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The National Forest Service is currently holding public input meetings to help restructure its 15-year use plan for California. At stake was mountain bike access to National Forest lands from Monterey to San Diego?a nearly unbroken strip of land that is roughly 300 miles long and .50 miles wide. The meetings began with little input from the mountain bike community, primarily because they were so poorly publicized. In fact, the USF mentioned that they were surprised that no mountain bikers had attended the first few sessions. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Supergo Bike Shop and the Orange County based Warrior Society. Both sent mass e-mail announcements to insure that the fat tire voice could be heard during the most critical part of the planning process. Their efforts were rewarded by full houses at successive meetings throughout Southern California Moorpark, Valencia , Palmdale and Corona.
All the bike mags were in attendance, and a sizeable chunk of the bike industry also showed up to insure that the next NSF recreational use plan included mountain bike access throughout the three National Forests that surround the Southland. World Champ Leigh Donovan was at the Corona meeting, hanging with Stik-Man, Steve Boehmke, and the crew of Intense Cycles. Shimano, Answer Products, Marzocchi, and Supergo were strongly represented too. The 11th-hour response helped balance a well-organized anti-bike, pro wilderness contingent that is systematically working to convert multi-use recreational areas within federal lands into highly restricted designated wilderness areas.
For all those who made the trip, be sure to send your written comments to the NSF. They will be transcribed onto the final document, and will be more important than the verbal and ?dot-on-the-maps? exercises that took place at the events. Thanks for all who attended and don?t forget to show for the Angeles National Forest meeting in Pasadena, California: February 13th, 6:00 to 8:00 pm, at the Pasadena Conference Center; 300 E. Green Street.
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