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[RC] ?FWS OFFERS ENDANGERED SPECIES GRANTS OF $71 MILLION TO STATES ?to buy land - Di



Dear Dawn:
A large portion of the Wabash Bottoms was purchased by the Nature
Conservancy.
We used to ride, hunt and fish in the Bottoms. No longer. When the
Conservancy turned it
over to the state, in the deed, specific access rules were put in

place.

We

are out, period.
In the east large portions of what we ride on is in private hands. Or

State

Lands.
You made the statement, "If the public agency is recreation oriented."
Mighty big
IF. What if the agency is orientated towards extreme environmentalism?

Now

you
have a dog fight on your hands.
In the Shawnee NF we lost trails due to designated "natural areas" or
designated
natural research areas. The areas were laid right over some of our main
trails.
We are out, the wood pecker is in.
At the Long X up in North Dakota we lost all trials north of the main

access

road
because the land managers were afraid we would disturb the mountain

sheep.

How do
they count the sheep? By helicopter. No 4 beat hoof sound here. Just

the

whap, whap,
whap of chopper blades.
The list goes on and on. Too long, too many times as far as I'm

concerned.

I'm all for saving Woody Woodpecker. But I want assurances of access at

the

same time.
Just plain old access. Something we have been doing for years. Several
hundred years
as a matter of fact. I just want to go ride through the wilderness,

leave

no trace, enjoy
mother nature from the back of a horse. When that comes to an end, I

become

rather
upset. Its my heritage and culture someone is messing with, and I take

that

personal.
Jerry



Jerry,
Please re-read my post carefully, in its entirety.  As I acknowledged,

there ARE places where access has been lost.  But I can guarantee you, for
every place where equestrian access has been shut out because of

endangered

species, I can name 5 (or more) where access continues right on through

the

middle of habitat occupied by federally listed endangered species.  I
mentioned a number of examples in my first post.  Heck, we even have 80
miles of motorcycle trails on my forest (also used a lot by horses) that

go

right past active woodpecker sites.


The Nature Conservancy is just one example...as I mentioned, some groups

are more conservationist in nature, rather than multi-use.  TNC is one of
the former.  You mentioned that in the East much of where you ride is
private or state lands.  You do have some Nat. Forests, but granted, not

as

much as in the west.  The same is true here in E. Texas.  Only about 5 or

6%

of Texas is public land, and not all of that is open to horses.  Mostly

just

the National Forests, and a few state parks.


You still haven't addressed the issue of how providing funds to help

agencies purchase land FROM WILLING SELLERS is going to eliminate access

for

equestrians.  That was the brunt of your original post, which I was
countering.  Mostly I just saw flowery language about "riding through the
wilderness and enjoying mother nature," and frustration about several
highly-publicized cases.  Sounds like the same kind of rhetoric the
environmentalists use.  I'd like to think we're beyond that, basing our
thought processes on rational analyses.  Think about this...by acquiring
more lands on which to manage these species, it can make it easier to

manage

them and increase their numbers so that any access restrictions that might
be in place could be eased.  Before you start encouraging people to oppose
something just because it has the works "endangered species" in it, take a
balanced look at it and base your advice on facts pertinent to that
particular proposal, not on emotion stemming from personal loss of trails.


Rather than highlighting only the "down" side of the trails situation,

what about the positive aspects?  The Alabama Yellowhammer ride a week or

so

ago was run on Forest Service trails built by the local equestrian group

in

association with the Forest Service.  When the original trails were found

to

be causing resource damage, the district ranger *could* have said "no more
access."  But no, he worked with the group to find locations where new
trails could be placed, ensuring continuation of access.  I was at a

meeting

a couple of weeks ago where I spoke to him (he's a good friend), and he

was

very pleased with the cooperative project and the riders he worked with.


Dawn in east Texas (striving for balanced views)





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