“Sportsmen” bill working through congress would allow ATVs in Wilderness

ATVsComing to Your Favorite Wilderness Area

May 29, 2012

The misleadingly-named “Sportsmen’s Heritage Act” has wilderness-busting
provisions that could be coming to any and all of America’s wilderness
areas.

“It’s possibly the biggest threat to this nation’s wilderness areas since
the Wilderness Act was passed in 1964,” says Tom Martin, Co-Director of
River Runners for Wilderness, “even long time wilderness defenders who
thought they’d seen it all are shocked.”

HR4089 is a combination of 4 previous bills. Although there are many
debatable elements, the worst allows what were previously illegal activities
to now occur in all areas managed as wilderness under the National Park
Service, the Forest Service, and all of the nation’s Federal land agencies.

Among activities that could be allowed are ATV use, new road construction,
mining, logging and the construction of fixed structures. In fact, the most
dangerous element of this bill is that it gives managers a blank check to
allow any activities they construe as beneficial to sportsmen.

The bill has passed the House of Representatives and a Senate Companion Bill
S2066 has been introduced with supporters such as the National Rifle
Association and sports industry groups urging a quick passage.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), a branch of the Library of
Congress that provides in depth analysis to members of Congress and others,
outlined the threats in a recent review of the proposal. The CRS noted that
the bill’s “..language could be construed as opening wilderness areas to
virtually any activity related to hunting and fishing, even if otherwise
inconsistent with wilderness values. Despite the Wilderness Act’s explicit
ban on temporary and permanent roads, if H.R. 4089 were passed, roads
arguably could be constructed in wilderness areas.”

The report also noted that “.while it appears that timber harvest could be
allowed, it would seem difficult to harvest timber without roads or
machines.”

The entire CRS’ brief (4 page) memo is on the River Runners for Wilderness
website at http://rrfw.org/sites/default/files/CRSreport.pdf

The wilderness destroying language in this bill could easily be omitted
before final passage and we urge you to take action to insist that this is
done:

Contact your state’s Senators and ask that they not support S2066 and to
protect all provisions of The Wilderness Act.

You are also encouraged to contact lobbying supporters of HR4089 & S2066,
such as the National Rifle Association at their website, particularly if you
are a member: https://www.nraila.org/secure/contact-us.aspx and let them
know that you support the Wilderness Act as written.

You are also encouraged to write a letter to the editor of your local
newspaper. National media has largely ignored these bills and you could be
instrumental in raising awareness of the threat.

To learn more about the threats posed by this legislation, visit:
Wilderness Watch’s analysis:
http://www.wildernesswatch.org/pdf/HR%204089%20Analysis–WW.pdf.
Other advocacy group sites:
http://wilderness.org/content/sneak-attack-wilderness and
http://conservationlands.org/time-to-stop-hr-4089-in-its-tracks.

Surveys show that wilderness enjoys very broad support by our country’s
citizens and should be protected. River Runners for Wilderness will keep you
apprised of this looming disaster for our country’s precious wilderness
lands.

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