Industry News

Forest Services want to close Tellico to OHVs

BRC CRITICAL ACTION ALERT
THEY WANT TO CLOSE TELLICO!
You MUST take action to Rescue Tellico NOW! The Forest Service has told us what they want to do and it is incumbent on the OHV community to change their mind.
Background:
On Friday, February 27, the USDA Forest Service rolled out the draft Environmental Assessment for the Upper Tellico OHV trail system. The OHV community has been extremely dismayed to learn that while there are six alternatives the Forest Service is considering, the Forest Supervisor, Marisue Hilliard, made it very clear that her preferred alternative is to CLOSE TELLICO. While we know that this is completely unacceptable and will cause immediate and intense emotional reaction, we are asking that everyone maintain a level head and concentrate on what our task is now.
In addition, the USFS Forest Supervisor issued a TEMPORARY CLOSURE ORDER that will keep Tellico closed until they decide what the fate of the area will be. This means that if the temporary closure order stands, TELLICO WILL NOT REOPEN ON APRIL 1ST!
What we are doing about it:
The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), Southern Four Wheel Drive Association (SFWDA), and the United Four Wheel Drive Associations (UFWDA) have teamed up to fight this and we are working as aggressively as we can to get you the right information. We have spent the last week “scrubbing” through the draft EA and developing a plan and now WE NEED YOUR HELP AND HERE IS HOW YOU CAN BE MOST HELPFUL:
STEP 1: The week of March 9th, THIS WEEK, we need you to call, write or, even better, visit your congressman, senator, state and local representatives. They need to know you feel angry, hurt and betrayed by the Forest Service. They need to know that the Forest Service is going to affect jobs and the economy in this difficult time. They need to know the real science and that the water is not bad. See the sample letter below for talking points. Feel free to copy and paste the letter, but be sure to personalize it with a short paragraph on why Tellico is important-what it represents to the OHV community and to you. Help your representatives understand how important Tellico is.
Please forward any positive or negative reactions you get to Jay Bird at jay.bird@sfwda.org. We want to know who our friends are and follow through with them.
STEP 2: Beginning the week of March 16th, BRC, SFWDA, and UFWDA will have a letter generator up with comments you can make to the Forest Service about the EA. If you have already made comments, make some more. Each time you find out some new information, send it to the Forest Service. We need letters. We are currently refining our comment bullet points and will send out and post more information to help with your letters as we complete that process. But don’t let that stop you from doing background preparation and comments yourself. WE NEED to have as much enthusiast involvement as we possibly can muster from the OHV community.
BRC and UFWDA will be following through for us in Washington DC, working from the top down. They will meet with the Forest Service as well as other national organizations and some of those friendly representatives.
Please read the Forest Service documents on their website at: http://www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc/nepa/tusquitee/tellico.htm
Then take the time to review the independent scientific study SFWDA had commissioned at: http://www.sfwda.org/trails/tellico/study09/.
If you see anything in the EA or Caliper report, or you have information that you want to make sure we don’t overlook, please notify Heather Royston at Heather.Royston@sfwda.org
We each need to do our part to RESCUE TELLICO and YOUR INVOLVEMENT IS CRITICAL!
Thank you for your help!
SFWDA, UFWDA, and BRC

www.utvguide.net

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