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A good friend of ours e-mailed us this information. Hello from Heber !! I am writing to you all to ask that you go the link below, and sign the petition located there. This is a petition to fight the Forest Service's effort to close 80-90% of ALL forest service roads - NATIONWIDE. If they are successful in passing their "Travel Management Rule", they will close all but the MAIN roads in and out of the forest, and we will have no other access by ANY Motorized vehicle. You will not be able to Camp off these main roads - to retrieve a game animal off road or retrieve firewood. You will either have to carry out to the open roads by hand, or obtain a special use permit to go off road in a vehicle. You will also have to WALK into the forest to find game or firewood, as the roads we all presently use throughout the forest will be Closed !!! Ken and I truly believe that this will not only impact our use of the forests, but it will impact the economy in our community as well as others in similar areas throughout our state (and across the US) in a huge way!!! If people cannot come to our mountains and use the PUBLIC forest lands as we do now, not only will folks quit coming to camp/hunt/fish etc, but they will find new places to have their "summer cabins" - and go elsewhere to recreate and build - somewhere they have the Freedom to do what they are there for... and full enjoyment of OUR PUBLIC LANDS! We will lose our Freedom in the Forests and Much More if we do not fight this proposed Rule. This will be voted on and monies appropriated to put into full swing before summer. If passed, by 2009 this will become a reality. What's worse, this is only the tip of the iceberg.... they have so many other measures they are trying to implement to keep us out. What they do plan to keep open, will all have a FEE tied to the use of camping, boating, game/fuelwood retrieval even day use areas. This is all in addition to the permits and licenses we are already required to pay for. If I am not mistaken, we already pay to enjoy the public lands merely by being tax paying citizens ! I have a lot more information on this if you want to call or email me with questions, but for now, please go to the link, sign the petition, and then forward it to ALL your family and friends to do the same. Shelley & Ken Moore Heber/Overgaard, AZ Redirect to Secure Form

California Senator Barbara Boxer is preparing to create more Wilderness areas, which will have the net effect of reducing the acreage available for off-road riding. Please read the petition below and if you agree with it, there is a link at the bottom which will allow you to sign it. Oh... and please feel free to forward to your friends and other forums. To: Senator Barbara Boxer of California We the undersigned, are concerned about the closure of off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreational areas throughout California. We understand that in the near future you will be proposing many new Wilderness Areas in California. This is of great concern to us because the primary effect of Wilderness designation is the reduction of access especially for recreation (the "no mechanized transport" rule of the Wilderness Designation Act, prevents even bicycle access). Any lands proposed for Wilderness Designation must meet the suitability and manageability test. Much public land in the west has wilderness character. Just because it has a wild character does not mean that the lands are appropriate for this most restrictive management designation. These continual land closures are really a recipe for disaster. Statistics from the California Department of Parks and Recreation show that the actual acreage available for OHV use in California has declined by 47% in recent years while registration of OHVs has practically doubled. Squeezing more OHVs onto less land can only result in an increase in illegal off-road activities in areas not designated for motorized recreational use as well as increased impacts in legal OHV areas. This most extreme of land designation should not be taken lightly. Wilderness has real, long-term consequences for California. Please consider this issue carefully before sending any bills for additional Wilderness Area designations to Congress. Thank you for consideration. Sincerely, The Undersigned [link=http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?boxer&13501]CLICK HEAR TO SIGN THE PETITION[/link]