Pulled from my email.
ARRA’s Mission
We are often asked why ARRA focuses so much attention on federal policy affecting recreational access to federal lands. The importance of this was brought home to us recently when in a House Resources Committee hearing, Rep. Chris Cannon showed a map of the United States that displayed in red all of the public lands owned by the Federal Government. With Mr. Cannon’s permission, we have posted this map as shown above. As you can see, not including Alaska, eleven states in the western part of the United States have major areas controlled by the Federal Government. A review of this map emphasizes the point that federal land use policy has a major impact on the lives of millions of Americans living in those states as well as those Americans who visit these areas for recreational activities. With Uncle Sam being the major landlord of more than 810,000 square miles in the 48 contiguous states, ARRA’s mission of fighting for access to these federal lands for recreational activities could never be more important.
After a two week hiatus, Congress has returned to Washington. Prior to the Easter recess, we saw Congressional activity on a number of legislative issues of interest to ARRA.
RTP Funding
In March, the House completed legislative action on the measure that provides funding for the Recreational Trails Program. The House measure will authorize a total of $380 million for the program over a four year period of time. We are pleased with this result.
Our concern now turns to the Senate. At the moment, it appears that the Senate may be considering a RTP funding level considerably less than what the House of Representatives approved. The recommendation of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has the Senate funding RTP at the $214 million level, significantly less than the House number. We will soon be appealing to ARRA members to contact their Senators to encourage a higher funding level for RTP once we know when this measure has been scheduled for Senate floor debate.
Department of the Interior
The agency’s Bureau of Land Management controls over 262 million acres of land. For those western states where BLM has a major presence, the working relationship between the federal agency and the state and local governments has not always been harmonious. BLM recently took an important step to change that when it finalized a rule that would give local, state and tribal governments “cooperating agency” status during federal land-use planning process. This means these governments will be able to collaborate with the Department of the Interior and BLM in the development of plans and environmental analyses required by the National Environmental Policy Act. In short, this means that local citizens through their local, state or tribal governments will have a greater opportunity to shape policy governing the use of federal lands adjacent to their homes and communities. We view this as a very positive step of bringing policy development closer to those most affected by federal land use policies. This final rule takes effect on April 22nd.
The other policy change in the works has to do with requiring the Department of Interior, which includes BLM, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to allow local, state and tribal governments to participate in the writing of environmental impact statements. This is of major importance because such statements play a major role in determining how federal lands can be used for recreation. Public comments on the proposed change are due April 18th. ARRA will be submitting comments in support of this proposed procedure and we will share those with you once we have completed them.
Trail Act of 2005, H.R. 975
The House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health held a hearing on H.R. 975, the Trail Act, introduced by Rep. Tancredo, R. Colo. and on companion legislation, H.R. 599, the Federal Lands Restoration, Enhancement, Public Education, and Information Resources Act of 2005, introduced by Rep. Udall, D. Colo. ARRA testified before the subcommittee in support of both pieces of legislation. If you would like to read our testimony, please click here.
http://www.arra-access.com/arra/trail_act_testimony.htmlATV Collaboration Works in Vermont
In recent years, a serious effort has been underway in the State of Vermont to develop policy governing ATV access in the state through an ATV Collaborative Group convened by Governor James Douglas. Because of the popularity of ATV recreation and the desire on the part of some policymakers to facilitate ATV recreation in Vermont, Governor Douglas created an ATV Collaborative Group to work on a set of recommendations that would facilitate ATV access where appropriate in the state. One of the group’s recommendations was to create ATV corridors on public lands to link to private ATV trail networks. Well, the Green Mountain National Forest has just released for public comment a revised management plan for the 400,000 acre forest. The plan would permit the creation of ATV corridors as links between ATV trail systems located off Forest Service land, as well as creating additional wilderness areas.
The general public will have until July 5th to comment on the draft management plan. ARRA believes that the plan takes a common sense approach to providing ATV access in the National Forest. Collaboration does work and we are pleased that the Forest Service has listened to what the Vermont ATV Collaborative Group had to say. ARRA extends its thanks to those who serve on the Vermont ATV Collaborative Group and for generating these recommendations, and to Governor Douglas for convening this group.
Maybe this idea of creating ATV Collaborative Groups in other states warrants consideration. At a minimum, this might be a good way to resolve user conflicts and in a larger sense, it might generate ideas for creating new opportunities for ATV recreation as we have seen in Vermont.
Volunteering is Rewarding
At the recent National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC) conference, ARRA was pleased to announce two award winners for Take Pride in America volunteer projects. For the first project, members of the Northern Virginia Trail Riders and the Virginia OHV Coalition cleared boulders and repaired erosion damage to reconnect a trailhead to a loop system in the George Washington National Forest. The second project was completed by the Great Falls Trail Bike Riders Association. They repaired several sections of the Pilgrim Creek trail, cleared brush and trees, and cleaned up trash at the trailhead. Both winners received sound meters for their clubs.
ARRA, along with the Motorcycle Industry Council and the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, will be sponsoring these awards again in 2005. So, Take Pride in America and begin working on volunteer projects on public lands near you. To find out how easy it is to include your project in the award contest, click here
http://www.arra-access.com/arra/VolunteerRecognitionProgram.html.
Sincerely,
Larry E. Smith
Executive Director
ARRA
