The Wilderness Act was intended to preserve pristine natural acres in a permanently primitive state--which is a great thing. Presently, this powerful legislation is being used as a weapon against all outdoor recreationists who don't subscribe to the puritanesque ideology that all open space in the U.S. should be returned to its pre-Columbian state--no roads, no wheels, no mechanized devices, no aircraft, no, no, no, no, no...and so forth. Wilderness acquisition is permanent--so when Congress designates an area for this purpose, each area should be considered carefully--with unbiased scientists, existing user groups and area residents in the loop. Such scrutiny is not possible when, like S. 22, the Omnibus Land  Bill, the area proposed to become wilderness is larger than some East Coast States.

 

Defeat this bill and then encourage your legislator in Congress to break up the areas proposed in this foolishly politicized wilderness bill into rationally-sized chunks that can be studied individually and then voted upon by their merits. Mountain bikers should not be thrown off public lands just because it is possible for anti-recreation interests to do so. Support the Wilderness Act by forcing its abusers to keep it real. Please call 202-224-3131 and ask the receptionist for your senator. Leave a short message. Let's not get locked out of the back country by a last-second blockbuster wilderness bill. Stop S. 22 by calling today

--Richard Cunningham

 

For more information on this bill see:
http://www.landrights.org/New%20Omnibus_HR5151_E-mail.pdf