Are you sick of closed roads and trails? Are you tired of excessive government restrictions on how, when, and where you can use a vehicle on public land? Here’s your chance to do something about it.
If you are reading this letter, please consider yourself officially invited to our annual rally at the Utah State Capitol. Please help us by distributing this letter invitation at local clubs, businesses, and other establishments where others will see it. As you distribute this letter, take a few minutes to visit with individuals and business owners that support our cause; encourage them to spread the word about the upcoming rally. We hope to see this letter posted in hundreds of businesses, mailed, e-mailed (use the forward link at the bottom of this page), faxed, and hand delivered to thousands of Utahans over the next few days.
This year’s rally will be held at the Capitol Building Rotunda on February 6, 2009. The rally will occur between 12 and 1 P.M. We hope you will bring friends, co-workers, and family. In addition, feel free to make and bring signs that voice your opinion regarding access to our land. Each year we hold this event to give and encourage Utah citizens and businesses the opportunity to unite their voices with others who are concerned with the management of and access to public lands in our beautiful state. A strong showing helps USA-ALL gain additional political capital, which is much needed when we debate and become involved in government related matters.
Our mission is to improve motorized access to public land. USA-ALL strategically scheduled the rally to capitalize on Utah’s general legislative session that will be in full swing. Throughout the legislative session USA-ALL works aggressively on behalf of its members, incessantly advocating their interests to state legislators and other state officials.
We believe that although much of the land we are concerned with is federally managed, opportunity abounds for local and state governments to assist us in our effort to keep public land open. In conjunction with federal issues, a number of state bills are passed each year directly affecting the public’s ability to access public land.
In the past we have both successfully advocated the passing of beneficial legislation and defeated potentially harmful bills. We successfully advocated a bill that created a financial fund dedicated to organizations fighting to protect motorized access to public land through the placement of a voluntary donation check off box on all Utah motor vehicle registration forms. In addition, we successfully promoted a bill that will give the public the option of licensing their ATV for legal street operation in rural parts of the state. Finally, we defeated a bill that would have required excessive and unrealistic accident reporting requirements for all OHV’s.
We are aware of a proposed bill in the upcoming legislative session that may be very harmful to our members. The bill intends to harshly punish those who illegally use any vehicle on public land. We agree that illegal use is a problem that must be addressed, but this particular bill goes about it in a way that may harm innocent people, and potentially jeopardize state and county claims of disputed roads across federally managed land. We need to immerse ourselves in this debate to ensure that the bill only punishes the “bad apples” and maintains the strength of county claims on disputed roads. If you would like to know more about this and other bills go to our website (www.usaall.org) and join our free e-mail list. You can also follow our actions during the session by going to our blog page ( www.usaall.blogspot.com ).
USA-ALL has established itself as a powerful player on Utah’s Capitol Hill and we hope to continue our work there. Our future has much promise, but hard times threaten our very existence. This past year has been financially difficult for all businesses, particularly those in the non-profit sector. USA-ALL is hanging on, but we need your help. What would the world look like without USA-ALL? Undoubtedly, there would be less access to land in Utah and more excessive restrictions for those who use vehicles on public land. What can you do to help ensure our continued success? As always there are two main things that we need: support and donations.
We need people to show up and support USA-ALL and the rally. We MUST have, at a minimum, a few hundred people there to show legislators that we are serious about these issues. Last year we had approximately twenty-five individuals make it to the rally. We cannot allow that to happen again if we wish to remain a credible force on Utah’s Capitol Hill.
Donations perpetuate our existence. Unfortunately this is something we always need. We have many wonderful volunteers, but in order to become more successful USA-ALL has employed a full time employee and intends on hiring more. We also have the usual office expenses, legal bills, etc. We use donations VERY efficiently, but fighting these battles is extremely expensive. Many small donations go a long way. If everyone donates a little we’ll be more effective.
You can donate with a card or checking account at our website. You can also send donations using any payment method along with your contact info to USA-ALL, PO Box 50592 Provo, UT. 84605.
You have the opportunity to help us with one or both of these needs. Please do all that you can to encourage others to give a little time and money to a cause that gives directly back to you and thousands of others. Help us protect responsible motorized access to public land. Help us protect our heritage and historical access to special places in our state.
If you are reading this letter, please consider yourself officially invited to our annual rally at the Utah State Capitol. Please help us by distributing this letter invitation at local clubs, businesses, and other establishments where others will see it. As you distribute this letter, take a few minutes to visit with individuals and business owners that support our cause; encourage them to spread the word about the upcoming rally. We hope to see this letter posted in hundreds of businesses, mailed, e-mailed (use the forward link at the bottom of this page), faxed, and hand delivered to thousands of Utahans over the next few days.
This year’s rally will be held at the Capitol Building Rotunda on February 6, 2009. The rally will occur between 12 and 1 P.M. We hope you will bring friends, co-workers, and family. In addition, feel free to make and bring signs that voice your opinion regarding access to our land. Each year we hold this event to give and encourage Utah citizens and businesses the opportunity to unite their voices with others who are concerned with the management of and access to public lands in our beautiful state. A strong showing helps USA-ALL gain additional political capital, which is much needed when we debate and become involved in government related matters.
Our mission is to improve motorized access to public land. USA-ALL strategically scheduled the rally to capitalize on Utah’s general legislative session that will be in full swing. Throughout the legislative session USA-ALL works aggressively on behalf of its members, incessantly advocating their interests to state legislators and other state officials.
We believe that although much of the land we are concerned with is federally managed, opportunity abounds for local and state governments to assist us in our effort to keep public land open. In conjunction with federal issues, a number of state bills are passed each year directly affecting the public’s ability to access public land.
In the past we have both successfully advocated the passing of beneficial legislation and defeated potentially harmful bills. We successfully advocated a bill that created a financial fund dedicated to organizations fighting to protect motorized access to public land through the placement of a voluntary donation check off box on all Utah motor vehicle registration forms. In addition, we successfully promoted a bill that will give the public the option of licensing their ATV for legal street operation in rural parts of the state. Finally, we defeated a bill that would have required excessive and unrealistic accident reporting requirements for all OHV’s.
We are aware of a proposed bill in the upcoming legislative session that may be very harmful to our members. The bill intends to harshly punish those who illegally use any vehicle on public land. We agree that illegal use is a problem that must be addressed, but this particular bill goes about it in a way that may harm innocent people, and potentially jeopardize state and county claims of disputed roads across federally managed land. We need to immerse ourselves in this debate to ensure that the bill only punishes the “bad apples” and maintains the strength of county claims on disputed roads. If you would like to know more about this and other bills go to our website (www.usaall.org) and join our free e-mail list. You can also follow our actions during the session by going to our blog page ( www.usaall.blogspot.com ).
USA-ALL has established itself as a powerful player on Utah’s Capitol Hill and we hope to continue our work there. Our future has much promise, but hard times threaten our very existence. This past year has been financially difficult for all businesses, particularly those in the non-profit sector. USA-ALL is hanging on, but we need your help. What would the world look like without USA-ALL? Undoubtedly, there would be less access to land in Utah and more excessive restrictions for those who use vehicles on public land. What can you do to help ensure our continued success? As always there are two main things that we need: support and donations.
We need people to show up and support USA-ALL and the rally. We MUST have, at a minimum, a few hundred people there to show legislators that we are serious about these issues. Last year we had approximately twenty-five individuals make it to the rally. We cannot allow that to happen again if we wish to remain a credible force on Utah’s Capitol Hill.
Donations perpetuate our existence. Unfortunately this is something we always need. We have many wonderful volunteers, but in order to become more successful USA-ALL has employed a full time employee and intends on hiring more. We also have the usual office expenses, legal bills, etc. We use donations VERY efficiently, but fighting these battles is extremely expensive. Many small donations go a long way. If everyone donates a little we’ll be more effective.
You can donate with a card or checking account at our website. You can also send donations using any payment method along with your contact info to USA-ALL, PO Box 50592 Provo, UT. 84605.
You have the opportunity to help us with one or both of these needs. Please do all that you can to encourage others to give a little time and money to a cause that gives directly back to you and thousands of others. Help us protect responsible motorized access to public land. Help us protect our heritage and historical access to special places in our state.
We hope to see you and hundreds of others there.
Sincerely,
Michael Swenson, Utah Shared Access Alliance
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