[adventuregeek]

Hi All,

For everyone who is wondering about Widen's proposed Mt. Hood wilderness here's the detail of the proposal:

http://wyden.senate.gov/media/2004/07222004_mthood.html

Looks like there will be a designated Mtn. bike riding wilderness area (covering Surveyors/Fifteen Mile area) which is REALLY good news. It could open the way for riding in other wilderness areas and should be viewed as a major breakthrough if the bill gets through.

 

[GlowBoy]

Good news!

Read this in the paper this morning and almost fell over. This is awesome news. If it flies, this will set a precedent for all future Wilderness proposals, nationwide. But it's far from a done deal and we have work to do. I urge everyone who can find the time to do the following:

- Write Senator Wyden and thank him for listening to us!
- Write Senator Smith and urge him to sign on. According to the Oregonian he is NOT on board yet.
- Write your Congressional rep and urge them to sign on.
- Write Representative Walden, whose district includes Mount Hood. He's not known as a friend of the environmental movement, but he's been very friendly to this proposal, presumably because he's from Hood River and understands the importance of recreation to the local economy.
- If you are a member of ANY environmental group with a presence in Oregon (especially Sierra Club, BARK or ONRC), write them and urge them to support the latest version of this proposal. Some groups are resisting this revision, saying the mountain biking and wildfire protection measures should be handled "separately." I don't get that argument - just look at the crap that gets tacked onto defense appropriations bills, for example. I don't think it's unreasonable to deal with land use around Mt Hood comprehensively in a single piece of legislation.

This is a gigantic step forward for the mountain biking community, and it took a lot of participation from a lot of local bikers to make it happen. Thanks everyone!

 

[Sasquatch]

Read this in the paper this morning and almost fell over. This is awesome news. If it flies, this will set a precedent for all future Wilderness proposals, nationwide. But it's far from a done deal and we have work to do. I urge everyone who can find the time to do the following:

- Write Senator Wyden and thank him for listening to us!
- Write Senator Smith and urge him to sign on. According to the Oregonian he is NOT on board yet.
- Write your Congressional rep and urge them to sign on.
- Write Representative Walden, whose district includes Mount Hood. He's not known as a friend of the environmental movement, but he's been very friendly to this proposal, presumably because he's from Hood River and understands the importance of recreation to the local economy.
- If you are a member of ANY environmental group with a presence in Oregon (especially Sierra Club, BARK or ONRC), write them and urge them to support the latest version of this proposal. Some groups are resisting this revision, saying the mountain biking and wildfire protection measures should be handled "separately." I don't get that argument - just look at the crap that gets tacked onto defense appropriations bills, for example. I don't think it's unreasonable to deal with land use around Mt Hood comprehensively in a single piece of legislation.

This is a gigantic step forward for the mountain biking community, and it took a lot of participation from a lot of local bikers to make it happen. Thanks everyone!

I'm extremely excited by Wyden's new proposal. If this passes, it will be a great step towards including MTB riders with other human powered recreation groups. Im so glad Wyden is helping keep the local MTBers from wanting to ally themselves with ther OHV crowd. It would be a disaster for our image to be thought of as motorcycles without motors. I intend on writing everyone who can influence this issue to encourage their support for Wyden's plan, and will be writing the local papers to spread the word and drum up awareness for this new concept. Thanks to everyone who made an effort in the initial round of discussion. This move really proves that our message was heard, and we were able to influence the future of WIlderness (maybe). I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping we see this plan adopted. Sasquatch

 

[adventuregeek]

Yes it's far from a done deal ...

Glowboy you're absolutely right. Now is the time to mobilize.

I also agree that it needs to be a comprehensive proposal. The forests on the east side of Mt. Hood has a serious underbrush/thinning problem and are ripe for catastrophic wildfire, there is no reason to wait.

I'm a bit worried that some enviornmental groups will see the mountain bike wilderness demo program as as threat since if successful it will open the way to biking in other wilderness areas. Hopefully they will see the wisdom of not driving mtn bikers into the welcoming grasp of the 2 cycle crowd. No matter what some on this forum say, we have way more in common with the Sierra club than the ATV people.

Another potential block is the hook and bullet folks, who hold a lot of influence in Oregon. I don't have any issue with hunting except that it doesn co-exist with other activities well. (Something about bagging one of those full suspension aluminum "deer" ). Wilderness designation will effectively stop hunting in many popular areas.

-Adventuregeek