WASHINGTON, DC (June 22) — A spokesman for the BlueRibbon Coalition, a national trail-based recreation group, is testifying today at a hearing held by the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands. The hearing will be at the 1324 Longworth House Office Building at 10 a.m.
In 2002, Dirt Rider Magazine listed the Clear Creek Management Area (CCMA) as one of the top 10 OHV recreation sites in the country. This popular off-road area was closed by an emergency closure order issued by the Bureau of Land Management in May of 2008. The unit remains closed to all publics. While the closure only “technically” closed 33,000 acres, it functionally closed 75,000 acres, since practically all route networks originate in the closure area.
Don Amador, Western Representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition, states, “I believe the Hollister Field Office, with the Environmental Protection Agency as an accomplice, has failed to fulfill its congressional multiple-use mandate via its current effort to use junk science and personal agendas in an ongoing scheme to close public lands and create de facto Wilderness at CCMA without Congressional approval or direction.”
“I believe that Congress must intervene and help the public get answers to the many unanswered questions regarding the bizarre and historic closure of CCMA to all human uses and the ongoing decision-making process surrounding the May 2008 emergency closure,” Amador concludes.