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Authorize the Off-Highway Vehicle Trails in
Brasher |
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Current News:
Post-meeting comment period open.
The 3/7/01 DEC Scoping Meeting was
well attended. Now is the time to follow up with written comments.
Last update
[What You Can Do] [Link to sample letter text] [Local Club Contact
E-mail]
About the Brasher
A Unit Management Plan
("UMP") for the 20,000 acre Brasher State Forest in extreme
northern New York is under development by the NY State Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) in cooperation with the public. Public input
from ATV users is necessary to ensure that the draft UMP contains authorization
of new and/or existing trails for ATVs and off-highway motorcycles. Ensuring
the final UMP retains the off-highway vehicle (OHV) trail proposal will be an
ongoing process and should be a priority for all OHV enthusiasts since this is
an excellent opportunity to get a trail system officially developed and
maintained on New York State's (your) public land.
Your participation in this process is
essential.
As has been demonstrated
time and again in recent years, anti-OHV groups have effectively stopped every
public land OHV trail proposal from becoming a reality. We can stop the
opposition from winning again by participating in the UMP process, advising our
politicians that OHV enthusiasts have been shut out of state lands for too long,
and standing up for our rights as residents and taxpayers. At the same time we must
recognize that there are legitimate environmental concerns that need to be
addressed as part of any trail proposal, and simply attacking opponents and
their concerns is not constructive; in fact it is harmful to our cause. Also
keep in mind that Brasher UMP is especially important as it represents an
opportunity to show that by working together, the DEC and OHV enthusiasts can
achieve positive results, making it more likely that sustainable ATV trails can
be constructed in other regions of the state.
Here's what's going on: A
"Unit Management Plan" is part of the official process the DEC uses
to designate acceptable activities on parcels of state land, including
recreational activities. The UMP process is open to the public in meetings and
by written comment. DEC held its initial public meeting on March 7, 2001, at
which over 250 citizens attended and participated. Subsequent to this meeting a
draft UMP will be prepared, and after its release another round of public
comments will be accepted. Even though some of the ATV routes in Brasher are
currently established and supported by local residents, we can count on some
measure of opposition. And if we don't ask that these trails be part of the
UMP, we may well lose them, to the great satisfaction of the anti-OHV groups.
Here's
what we all need to do:
·
Now, and again when the Draft Plan is released, submit your written
comments regarding
the Brasher UMP. State that you are strongly in favor of ATV trails in this
unit. The DEC will be looking for short, informed, sensible commentary. (Basic sample text is provided below if you are not sure what to
write.)
Send
your positive comments to:
Mike Perry, UMP
Team Leader
NYSDEC,
FAX (315) 265-2513
Or e-mail r6ump@gw.dec.state.ny.us.
(Phone
315-265-3090)
·
Advise your State Assembly Member and Senator so that your views can shape their
position on Brasher SF. Please encourage them to help you fight to ensure that
ATV trails are included in the UMP by asking them to send an affirmative
statement of support to Mike Perry. (Brasher SF doesn't have to be in your
district for your representative to have influence over the outcome.) To look
up your State Senator and Assembly Member on the Internet using your zip/zip+4
postal code, go to Project Vote Smart. For those without Internet access,
your Town Clerk or possibly the post office can give out the names of the State
Senator and Assembly Member for your area. The main switchboard numbers for the
Legislature are 518-455-2800 for the Senate, and 518-455-4100 for the Assembly.
Remember, this is an
excellent opportunity to get some legal trails on state land. We need to see
trails approved for Brasher SF so that we have a legal place to ride and, just
as important, to demonstrate that maintaining OHV trails on state land is
consistent with the state's interest in serving it's residents and wisely
managing the public's resources. Please do your part to ensure the UMP contains
an OHV trail proposal by speaking out!
Also, please pass this page
or link on to as many people as possible, and check back on it from time to
time for updates on the effort for getting ATV trails designated in
If you need more
information from the user perspective or would like to help the lead OHV club which
is participating in the UMP process on behalf of riders, please contact Warren
Irwin of Tri-Town ATV Club at sundog@slic.com.
Thank you for your help in
this matter.
Sample E-mail Text for
the DEC UMP Team Leader:
Select and copy the text (CTRL+C),
click on the e-mail link, past into the body of the message (CTRL+V), and
complete your personal information. Be sure to give your message a subject that
identifies your position such as "In support of ATV trails in Brasher
UMP."
UMP Teal Leader: r6ump@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Dear Forester Perry,
I respectfully request that DEC include
in its unit management plan (UMP) for
Please see to it that DEC's draft and final UMP documents contain ATV trail proposals so that the trails can be designated as soon as is practical. Doing so will be a good regional accommodation and the first real response to the many requests by New York's more than a quarter-million ATV riders for a properly designed and maintained trail system dedicated to this use. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Phone
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