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Santa Fe national forest will be a quieter, sweeter-smelling place

Started by nmindependent · 9 ヶ月 ago

Santa Fe National Forest will be a quieter, sweeter-smelling place under a U.S. Forest Service proposal released Thursday that calls for closing more than half its existing road and trail network to motorized vehicles.

Off-road, motorized recreation is a hot topic among forest users nationw ... Continue reading »

3 comments

  • miguelito

    11 ヶ月 ago

    It is predictable that the off road motorized crowd would scream like spoiled babies.
    For years now, they have been the favored children. With impunity, they have roared through wilderness areas, through non motorized canyons, across private property. For years they have torn down signs and cut through fences and gates without the slightest of rebuke. Drunk on their power, they have created hundreds of miles of illegal trails, trails that cut right through zones clearly marked as closed to cross country travel.
    I have seen them scatter wildlife, scar hillsides, destroy our historic trails, and flatten wet meadows into mud pits.
    For years they have terrorized hikers, equestrians, and backpackers.
    Now they have the temerity to claim they are being treated unfairly???
    Excuse me while I laugh long and hard.
    reply
  • oldbroad

    11 ヶ月 ago

    The new plan, with some tweaking, is a great start to getting motorized impacts under control. Now the task will be actually enforcing it. Hunters, fishermen, river runners, among other groups, have all had to learn to live with limits in the form of licenses, permits, designated campsites and hunting units, etc. It's time the motorized crowd learned to live with some limits, too. We all have the right to use our public lands, but on one has the right to abuse them.
    reply
  • dlhicks

    11 ヶ月 ago

    Trust me...do not take this lightly.
    NFS just went through the same thing down here in the Sandia Ranger District and the result was heavily in favor of anyplace where off-road motor vehicles are currently being used. The end result was that they more or less gave a rubber stamp to existing conditions making whatever use currently existed "officially sanctioned". The NFS will claim that they are doing you a big favor by limiting use to only specific trails, and not between trails or allowing people to blaze new ones... while at the same time admitting they do not have the resources to enforce any of that.
    In short.. I think they are very short staffed, under funded.. and my impression down here at least.. is that they did what was easiest..i.e. pander to the off-road crowd.
    My word of advice...create a ruckus, be loud and be heard clearly and early. None of that really happened down here, and much to my regret I wasn't paying attention until the last couple months after most of the meetings had been held.
    reply
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