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Posted on 03/29/2005 12:37:50 PM PST by TChris
Mormons planning to re-enact treks on national historic trails in central Wyoming will have to do so without the use of support vehicles and only Mondays through Fridays, according to a decision signed Monday.
Permits will be available for a total of 7,500 people annually in groups of 26 or more -- far fewer than the 12,000 handcart trekkers who have used the area in recent years.
Jack Kelly, Bureau of Land Management Lander field office manager, said the changes reflect the agency's need to minimize impacts to the area that have been growing with the boom in use.
"We knew we were experiencing too much impact at 12,000. We'd seen that for a couple of years running," Kelly said. "We knew that was having too much impact, particularly relating to support vehicles, and also restrooms. So the people that did the analysis were trying to do what they felt was a sustainable carrying capacity -- what can we do to manage properly, to not hurt the long-term historic character of the trails."
The plan to manage 26 miles of BLM lands between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' holdings at the Sixth Crossing of the Sweetwater River and Rock Creek Hollow near South Pass has been at issue for several years, after scores of trekkers have come to the area to re-enact westward pilgrimages of ancestors. The area is also home to a segment of the Oregon Trail.
Permits for a total of 7,500 people in groups reflects the BLM's proposed plan drafted last May. Of those, 5,000 spaces are earmarked for church users.
(Excerpt) Read more at casperstartribune.net ...
Why does the BLM think the best approach to the increased popularity of the Mormon/Oregon Trail in this area is to restrict access? Yellowstone National Park supports millions of annual visitors where a policy of accomodation, rather than restricion, has been very successful.
Also, it seems to me that federal and state officials are quite concerned with protecting Native American access to and control of sites they consider sacred, yet they think nothing of cutting off thousands of Mormons from a place they hold very dear. The experience of re-enacting the arduous trek of early Mormon pioneers has become something of a rite of passage for many of the youth of the Church. That exercise will be summarily denied to thousands by this action.
Finally, this proposal highlights the larger issue of federal control over public land. Some time ago, some residents of Idaho apparently made some progress in challenging the constitutionality of the BLM in general. From which constitutional provision, or subsequent legislation, does the federal government derive their authority to own/control public land? Its a simple question that, to my knowledge, has never been sufficiently addressed.
Don't trespass on the King's lands.
Must be a result of that "Federal Landlord Clause" in the constitution. (/sarc)
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Once again the land grabbers tie up huge amounts of land to "preserve it for all to enjoy." Then they restrict its use to a handful of envionmentalists so that they might "protect it from human encroachment." What a shame.
You mean, "preserve it for some to enjoy", on Mondays through Fridays, after paying $4 fee, and don't step on any sagebrush. ;-)
I agree with what you wrote but there has to be some kind of limitation. The damage caused by unmanaged recreation in our five national forests in Wyoming is absolutely appalling...four wheelers, off-road vehicles, you name it...'my truck can go anywhere'! Sometimes I don't think the feds do enough to protect the our lands.
What's to protect? It's a near-desert sandbox.
The land's greatest worth is its value to the Mormons and the Indians, since it's already out of agricultural production.
This is public-land-use policy today: Public stay out. Check out the barriers to using Baxter State Park in Maine.
Who is the largest land owner in the entire United States? THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! The US government owns our lands and then controls them. These controls are usually controlled by the environmental wackos in the liberal enviro wacko groups, such as the ones who do not want drilling, etc., in Alaska. I agree that huge hordes of people on ATV's should have be dusting across the plains en-mass to destroy every chuck hole and prairie dog hut.
But, the US government has got to be at some point stopped. It is becoming, it is now, the controlling industry in our lives. I am getting sick and tired of living in a country where I am suppose to be free, being told at every turn, "no" you cannot do that, or no you cannot have that, or no you cannot, cannot, cannot by the Imperial Federal Government. While the IFG may be the master of democrats and high school dropouts, it is not my master.
I am simply sick and tired of having the stinking government stick it's stinking hands into my pockets and taking money out. I am sick of it. Simply sick and tired of working my butt off for the benefit of the fat cats in Imperial Washington, D.C. who make rules and regulations for all of us, while at the same time having different rules and regulations that govern THEM! I.E. we surfs having social security and the congress people having their OWN special tax payer funded system, voted on by them, limits set by them, with us the tax payer having not one damned word to say about it.
Simply put, I am sick and tired of the Imperial Federal Government putting it's stinking socialist nose in my life and business. They did not make me, did not carry me, did not birth me, did not raise me, did not pay for me, do not pay me now. So, where the heck do they get off telling me what I can do? Ok, I am through ranting. It is a longer and deeper subject to rant here about! Sorry.
Can I point out the obvious fact that the "re-enactors" are not being very realistic. The Mormon pioneers didn't have the luxury of massive convoys of "support vehicles."
I would think conscientious re-enactors would want to duplicate the experience as closely as possible.
I would think conscientious re-enactors would want to duplicate the experience as closely as possible.
Sure you can. Its also entirely beside the point.
The support vehicles are there mostly to provide needed food and water and possibly medical assistance for the hundreds of people in a group. Heat exhaustion is a very real concern, and people regularly need the help. The full trek can take a couple of 12-hour days of hard work to complete, and in summer heat that requires some support. The goal is not to re-create the numerous deaths suffered by the real pioneers.
Explain to me why it should be the feds protecting public land in Wyoming. Point out the article of the US Constitution that gives them that responsibility and authority. I sure haven't been able to find it.
Also, there are other ways to protect the land without simply restricting the number of visitors. That's a simple-minded solution at best.
You're avoiding the most important question. Why should the Federal Government own so much of the land in western states? Western states are treated like colonies of Washington DC not as sovereign states.
I didn't avoid that at all. Did you read my entire post?
I have yet to see or hear the legal basis for the existence of the BLM. The Constitution gives the govt. authority to establish national parks. That's all. I think every Western state should challenge this in court and regain control of their land.
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