Re: RC: Heritage Endurance Ride

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated Tue, 13 Feb 2001 12:22:59 AM Eastern Standard Time, BMcCrary27@aol.com writes:

<< And I've had good luck with the BLM during the Applegate-Lassen rides.  I 
really think the response one gets from the federal agencies depends a lot on 
how ride management treats THEM in the beginning.  Ask, don't assume......  
"please, thank you, may I , and is it all right if I do such and 
such?".........  Works wonders in all walks of life.  >>

It depends A LOT on the individuals working within the bureaucracy as well!  I've run into both extremes and just about everything in between--from employees who literally want to be an active part in helping the ride to succeed and who show up at ride briefings as a friendly personage to represent USFS or BLM on down to USFS employees who think that public land is their private fief and who seem to feel that their mission in life is to make it nigh on impossible for the public to use it.  I've had agency personnel roll out the red carpet, and I've had to pursue others through administrative and judicial reviews clear to the level of federal court to get them to simply mind their own rules!  (And yes, folks--the little guy DOES have a chance in such conflicts--sure felt good after three years of stalling and filings and meetings to have a federal magistrate tell a US attorney to take a flying leap and to point out to him that his own "evidence" supported OUR case!)

It is a pleasure to work with agency employees who do their jobs well and who understand that public lands are public, and that it is their job to manage them for long-term public use and enjoyment.  It was very disheartening to take on Uncle Sam when the government was in the wrong and to have individuals from AERC actually chastise us for daring to stand up for ourselves.  Unless members of the public are willing to stand up for their uses of public lands, we WILL lose ground.  By the same token, my encounter with the federal courts and the USFS has made me vow to write a letter of commendation in the future for every agency employee I encounter who DOES follow the rules and do a good job--unless we praise the ones who do it right, we are apt to be plagued with even more of the other sort...

Heidi