Posted on 08/25/2004 6:30:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court's order that reduced the number of commercial wilderness tours in the Sierra Nevada.
At issue are so-called "packstock" operations, for-profit companies that carry campers and sightseers deep into the wilderness using horses.
The High Sierra Hikers Association and the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics - consisting of current and former rangers and other forest workers - sued the U.S Forest Service, charging it failed to study the cumulative environmental affects of 17 companies the agency permitted to trek thousands of visitors through the forest.
A San Francisco judge in 2001 agreed, and ordered a 20 percent reduction to the 16,300 overnight trips the service had allocated to the outfitters. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved of the reduction, ruling that a failure to do so ensures "environmental degradation."
The area in question covers about 70 trails in the John Muir and Ansel Adams wilderness areas. The 800,000 acres stretch from Mammoth Lakes, 100 miles south to Lone Pine. The area includes Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states.
The suit says the packstock operations are destroying sensitive habitat in violation of federal rules designed to protect wilderness areas.
The case is High Sierra Hikers Association v. Blackwell, 02-15504.
fyi
17 companies allowed to take 16,300 people on hikes. That means they can take 3 people a day. Thats less than 60 people using 800,000 acres. that will protect what? how does this benefit the American that pays for those Parks?
Ask why the Governor supports the Sierra Nevada Conservancy?
This is happening even as a behemoth's shadow of new and tighter control in the Sierras is about to be created .. if and when the Governor signs it.
Property rights, it's all about the land and who controls it.. this is a battle that had been going on for years.
Now the govenrment is even working with land grabbing envirowackos and your taxdollars are used to fund the buyouts of those who can't comply or are forced out.
The tour operators are being restricted and eventually will get kicked out because of efforts by the same groups who seek to preserve the environment..
I'm willing to bet that no one in the "High Sierra Hikers Association" has ever gone for a hike in the woods anywhere. They're orchestrating this from New Jersey.
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics ???
When I was a kid, this was called biting the hand that feeds you.
These little greenies that Babbitt and Clintoon installed thruout the Interior Dept and the Nat'l Park System are winning this war each and every day. By the time they are done, they will have 3 times the employees they have now, and there will ne NO ONE on the lands to watch out for. It makes featherbedding on the railroad look like it was an apprenticeship period.
Trails rut out much more quickly from rains and snow melt that no one can control when no mules and horses are used by the packers. The mules and horses flatten them out over and over again before they can rut beyond repair. I have sloping land. My horses have made trails up and down the property. I have NO ruts where they walk.
99% of all this can be laid directly at Clintoon's and Babbitt's collective feet. Wake up USA, this doesn't just affect the outdoor recreationalists. This is another takeaway.
Isn't that land is in the Wildlands Project? If it is, they will eventually push everyone out of it.
Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.
At issue are so-called "packstock" operations, for-profit companies
BTT!!!!!!!
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