SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: A Utah recreation spokesman charges Utah Wilderness
advocates with inciting violence. "An Associated Press story that is making
the media circuit is just one more illustration of how far the green advocacy
groups will go to get their way," says BlueRibbon Coalition Vice President
Dean Richardson of Salt Lake City. The article, by Associated Press writer Greg Beacham, is
about the debate over recreation access in the west. Southern Utah
Wilderness Alliance attorney Heidi MacIntosh is quoted saying "It's going
to be a fight to the death." Richardson charges that "irresponsible
statements like MacIntosh's should not be taken lightly." Convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski allegedly took his
target list from an Earth First publication. The EnviroLink Website (at http://host.envirolink.org/)
encourages people to kill themselves to save the earth on the Church of
Euthanasia link. "It's time to quit calling these green
advocacy groups environmentalists," says Richardson, a rock
hound and volunteer leader of the BlueRibbon Coalition. "Their
plan for locking up millions of acres in Utah is just plain selfish. While back
country recreationists are working together to enhance our recreation
opportunities, these extremists are pushing to eliminate everyone else's
access but their own. They promote hatred for those who make a living from the
earth. They even attack recreation interests they disapprove of. They have
evolved into nothing more than 'hate groups.' It's time that we recognize them
for what they are." Wilderness advocates often use the argument that
recreation and tourism will replace the resource industries that they despise.
Another green spokesman exposes their deception. Fund
for Animals spokesman Andrea Lococo made it
clear they hate tourism too when she was quoted in the July 15,
1998, JACKSON GUIDE newspaper referring to Yellowstone Park gateway cities as "parasite
communities." Green advocacy groups have also viciously attacked the
recently reauthorized Recreational Trails Program, that will provide over
$430,000 for trail improvements in the state of Utah for fiscal year 1998. The
Washington D.C. based Friends
of the Earth called this program "Trails
of Destruction" in a recently
released anti-recreation report. They charge that this federal trails
program, funded by off highway vehicle fuel taxes, provides a disproportionate
percentage of its funds for motorized trails. "A minimum of 30% of these
funds are required to be used on non-motorized trails," counters
Richardson. "The BlueRibbon Coalition has been a major advocate for this
program, providing $270 million for trail improvements nationwide over the next
six years, and we've been willing to share. The majority of the funding will be
used to correct environmental problems and maintain existing trails, yet these
so-called environmentalists oppose it. We are the real environmentalists in my
view." "It should be clear that these extremist
groups will settle for nothing less than the elimination of all human use of all
our back country areas," Richardson continued. "The
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is pushing for Wilderness designation
of virtually all the scenic recreation areas in Utah. Their 5.7 million acre
proposal has recently been expanded to over 8 million acres. They are intent on
denying access to the majority of back country users for their chosen form
of recreation. MacIntosh is apparently saying that SUWA is
willing to 'fight to the death' on this issue. I think that is pretty
extreme!" At an International Mountain Bicycle Association (IMBA)
April 25th Board meeting in Park City, Utah, SUWA, The Wilderness
Society, Sierra Club and other green advocacy groups in the Utah
Wilderness Coalition attempted to convince the IMBA Board to support their
Wilderness plans for Utah. IMBA leaders asked these Wilderness advocates if they
would support allowing mountain bikes in designated Wilderness.
Every one of the representatives of these groups made it clear that their
organizations could not support allowing this rapidly growing recreation group
into the Wilderness. BlueRibbon Coalition Executive Director Clark Collins was
asked by IMBA to represent the other viewpoint at this historic Wilderness
debate. "These mountain bike leaders were very interested in our proposal
for a 'BACK COUNTRY RECREATION AREA' alternative to Wilderness," said
Collins. "Mountain bikers are likely the fastest growing trail user group
in the country. They are finding themselves increasingly at odds with green
advocacy groups over Wilderness designation of back country areas they are just
beginning to explore. Equestrian trail users are also finding their use
threatened in designated Wilderness areas. Wilderness designation is not user
friendly!" International Mountain Bicycle Association leaders,
understandably, couldn't support a precedent setting proposal of the magnitude
being pushed by the Utah Wilderness Coalition. "They
realized that even if they support the concept of setting aside Wilderness
areas, where mountain bikers and other recreationists aren't allowed, supporting
locking up this much land in Utah could jeopardize their protection of mountain
bike access in other areas," said Collins. Collins asked the Wilderness advocates at the IMBA
meeting if they would be willing to consider a more reasonable alternative to
Wilderness that would accommodate a range of recreation interests. "Their
answer was a flat NO!" said
Collins. "They are
unwilling to consider cooperating with back country recreationists until they
get all the Wilderness they can." "It's time to stop giving in to green advocacy group
demands," says BlueRibbon spokesman Collins. "It's time to realize
that these selfish extremists will not consider anything but their own 'anti
human use' agenda. They won't be willing to compromise until the media and our
political representatives stop calling them environmentalists and stop catering
to their selfish demands. They are not environmentalists! They are nothing more
than "Hate Groups!!!" The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national grassroots advocacy
group that champions responsible multiple-use recreation on public lands. It
represents over 550 organizations and businesses with 600,000 members.
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