[font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]
Well here it is BFT, Wyoming has some of our most popular waters in the Western half of the under attack by Congress from a new bill in Congress HR 980 [/size][/#000000][/font][font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]
(Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act)
[/size][/#000000][/font] [font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]
HR 980 would create 24 million acres of new Wilderness designation among five western states, with 3.26 million of those acres in Wyoming. This legislation was introduced by New York Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney, and is cosponsored by seventy five other Representatives, all of whom are Democrats, and only three representatives are from the five states that are affected by this bill, and the rest are from the east coast or California.
[/size][/#000000][/font] [font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]
[/size][/#000000][/font] [font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]
The areas in Wyoming that would fall under the new Wilderness designation would include the Hams Fork, Commissary Ridge, Salt River Range, Southern Wyoming Range, Monument Ridge in the Wyoming Range, Little Sheep Mountain, Little Cottonwood, North Mountain, and Lake Mountain. This bill also includes smaller additions to existing Wilderness designations in the Gros Ventre and Wind River Range. These additions would include Freemont Lake, Half Moon Lake, Willow Lake, New Fork Lakes, Upper Green River Lakes, Boulder Lake, and the Big Sandy.
Once under the Wilderness designation, all of these areas would be under the rules that come with that designation. All of the existing roads in these areas would be closed, and these areas would be off limits to all motorized vehicle travel including, RV, ATV, snowmachine, and motorized watercraft. This legislation would also devastate the industries and jobs that currently rely on those lands, such as logging, mining and oil and gas production and development. We would also see a significant drop in recreation opportunities such as camping, hunting and fishing that we currently enjoy in these areas.
[/size][/#000000][/font] [font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]
[/size][/#000000][/font] [font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]
Please help us by contacting your elected officials and voice your opinion of this matter. Hopefully we can stop this idiotic legislation in it's tracks.
[/size][/#000000][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]Thanks,
Edited to add links about this:
http://www.subletteexaminer.com/V2_news_...ry_id=1141
http://www.dirtbikemagazine.com/ME2/dirm...FCB1AC6CD2
[/size][/#000000][/font][font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 3]
[/size][/#000000][/font]
[signature]
[#008000]Thanx for the info Wyobraz.[/#008000]
[#008000][/#008000]
[#008000]Even though this should probably be moved to the Off Topic board, I am leaving it here for a while. [/#008000]
[#008000][/#008000]
[#008000]Many of us (Me included) do fish up in those parts and I think we probably should be aware of what is happening.[/#008000]
[signature]
Thanks Fishhound for leaving it in the General board for a little while.
I thought about posting it in the Off Topic board, but thought it would have more views in the General.
[signature]
Hey Braz,
Last month when I was up there I was listening to this news on NPR (about the only station in Wyo. or the local softball scores[laugh]) what a joke, I am glad some east coast (New York) [#ff0000]Democrat[/#ff0000] can start legislation that has nothing to do with her or her state. I can guarantee that no New Yorkers have ever been to Wyoming (other than Jackson Hole) but is that really Wyoming anymore.
I hate when people can start legislation that has nothing to do with them that affects other people in other states, I will send some words to my congressmen. Thanks for the info.
[signature]
Thanks for the help!
I have been paying attention to this since it was introduced in February, but I am now getting concerned. This particular Congresswoman has introduced this legislation every year since she has been elected in 1993. But every other time she introduced this she could not get anyone to cosponsor and the bill never went anywhere.
This year though is different especially with our current political climate. She has 75 cosponsors and the bill actually has made it to committee, with it's first hearing yesterday. It actually looks like this thing may stand a chance if we don't stand up and force our elected representation to actually support our views.
[signature]
That's really too bad Braz, but I'm afraid things are gonna get much worse for us "Sportsmen/women". There is a filibuster proof Senate now that that one dingleberry jumped over to the dems. They can pretty much ram rod anything their little hearts desire through to the liberal presidents desk, and he'll happily ink his name on the dotted line. Not gonna be pretty at all. The thing that gets my goat, is that lots of people were pissed at Bush, but they were absolutely stupid for voting for dems just to say Ha to the last pres. A super majority on two of three branches of our government is not a good thing. We need balance, and that aint' gonna happen for at least 1.5 more years.
[signature]
I heard about this from My aunt this last weekend when she was down. She lives in Pinedale and they are up in arms up there. It will devistate that town. There are som many areas in that small area that will close down. Ski resorts, oil and Gas areas, all of the mentioned lakes, Soda, fremont, half moon. A restraunt that is up there. Many folks have cabins in that area that would be affected. Man that blows!
Did i read this right, that this would effect all of the area in the Grays river and Little grays river? all of the McCain creek and Baileys lake area? Man i hope not
[signature]
Yes you read it correctly.
[signature]
Well, good luck. I support her efforts.
Did you know that there are over 1,170,000 acres of designated wilderness in NY state? Yes over a million ares. I know because I was raised in it. I guided in it, I fished in it, I hunted in it. I still do when I go back for a visit. See that add on BFT for the Adirondacks? Sound like people are shut out?
New york is home to the largest contiguous park in the United States. The park covers some 6.1 million acres (24,700 km²), a land area about the size of [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont"]Vermont[/url], or of the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park"]Yellowstone[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park"]Yosemite[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon_National_Park"]Grand Canyon[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_National_Park_(U.S.)"]Glacier[/url], and [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smoky_Mountains_National_Park"]Great Smoky Mountains[/url] [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Park_Service"]National Parks[/url] combined. She probably knows more about wilderness and protecting land than you think.
As far as a "New Yorker" having never been anywhere but Jackson Hole, your wrong. I and many of my friends from NY have been all over WY, We hike, bike, horseback ride, camp and fish there every year in some of the places that are on the wilderness want list.
WY touts being a great place outdoors, yet you want mining, oil and gas wells and logging in these pristine places. Funny that.
Sayin.
[signature]
That was a bad comment on lumping people from one state into a particular group. Not that I agree with all of this gentleman's comments on the situation, I feel all comments like that do is tick people off. I spend time in WY. as well, both hunting and fishing and would hate to see something like this happen. I have been a member of the WY. SFW for a few years as I believe in what they are doing for the wildlife in the state. I will be following this situation and hopefully we can kill it as a group before it goes too far. Thanks for posting info on the site.
[signature]
Please spare me the New York is so good we must follow their lead montra, because I don't think you even beleive that. But if you do want to talk about facts, we shall.
New York only has one area in the state that falls under the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._National_Wilderness_Act_of_1964"]Wilderness Act of 1964[/url], which requires the land to be untamed and untrampled by man. That area is the [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Island_Wilderness"]Fire Island High Dune Wilderness[/url]. This wilderness in New York only consits of 1363 acres of land, a far cry from the 3.2 Million acres of Wilderness we already have in Wyoming that falls under the protection Wilderness Act of 1964.
The wilderness and parks that you refer to in New York are State Lands and are managed as such, and do not fall under the same federal classification that would require all areas to be roadless, free of motorized travel, and only accessible by foot and horseback.
Yes Wyoming touts a great place outdoors, and even you admit to visititng these areas, but it is quite obvious you havn't paid attention to the politics involved in managing these areas. If so you would have already known that almost every square inch of land this New York Congresswoman wants to turn into Wilderness, is already protected from mining, oil, and natural gas developement.
Have you ever heard of the [url "http://www.greateryellowstone.org/issues/issue.php?threatID=30"]Wyoming Range Legacy Act or the Craig Thomas Snake River Wild and Scenic Rivers Act,[/url] that OUR Senators from Wyoming wrote and pushed through Congress? If so you would already know that we have protected these lands from development while not limiting the recreation activities that we enjoy, such as camping, hunting, fishing, ATV, and Snowmachines. Although I support protecting these lands from develpoment, I totally think that turning them into wilderness that closes all roads and limits the activities on the lands to horsback and foot is asinine.
Also I never said that a person from New York hasn't been anywhere but Jackson Hole.
I will admit though, that if this passes at least I will not have to argue with my friends about my support of out of state hunters. Because out of state hunting will almost stop due to our laws requiring Non Residents to hire a guide to hunt in wilderness designated areas.
[signature]
Yes, the wilderness act of 1964 was about 100 years late for most of the Adirondacks which have been protected since 1892 and recieved protection under NY's Constitution in 1894. Almost longer than WY has been a state.
In your earlier post you stated that this action would close many of these areas to oil, gas and mining, costing jobs. "[font "Times New Roman"]This legislation would also devastate the industries and jobs that currently rely on those lands, such as logging, mining and oil and gas production and development." [/font]Now you state that they already are closed, "If so you would have already known that almost every square inch of land this New York Congresswoman wants to turn into Wilderness, is already protected from mining, oil, and natural gas developement."
which is it?
I can assure you that the wilderness lands in NY are have no roads and are closed to all motorized travel and are only accessable by foot or horseback. No they are not under federal guidelines, they tried to make the ADK's a National Park, but it was decided that it's current protection under the NYS Constitution was more restrictive and was left as a state park.
So, it looks like this is about the roads and machines, not jobs and oil & gas. As far as that goes, I'm OK with restricting more places that ATV's and snowmobiles can go, but that is just me.
Thanks for the heads up anyway, without it I would have never written Represenative Maloney and voiced my support for her legislation.
[signature]
HR 980 would force the closing of lands that are CURRENTLY developed for the mining, oil and gas industries, and logging. This would cause tens of thousands of jobs that we CURRENTLY have in the mining, oil and gas undustries and logging. I read a report yesterday that Idaho would loose over 20,000 jobs just in the logging industry alone.
All future development on almost every quare inch of these lands in Wyomiing has been closed via the Wyoming Range Legacy Act and the Snake River Act.
Look, I have no problem at all protecting or limiting uses on our lands, as long they are done on a case by case basis with local input. I even cherish the wilderness areas that my state has and I don't want to loose them. I guarantee that I have spent more time in the Wilderness areas of Wyoming and Utah than 99% of people in this country, including you. These areas ARE NOT wilderness, nice areas yes, but not wilderness.
I do however have a problem with BLANKET legislation by a Liberal Eco Terrorist Congresswoman from New York, that virtually takes every sqaure inch of National Forest in the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, and limits their uses to a select few.
I can not buy into such a philosophy, and I am sorry that you can.
[signature]
Braz, thanks for bringing this to the attention of those on this board. The liberal mindset has reared it ugly head once again. It always makes me wonder, who gave these people the right or responsibility to tell others what is best for them. This "Liberal Eco Terrorist Congresswoman from New York" should be worried about what is happening in her own back yard. Instead of wanting to severely limit access to areas that, she probably has never been to .Braz, as you said before these areas are pretty, but to be considered wilderness areas, NO way should this be allowed to happen. More and more our way of life in the inter mountain west comes under attacks from flat landers. They have screwed things up in their own state, so they come out here. Then the first thing they want to do is make it just like where they came from. It scares me to think what will happen to our "way of life" in the inter mountain west if this bill passes. The loss of people’s ability to make a living, the loss of recreational opportunities for sportsmen. The loss of ownership of private property. The loss of future generations of our kids and grandkids to enjoy the mountain west as generations before did. . As a native of this great state, I will do what ever I can to stop these "Liberal Eco Terrorist's"
[signature]
Well lets put something into perspective for those who like this idea. Wyoming is the headwaters of 3 major drainages in the US. Does that mean we can close them all off during the growing season or use it all so there is only a trickle coming out? NO! because we have enough sense to take a look at issues from OTHER PEOPLE'S POINT OF VIEW not just ours. Wyoming economy is based on the exploitation of resources such as timber, coal, oil. Do you supporters of this like driving and having heat in your homes? Do you want to be able to afford to be a tourist here? If this happens, the money is going to have to be made up somewhere. I vote we charge all out-of-staters to visit.
[signature]
I think that there needs to be land use restrictions of some sort. Maybe, this one goes a little to far, maybe not. The bottom line is, past generations have been able to enjoy our wild lands unrestricted. Mostly because of the limited impact they had. With each new generation of human the numbers grow exponentially. If there are no regulations than the wild lands will be devoured and discarded by the hordes. Leaving only the scars of greed and waste in there path. So the way I see it, we either make land restrictions, democratic way. Or, start putting even more people in the prison system, republican way. Either way it will be a rough road.
[signature]
Thanks for the heads up on this. I was a bit
about replies and articles mentioning loss of private property which is seldom the case with these types of things ( just don't ask the people of Jarbidge Nevada about their town being declared a National Forrest[crazy]). So I looked at HR 980 itself and my reading is this only applies to public land. Sec 2 (16) also clearly states "This act does not affect private existing rights". Important to understand what the bill actually says before you start arguing about things that aren't issues. That said I think a more balanced approach such as was accomplished with the recent Wyoming Range Legacy Act would be more appropriate for some of these areas. Thanks again for keeping us inform on these important issues.
[signature]
Riverdog, I guess I am
. I don't recall discussing "Private" lands at all in this thread, so I don't see how I was arguing something that is not an issue.
I though I was arguing the fact that we as sportsman would be virtually shut out of many of the areas we currently enjoy, such as the Greys River. I personally think it is idiotic that I would now have to hike over 45 miles just to fish the head waters of the Greys, when there is a main road that has led to the area since the Lander Cutoff of the Oregon Trail.
[signature]
In my earlier post, I mentioned about the loss to private property. After reading this. “ In Wyoming, we have ski resorts, summer marinas, motorized boat use, snowmachining, recreational vehicle sites, developed campgrounds, designated off-road vehicle trails, existing public roads, guest lodges and ranches, summer homes and facilities used by other resource agencies – all within the area encompassed by this bill,” Bousman wrote in a press release. “Under this bill these areas would all have to be shut down and obliterated.”
This is why I said there would be loss of access to private property, and then read this little gem"Garrity did, suggest snowmobile access could be restricted because the machines do not operate on existing infrastructure.
After reading that I had to wonder,if this passes,how will the people that have cabins within the proposed wilderness area,have access to them in the winter time???
While the battle isn’t new, the nation’s political climate is, and this bill has again become the ideological battlefield for the heart and soul of the west. That small paragraph right there say is all.
[signature]