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Invasive Species: An Ohio OHV/4WD
group responds
(Note: This is Great 'connecting the dots'!)
April 15, 2004
By
William Kaeppner
Hi
We
all have tons of stuff to do in our everyday lives, and we all hate
to do more. It is just human nature that at the end of the day we
say, "Just leave me alone, I just want to rest."
I
hope today you have a little energy left to read and act.
Both
national and local, the issue is invasive species.
If
you have read anything in the last ten years, you have heard the
term invasive species.
Everything
humans do from walking to wheeling to taking a morning
"constitutional" has the prospect of spreading
"invasive species", be they a seed, a bug or whatever.
All
our ORV trails in the Wayne are in areas designated for timbering
and riding. If timber harvesting is squelched, off-pavement
recreation will be next.
As
you ponder whether or not to respond to the invasive species
wording, that off-pavement recreation is considered -- by folks who
are against off-pavement recreation -- a 'major spreader' of
invasive species!
What
a great tool to stop off-pavement recreation in the Wayne!
Third:
Living in Ohio you may have heard that Eco radicals wanted to take
the lands in the Big Darby watershed from their owners to make a
federal park and protect the land. The land is pristine because of
the owners they wanted to kick out. They lost the first round but
they have not stopped trying to take the land from its owners. They
have now announced that the Big Darby is an endangered waterway and
needs protected from (guess who?) the very same owners who have
protected it since the Revolutionary War. I am not a
"conspiracy nut" but can you see a pattern?
My
neighbor charges a thousand dollars a year to [off road] ride on his
property; the Wayne National Forest and state lands are free in
comparison. Did I mention that the Wayne National Forest is Federal
property?
Do
you have twenty minutes to help keep your public property accessible
for your recreation?
William
A. Kaeppner
Ohio
Multi-Use Trails Association
Logan,
Ohio
Have
you joined OMTA yet?
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