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Show ZEPHYR/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2006 increase. It will rise so much, that special purpose legislation will likely be introduced to provide additional identifiable groups with their own discounts. One such Bill (HR 5452) has already been introduced (see below). If passed into law, HR 5452 would create a Veterans Eagle Pass which would be equivalent to an America the Beautiful and would provide basic access to most federally managed public lands. Qualifying veterans could purchase a pass for $10 a year which isn’t as good as the deal seniors get, but will be only about 10% of list price. SILVER BULLETS Which other groups should be offered discounted public lands passports and how deep should their discounts be? Lower income people should still be able to visit their parks. Perhaps a “Poor American Pass” could be offered at $15/yr and a “Not Yet Poor Pass” for $25. How about a Native Americans Pass at $30 per year --- after all, this once was their land!? And how about a Wal-Mart employees past at $34.47 --- they get should lousy benefits they deserve something!? How about a 911 survivors pass? Yes, I know these families have already been promised free access to the 911 memorial, but suppose they want to visit other National Monuments? Surely they deserve a discount? How about a college student disount pass for those who maintain at lesat a B grade? etc.... Once our elected officials knowingly price certain groups of Americans out of the market they are, in effect, removing privileges that once came automatically with citizenship. I suppose it seems proper to restore some of those privileges to certain deservin BY SCOTT SILVER WWW. WILDWILDERNESS.ORG OIA BRINGS HUMMERS TO SLC | In recent years, the non-motorized arm of the wreckreation industry (Outdoor Industry Association) has attempted to become a match to the industry’s powerful motorized arm (American Recreation Coalition). The result has been a rapid escalation in the transformation of all forms of recreation into wreckreation. OIA’s most recent attack upon wild nature is its new friend, Hummer. (It was a sponsor of the recent Outdoor Recreation Show in SLC) The behemoth auto is also) up to its neck in partnerships with the BlueRibbon Coalition and the US Forest Service -- working to advance the interest of wreckreation (in this case motorized) while facilitating the commercialization and privatization of our public lands. I might just add that the non-motorized industry’s ‘Leave No Trace’ campaign and the motorized industry's “Tread Lightly’ campaign are, and have been since both were privatized more than a decade ago, “sister organizations”. LNT is brought to us by Subaru, TL by Hummer. The difference between them are much less members of society, but what happens to those who don’t fit into any of these preferred groups? And just imagine what this country will be like when all of the rights of citizenship are taken away and when passes are sold or issued for everything. The day is fast approaching. Which other groups should be offered discounted public lands passports and how deep should their discounts be? Lower income people should still be able to visit their parks. Perhaps a “Poor American Pass” could be offered at $15/yr and a “Not Yet Poor Pass” for $25. How about a Native Americans Pass at $30 per year --- after all, this once was their land!? And how about a Wal-Mart employees past at $34.47 --they get should lousy benefits they deserve something!? How about a 911 survivors pass? NEW BACKCOUNTRY RECREATION ROADS ‘PILOT’ PROGRAM can, and should, be said about OIA and the ARC. Included below are excerpts from a USFS memo. It describes a soon to be implemented Backcountry Roads pilot program and speaks of the creation and designation of anew “SUV Recreation Roads” USFS Partnership. This USFS memo was distributed last month at the American Recreation Coalition’s CHIPPING AWAY AT OUR PUBLICLANDS | The privatization of our public lands via land sales and giveaways is finally getting the scrutiny it deserves. But these routes are neither the be-all nor the end-all of the massive privatization movement. They are not even the dominant route; according to a recent of the Scenic and Backcountry Byways programs and remains among the most active promoters of, and lobbyists for, those programs. The ARC is currently midway though than are the similarities. The same Consider it said! : Writérs on the Range Op-Ed, here’s a quote: “Its the outsourcing virus that is sweeping agencies like the U.S. Forest Service. Here, an idea that made sense in the past when applied to urban services such as trash collection may be focused on 75 percent of all the jobs in the agency, including fire suppression. If we do this long enough, and the ideologues push for this hard enough, its going to go like this: Why do we need the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, even the Park Service or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service? So much of what they do has been outsourced; lets just get rid of them. Put some private sector, beltway, politically connected, market-mantra-chanting consulting firm in charge. It can manage the land, or else we could transfer the land to states.” The article concludes with these words: “The chipping away at our publicly owned lands will happen incrementally, over time.” On balance, I would suggest that the conservation community is doing more to facilitate privatization than they are doing to stop it. If we continue to follow the current route long enough, the entire American Commons will be privatized. If we change directions, we can still avoid the neo-feudalistic future that awaits us. RESTORING THE RIGHTS OF CITIZENSHIP ONE DISCOUNTED PASS AT A TIME National Park passes have long been available for free to persons with qualifying dis- abilities and for next to nothing for persons 62 years and older ($10 for a lifetime pass). When the America the Beautiful Pass is introduced in 2007, nothing with change for persons in those two groupings. For everyone else, the cost of accessing public lands will Great Outdoors week. As many will know, the ARC played a crucial role in the formation the process of creating a new website to promote both forms of “driving for pleasure”. The url for is: www.byways2021.org It now appears that the ARC is playing a crucial role in the creation of yet another Federally administered program designed to promote driving for pleasure. But this one is different. This one, if it gets beyond the “pilot” stage, will have a significant impact upon the way BACKCOUNTRY forest roads are designated, managed and promoted specifically for SUV driving. OH... you might put another outfit on your radar screens http://www.suvoa.com/ . SUVOA’s motto is: “Stand up for SUV, Pickup and Van Owners of America.” They are ugly -- very ugly. ARC's President, Derrick Crandall, is on their Board of Directors as is David Hum- phreys, the founder of the ARC and recently retired President of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association. Here’s the memo: Date: June 14, 2006 Topic: New Backcountry Recreation Roads “Pilot” for National Forest System Roads network. : Issue: Develop an agency strategy for transition of the National Forest Road System from access to haul products out of the forest— —to directing and transporting visitors into the forest attractions for wildlife viewing, SUV driving, adventure recreation, spe- cialty products, hiking, mountain biking, river access, hunting, OHV riding and many more recreational activities. Declare the entire system open for SUV driving routes as public roads and part of State transportation systems, thus eligible for highway trust funds (OHV, passenger and Sports Utility vehicles, etc.). Incorporate these roads as the RIVERSIDE PLUMBING HEATING N. 500 W. * MOAB » 259-8324 300. million people? so how many plugged toilets would that be? |