Letter To Doc Hastings
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:55 am
Doc,
As the summer recreation season is on us, guess it's time again for me to start another round on the Juniper Dunes access fiasco. Can you give me an update on things from your end that I can pass on to the groups I'm representing? One of the things that has come up here regards the use of the funds that may be generated with your Douglas PUD bill. There is some concern that these funds could be hijacked to go towards the access problems that seem to have cropped up at the new Wild Sky Wilderness. Franklin County already got shut down on a grant for Peterson Road aquisition so the money could go to "urban areas"! I'm still a mite annoyed over that one.
We've also been seeing some increased incidents of illegal off road activities in the National Forests, and on State DNR land. Not something any of us deal well with! What this is leading up to is, what are the chances of more funding to the FS and, by extension, the BLM, for education and enforcement. These guys are starting to get treated like the ugly step sister when it comes to money. These illegal actions by a few idiots are having the affect of getting more land closed, which forces us into ever smaller areas, thus the problem snowballs. I'm starting to feel like an endangered species just because I own a 4x4 truck! We have been tracking these incidents and doing quite a bit of detective work on our own, and will continue our efforts to protect our use of these areas, but the guys in the field could sure use some help!!
If your schedule would allow at some point, we'd all like to meet with you to go over some of our concerns.
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Dave Walters
Tri Cities Peak Putters
Land Use Coordinator
PNW4WDA Delegate
www.peakputters.com
www.rumblegoatracing.com
As the summer recreation season is on us, guess it's time again for me to start another round on the Juniper Dunes access fiasco. Can you give me an update on things from your end that I can pass on to the groups I'm representing? One of the things that has come up here regards the use of the funds that may be generated with your Douglas PUD bill. There is some concern that these funds could be hijacked to go towards the access problems that seem to have cropped up at the new Wild Sky Wilderness. Franklin County already got shut down on a grant for Peterson Road aquisition so the money could go to "urban areas"! I'm still a mite annoyed over that one.
We've also been seeing some increased incidents of illegal off road activities in the National Forests, and on State DNR land. Not something any of us deal well with! What this is leading up to is, what are the chances of more funding to the FS and, by extension, the BLM, for education and enforcement. These guys are starting to get treated like the ugly step sister when it comes to money. These illegal actions by a few idiots are having the affect of getting more land closed, which forces us into ever smaller areas, thus the problem snowballs. I'm starting to feel like an endangered species just because I own a 4x4 truck! We have been tracking these incidents and doing quite a bit of detective work on our own, and will continue our efforts to protect our use of these areas, but the guys in the field could sure use some help!!
If your schedule would allow at some point, we'd all like to meet with you to go over some of our concerns.
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Dave Walters
Tri Cities Peak Putters
Land Use Coordinator
PNW4WDA Delegate
www.peakputters.com
www.rumblegoatracing.com