RECREATION GROUP SUPPORTS ACCESS PROTECTIONS IN NOR CAL WILDERNESS BILL

WASHINGTON, DC (July 19) - The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), a national trail-based recreation group, today expressed support for new access and recreation provisions incorporated into a Northwestern California Wilderness Bill (HR233). The new version of the legislation will recognize off-highway vehicle (OHV) and mountain-bike (MTB) use as legitimate recreational activities on federal lands by codifying said use in statute on a majority of routes affected by the proposal.

Don Amador, Western Representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition, said, "I believe protecting fishing access in the Park, keeping OHV and MTB trails open and deleting non-wilderness areas such as the Mad River Buttes proposal has improved this piece of legislation."

The legislation that will designate over 200,000 acres in Northern California will also protect the rights of beach fishermen to access the coastline in Redwood National Park.
In addition, the bill will codify existing equestrian, OHV, and MTB recreation in the Cow Mountain are near Ukiah, California.

"This bill is not perfect and many recreation groups are disappointed that the reopening of Black Sands Beach in the King Range was not part of the legislation. Also, we are disappointed that the popular Backcountry designation did not get formally adopted. However, the fact that many of our OHV and MTB routes are being codified in statute is a clear acknowledgement that a Backcountry alternative to Wilderness is a valid and popular concept," Amador concluded.