SAFARI
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This alert is brought to you by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
425 E. 100 S., Salt Lake City, UT 84111, 801-486-3161, www.suwa.org
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TAKE ACTION NOW!
BLM SET TO ISSUE BAD JEEP SAFARI PERMIT
The Moab BLM has released its Environmental Assessment (EA) for the issuance of a 5-year permit for the Easter Jeep Safari and other off-road vehicle (ORV) events. Unfortunately, it appears that BLM will soon issue a decision that will include ORV routes or route segments which are located in areas that are being damaged by - and that are entirely inappropriate for - ORV use. We hope you can write a letter today urging BLM to act prudently to protect a few of the area's outstanding resources, rather than continuing to allow particular areas to be ravaged by ORV use See below for details and address information.
WHAT IS THE JEEP SAFARI?
The Moab Jeep Safari is a 9-day event that draws thousands upon thousands of jeep, rock crawler, and highly-modified truck operators to the world-famous redrock canyons surrounding Moab where they drive their machines up rock ledges, over trees, through crystal clear creeks, across sensitive soil crusts, and over just about any natural obstacle that looks challenging. The Moab Jeep Safari, now into it's 4th decade, was southern Utah's original off-road vehicle (ORV) event and has spawned dozens of other similar events on Utah's public lands. Although the Redrock 4-Wheelers, the local organization that sponsors the event, claim that the "official" participants are not doing much of the damage that occurs on public lands during this 9-day event, the fact that there are thousands of "unofficial" participants that converge on the Moab area during the event and tag along on all of the routes cannot be seen as mere coincidence. There is no doubt that the Jeep Safari event is responsible for drawing the jeeps and rock crawlers to the area, and there can be little argument that damages to the public lands, some of which are proposed for wilderness designation, are a result of the event - either directly or indirectly.
BLM DEFENDS THE EVENT, RATHER THAN THE RESOURCES
Bowing to pressure by the Redrock 4-Wheelers, the BLM is proposing to not only authorize the use of past Jeep Safari routes, but it will allow NEW trails to be opened up to the unmitigated chaos that Jeep Safari brings to SE Utah's canyon country. In particular, the BLM is poised to approve NEW Jeep Safari routes in Arch Canyon (on world-renown, culturally-rich Cedar Mesa) and Nokai Dome proposed wilderness areas, as well as previously-used Jeep Safari routes in Behind the Rocks, Goldbar Canyon, Labyrinth Canyon, Duma Point and other proposed wilderness areas.
The floor of Arch Canyon is strewn with remnants of the Anasazi culture that thrived beside the perennial stream that continues to flow through the canyon. Incredibly, the route the Jeep Safari participants will drive crosses in and out of this stream 59 times, for a total of 118 times for each vehicle's round trip up and back through the canyon.
Another route has vehicles driving through Mill Creek, the clear, cold creek that rushes down from the LaSal Mountains and is a favorite place for locals and visitors, alike. Yet another route will put these loud and polluting vehicles in the Green River corridor as it flows through Labyrinth Canyon.
Worried about the negative PR that the event has generated in the past few years, the Redrock 4-Wheelers have been busy trying to garner community support for their permit. Redrock 4-Wheelers have publicly stated that the ONLY alternative acceptable to them is Alternative A - the approval of EVERY route, nothing less!
YOUR LETTERS CAN HELP.
SUWA submitted an alternative proposal to BLM that would remove less than 10% of the total miles from the Jeep Safari permit, in order to protect the most sensitive resources. In particular, SUWA requested that the newly-proposed route up Arch Canyon and the nearby Hotel Rock route be prohibited, and that several short segments and spurs in sensitive areas be omitted from the permit. BLM did not analyze SUWA's proposal. The BLM's EA includes an alternative -- Alternative B -- that, while not as protective as SUWA's proposal, is better than the Proposed Action.
Although BLM has all but said it will issue a decision that will approve 630 miles of routes on public lands so that the Jeep Safari and other organized events can use these routes for the next 5 years, there's still a chance BLM can be convinced to do its job and protect some of southeastern Utah's most spectacular natural resources, rather than let them be ravaged indiscriminately by motor vehicles.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Please take a moment to mail or FAX a letter to the Moab BLM Manager, Maggie Wyatt, and request that she protect the resources that she manages for all citizens, by:
* choosing Alternative B. Fully analyzing SUWA's alternative would be even better, but Alternative B is, nevertheless, better than the Proposed Alternative
* issuing a 1-year permit, rather than a 5-year permit for the Jeep Safari, as a 5-year Jeep Safari permit would essentially preclude BLM from considering route designation alternatives in the on-going Resource Management Plan revision (the agency's long-term management plan) that would conflict with the 5-year permit.
If you've been to Moab during the Jeep Safari event or witnessed the aftermath of the event in the canyons around Moab, please include your stories in your letter to the BLM
DEADLINE
Please MAIL or FAX your letters (Moab BLM has said that it will not accept emails) by Monday, October 31 to:
BLM
Maggie Wyatt, Manager
Moab Field Office
82 East Dogwood
Moab, UT 84532
FAX: 435.259.2106
Let's make BLM's FAX machine work over-time!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT!
=============================================================
This alert is brought to you by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
425 E. 100 S., Salt Lake City, UT 84111, 801-486-3161, www.suwa.org
=============================================================
TAKE ACTION NOW!
BLM SET TO ISSUE BAD JEEP SAFARI PERMIT
The Moab BLM has released its Environmental Assessment (EA) for the issuance of a 5-year permit for the Easter Jeep Safari and other off-road vehicle (ORV) events. Unfortunately, it appears that BLM will soon issue a decision that will include ORV routes or route segments which are located in areas that are being damaged by - and that are entirely inappropriate for - ORV use. We hope you can write a letter today urging BLM to act prudently to protect a few of the area's outstanding resources, rather than continuing to allow particular areas to be ravaged by ORV use See below for details and address information.
WHAT IS THE JEEP SAFARI?
The Moab Jeep Safari is a 9-day event that draws thousands upon thousands of jeep, rock crawler, and highly-modified truck operators to the world-famous redrock canyons surrounding Moab where they drive their machines up rock ledges, over trees, through crystal clear creeks, across sensitive soil crusts, and over just about any natural obstacle that looks challenging. The Moab Jeep Safari, now into it's 4th decade, was southern Utah's original off-road vehicle (ORV) event and has spawned dozens of other similar events on Utah's public lands. Although the Redrock 4-Wheelers, the local organization that sponsors the event, claim that the "official" participants are not doing much of the damage that occurs on public lands during this 9-day event, the fact that there are thousands of "unofficial" participants that converge on the Moab area during the event and tag along on all of the routes cannot be seen as mere coincidence. There is no doubt that the Jeep Safari event is responsible for drawing the jeeps and rock crawlers to the area, and there can be little argument that damages to the public lands, some of which are proposed for wilderness designation, are a result of the event - either directly or indirectly.
BLM DEFENDS THE EVENT, RATHER THAN THE RESOURCES
Bowing to pressure by the Redrock 4-Wheelers, the BLM is proposing to not only authorize the use of past Jeep Safari routes, but it will allow NEW trails to be opened up to the unmitigated chaos that Jeep Safari brings to SE Utah's canyon country. In particular, the BLM is poised to approve NEW Jeep Safari routes in Arch Canyon (on world-renown, culturally-rich Cedar Mesa) and Nokai Dome proposed wilderness areas, as well as previously-used Jeep Safari routes in Behind the Rocks, Goldbar Canyon, Labyrinth Canyon, Duma Point and other proposed wilderness areas.
The floor of Arch Canyon is strewn with remnants of the Anasazi culture that thrived beside the perennial stream that continues to flow through the canyon. Incredibly, the route the Jeep Safari participants will drive crosses in and out of this stream 59 times, for a total of 118 times for each vehicle's round trip up and back through the canyon.
Another route has vehicles driving through Mill Creek, the clear, cold creek that rushes down from the LaSal Mountains and is a favorite place for locals and visitors, alike. Yet another route will put these loud and polluting vehicles in the Green River corridor as it flows through Labyrinth Canyon.
Worried about the negative PR that the event has generated in the past few years, the Redrock 4-Wheelers have been busy trying to garner community support for their permit. Redrock 4-Wheelers have publicly stated that the ONLY alternative acceptable to them is Alternative A - the approval of EVERY route, nothing less!
YOUR LETTERS CAN HELP.
SUWA submitted an alternative proposal to BLM that would remove less than 10% of the total miles from the Jeep Safari permit, in order to protect the most sensitive resources. In particular, SUWA requested that the newly-proposed route up Arch Canyon and the nearby Hotel Rock route be prohibited, and that several short segments and spurs in sensitive areas be omitted from the permit. BLM did not analyze SUWA's proposal. The BLM's EA includes an alternative -- Alternative B -- that, while not as protective as SUWA's proposal, is better than the Proposed Action.
Although BLM has all but said it will issue a decision that will approve 630 miles of routes on public lands so that the Jeep Safari and other organized events can use these routes for the next 5 years, there's still a chance BLM can be convinced to do its job and protect some of southeastern Utah's most spectacular natural resources, rather than let them be ravaged indiscriminately by motor vehicles.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Please take a moment to mail or FAX a letter to the Moab BLM Manager, Maggie Wyatt, and request that she protect the resources that she manages for all citizens, by:
* choosing Alternative B. Fully analyzing SUWA's alternative would be even better, but Alternative B is, nevertheless, better than the Proposed Alternative
* issuing a 1-year permit, rather than a 5-year permit for the Jeep Safari, as a 5-year Jeep Safari permit would essentially preclude BLM from considering route designation alternatives in the on-going Resource Management Plan revision (the agency's long-term management plan) that would conflict with the 5-year permit.
If you've been to Moab during the Jeep Safari event or witnessed the aftermath of the event in the canyons around Moab, please include your stories in your letter to the BLM
DEADLINE
Please MAIL or FAX your letters (Moab BLM has said that it will not accept emails) by Monday, October 31 to:
BLM
Maggie Wyatt, Manager
Moab Field Office
82 East Dogwood
Moab, UT 84532
FAX: 435.259.2106
Let's make BLM's FAX machine work over-time!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT!