BREAKING NEWS: SALAZAR TO BACK DOWN ON WILDLANDS POLICY

Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,

It seems the Obama Administration has realized it over-reached with the December 2010 Secretarial Order establishing the Wildlands Policy.  The Associated Press is reporting that Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has today signed a memo saying his agency will not designate any "Wildlands."

The AP reports Salazar intends to work instead on efforts to "work with members of Congress to develop recommendations for managing millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West."

See:
APNewsBreak: Obama abandons wilderness plan
http://www.sfexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/apnewsbreak-obama-abandons-wilderness-plan

The impacts of this announcement on access and recreation on vast areas of public lands is not readily evident, but it certainly appears to us the DOI made the only reasonable decision since BLM lands have already been inventoried for wilderness characteristics. Those lands meeting the criteria are Wilderness Study areas and have been managed to protect wild character for many years.

Many other BLM lands remain attractive and available for a variety of recreation uses. We look forward to working with Congress and the agency to plan the management of these lands for all recreationists now and in the future.

Brian Hawthorne
Public Lands Policy Director
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 102

The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national recreation group that champions responsible recreation, and encourages individual environmental stewardship. With members in all 50 states, BRC is focused on building enthusiast involvement with organizational efforts through membership, outreach, education, and collaboration among recreationists. 1-800-BlueRib - www.sharetrails.org
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As a non-profit, grassroots organization funded primarily by membership dues and donations, we greatly appreciate your support. Visit http://www.sharetrails.org/make-a-difference-now to help fund our efforts to protect your trails!

The Legislature has passed and the Governor signed SB5800. This bill would
allow properly equipped and documented off-road motorcycles to be legally
converted to street use.

This common sense piece of legislation was passed with strong bipartisan
support, 46 to 2 in the Senate and 96 to 0 in the House of Representatives.

SB5800 was sponsored by Senators Curtis King, Mary Margaret Haugen, Paul
Shin and strongly supported by the Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance,
the Northwest Motorcycle Association and a large number of offroad
motorcycle enthusiasts.

With many offroad motorcycle trails being fragmented by road building and
timber harvesting, there is a growing number of riders that would like the
opportunity to make their motorcycles legal to use the forest roads to
connect the otherwise lost trails.

The equipment requirement compliance inspection will be accomplished by
motorcycle dealerships and the owner of the motorcycle will have to sign a
statement that releases the State from all liability and acknowledges that
they are aware that the motorcycle was not manufactured for street use and
has been modified to be suitable for that purpose.

The Washington State Patrol did not oppose this bill and stated before the
Senate Transportation Committee that properly modified offroad motorcycles
would not be any less safe than other street motorcycles.

Rural communities would also benefit when these motorcyclists are able to
travel into their towns and enhance the local economy.

Other states have enacted similar laws and they have proven to be a safe and
effective solution.
With the additional fees involved, this will also be a revenue positive
change for the State of Washington.

Tod Petersen
Political Action Committee Chairman, Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance
Legislative/Land Use Coordinator, Northwest Motorcycle Association
P.O. Box 61161
Seattle, WA 98141
tod701@aol.com
www.wohva.org
www.nmaoffroad.org

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For more information:
…on this legislation,
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5800&year=2011

** You are receiving this notification because you are a member of the
Washington CLOUT Action List.   To update your status, or remove yourself
from this list, please contact the CLOUT Administrator at
mailto:clout@getclout.org.  Forward this notice freely to your associates,
and get them involved, too!

Have your PRO-OHV friends send an email to mailto:clout@getclout.org with
"CLOUT" in the subject line along with their Name, their voting Zip Code AND
your name as a reference.  That's all there is to it.  Get them to do it
TODAY so motorized recreation will have an even stronger voice in Olympia.