losing access to hunting lands

[creed]

There is a series of meetings that I am urging anyone that cares about hunting access to attend. If what is being proposed gets before Congress and is approved there is going to be huge pieces of units 44A, 42, 41, and 39 that will become wilderness or access restricted areas. And this is probably only the start of it.

hunter74 and myself attended one of these tonight. Please, if you care about hunting access in these areas I urge you strongly to let your voice be heard.

 

Here is a link to meeting times and places.

http://www.sonoranheritage.org/news/rel ... ation_plan

 

Another link to maps of proposed new wilderness and NCA areas.

http://www.sonoranheritage.org/our_campaign/maps

 

There is a need for ATV reform and some protection of our natural resources but IMO this proposal is going way to far at this time.

If we don't get involved now we'll wake up and wonder what happened.

[longshooter]

Thanks for the info Bruce.

[kninebirddog]

Look up Agenda 21 and ICLEI Dead serious...if more people would learn what all the sustainability and Green BS you would see what they are really doing...read up on Ron Paul and how he is against Agenda 21 and has been warning against it.

[creed]

They are wanting to link existing wilderness areas together creating huge tracts of land that would be accessible by foot or horseback. Then with the creation of NCA's, much of the prime hunting habitat in these areas would not be accessed by motorized vehicle, or if allowed there would be only a handful of roads that could be driven on.

 

If you read their propaganda it sounds good but I am not willing to give up access to public land. The BLM and their travel management plans will take care of much of the perceived problem. I brought this up but their fear is that it gives the BLM the option of coming back and revising things. If Congress gets hold of it and passes it then it is set in stone and highly unlikely that it would ever revert back.

 

This is just the beginning I think. It was pointed out that there are still many parts of western AZ that are not designated wilderness and should be. Hunters are notorious about not letting their voices be heard. We need to at the very least let our feelings be known. These people are driven and apparently have the resources to at least get the ball rolling in their direction IMO.

 

Here are the remaining meetings times and places.

 

Thursday Nov 10th, 7-9 PM

 

Wickenburg Community Center

 

175 E. Swilling

 

Wickenburg, AZ 85390

 

Tuesday Nov 15th, 7-9 PM

 

 

Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce

 

16126 N. Civic Center Plaza

 

Surprise, AZ 85374

 

 

Thursday Nov 17th, 7-9 PM

 

Buckeye Chamber of Commerce

 

508 E. Monroe Ave.

 

Buckeye, AZ 85326

[kninebirddog]

Here is what the long term goal is... http://patriotsunion.ning.com/profiles/blogs/wildway-corridors-no-humans

 

little chip here little bit there..this is what our children and grandchildren will have...or I should say Not have

[creed]

K9, that is exactly what is going on here under the guise of protecting our heritage as they call it. They are connecting the dots and locking us out if we allow it.

[coues krazy]

Good grief. This crap is out of control. No way I can make the meetings, any way I can send an email or letter? And to whom should I write? Thanks for any help.

[creed]

Here is contact info.

http://www.sonoranheritage.org/contact

[KaibabHunter]

Here is contact info.

http://www.sonoranheritage.org/contact

 

Creed or anyone for that matter,

 

Forgive me if I'm reading it wrong, but isn't the link above to voice your opinion to those that are for/proposing this plan? I don't think they will do anything but ignore the voice of hunters/ranchers/miners using/contributing/spending money on those lands. I think they already ignored us by not mentioning hunters as one of their main buy ins to the concept. That was the first clue to their intentions, see below:

 

"The proposal also has the blessing of city and county officials, developers, conservationists, military representatives, recreationists and the faith community, and the groups will gather further input from the public over the next few months before taking the proposal to Congress, said Mike Quigley, Arizona wildlands campaign coordinator for the Wilderness Society."

 

(don't see hunter's specifically mentioned anywhere in there...)

 

Who in our state, county, country, is pro-hunter/access? What organizations and politicians are on our side? Those are the ones that I would like to contact to ramp up efforts on the behalf of hunters. They should be at those meetings just as much as any of us!

 

That said, I apologize, but i can't make the meetings and those proposals impact the very areas i hunt and now take my son to hunt (jr hunt next week). How many jr hunters will loose hunting opportunities due to limited access? My boy will hike but has his limitations, even i have my limitations and i'll pretty much go anywhere by any means to hunt. I spend alot of time and money accessing those areas (legally and with respect). Not trying to put all of the legwork on anyone in particular but some are more familiar with a place to start besides yelling at those deaf to our reasons and logic...

 

Also, any comment from the AZGFD and where the wildlife managers for these units stand?

 

Right now this is the only contact I see besides the sonoran heritage group:

 

Daily News-Sun: Jeff Dempsey may be reached at 623-876-2531 or jdempsey@yourwestvalley.com.

[creed]

Ryan, it is true that the contact info is to the organization pushing this thing. I asked them about it and they said they were interested in public opinion. I think that is BS. However, they are wanting to go before Congress with this and will undoubtedly want to show the public's overwhelming support. I and others I know let our feelings be known to them.

 

If you attend a meeting they will bring up hunters as being conservationists and generally in favor of this proposal. There was a biologist on their staff at the meeting and she brought this up a couple of times. While I am in total agreement that there needs to be restrictions with enforcement in place there is no way that I can support a proposal like this. It is way too restrictive and does an end around the normal processes of implementing a protocol.

 

I think what I and hunter74 are doing is trying to raise awareness of what is happening. These people are driven and well funded. They need to be watched and taken seriously. I think the time to contact a congressional representative will be when this actually gets before Congress should that happen.

 

As to what G&F in general think about this, I don't know but it was brought to my attention by a WM that I know. Since then I spoke with another friend that is in the Dept. Both of them are opposed to this and recommend that hunters get involved in the process at this level.

[audsley]

What should chiefly concern us are the additional wilderness areas. Some of the groups pushing these designations are the same ones that have successfully sued Az Game & Fish, US Fish & Wildlife and the land management agencies to stop providing wildlife waters and lion population reductions to aid our struggling bighorn sheep herds. Wilderness activists oppose active management of wildlife and regularly use the courts to advance their agenda.

 

Sportsmen should attend these meetings and demand, as a condition for sportsmen's support, exemptions from the Wilderness Act for any and all acivities aimed at benefiting wildlife. The wilderness lobby has been approached with this idea before and has refused to accept it. They want to be able to sue to stop any activities they disagree with, and they disagree with a lot of the things our wildlife biologists sometimes believe are necessary.

 

It is extremely difficult to manage wildlife in areas governed by the Wilderness Act. Wilderness is a socio-political construct, not a biological one, and the wilderness lobby is politically driven. Don't believe what they tell you about wilderness designations being good for wildlife or that you will continue to have reasonable access for sheep and deer hunting in once the designation is made.

 

If we want our grandchildren to enjoy what we've been enjoying in Arizona's outdoors, we need to fight this proposal and win.

[creed]

Just wanted to give a quick update on the Buckeye meeting. My girlfriend created a Face Book event about this meeting and sent it out to her friends. It went viral and a fantastic crowd of pissed off hunters, ATV'ers, cattlemen and outdoors people turned out in really good numbers to let their voices be heard.

 

They may go ahead and get their agenda through Congress but there are a couple of politically connected people that attended and are dead set against this.

Maybe there is hope after all.

[JLW]

just received a postcard from the game and fish.

they say I have been selected for a survey on land access.

it says they will be mailing it out soon.

anyone else receive this?

 

james