Unite The Parks Upset About The December Town Hall?

12/11/2024

Listed above are three pitchers of the current roads and trails within the Sierra National Forest.

Above is a partial map of road reduction for the proposed Range Of Light National Monument

Let's analyze Unite the Parks' actions and statements.

Based on available information, their initiatives appear

to restrict public access to recreational areas and land use.

Following the Clovis, California, town hall meeting, Unite the Parks issued a statement disclaiming involvement and questioning the public's concerns regarding the monument. While acknowledging differing perspectives, we note the proposed National Monument would restrict access to established off-highway vehicle (OHV) routes, limiting OHV to only street-legal vehicles. This would also limit OHV to a single road. Not only would this proposal affect personal, private off-highway designated vehicle owners, but it would also impact local and surrounding businesses that rent, sell, and maintain these off-highway vehicles, such as side-by-sides and snowmobiles. It would also impact local businesses, as people who normally would visit the Sierra National Forest to use it for off-highway recreational purposes would no longer commute to the forest and impact local businesses. Their subsequent actions—blocking news outlets, cabin owners, and community members on social media and refusing comment to local news—raise concerns about their motives. Given their lack of transparency, including the absence of a publicly announced webinar or community forum, their criticism of locally organized town hall meetings appears disingenuous. Their actions suggest a focus on land acquisition rather than genuine conservation efforts. We should explore strategies to counter their influence in light of the public town hall meeting

What's happening? You may have heard of an event happening tonight supported by off-highway vehicle users. We aren't part of it. But what's their issue with the monument, anyway?

First things first, the monument serves most everyone - mountain bicyclists, hikers, horseback riders, rock climbers, boaters, kayakers, trail runners, and hunters: anyone who wants to access trails, recreation, and nature.

We support an interconnected trail system! The monument also supports a network of roads to reach amazing destinations; some routes like Dusy-Ershim are spectacular and challenging and give the area its character and ruggedness. Those routes would remain.

But Logging Roads: The sheer number of roads in the Sierra National Forest is a major problem; there are more 2500 miles of them (the distance across the nation), and they make a spider network that disrupts habitat and also makes the landscape impossible to manage (for example, to prevent human-caused wildfires, vandalism, trash, and illegal grow sites). These roads are not set up for rangers to patrol the landscape; they are set up for the logging industry. And right now, the Forest Service is cutting 600-feet swaths across a thousand miles of these roads, in the footprint of the Creek Fire. This damages the ecosystem and will increase the intensity, spread rate, and growth of wildfires. See what the science shows.

You can also check out the video series here and here for more visual insight. (I spent two years surveying this landscape, and it was intense.)

These roads are extremely difficult to navigate and also to decommission. In order to give the management agency an opportunity to successfully manage the landscape, we created a map, which retains key routes and access to private property and enables restoration of the forest and its trails. The details get fully sorted out when the agency develops a management plan and involves the public with that process. That takes time, about 3 years.

Facebook Anyone? Hello? You may have noticed that we have disappeared from Facebook. Last week, we got hacked, and our page was shut down. We always keep our standards high, but an interesting thing happened. We decided to invest in an online campaign last Thursday, and once we did that, our page became a paying business page. This opened a backdoor for hackers. They associated our business page with an Instagram page, which violated Facebook rules, and suddenly we were gone. We notified Facebook of the problem, but there is no way to directly contact a person via their site.

Ironically, we still have a functioning Instagram page, so you can find us there, and of course, on our web site. What's new there? 7 reasons to support the monument.

We appreciate your support, and, as always, are grateful to you!

All my best,

Deanna Lynn Wulff
Executive Director
director@unitetheparks.org
www.unitetheparks.org
Donate here.

https://mailchi.mp/7e0170e6d001/d45r07wv04-18245881?e=[UNIQID]

Unite The Parks Updates

Unite The Parks Upset About The December Town Hall?

What's happening? You may have heard of an event happening tonight supported by off-highway vehicle users. We aren't part of it. But what's their issue with the monument, anyway?