ONF and Save our big scrub

[viper]

Here it is folks the link to save our big scrub organization and the ONF. It says it all -- and just to think the ONFA has linda deuvers on the board.

Save our big scrub mission -

Our mission is to protect the ecological integrity of the Greater Ocala National Forest Ecosystem. We see ourselves as advocates for and protectors of this region’s native biodiversity, scenic beauty, traditional recreation opportunities, and Cracker lifestyle.

Law Enforcement Issues -

The reason why they are a pain in the a___?? 

One of the major problems in national forest ORV management is law enforcement. SOBS is committed to working with USFS and other agencies to assure that law enforcement capabilities are expanded in accordance with ORV access plans and regulations.

We have already succeeded in getting state and federal law enforcement officials to meet, develop plans for cooperation, and find funds for hiring additional officers. We are not yet satisfied that Ocala National Forest has the law enforcement program it needs, but we are at a stage where we believe we need to observe how newly implemented strategies are working before recommending improvements beyond those we have already suggested.

Access Planning

SOBS has worked with the USFS staff to develop a promising preliminary strategy for control of vehicular access to the forest. We will continue to be involved in access planning, but we will need to wait for the new programs to be implemented and monitored before proposing additional improvements. At the present time, our greatest concern is assuring adequacy of the USFS monitoring program.

For information about the ecological implications of roads and ORV use, see http://www.defenders.org/habitat/florvs/

The Ocala Coalition

ORV Access Plan Appeal Press Release

Appeal of Decision for Access Designation in Restricted Areas

Ocala Access Appeal

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

Exhibits 3 and 4

Draft EIS Comments



[To be added soon: links to USFS documents, updates on SOBS legal actions, position statements, lots more text and information, including links to CPR and ORV organizations.]

Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway

SOBS supports designation of the I-95 to Silver Springs segment of SR 40 as a Florida Scenic Highway. SOBS Vice President, Linda Conway Duever, serves as a member of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway Corridor Advocacy Group applying for this status. For more information on the Black Bear Byway, see http://www.sr40.com/ . For information about other plans for SR 40, see http://sr40.org/home.htm .

The link to this information is found at http://www.saveourbigscrub.org/

[lisa]

  Thank you viper! 

[lisa]

   Guys, Linda Duever is the one who was technical advisor on "Out of Control..." the report Defenders of Wildlife put out that talks about how ORVs/OHVs are ruining our National Parks and Forests!

    She has been funding herself with all kinds of money from the T. Mark Schmidt Act, Forestry, etc. All to shut you down. She has tried to get a grant for doing a "study" on ATV trails and how the affect ONF, under the guise of ya'll volunteering to help replant the trails that are going out of existance. She has gotten a $150,000.00 grant to study the Scrub Jay through the same Act!

    This group is not for ATVs. Linda Duever, and her family, have worked for two generations now, to stop public access in our forests!

   She is one of only two folks openly promoting of The Wildlands Project.The other person Tom Hoctor, is involved with Florida Citizen's Transportation Workshop obviously connected to Defenders.

   Folks, I don't know how much more I can keep saying on these subjects. If anyone wants me to speak at their club/rally/meeting, etc. I will be more than happy to bring all I have on this stuff. I have more than I am putting up here, lots more. Too many things to scan and put online.

   If ya'll don't know who your enemy is, how can you fight them? Burying your head in the sand and ignoring someone like Linda Duever because she is a Board Member of ONFA will lose you more than you could know!

[stacktester]

Lisa this is a shame. I hardly rode on ONF this cooler season. Can't really say we have winter anymore lol. We camped at Scrub once and I think that was it. I guess what these groups want is for people like me to get disgusted with the trails and just quit coming down. I'm looking into the places like Durhamtown, Hatfield McCoy Trails and this new place in TN. One would think we could have a few places in FL to ride on land and not have to worry like we do if it's going to get shut down. What I'd like to know is where are the lobbyists for the toy hauler/atv manufacturers? I have bought 2 toy haulers now and looking at the Cougar 5th wheel with garage as we speak. These guys need to get involved in this too. I was looking at purchasing a 660 Grizzly earlier this year but now I'm holding off to see what happens with ONF. If there is no place to ride this seems to me that sales on all the items we buy will drop off.

I tell you what, I think we have a real good governor right now and it may be time to ask him for help not only keeping what we have but to get us some more areas too. I know ONF is federal but there are places that could be used for atv riding besides ONF. Like I said we went to Durhamtown and we're looking into a couple other places to go. It was so nice riding up there and knowing exactly what was going on, on the trails. The atv sport is a huge economic factor in this state. I feel like the skateboarders who are now labeled criminals. We just have to take charge on this. I love riding in ONF and want to continue.

Donnie

[ladyinpink]

This is from save our big scrub website, they also say no atv more than 50 inches wide

Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. Part 215.14(b), the Appellant provides the following:
   I. SPECIFIC CHANGES IN THE DECISION THAT THE APPELLANTS SEEK
   • Eliminate the “Rodman Pit” OHV day use area;
   • Not designate trails within 50 feet of gopher tortoise burrow entrances;
   • Not designate unclassified mixed use roads that are not needed for resource activities;
   • Set forth a plan to adequately enforce the restrictions articulated in the plan;
   • Set forth a plan to adequately monitor the impacts from motorized access;
   • Minimize conflicts between motorized and non-motorized recreational uses;
   • Minimize harassment to wildlife and habitats;
   • Minimize impacts to soils, watersheds and vegetation;
   • Require users of unlicensed vehicles (motorcycles and ATVs) to register with or have permits from the Forest Service to operate motorized vehicles on Forest Service roads and trails; and,
   • Designate OHV trails as one-way routes.

The CEQ defines “indirect impacts” as those effects “which are caused by the action and are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable.” 40 C.F.R. §1508.8(b). The FEIS fails to consider indirect effects because it is based on the assumption that compliance, education and enforcement will be 100 percent effective, see FEIS at 1-16. Thus, the FEIS assumes that impacts will be limited to the 50” trails and does not consider the indirect impacts that will occur when OHV users stray from the designated routes. The basis of this assumption is questionable at best. The intentional or reckless disregard for the designated routes is likely to occur, and is more likely to occur than full compliance. This fact has been expressed by a number of ATV users. See, e.g., ATVFLORIDA.COM, Message Forums & Classifieds: General => Open Discussion => Official Ocala Nat’l. Forest Decision Announced => Topic started on January 12, 2006 < http://www.atvflorida.com/forum/index.php/topic, 10391.0.html> (attached hereto as Exhibit 2 at 2 (“Always lived by there rules. Now they want to take it away from us ? Catch me if you can.”), 9 (“i dont see the State hiring a 100 or more people to patrol everyday”), 12 (“The forest is far too large to control. Yes you might get caught for runnig on a numbered road but rarely will you get in trouble...think about it. We go out in the side trails and take off...almost never see anyone else. You think a patrol or trail closure is goona effect that?..doubtful.”)
Furthermore, innocent non-compliance is guaranteed to occur as riders adjust to the new rules. At a minimum, trails will be unintentionally widened beyond the 50” impact. Some ATV riders assume the trail will be twice that width. See Exhibit 2 at 12 (“ok so pretty much its gonna be say an 8 foot wide trail or so”).
The Forest Service apparently did not consider the indirect impacts of non-compliance because “[m]easurment of this issue would be speculative due to the unpredictable nature of the issue.” FEIS at 1-15. However, it would not be speculative to state that some of the more heavily used routes will see continued use after they have been closed. This is especially true of areas in remote portions of the Forest and routes leading to and from the 61 existing concentrated use areas.
The Forest Service also should know from experience that previous closure orders on the Forest have been far from effective. See Exhibits 3-4. NEPA analysis should not be based on wishful thinking. The Forest Service could have used available information on the issuance of warnings and citations to help compile a more reasonable outlook on the amount of non-compliance, as the EPA suggested. FEIS App. F Letters at 21 (“What is the trend in issuance of warnings and violations related to OHV use? Where are the majority of violations occurring?”).

[lisa]

  Thank you viper!!!! Sorry ladyinpink....viper brought the thread to the board. I didn't see you had posted that post. Can you send me a link, or tell me where to find that off of their site?

   When I see Linda Duever again, she better have her fighting gloves on, because we are going to go rounds! How dare she tell us we are not going to be compliant because of a few folks on here ranting and venting against rules and regulations! She has never been mad enough to spew things she actually wouldn't do? How dare she!!!

  Okay, with that said, let me compare her quote to what Dr. Reed Noss has said. Read carefully and notice how closely they sound!

The intentional or reckless disregard for the designated routes is likely to occur...

 

because people are going to kill those animals either accidentally, legally or illegally.

   Both are saying that people are going to disobey the law anyway. They leave the impression that human activity leads to disobedience by the majority and that any acts of compliance with the law, any acts respecting nature, are by the few.

   Both quotes are by people/organizations that hold motorized access, nay humans, in comtempt. They feel you have no right to be in the wilds, and you should have no rights there whatsoever!

   This is what I have been trying to tell ya'll for the longest time. The more time goes by, the more those who understand what I say look and bring it out into the open, the more what I have told you, what others have said, is born out to be true. You can no longer bury your head in the sand and tell us we sound like conspiracy theorists! These people are telling you, in their own words, what we have been saying they believe all along.....now, what are ya'll going to do about it?!?!? 
   

[ladyinpink]

Ya all in answer to Mr. Bounty - I believe you all heard of ariel photography?

[Inyourdraft2000]

Why dont you post some screen shots of your alleged Ariel pitures.
Post the ones you claim we damaged and then post the entire forest were we ride and we do not damage it.
Stop making mountains out of ant hills to carry your agenda and look at the value of families that are spending quality time together riding in the forest.
 Maybe that is the whole problem w/ you people, you did not have any real family time growing up so you use us as your claim to fame. Why dont you invest your time in something that really matters in life for a change!

[lisa]

  One thing they don't tell you, and therefore don't want you to know, is they have pictures of Kisatchee that look like they were taken in ONF. Those are the only pictures they use for us. They have pictures of pristine ONF, and use them when showing how beautiful it is there for things such as the Scenic Byway; however, they again don't tell you about them. Don't let the left hand know what the right is doing.....they speak out of both sides of their mouth!

[LeBlanc Outdoors]

What good are Ariel photoraphs, if I wanted to see Little Mermaid I would buy the DVD.

[Prairie Master]

What good are Ariel photoraphs, if I wanted to see Little Mermaid I would buy the DVD.

[lisa]

  The purpose of these guidelines is to help filed personeel identify potential effects, both direct and indirect, to T&E and reare species that may be impacted by ATV/OHV use on existing roads and trails. This guidance will help....determine what is an effect, and more importantly(bold added for effect) recognize the opportunity to avoid effects.

 

Effects are categorized s being either direct or indirect. Directeffects are impacts directly to the species. Fore example, frequent noise in close proximity to an RCW (Red-headed Cockated Woodpecker) nest tree may disturb nesting RCWs which would be considered "harm" as defined under the Endangeres Species Act.

   There is much more to these guidelines. Any more would border on violating the SOBS copyright laws. I have put this up for educational purposes only, to educate you on what SOBS and Linda Duever (who is a member of the ONFA board) feel about motorized access in ONF.

   When talking with Mr. Maddox, he told me that Forestry used the RCWs as one excuse to close down Kisatchee. History is repeating itself. Are you going to let it?

SOBS

 The above is the link to their home page. To find the quotes I have given you, click on current programs, then Off-Road Vehicle Management, then Exhibit 1. Interesting reading.

[lisa]

   Since I have done research on Linda Duever, I thought maybe I should do some looking into Mr. Lews III's background. It seems his company; "Lewis Environmental Services, Inc." is listed as being in Ruskin Florida....also he is listed here as a "Professional Wetlands Scientist":

Code:   PEJP0000034
Name:   Lewis III, Roy R. Robin
Position:   President, Professional Wetland Scientist
Address:   Lewis Environmental Services, Inc.
   PO Box 400, Ruskin, FL, USA 33570-0400

   Took me some digging, but found his url for his company too....http://www.lewisenv.com/
   
    His site is geared to Tropical Wetland Restoration, so what is he doing involved in the Big Scrub? Better get this new state association looking into this.....sounds like SOBS wants to restore some wetlands in Big Scrub, ya'll know what that means!