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July 5, 2007
FOR SNOWY’S SAKE!
Speak Out Against Loud, Destructive, and Dangerous Dirt Bikes in the Snowy Range
Only about one-fourth of the Medicine Bow Forest is designated for quiet recreation under the new Plan. There is no excuse for the Forest Service to cram destructive motocross-like dirt bike trails into public areas they committed to quiet backcountry uses in the Forest Plan. The Forest Service is required by law to allow public input when it proposes to amend its Forest Plan. Unfortunately, the Forest Service decided to locate a dirt bike (motorcycle) trail in the Middle Fork Roadless Area of the Snowy Range, just north of Albany, without allowing public input. Aside from betraying public trust, there are plenty of other SOUND reasons why enduro motorcycles should not be allowed in this roadless area.
- Three-fourths of the Medicine Bow is already open to snowmobiles, motorcycles, and all-terrain vehicles.
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Over 2500 miles of existing roads and trails provide more than enough opportunity for motorized recreation in the Medicine Bow. More than enough is enough!
- Motorized trails, trailheads, parking areas, and roads could easily be located toward Highway 230 where the forest has already been logged heavily and wildlife, plants, and people are far less impacted by noise, commotion, and landscape degradation.
- Loud commotion and gas fumes are extremely unnatural and disturbing to wildlife common to the Middle Fork Roadless Area of the Snowy Range.
- Abundant scientific evidence reveals sensitive wildlife species are severely stressed and on many levels by frequent loud noise and commotion. Even background noise is known to upset natural predator/prey dynamics, ultimately hurting both predator and prey.
- The game hunter’s experience is often ruined by the noise and ruckus inherent in motorized recreation.
- Loud commotion and gas fumes are extremely unnatural and destroys the experience of quiet, low impact visitors of the Snowy Range such as hikers, skiers, photographers, hunters, and others.
- Potentially injurious or deadly close calls with speeding vehicles are unacceptable to hikers, joggers, skiers, and others leaving them with bad memories associated with outings meant to be welcome escapes from the chaos of urban life. This creates a low return business scenario among low impact tourist.
- Accounts of motorized vehicles injuring or killing dogs or spooking horses, resulting in injury to the horse and/or its rider are all too common.
- The Forest Service should NOT be allowed to amend its Forest Plan in the middle of the Travel Management Plan without offering a full opportunity for public input. The Forest has no right to promise one action and then deliver another.
- Finally, one must ask the Forest Service, what part of “Roadless” do you not understand?
Please write to the newspaper(s) of your choice and tell them, in your own words, “More than Enough motorized roads and trails is Enough!” Below are inspiring thoughts of some Laramie area residents who care about the Snowy Range.
“Introducing dirtbikes into the roadless backcountry results in noise and pollution that destroys the experience for everyone else,” asserted Laramie resident Dave Perry. “If the Forest Service can’t enforce its existing rules and regulations for off-road vehicles, then how can they justify moving motorized use into areas designated for quiet recreation?”
“As a scientist that works with spatial data, I’ve seen maps of roads in Wyoming that resemble a spider web of two-tracks, with most of the state easily accessed by vehicle,” Ken Driese, a GIS scientist at the University of Wyoming. “While off-road vehicle use may be a valid in some areas, the scales in Wyoming have been tipped too far toward more roads, and away from preserving quiet, roadless places where people and wildlife can enjoy peace and quiet.”
“As a hiker, skier and camper, I’ve come to appreciate the very few places where one can escape the chaos,” added Driese. “Gnawing away at these places as has been approved in the recent amendment to the Medicine Bow Resource Management Plan is taking us in the wrong direction, and this amendment should be overturned.”
“We deserve to have unique areas in the Med Bows set aside for quiet enjoyment,” said Bob Needles, owner of All-Terrain Sports in Laramie. “Wyoming already caters to motorized vehicles in many other parts of the state. The Medicine Bow Forest Service should resist giving in to the will of the outspoken groups who lobby for more access to off-road vehicles.”
Roadless areas like the Middle Fork provide important security habitats for elk and other sensitive wildlife. “Putting a dirtbike trail through some of the last nonmotorized terrain that is left shows a contempt for the needs of native wildlife,” added Short. “The Forest Service had designed a perfectly reasonable alternative route for dirtbike riders that avoided the lands designated for nonmotorized use, and for some unfathomable reason they abandoned this attempt at balance.”
“The Forest Service must stop encouraging illegal creation of trails on public lands; opening up additional areas to wildlife harassment, erosion, and other degradation is bad management,” concluded Dave Waggoner, a Laramie resident and quiet user of the Medicine Bow’s Snowy Range. “The Snowy Range is riddled with roads, unfortunately, and should have fewer roads, not more.”
Please Join Your Laramie Neighbors to Help Keep the Snowy Range Quiet!
Write a letter to the newspaper(s) of your choice.
Please Note: Letters to the Editor should generally be less than 200 words and emailed letters should be included in the body of the message body. Some Newspapers do not accept email attachments.
Casper Star-Tribune
Kerry Drake, Opinion Editor - kerry.drake@casperstartribune.net - (307) 266-0582
Daniel Sandoval, Letters Editor - daniel.sandoval@casperstartribune.net - (307) 266-0549
address (mail): P.O. Box 80, Casper, WY 82602-0080
address (physical): 170 Star Lane, Casper, WY 82602
Laramie Boomerang
Managing Editor, Deb Thomsen - dthomsen@laramieboomerang.com 1-307-742-2046 (fax)
address: 320 Grand Avenue, Laramie, WY 82070
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
Submit Letter to the Editor at:
http://www.wyomingnews.com/our_services/letter_to_the_editor/
address: 702 W Lincoln Way, Cheyenne, WY 82001
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