Re: BLM Scoping

[bearbvd@domain.elided (Greg Hermann)]

>Fellow Land Users,
>
>I had the opportunity to go to the BLM Scoping meeting in St. George
>yesterday. Generally speaking, a poor turnout by both sides.
>
>The BLM maps are, to put it politely, lousy. It will take a lot of work to
>correct their errors (what do you call an intentional error?). I talked
>with a BLM official who offroads in his own Scrambler. He's not hardcore,
>but he's done Gold Bar Rim. He had a difficult time believing that there
>was any need to close existing trails! His suggestion was to document the
>trail, GPS it if possible, get numbers of people using a trail, and why
>this portion does not have "wilderness characteristics".
>
>His take included the comment that existing roads were not to be closed in
>WSAs! He also suggested getting close to the district manager and
>suggesting Adopt-a-Trails. BLM has very little money compared to the FS and
>NPS. One of the reasons they are soooo happy to close roads is that they
>cannot afford to police them.
>
>I definitely got two impressions: 1) this is not cast in concrete, and some
>managers are looking for reasons not to create WSAs (in many ways they will
>create more works than the roads), 2) numbers of people using a trail is
>important to removing wilderness characteristics.
>

BLM rangers are generally VERY decent, competent folks. Have yet to come
across one that I could not get along with.

USFS people can be either way, but if you catch them where none of the
politicians are listening, most of them are OK.

NPS people are nearly all lying buttwipes!

Funny how the quality of the people is inversely proportional to the size
of their budgets! This guy was trying to tell you how to put something
together to put a stop to the grab. Anything that is documented as
non-wilderness, they CANNOT lock up and declare to be"wilderness".

He, and ones like him, are the only ones who could audit whatever you
submit, and it does not sound like they would correct any "errors", for
instance as to traffic levels!

The idiots who are trying to lock things up would not have any clue or
inclination to check out the accuracy of reported info personally--so go
have fun, get some GPS data, and tell them what it takes about traffic and
non-wilderness status!

Remember--the Finewines and Boxers are the liars in this little game--this
land has not been wilderness for decades! They are twisting the law to suit
their agenda! Help to twist it back around their slimy little necks!!

Regards, Greg