ACTION ALERT
Big Cypress National Preserve draft ORV Management Plan
released for public comment
After 25 years of inadequate off-road vehicle (ORV) management, the National
Park Service (NPS) has released the draft ORV Management Plan and
Supplemental EIS for Big Cypress National Preserve for public comment. Your
comments are important to protect the sensitive resources of the Preserve.
The 729,000 acre Big Cypress National Preserve is one of the most sensitive
and biologically rich areas in the United States. It is located adjacent to
Everglades National Park in southwest Florida. About 90% of the Preserve is
classified as wetlands that contain a diverse mosaic of cypress forests,
prairies, hammocks, and pinelands. It is a national treasure of biodiversity
with over 1600 plant species. The Preserve is also home to 34 endangered,
threatened, and protected species that include the Florida panther, Florida
Manatee, Cape Sable seaside sparrow. Additionally, 70 plant species are
endangered, threatened, or listed for protection.
Unlike a National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve allows ORV use subject
to regulation. The Preserve has one of the largest recreational ORV programs
in the country averaging about 2000 ORV permit holders per year. The types of
ORV's used include street legal 4x4's, airboats, swamp buggies, and all
terrain cycles (ATC's). Especially destructive is the use of heavy swamp
buggies with tractor type tires that can create deep ruts in soft soils
sometimes down to bedrock and eliminate vegetation over wide areas. Over the
decades, ORV use has greatly expanded adversely impacting soils, hydrology,
vegetation, and wildlife. Four areas of the Preserve have had to be closed
due to ORV resource impacts. Recently, a NPS funded study by the University
of Georgia Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science identified almost
30,000 miles of ORV trails and over 148,000 impacted acres.
The draft ORV Management Plan is grossly inadequate. It is ambiguous and
speculative and fails to identify specific management actions to avoid and
minimize ORV impacts. It allows the continuation of dispersed use areas that
fail to address the continued spread of ORV trails across the landscape and
proposes a 2 pounds per square inch (psi) ground pressure standard for ORV's
without any supporting data.
Public comments are now needed to send a message to the National Park Service
that the vast majority of the public wants responsible regulations placed on
destructive ORV use. We need you to advocate the strongest possible resource
protection measures. Written comments are due November 12th. We recommend the
following points be included in your comments.
* The draft ORV Management Plan must be comprehensive and include a
comprehensive analysis of past and present commercial ORV use.
* The proposed action must include specific management actions to avoid ORV
impacts. If impacts cannot be avoided they must be minimized to the maximum
extent practicable, not merely reduced.
* Prohibit ORV's in sensitive wetlands, areas important to wildlife, or when
conditions are unsuitable (water too high for swamp buggies or too low for
airboats).
* All ORV's must be restricted to a vastly reduced comprehensive designated
trail system to avoid and minimize impacts. The ORV trail design should
protect resources and maximize monitoring and enforcement. High density
braided trail areas should be closed.
* Fully analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of ORV use and
of the alternatives, including fragmentation and edge effects of the almost
30,000 miles of ORV trails.
* The plan must specify threshold criteria for unacceptable impacts to soils,
hydrology, vegetation, wildlife, and recreational conflict.
* The plan must contain supporting data and evidence for the 2 psi ground
pressure standard and demonstrate how it complies with the threshold levels
for unacceptable resource impacts.
* The plan must include specific and comprehensive threshold criteria for
closing, opening, and reopening ORV trails.
* The plan must prohibit ORV use in the northern Addition Lands which are
vital habitat for the endangered Florida panther.
* The plan must contain detailed and comprehensive criteria for
implementation, funding, monitoring, research and education programs.
Please write, call, or e-mail for a copy of the Big Cypress ORV Management
Plan and Supplemental EIS at the address below. Written comments should be
sent to the Preserve address.
Superintendent
Big Cypress National Preserve
HCR 61, Box 110
Ochopee, FL 34141
Ph: 941-695-2000
E-mail: Susan_Kaynor@nps.gov
The draft ORV Management Plan can be downloaded at
http://www.nps.gov/bicy/ORVPLAN.html
For further information contact:
Florida Biodiversity Project
P.O. Box 220615
Hollywood, FL 33022
Ph: 954-922-5828
E-mail: rscherf350@aol.com
This document was prepared by Wild
Wilderness. To learn more about ongoing industry-backed congressional
efforts to motorize, commercialize, and privatize America's public lands,
contact:
Scott Silver, Executive Director,
Wild Wilderness
248 NW Wilmington Avenue, Bend OR 97701
Phone (541) 385-5261 E-mail: ssilver@wildwilderness.org