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SHAWNEE TRAIL CONSERVANCY
PO BOX 44, EDDYVILLE, IL. 62928
NOTICE OF CHANGE OF ANNUAL MEETING
STC’’s Annual Meeting and Election of Officers and Directors will be
held on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23RD instead of Oct. 17th
as previously scheduled. This date change was necessary in order for us to
have BLUE RIBBON COALITION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CLARK COLLINS, attend
our Annual Meeting and speak to our members. Mr. Collins will be the featured
speaker at a dinner on Oct. 25th of ATV enthusiasts at the
Harrisburg Smuggler Restaurant at 6 PM. This seminar will promote
OHV-ATV education and safety issues. Two ATV recreation areas were developed
in Southern Illinois through a grant from the state which provide nice trails
for ATV riders. These recreation areas are not part of the Shawnee National
Forest.
We are privileged to have Clark Collins speak at our STC
meeting which will be held on Oct. 23rd at 7 PM at Dolly’’s
Restaurant, at the east edge of Vienna on Rte # 146. Dinner off the menu at 6
PM. The BLUE RIBBON COALITION, (BRC) whose headquarters are located in
Pocatello, Idaho champions responsible use of public lands for the benefit of
all recreationists by educating and empowering its members to: 1. Secure,
protect, and expand shared outdoor recreation and its use 2. Work
collaboratively with land managers and other interest groups 3. Educate the
general public, media, elected officials, and other decision makers on
recreation and access issues 4. Promote equitable and responsible land
management 5. Affect the political and administrative process 6. Support
recreation on, and promote respect for, private property 7. Encourage
appropriate enforcement of the law. The BRC is a nationally recognized
organization which has over 60,000 individual members and hundreds of
organizations which represent equestrian trail riders, ATV riders, snowmobilers,
OHV enthusiasts, boaters, and many other outdoor recreationists. Mr. Collins is
well known around legislative circles in Washington, DC and is highly respected
by many members of Congress for being a tenacious trail advocate but a common
sense type of guy. BRC has worked closely with STC on our Natural Areas lawsuit
and the Heartwood -FS backdoor agreement. BRC’’s attorney, Paul Turcke, is
also one of our attorneys and prepared our Appeal on the Natural Areas EIS. The
web site for BRC is STC is a member and supporter of Blue Ribbon and we
encourage our members to join them as well. Since Clark is going to be here, it
will give us an excellent opportunity to show him the Forest on horseback and
bring him up to speed on the issues. PLEASE ATTEND THIS
IMPORTANT MEETING AND HEAR CLARK COLLINS SPEAK ABOUT THE BATTLES TAKING PLACE
ACROSS THE NATION CONCERNING RECREATIONAL ACCESS.
REGIONAL FORESTER OVERTURNS NATURAL AREA
EIS DECISION
Randy Moore, Regional Forester in Milwaukee, recently
announced that he was throwing out the Record of Decision on Equestrian Trails
in the Natural Areas. His decision was based on facts presented by a number of
individuals and organizations who had filed appeals on the Decision in July and
the vulnerability of the Decision to stand up in court. Although this will delay
the construction of trails within the 3 Natural Areas for a while longer, our
council believes that we will get more trails in more Natural Areas in the long
run and the FS will prepare a more defensible NEPA that will stand up in court.
According to Forest Supervisor, Allen Nicholas, the FS is considering rolling
the Natural Area equestrian trails into the Trails Master Plan which will come
out later this year or early next year. The Trails Master Plan is supposed to
designate equestrian-hiking trails throughout the entire forest. Our fear is
that the new Forest Plan will precede the Trails Master Plan. Since the new
Forest Plan will allow horses on designated trails ONLY, if a satisfactory
trail system is not implemented PRIOR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FOREST PLAN,
HORSEMEN MAY BE ABLE TO RIDE ONLY ON THE RIVER TO RIVER TRAIL. WE WILL NOT LET
THAT HAPPEN!!
SEE YOU ON THE TRAIL,
CHERYL BLACKORBY
STC Director and Newsletter Editor
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