PLEASE COMMENT AND SEND THIS ALERT TO THOSE WHO WILL HELP! THANK YOU!

ACTION: Restore balance to BLM's ORV policy

ONLY 2 weeks until the comment deadline.....HURRY!!!

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* WILD ALERT
* Friday, August 18, 2000
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Dear Public Land Activist,

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is developing a strategy to address the
growing problem of dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles on our public
lands. The BLM has the authority, through existing executive orders and
regulations, to implement an effective ORV management program.  Take
action!  Send your comments to the BLM by Aug. 31 from
http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/orv/blm_orv.htm

93% OF BLM LAND OUTSIDE ALASKA OPEN TO ORVs
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), our nation's largest public land
owner, currently allows dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles on over 90%
of the land outside Alaska under its jurisdiction.  Meanwhile, off-road
vehicles (ORV) have become more powerful and are able to push deeper into
the backcountry, gouging new paths through forests, valleys, and hillsides;
punching through fragile deserts and grasslands; polluting lakes, rivers,
streams, and wetlands.


That, coupled with essentially no management or limits on ORVs by the BLM,
means that these machines are out of control throughout BLM lands and are
causing extensive damage.

Recognizing this enormous threat, the BLM has acknowledged the enormous
magnitude of the problem -- that ORVs are out of control -- and is in a
national process to craft a strategy addressing the problem of all types of
off-road vehicles abusing our land.  The agency currently is gathering the
public's ideas and comments about the problem.  This input will provide
local BLM land managers a framework to address issues such as the amount of
land designated for ORV use, regulations, trends in management, route
inventory needs, resources issues, special management and sensitive areas
and resources, monitoring, education, law enforcement, and budget.

FASTEST GROWING THREAT
As a result of technological advances, the development of a well-organized
ORV lobby, and the establishment of new ORV routes on public lands --
largely uncontrolled -- off-road vehicles are now one of the fastest
growing threats to the natural integrity of our public lands.

Technological advances have created a new breed of machines that can enter
and destroy the most remote -- and vulnerable -- landscapes. Off-road
vehicles pollute every environment they enter, expelling 20 to 30 percent
of their oil and gasoline, unburned, into the air and water.

RESTORING BALANCE
The BLM has the authority, through existing executive orders and
regulations, to implement an effective ORV management program.  Reasonable
measures are desperately needed to restore balance to the use and
protection of BLM lands -- public lands that belong to ALL Americans.  It
doesn't mean closing all public lands to ORVs, but the current, largely
uncontrolled scenario needs to be corrected.

TAKE ACTION
You can help ensure the Bureau of Land Management's ORV program is an
effective one.  The BLM is accepting comments on their ORV policy, but only
through August 31.  Send comments from
http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/orv/blm_orv.htm, or send them
directly to the address below.  Tell the BLM that their final ORV
management strategy should contain the following:

    - ORVs should only be allowed on routes that are clearly marked with
signs indicating they are open.
    - The BLM should designate routes as open *only* a) after a study
determines that the routes will not cause adverse environmental impacts;
and b) where BLM can demonstrate it can monitor the impact of ORVs and
enforce existing rules and laws protecting the land from ORV damage.
    - BLM should prohibit ORV use in legislatively or administratively
proposed wilderness areas, inventoried roadless areas, and in Wilderness
Study Areas (WSAs).
    - Unauthorized routes, including "existing" routes created illegally by
ORVs, should be closed, and environmentally damaging routes restored to
non-motorized uses such as hiking and mountain biking.
    - BLM should stop building new ORV routes, and redirect funds to
monitoring, enforcement, and restoration.

Send your comments to:
OHV Comment Manager, U.S. Bureau of Land Management
1849 C St. NW LSB406-C, Washington, DC 20240
Email: [log in to unmask]

More information:
BLM web site -- http://www.blm.gov/ohv/ohvstrategy.htm
Send comments -- http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/orv/blm_orv.htm
--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rex L. Bavousett
Photographer
University of Iowa
Our old name:  University Relations - Publications
Our new name:  University Communications & Outreach - Publications
100 OPL, Iowa City, IA 52242

http://www.uiowa.edu/~urpubs/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
voice: 319 384-0053
fax: 319 384-0055
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