lie about pristine "wilderness" being drilled or logged. By definition, if it's designated wilderness, you can't ride a mountain bike there, let alone drill, mine or extract.

Whatever your feelings about the Sierra Club, 'wilderness' or whatever, you can't ride mountain bikes where they're drilling either. All the fuss the tree huggers made, in turn, did protect a few mountain bike trails, or portions of, from being closed and/or being bulldozed flat to accomodate drilling traffic: ie the Colorado Riverway Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA) -no mention of wilderness here BTW as 'recreation' and 'wilderness' areas don't go hand in hand, which would have affected Porcupine Rim and Amasa Back Trails. In addition, Tusher Canyon and Bartlett Wash (both are designated Mountain Bike Areas) would also have been affected (most likely not closed though) by drilling on parcels 180-186, 196 and 197. Again, no mention of 'wilderness.'

Needless to say, this Thread should be in the Utah or Socio-Political Forum. The Homers already have their hands full debating the virtues of the DW Link.

 

[cutthroat]

I'm glad the process worked - BLM and NPS have a 1993 memorandum of understanding that gave NPS ample time to evaluate and comment on the more sensitive proposed lease areas, that eventually were pulled or deferred. That's good news - what irks me is the way NRDC et al. constantly pitch the issue as a proposal to drill in pristine wilderness - none of the proposed lease areas were wilderness, and you know very little of the BLM land around Moab can really be called pristine. D9s have been hacking roads through the backcountry since the 30s - in fact big chunks of the Porc Rim Trail are old uranium prospect roads. As for the DW Link - it''s clearly a plot by the out going Bush administration to make our old TNT designs obsolete:madmax:

 

[Steamboater]

Yeah, I agree that a lot of these areas aren't Wilderness or even necessarily 'pristine' but still the way that this **** goes down with minimal public awareness pisses me off. For example, the Dinosaur area is 2 hrs west of me and I have never heard mention of this once.

Thanks for the imput and the other resources!

 

[slcrockymountainrider]

I'm glad the process worked - BLM and NPS have a 1993 memorandum of understanding that gave NPS ample time to evaluate and comment on the more sensitive proposed lease areas, that eventually were pulled or deferred. That's good news - what irks me is the way NRDC et al. constantly pitch the issue as a proposal to drill in pristine wilderness - none of the proposed lease areas were wilderness, and you know very little of the BLM land around Moab can really be called pristine. D9s have been hacking roads through the backcountry since the 30s - in fact big chunks of the Porc Rim Trail are old uranium prospect roads. As for the DW Link - it''s clearly a plot by the out going Bush administration to make our old TNT designs obsolete:madmax:

For what it's worth: I first heard about this was through a Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) email blast. Although they are the main proponents of RS2477 (and I do support their efforts on this, even as it does conflict with my being a mountain biker), there was no mention of 'wilderness' in their email as was mentioned above, as none of the areas really fell within designated wilderness boundaries. The focus was on the economy and surprsingly, two paragraphs on how it would affect mountain biking.

I do agree with you that Moab and the outlying areas are just completely trashed and I have definitely have had my hand in it in the past with an old Jeep I used to own. So I could see how the idea of adding oil rigs would just sort of blend into the place. But they don't and when they go in, they really do 'destroy' existing trails. Case in point: what used to be the trail to Gemini Bridges from the backside. It's now wider than the street in front of my house and completel flat. Used to be a fun, fast, mildly technical Jeep/bike trail to the top of GB. Now there's a rig about a mile from it, garbage and noise.

Now all those ATV and moto guys have to fight for the same thing up around 9 Mile Canyon (1.5 hours north of Moab) which is where some of the remaining lots are still up for grabs.

The jury's still out on the DW Link in my book. Just make certain if you get one, you have a shock with a 'light' tune to it. 'Medium' tuned shocks can make for a rather harsh ride.

 

[MTP]

Robert Redford is a reactionary, wrinkled old hack. He didn't give a rat's ___ about tearing up the pristine Provo Canyon when he built his Sundance resort. The world is not over (at least not from this). Chill out. Plenty of open Utah space to go around. Oh yeah, it takes gas to drive to Moab too.

 

[slcrockymountainrider]

Robert Redford is a reactionary, wrinkled old hack. He didn't give a rat's ___ about tearing up the pristine Provo Canyon when he built his Sundance resort.

Never met the guy, although I did see Jane Fonda (wow, she is old and wrinkly) down there in 2006 during the Utah State Downhill Series Championship/Wine Tasting Festival-what a great mix of people. Dumbhillers and couples worrying about getting grass clippings on their leather sandals.

Sundance is an odd place. It's like they sorta want mountain bikers there, but not when anything else is going on like wine tasting events. Then we're pushed off to the side and forced to park in the upper (read way out of the way) lot so as to not to be seen by the white linen crowd. Add to that, they charge you to ride the few XC trails they have....very lame.

I really wish the guy would invest in a new lift as well. You almost die of old age getting to the top.

 

[cutthroat]

I really wish the guy would invest in a new lift as well. You almost die of old age getting to the top.

The older I get, the more I hate high speed quads.

 

[wilks]

The older I get, the more I hate high speed quads.

well put - the mtn we go to in VT has slow lifts and when my friends say when are they putting in new lifts I always say - hopefully never. My lunch breaks get longer and longer now too and I am less keen on being at the lift line when the hill opens.

 

[Raineman]

Good news all!:

On Saturday night, a federal judge ruled in our favor and blocked the Bush Administration from proceeding with the lease sale of 110,000 acres of Utah's Redrock wilderness to oil and gas companies.

This is a huge victory for our nation's legacy of public lands -- and a final rebuke to the Bush Administration as it slinks out of town.

As you know, Bush's Bureau of Land Management auctioned off our Redrock wildlands on December 19, and was determined to close those transactions before the Obama Administration could take office.

But thanks to your outpouring of financial support, NRDC and our environmental partners raced to federal court and asked for a temporary restraining order.

This weekend, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina granted that restraining order, saying that "the development of energy resources...is far outweighed by the public interest in avoiding irreparable damage to public lands and the environment."

The case will be heard later in 2009. Until that time, the government is prohibited from cashing the checks that industry issued for the contested wilderness.

Of course, we're hoping that President Obama's Interior Department will act quickly to reverse Bush's attempted giveaway of our natural heritage.

Indeed, this terrific court victory, combined with President Obama's inauguration, should herald a new era in which America strives to secure a clean energy future without destroying our birthright of public lands.

On behalf of the entire Board and staff of NRDC, I want to thank you again for your online activism, for standing with us at the critical moment, and for making this historic victory possible.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford
Trustee
Natural Resources Defense Council

 

[Mtn. Biker123]

Thats good to hear...GWB would have been hanged in any other period of our history. More importantly the Obama campaign gave the voice back to the people. Totally empowering!

 

[Jaybo]

Easy

Agreed - I always wonder why NRDC and Sierra Club repeatedly lie about pristine "wilderness" being drilled or logged. By definition, if it's designated wilderness, you can't ride a mountain bike there, let alone drill, mine or extract.

They are a thinly veiled wacky lefty group just trying to use the environment as a way to get their Marxist message out.

Jaybo

 

[Jaybo]

Okay

Thats good to hear...GWB would have been hanged in any other period of our history. More importantly the Obama campaign gave the voice back to the people. Totally empowering!

You wait and see how this cult figure socializes this country. His speech yesterday would have made Karl Marx happy. It mad me very sad....

Jaybo

 

[syadasti]

You wait and see how this cult figure socializes this country. His speech yesterday would have made Karl Marx happy. It mad me very sad....

Jaybo

Are you forgetting it was GWB plan to socialize the banks with a bail-out?

We already have Social Security and Medicare too

 

[cutthroat]

Before you celebrate too much, bear in mind that groups like NRDC, SUWA, Sierra Club etc. are not friends of mountain bikers. If you like to ride "pristine" areas, these groups are opposed to you doing that and routinely lump mountain bikers in with motorized and mechanized enemies of the environment. I fully expect to see my back-country riding options getting smaller and smaller under this administration.

 

[syadasti]

Before you celebrate too much, bear in mind that groups like NRDC, SUWA, Sierra Club etc. are not friends of mountain bikers. If you like to ride "pristine" areas, these groups are opposed to you doing that and routinely lump mountain bikers in with motorized and mechanized enemies of the environment. I fully expect to see my back-country riding options getting smaller and smaller under this administration.

Locally it looks like hiking organizations are working with us now. Seems like a better strategy rather than us versus them:

http://www2.jorba.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1047&p=2457#p2457