Posted on 11/02/2007 4:57:55 PM PDT by george76
Nick Dole has set up a hunting camp in the same area of the Lewis and Clark National Forest every year since 1982 and stayed there for up to five weeks at a time, so it bothers him that the U.S. Forest Service stands to break his tradition by enforcing a 16-day limit on camping.
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., also finds the decision disturbing and wants the regional head of the Forest Service to intervene.
"Our personal camp has been -- what, a 20-some-year situation -- and they want to change it," Dole said Monday from the camp he and friends use as a base for hunting deer and elk in the Little Belt Mountains east of Helena. The site is an undeveloped piece of ground with no toilet and not even a fire ring, but the road access is good.
That's OK this year, but it won't be in 2008, the Forest Service says.
Starting next year, the agency no longer will waive a 16-day limit on camping. People who wish to dwell in the forest longer must move to a different place, at least five air miles away, the Forest Service said.
Dave Cunningham, public affairs officer for the Lewis and Clark forest...said he knows of no formal complaints about extended stays, but Forest Service officials had heard comments that people settled in for too long.
"We got the sense that some people thought they were being denied opportunities" to camp in places they liked, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at casperstartribune.net ...
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Dole said he contacted Rehberg after finding that the best way to communicate with the Forest Service “is to go above them and let it trickle back down.”
The land of no use.
The eco-nuts have taken over the forest service, BLM, NPS...to ban all human activity.
No hiking, no camping...
THAT is their goal!
Maybe someone has,
I can think of potential problems with someone camping indefinately at one spot. I have heard of other parks have a two week limit. And being asked to move once every 16 days is hardly outrageous. He's going to be out there up to 5 weeks and he's being asked to move basically just once.
I think that they set the camp up, then various friends come and go for a shorter time. Sounds like most come for a week or long weekend.
Squatting for a long time if others also want some access is not good. The USFS should control that if there really are people who have complained.
However, we have seen many cases where fishing, hunting... all kinds of recreational uses have been banned. Hopefully this case is not the usual death by a thousand cuts.
Probably has to do with encroachment on Bigfoot nesting areas.
I’m on the side of the hunters here, but there may be sanitation concerns at issue. Not stated in the article, so it’s just a WAG on my part.
So far as I know, most parks run by state and national govt agencies have a 2 week limit, which in some cases can be extended if no one else is requesting the spot.
I'm not sure what the big deal is. If people were allowed to stay for an indefinite period of time, would some just move in permanently?
16 days is more than reasonable. Five weeks is taking advantage. Move to another area if you really want to stay there. I don’t see this as a very bad rule. People get an inch and expect a mile.
Hopefully after camping here for every year since 1982 , they clean up after themselves.
If not, then the forest service should be on them for that too.
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