Bush admin decides to keep the Roadless Initiative

Guys, we are going to have to prod our riding buddies into supporting these efforts or there will only be a handful of us trying to make our opinion heard.I am a FORMER member of the Sierra Club and I can tell you their methods that are effective are iniated by a small group of their membership that makes sure the (less comitted) general membership gets off their ass and calls, writes and votes on the issues they have chosen to campaign.
I tell my friends: "If you don't become active in this issue, you may as well send in your membership to the Eco Fanatics and sell your bike. It will not go away by just ignoring it!!" Anyway, it just takes a small amount of effort to involve our friends, we CAN make a huge difference reguardles of the political party that has possession of the White House. It is sad we even have to fight for such an obvious infringement of our personal freedom but we do.:cool:

mtngoat, you did a fine job fitting all that in one nutshell. :)

Local control in my part of the world is an advantage.

Between the Ranchers, Loggers and Oil Field workers we are pretty secure in the knowledge that we can make the right decisions.

Mudshark,
Kind of like some people not voting, a non vote can be a vote for the other side.:(

Like I said before...

My local National Forest office is currently working with my club to develop ORV trails in our National Forest Area.
We have been trying to find riding area in our local area, but most of the available land is either State owned, Federal Forest, or owned by large (paper) companies. The state land is mostly land that is undesireable (swamp) that went back to the state for nonpayment of taxes. The corporations that have large land holdings are concerned with liability and damage to the timber they need to make their paper (note importance of SPARK ARRESTERS!). With Clinton's Roadless Initiative, we really thought we'd meet yet another brick wall with the Forest Service.
After meeting with the local Forest Service Recreation Director, we learned that they were actually HAPPY that a group approached them. It is their preference to work in cooperation with organizations that wish to accomplish something in order to make changes to how the Forest is operated. We currently are meeting with them to develop plans as to how to best develop trails that will be beneficial to individuals that wish to recreate in our Forest area using Off Road Vehicles. Alas, nothing moves very fast when dealing with bureaucrats....