'ZuZoo in Jeopardy?

[ZEUS]

There is an email going around in abundance here in Utah and around the nation it seems regarding the potential for over 9 million acres of Utah being designated as wilderness. The Moab area is on the hit list... again. All of the unpopulated regions of Utah seem to be on the hit list. Please read and do what you can to help stop this bill.

[FONT='Garamond','serif']Utah Wilderness Bill to Go Before Congress[/font]

www.usaall.org

www.takebackutah.org

PO BOX 50592

Provo, Utah 84605-0592

801-830-9112

Greetings!

We have been warning you and thousands of others that this day would come. On October 1, 2009 a congressional committee will consider a wilderness bill that would turn 9.4 million acres of Utah public land into congressionally designated wilderness. This is a major step towards the closing of nearly 40% of all the land that BLM manages in Utah. This may seem surreal but it is actually happening. We must stop this bill. With your help we can do it. Please read this email in entirety, forward it to friends, and act on its call for help. With enough of you getting involved we guarantee we can either stop this bill or minimize the damage that it will cause.

The Deseret News printed this article this morning: House panel to consider bill on Utah wilderness.

If you would like to read the bill in it's entirety go here: Library of Congress H.R. 1925.

If you would like to read the propaganda from our opposition and the main proponents of the bill go here www.suwa.org. Be sure to take some anti-nausea medication these guys spin things pretty hard.

Sincerely,
Michael Swenson

Utah Shared Access Alliance

What is Wilderness Designations

Wilderness Isn't some cute fuzzy term that means wild places and the great out of doors. It is a legal term and formal designation that means a place where man has no lasting impact or signs and where man is very limited to where he can go and what he can do. This means NO motorized OR mechanized access. That means even Mountain bikes are not allowed. Don't believe me? check out this sign I personally took a picture of: NO MOUNTAIN BIKES. It really means no management. It means no development. In some remote places this may be a good thing. In Utah BLM manages about 22 million acres and if 9.4 of them are locked up in wilderness it means the public can forget about using and fully enjoying over 40% of the mostly desert land that BLM manages. NONE of Utah's congressmen or senators support this bill. BLM itself has recommended to congress 1.9 million acres be designated. But the environmentalists don't care. They are asking for more than 400% more acres! I'm sure the mountain areas will be the next target of these greedy groups. To learn more about wilderness go to this article written by one of our board members: The Truth About Wilderness

You can also find some wilderness stats here under the Utah Facts button go to the right column for a number of interesting documents on wilderness.

YOU Can Fight Back

Get On Board the Stop SUWA Express

Unlike our opposition we don't use scare tactics and lies to compel people to action. We have been warning people about this for years and more intently since the Obama administration took control. We are going to lay this out in plain terms. IF YOU DON'T GET INVOLVED RIGHT NOW AS IN TODAY THERE WILL BE 40% LESS LAND AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO ACCESS WITHIN A VERY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. If we don't combat this aggressive attack on our access WE...NO... YOU WILL LOSE. The threat and danger of loosing access to millions of acres of land has never been more real and imminent. So please take this warning VERY seriously. If you care you must get involved. Other things can wait, this really cannot.

Here is the brutal truth about what needs to be done.

We need to get the word out about this to everyone and anyone who cares like all of us do. We need to send people to Washington to if possible testify in this committee hearing. We need to be able to tell our side of the story to anyone in congress who will listen. We need to unite and direct the energies and voices of tens of thousands of Utahans and other Americans.

To do these things will take serious commitment, which we have. It will take expertise and know how, which we also have. It will take some time, we have very little but we can make do. It will take serious cash, which we don't have. And lastly it will take thousands of active individuals, which we need many more.

How can you help:

1- Donate as much money as you can to help us battle this bill.

2- Pressure your friends and all you know to donate and join USA-ALL.

3- If you have any expertise or other ways to help, give us a call

4-Be ready to act when we ask. Calling legislators, writing letters, etc. Let us focus your efforts where they will be most effective.

I am sure many of you are sick of hearing us beg for money. Believe me I am sick of begging. But this really is a defining do or die moment. We can't fight multiple multi million dollar environmental organizations on guts and determination alone, in many ways thats what we have been doing. We also can't wait until the second before this bill goes to vote before the whole congress. We must fight it now. We need a serious injection of cash. we will use it judiciously and effectively. Your donations are also tax deductible. Is $50 too much to ask to donate, what about $100? Our annual membership is only $30. What is access to 9.4 million acres of Utah public land worth to you? What can you give? We appreciate every dollar donated.

About Our Organization
We were formed specifically to stop SUWA from closing land to motorized access. We have been established since 1998. We represent ALL forms of motorized access. We have a small fulltime staff and many volunteers. We rely soley on donations to operate.

Utah Shared Access Alliance

www.usaall.org

www.takebackutah.org

PO BOX 50592

Provo, Utah 84605-0592

Utah Shared Access Alliance

801-830-9112

In This Issue

What is Wilderness

Stop SUWA Express

[ZEUS]

Here is the expansive list of what we are in jeopardy of losing next month:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...1PvvaJ3:e19551:

[JAMAS]

Here is the expansive list of what we are in jeopardy of losing next month:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...1PvvaJ3:e19551:

"Please resubmit your search
Search results are only retained for a limited amount of time.Your search results have either been deleted, or the file has been updated with new information."

[pbkid]

justin, im lazy.... and i know you have read this probably like 5 times....


what do we have to do to 'protest' it??

im just not so interested in why they wanna close it.. i dont care why they wanna close it.... i just know i dont want them to close it...


so, just let me know where i have to sign (ya, emphasis on the lazy part)

[ZEUS]

"Please resubmit your search
Search results are only retained for a limited amount of time.Your search results have either been deleted, or the file has been updated with new information."

Hmm, weird. Try this one: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...1JaniGp:e19551:

or try this one http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquer...111search.html|

...and then click on "text of legislation"... then you can click on the area of interest.

[ZEUS]

justin, im lazy.... and i know you have read this probably like 5 times....


what do we have to do to 'protest' it??

im just not so interested in why they wanna close it.. i dont care why they wanna close it.... i just know i dont want them to close it...


so, just let me know where i have to sign (ya, emphasis on the lazy part)

As in the original post:

Here is the brutal truth about what needs to be done.

We need to get the word out about this to everyone and anyone who cares like all of us do. We need to send people to Washington to if possible testify in this committee hearing. We need to be able to tell our side of the story to anyone in congress who will listen. We need to unite and direct the energies and voices of tens of thousands of Utahans and other Americans.

To do these things will take serious commitment, which we have. It will take expertise and know how, which we also have. It will take some time, we have very little but we can make do. It will take serious cash, which we don't have. And lastly it will take thousands of active individuals, which we need many more.

How can you help:

1- Donate as much money as you can to help us battle this bill.

2- Pressure your friends and all you know to donate and join USA-ALL.

3- If you have any expertise or other ways to help, give us a call

4-Be ready to act when we ask. Calling legislators, writing letters, etc. Let us focus your efforts where they will be most effective.

I am sure many of you are sick of hearing us beg for money. Believe me I am sick of begging. But this really is a defining do or die moment. We can't fight multiple multi million dollar environmental organizations on guts and determination alone, in many ways thats what we have been doing. We also can't wait until the second before this bill goes to vote before the whole congress. We must fight it now. We need a serious injection of cash. we will use it judiciously and effectively. Your donations are also tax deductible. Is $50 too much to ask to donate, what about $100? Our annual membership is only $30. What is access to 9.4 million acres of Utah public land worth to you? What can you give? We appreciate every dollar donated.

[VX KAT]

Just a thought....I'd bet the "Jeep" lobby is HUGE and probably all over this! Hear anything?

[Triathlete]

This has also been posted over on Pirate, most of the other major 4x sites, Mt. bike sites and any thing else that uses the BLM system. The problem is is that the green groups who work to get the BLM land closed are very well organized and have very deep pockets. They dump a sh!^ load of $$$$ into getting their way. Just because there are a ton of jeeps and suvs on the road, probably 98% could care less for our cause since they never touch dirt. Everyones help is needed. Numbers talk. When elected officials get bombarded with upset (but proffesional) potentiel votes, it tends to get their attention. Todd spends a ton of time, along with several organizations that he belongs to, working on stuff like this and will hopefully chime in with his vast amounts of wisdom. Usually the Pirate guys will post up names of people to send letters to and often set up a pre-written letter to sign and send (not sure what they have going yet).

[Triathlete]

Another thing to consider...
Just because you don't off road your VX this can still affect you. If they close this land it will be closed to all...no camping, no hiking, no biking, no nothing. Basically the way I understand it is that anything that could be escewed as leaving a foot print is banned...so basically...no humans!

[vt_maverick]

A similar situation took place two years ago on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Ever since the invention of four wheel drive, people have been driving onto the beach to fish, camp, etc. In the offseason you can even keep driving until you find a 2-3 mile stretch of beach all to yourself. These activities (and the beautiful environment) draw tons of people every year, and serve as the primary revenue source for local businesses and governments.

In the spring, just before "the season" was about to start, two environmental groups sued the National Park Service to have vehicles banned from ALL the beaches in North Carolina (we're talking hundreds of miles here) because of the supposed detrimental effect it would have on the population of some endangered species that live in the area. Keep in mind that those species are just as heavily populated in the OBX today as they were when people started driving out there, but that's beside the point to those folks.

As you can imagine, local business owners, city and county governments, and even the state got involved to lobby against the environmental groups. My aunt works for the federal judge who heard the case, and after the first few days of arguments, he privately told her that the local groups had better come up with a good case, because the environmentalists had made a number of very good arguments. Same deal here as the groups in Utah - very well funded, good lawyers, great organization. But he very wisely refused to rule on the case until the two groups had spent at least a month trying to work it out themselves.

In the end I think they came to a very fair compromise. The environmental groups identified a number of specific locations that are known to be heavily populated by endangered wildlife, then combined that with annual migration and mating season schedules to determine where/when certain stretches of the beaches should be closed. There were a few areas that were permanently roped off, but most of the beaches only have an off-limits sign during a couple months a year. On the whole, a pretty good solution.

Have any of these 4x4 groups tried to work something out directly with the environmentalist groups? Those folks can be pretty militant sometimes and refuse to do anything outside of a courtroom, but you never know.

[vt_maverick]

Btw, you can't get too mad at these environmental groups when you post things like this on the internet for all to see.

I have to explain something going on in this pic:


Do you see how dark it is under the right rear tire? Well above that on the outside of the frame rail is the fuel tank, which is above the fuel cap in this shot! Gravity forced gas to start pouring out from the gas cap! There is at least 4 gallons of gas in that sand. was afraid of a fire starting so we had to winch it out and try again, then the 2nd attempt was smooth sailing. Nerve-racking though having to restart a stalled truck that has the exhaust cut before the rear axle and points directly at 4 gallons of gas!

[ZEUS]

Sure I can. Might as well ban freighters from using the ocean since they sometimes have a leak, right?

[vt_maverick]

Let me rephrase then - it doesn't help your cause and makes for great poster material at protests. (To use your example, ever see the protesters carrying around signs with pictures of the Exxon Valdez leak when protesting drilling?)

[pbkid]

however, at the same time VT....

he IS on a designated trail... where they restrict us to certain places. they only have room to complain when people beat up the 'natural' area of the trails that isnt supposed to be driven on.

regardless of vehicle. im sure many of these jack@$$e$ do things that are not the best. even if they drive a prius and recycle, they may be domestic abusers. (basically, they may think they are right about this ONE thing. but in their own daily life they do damage to something somewhere. everyone does)

[ZEUS]

Let me rephrase then - it doesn't help your cause and makes for great poster material at protests. (To use your example, ever see the protesters carrying around signs with pictures of the Exxon Valdez leak when protesting drilling?)

I hear ya, the problem is protesters use oil too. But seriously, I agree with what you are saying about my pic. Yet there are countless examples of vehicles pictured here and there that can be disguised as whatever someone wants that pic to portray. The pic you posted here doesn't tell the whole story even with my text glued to it... however a story could be made up by someone else very easily.