Bush to open national parks to mountain bikes

[TKCastle]

Park managers have to be huge sierra club folk so don't think they are going to open up ST in the redwood's and say "it's all yours MTBers". They are going to LET you ride some dumb logging road in sequoia NP.

[dft]

Originally Posted by dstepper

dft, no flaming from me, many of us practice our right to self disobedience. In my riding and exploring in the Sierras many of the old trails are gone due to neglect.

Dean

yea people forget how fast nature reclaims a trail. i was part of the big clearing of coldwater a few years ago. one more year and that trail would of been lost. give any trail a few years of no riding and its gone and reclaimed already. the environmental argument is a laugh.

make one weekend day and 1-2 weekdays legal for MB in wilderness, everyone wins

[dstepper]

Originally Posted by TKCastle

Park managers have to be huge sierra club folk so don't think they are going to open up ST in the redwood's and say "it's all yours MTBers". They are going to LET you ride some dumb logging road in sequoia NP.

Park Managers on a local level maybe be supportive of hiking groups. In my dealing with the Forest Service the old timers seem to side with the equestrians. The newer Forest Service employees seem to think that we will gain MTBing access and support us. Go to Flagstaff (Mt Elden) sometime, the Forest Service is totally supportive of the MTBing community.

"Dumb fireroads" in the wilderness area have been long abandoned and in many forested sections only a keen eye could tell it was once a road.

The first area that comes to mind to me to gain MTBing access is the Golden Trout Wilderness area out of Black Rock Station and the local sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. And again NO I don't need to ride up to Baden Powell but other sections that get see very few hikers would be great. Even if it was the dft plan and a few weekends a month.

[drclark]

Originally Posted by Alex

I have to agree as well. We have ample areas for mountain biking, especially here in Southern California, and I consider the National parks to be for hikers: I, for one, would hate to have to dodge bikers going up and especially down trails during a time where I just want to worry about one thing, the wilderness. It is simply unfair and disrespectful to the hiking community.
Also, the increased user load in these areas will have a negative impact on the environment, and will take away the last remote places we have here in the United States: It just will happen, no matter what we would like to think. I would rather see pre-established mountain bike parks or areas grow larger instead.
I've been and will be a avid mountain biker, but as a hiker as well, I see that their has to be a limit to both sides.

I'm really interested on how this will turn out. What do you think?

And this has little to do with politics, or at least I hope so.

Actually, more citizens using the remote areas of national parks and forests might be a good thing. The drug cartels are severly polluting the environment in remote areas of many national parks and forests as part of their MJ grow operations.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=6012278

Mexican Marijuana Cartels Sully US Forests, Parks

Mexican marijuana cartels use pesticides, herbicides that pollute US parks, forests

By TRACIE CONE

The Associated Press

PORTERVILLE, Calif.


National forests and parks — long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels — have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.
The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast's Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 — and authorities say the 1,800-square-mile Sequoia National Forest is the hardest hit.
Weed and bug sprays, some long banned in the U.S., have been smuggled to the marijuana farms. Plant growth hormones have been dumped into streams, and the water has then been diverted for miles in PVC pipes.
Rat poison has been sprinkled over the landscape to keep animals away from tender plants. And many sites are strewn with the carcasses of deer and bears poached by workers during the five-month growing season that is now ending.
"What's going on on public lands is a crisis at every level," said Forest Service agent Ron Pugh. "These are America's most precious resources, and they are being devastated by an unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals. It is a huge mess."
The first documented marijuana cartels were discovered in Sequoia National Park in 1998. Then, officials say, tighter border controls after Sept. 11, 2001, forced industrial-scale growers to move their operations into the United States.
Millions of dollars are spent every year to find and uproot marijuana-growing operations on state and federal lands, but federal officials say no money is budgeted to clean up the environmental mess left behind after helicopters carry off the plants. They are encouraged that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who last year secured funding for eradication, has inquired about the pollution problems.
In the meantime, the only cleanup is done by volunteers. On Tuesday, the nonprofit High Sierra Trail Crew, founded to improve access to public lands, plans to take 30 people deep into the Sequoia National Forest to carry out miles of drip irrigation pipe, tons of human garbage, volatile propane canisters, and bags and bottles of herbicides and pesticides.
"If the people of California knew what was going on out there, they'd be up in arms about this," said Shane Krogen, the nonprofit's executive director. "Helicopters full of dope are like body counts in the Vietnam War. What does it really mean?"
Last year, law enforcement agents uprooted nearly five million plants in California, nearly a half million in Kentucky and 276,000 in Washington state as the development of hybrid plants has expanded the range of climates marijuana can tolerate.
"People light up a joint, and they have no idea the amount of environmental damage associated with it," said Cicely Muldoon, deputy regional director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.
As of Sept. 2, more than 2.2 million plants had been uprooted statewide. The largest single bust in the nation this year netted 482,000 plants in the remote Sierra of Tulare County, the forest service said.
Some popular parks also have suffered damage. In 2007, rangers found more than 20,000 plants in Yosemite National Park and 43,000 plants in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, where 159 grow sites have been discovered over the past 10 years.
Agent Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Game estimated that 1.5 pounds of fertilizers and pesticides is used for every 11.5 plants.
"I've seen the pesticide residue on the plants," Foy said. "You ain't just smoking pot, bud. You're smoking some heavy-duty pesticides from Mexico."
Scott Wanek, the western regional chief ranger for the National Park Service, said he believes the eradication efforts have touched only a small portion of the marijuana farms and that the environmental impact is much greater than anyone knows.
"Think about Sequoia," Wanek said. "The impact goes well beyond the acreage planted. They create huge networks of trail systems, and the chemicals that get into watersheds are potentially very far-reaching — all the way to drinking water for the downstream communities. We are trying to study that now."


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

I wouldn't expect a huge explosion in the number of available mtb trails since the decision still rests with the local land managers. In So Cal, I would expect the land managers to be fairly "anti-bike" in comparison to Arizona, Nevada, etc.

drc

[ocrider]

Originally Posted by dstepper

Park Managers on a local level maybe be supportive of hiking groups. In my dealing with the Forest Service the old timers seem to side with the equestrians. The newer Forest Service employees seem to think that we will gain MTBing access and support us. Go to Flagstaff (Mt Elden) sometime, the Forest Service is totally supportive of the MTBing community. "Dumb fireroads" in the wilderness area have been long abandoned and in many forested sections only a keen eye could tell it was once a road.

The first area that comes to mind to me to gain MTBing access is the Golden Trout Wilderness area out of Black Rock Station and the local sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. And again NO I don't need to ride up to Baden Powell but other sections that get see very few hikers would be great. Even if it was the dft plan and a few weekends a month.

thats how it is in KY. All the horses get the single track. bikes are mosltly only allowed logging roads and ATV trails.

[dirtvert]

atv trails? that's just sad. kentucky is already one of the fattest states, so now they sit down to recreate? brilliant.

[ocrider]

Originally Posted by dirtvert

atv trails? that's just sad. kentucky is already one of the fattest states, so now they sit down to recreate? brilliant.

Kentucky and West Virginia are the biggest ATV areas in the world. Every one has one in their garage, and theres trails for them everywhere.

[drclark]

Originally Posted by bigpete61

Sounds like many of you are pretty bitter. Remember most things that take place in the white house have to go trough the HOUSE and SENATE. Ther's plenty of blame to go around. Wether they swing right or left makes no difference. Politicians are alll crooks.

Actually it probably won't go thru the house and senate. The president is proposing a rule change for the executive departments that run the national parks and forests. Its a subtle difference but its at the core of the way the .gov works.

Congress passed laws the created the national parks and forests and the executive departments (dept of Interior, Forestry Department, etc) that manage the land. The president controls those executive departments and the rules/regulations of how those departments go about enforcing the laws that congress creates. In our example, it is likely that the legislation that created the national parks probably had vague language about "providing public access" and "proctecting natural resources". It is up to the various department heads to create policy to interpret those broad concepts into implementable/enforcable rules & regulations and at our level trail systems. Thus the president's cabinet choices (department heads) are almost as important as the president in terms of day to day operations. Executive rule making is generally up for public comment and still cannot violate any existing rules or the constitution.

Essentially, congress create the legal framework for the spending of public money. The president is the one who gets to spend it.

drc

[Alex]

Originally Posted by drclark

Actually, more citizens using the remote areas of national parks and forests might be a good thing. The drug cartels are severly polluting the environment in remote areas of many national parks and forests as part of their MJ grow operations.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=6012278



I wouldn't expect a huge explosion in the number of available mtb trails since the decision still rests with the local land managers. In So Cal, I would expect the land managers to be fairly "anti-bike" in comparison to Arizona, Nevada, etc.

drc

I didn't even this of that. Good point.

[mmosqueda]

Thought this was interesting.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/271837...287/?GT1=45002

[genusmtbkr5]

MOD POST: I've deleted several post. This is about access, not about BUSH, McCain, Palin or Obama. Please stay on topic. Thanks

[danlorek]

isn't it about
1. Bush
2. opening national parks for mtn bikes?
as the title says? Maybe it's not about McCain, Palin or Obama but it does include Bush in the title.

just givin ya sheeeit.

[Abui]

Originally Posted by danlorek

isn't it about
1. Bush
2. opening national parks for mtn bikes?
as the title says? Maybe it's not about McCain, Palin or Obama but it does include Bush in the title.

just givin ya sheeeit.

No it isn't about Bush. The O.P. didn't type the correct title to the post. When you read the AP news the article says the "Bush administration" - small 'a'. When a Republican is in office the media uses the newsspeak term "{insert name} administration" when referring to the Government - with a capital 'G'.

You can argue that the NPS is preparing a gift for the outgoing president but the topic is "MTB in National Parks".

[dirtvert]

"damn bleeding-heart, commie-liberal media . hey, you kids get off my lawn..."

[danlorek]

Originally Posted by Abui

No it isn't about Bush. The O.P. didn't type the correct title to the post. When you read the AP news the article says the "Bush administration" - small 'a'. When a Republican is in office the media uses the newsspeak term "{insert name} administration" when referring to the Government - with a capital 'G'.

You can argue that the NPS is preparing a gift for the outgoing president but the topic is "MTB in National Parks".

Oh, thanks for educating me on what the original poster should have made the title of his thread. I accidentally just read what they had typed, I should have known better.