about a week left to make comment on the Forest Plan Revision for the Colville/Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forest. According to the FS's own visitation statistics, wilderness visits were less than .25% of all visitation on the Colville, yet the plan calls for a 350% increase in wilderness designation of public lands.
I am not an anti-wildernes zealot, I just don't understand making it the priority when it limits access to the other users which are growing in numbers and does not create any "new" opportunities for the current non-motorized back country enthusiast. My perception so far is that wilderness eliminates mountain bikes, mechanical trail maint., forest management, fire response ability, any form of motorized shared use, and doesn't seem to play well with the cattle grazers or other land users. All this in trade for no new opportunity that doesn't exist today, and a rubber stamp of forever protection by congress that seems to be the catalyst for major fund raising for special interest groups. Imagine a congressionally approved forever protection for back country shared motorized use, what would that take?
If you want to make comment (hate to sound repetitive, but this is really important) the FS info can be found....
http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPyhQoY6BdkOyoCAGixyPg!/?ss=110617&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=FSBDEV3_053653&navid=130100000000000&pnavid=130000000000000&position=Feature*&ttype=detail&pname=Okanogan-Wenatchee%20National%20Forest-%20Planning
Not to be a numbers Nazi, but Washington Wildernesses currently total 32 for 4
511,474 acres of land. Comparitively, there are 4 designated ATV trails on the Colville that total around 20 miles by 15' wide(being very generous, most is 6-8). Not sure how many acres that is, but I bet it's way less.
