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A new bill trying to shut down yet another chunk of public land to ATVers has been stomped by congress! HORAYYY! Check out the link for more info. http://www.atvmagonline.com/2010/12/senate-majority-leader-harry-reid-pulls-omnibus-public-lands-bill/?utm_source=cheetah&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AVN010220_01102011

BLUERIBBON COALITION PARTNER ACTION ALERT! Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber, I have to tell you, everyone at BRC is enormously thrilled with the formation of an organization of professional land managers who are actually professional land managers -- instead of shills for the Wilderness lobby! We are very pleased to be able to forward you the latest from Larry Smith and the folks at Americans for Responsible Recreational Access (ARRA). Read and enjoy! Brian Hawthorne Public Lands Policy Director BlueRibbon Coalition 208-237-1008 ext 107 Land Managers Supports Sustainable Recreation Washington, D.C., May 5, 2009 - A new group, Professionals for Managed Recreation (PMR), has been formed to promote environmentally sustainable, managed recreation. PMR is comprised of retired land management officials who favor access for managed, responsible motorized recreation on public lands. Each of the officials has extensive experience in successfully managing off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation on a National Forest and/or Bureau of Land Management unit. The new group's mission statement is, "Professionals for Managed Recreation is committed to encouraging, promoting and expanding sustainable OHV recreation through training, advocacy and on-the-ground management activities. PMR's website is hosted by Americans for Responsible Recreational Access and can be found here: PMR - Professionals for Managed Recreation. Tom Crimmins, lead PMR spokesman and retired Forest Service official of 32 years, stated, "Professionals for Managed Recreation presents an opportunity to convey that with proper management, OHV trail systems can be fun, challenging, and most importantly, sustainable." Crimmins authored Management Guidelines for Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation, which can be downloaded from the PMR website for free. The book discusses approaches to OHV recreation management to meet both land manager and rider objectives. Topics addressed include route planning, trail design and active management, with many specific examples. Currently, four other retired land managers join Crimmins as members of PMR. Crimmins stated, "We have a great core of experienced land managers who have all successfully managed OHV programs on public lands. We know there are more folks like us out there who, by definition, are retired but remain actively engaged in promoting sustainable management techniques, and we encourage them to be a part of PMR." Crimmins concluded, "Closure is not the only option for land managers dealing with OHV recreation. In fact in nearly every case responsible, active management is the real solution. Each member of PMR has experience in managing sustainable OHV trail systems and it is that experience that we would like to share." * 1152 15th Street NW * Suite 800 * Washington, DC 20005 * PH: (202) 336-5116 *

BLUERIBBON COALITION EXPRESSES CONCERNS ABOUT HOUSE VOTE ON OMNIBUS LAND BILL POCATELLO, ID (February 4) - The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), a national trail-based recreation group, today voiced concern that the U.S. House of Representatives will "grease through" over 160 public lands bills, thereby avoiding the public review these bills deserve. In addition, BRC cautioned that recreational access tenets in some of the bills may have been intentionally removed in closed-door proceedings. The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 was fast-tracked through the U.S. Senate and could see a vote in the House as early as next week. The bill (S 22) is over 1,200 pages long with over 160 different bills, designates 2.2 million acres of Wilderness, identifies three new national parks, 10 national heritage areas, and designates over 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers. BRC expressed concern that access protection provisions were apparently stripped from several of the bills involved. For example, new sections were added in the Washington County (Utah) Growth and Conservation Act regarding closure of roads and trails and limiting how Bureau of Land Management funds generated by the Act can be used. "It is important that local collaborative efforts be sustained as legislation moves in Congress. Pushing these bills into law via the omnibus package allows powerful special interest groups in Washington D.C. to eliminate hard-won local consensus and ram through provisions that are contrary to the desires of those, on all sides of the issues, who actually visit these remarkable lands." said Brian Hawthorne, BRC's Public Lands Policy Director. "This bill collectively reduces recreational opportunity, feeds millions of earmarked dollars into pet projects, will cost billions to implement, and provides very little of the protection it is touted to deliver," added Greg Mumm, the Coalition's Executive Director. "If this behemoth bill is any indication of the aggressive agenda in store for this congress, the American recreating public faces difficult challenges ahead," Mumm concluded. Mumm said BRC will be encouraging its 600,000 members and supporters to contact their political representatives and encourage them to work to restore the locally-generated compromise provisions in these bills and oppose changes demanded by the large preservationist lobby in Washington D.C. # # # The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national recreation group that champions responsible recreation, and encourages individual environmental stewardship.. It represents over 10,000 individual members and 1,200 organization and business members, for a combined total of over 600,000 recreationists nationwide. 1-800-258-3742. BlueRibbon Coalition: Preserving your recreational access to public lands.