There is one motorized recreation threat to our public lands this is going largely unnoticed and almost unopposed. Yet the impacts to the traditional outdoor recreation experience is, in my opinion, on a par with the impacts associated with dirtbikes, jetskis, snowmobiles and the like. While the physical impacts are not as obvious, the affects upon WILDNESS and upon the expectation of what type of recreational experiences can be expected on America's public lands, is every bit as great.

The threat I am talking about is the Recreation Vehicle --- the 40' long, $150,000, Winnebago.

Perhaps you've noticed a great deal of recent media and advertising about the RV Life-style. What you are seeing is part of a $20,000,000 national advertising/marketing campaign by the RV Industry.

The campaign consists of paid advertising and "planted" media stories such as the one excepted below. The campaign is being orchestrated chiefly by David Humphreys, President of Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (Chairman and Founder of the American Recreation Coalition) and by Michael Molino, President and CEO of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association and ARC Board Member.

What is a stake, is that the American camping experience is being redesigned and, with it, so National Park Gateway Communities as well our our National Forest camping facilities.

Our National Parks are quickly being turned into "anchor attractions" to support the most crass of commercial, industrial-tourism laden gateway communities. What is happening at and outside Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Zion are three striking examples of this new phenomenon.

The Parks themselves are being intensively developed with visitor services, some upscale accommodations, restaurants, interpretive centers, gift shops and the like. Family camping is being moved out of the Parks and on to adjacent commercial campgrounds.

On the National Forests, however, there is an ever growing attempt to build KOA-style, full-service, RV campgrounds right within the forests. The result will be National Parks that are run as theme parks and National Forests that are run as playgrounds.

It's called: "niche marketing and brand differentiation" and unless the environmental community does something to stop this trend, it will be upon us before you know it.

Scott

Wreckreation and Industrial Tourism are exploding issues not just in the United States, but world-wide. We in the USA are not alone in trying to turn the Great Outdoors into a cash cow for nature-based sport and tourism.

Below is a excerpt from a particularly disturbing article that speaks to the growing popularity of eco-tourism in Canada.

If it is true that "In wildness is the preservation of the world," then we must become more vigilant in attempting to rein in the growing threat of Industrial Strength Recreation.

Scott

The appended message raises the level of industrial tourism lunacy to brand new heights. It shows the BLM entertaining the idea of turning cattle grazing in sensitive riparian areas, into a profitable wreckreational product.

Not only will the BLM collect their $1.35/AUM for running hundreds of head through an area now closed to grazing, but they will be able to charge the tourists a pretty penny for their fun.

I think they call this a "win-win"!

And if the local BLM office can get appropriated taxpayer dollars to mitigate the damage caused by this cattle drive, it definitely becomes a "win-win-win" for the land managers who approve this madness.

Scott

PS... Now that recreation user fees stay right where they are collected, what will these public land managers think up next?  Charging dirt-bikers so they can destroy desert habitat? Charging jet-skiers to pollute lakes?? Or perhaps charging swamp buggy owners to nuke Nature Reserves???  It's all part of the new recreation pay-to-play concept.... if you are prepared to pay --- you will get to play!

There can be no more disgusting or abusive form of industrial tourism than "Sex Tourism." For those unfamiliar with this issue, it is a global problem of massive and growing proportions.

Please read the short quoted passages below and then ask yourself the following question:

"In allowing tourism's pimps to turn America's wild lands into wreckreational commodities, are we not doing to Mother Nature what poorer nations are doing with the bodies of their women and children -- turning them into commodities?"

Prostitution comes in many forms... and not all pimps wear sharkskin suits.

Scott

In the quest to sell "the wild" , the Canadian National Park of Auyuittuq has hit rock bottom. The Killing, Skinning and Eating of raw seal is being marketed as a tourist attraction for "sensitive tourists eager to experience something out of the ordinary."

The following is extremely disgusting at multiple levels... ... it should serve as a warning for what lays ahead in the boom world of industrial tourism.

Scott

The appended article explores some of the very real recreation related problems currently being experienced within the Grand Canyon River Corridor and suggests these issues go far beyond park boundaries. And, of course they do.

What is happening at the Grand Canyon is but an example of the commercialization, privatization and motorization of recreational opportunities taking place on America's public lands. It is, however, an unusually good example because each of the specific issues of   'commercialization',  'privatization'  and 'motorization' are clearly visible. Equally visible, is the pivotal role private industry is playing in perpetuating and exacerbating these problems.

When you come upon the name "Gaylord Staveley", please recognize that Staveley is NOT just some outfitter - as this article suggests. Staveley is, amongst other things, Vice President Government Affairs for National Forest Recreation Association, an American Recreation Coalition member which represents approximately 1800 public lands concessionaire companies. Staveley also speaks for America Outdoors, another ARC member corporation which represents 600 of outfitter/guide companies and organizations.

America Outdoors recently wrote the Anti-Wilderness "Outfitter Guide Bill of 1999" (SB 1969) -- special purpose legislation designed to support all the worst elements found in the article below....

Also supporting these worst elements is the growing dependence of federal land management agencies upon revenues obtained by promoting pay-to-play wreckreation and the Disneyfication of the Wild.

Scott

The environmental community has yet to recognize Recreation Vehicles as a major threat to America's public lands or to appreciated that much of the impetus for the Industrial Strength Recreation Agenda can be attributed DIRECTLY to the RV Industry and their lobbying efforts.

In 1991 the American Recreation Coalition (working in close cooperation with its members corporations Chevron, Exxon, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, Good Sam Club, etc.) were successful in persuading Congress to legislatively authorize a National Scenic Byways Program. For these special interest groups, this program created new opportunities to promote Industrial Tourism, pave primitive backcountry roads for RV access and promote gasoline consumption.

For those who enjoy less developed recreational opportunities or simply wish to preserve the scenic backcountry areas is a relatively wild state, the Scenic Byways Program presents a major threat.

Below are the first paragraphs from a recent article describing a proposal to "improve" one such scenic byway. The article mentions the Sierra Club's opposition to this proposal. To learn why the Sierra Club STRONGLY opposes this paving proposal, see the following highly informative web page.

See how the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association actively promotes these byways for their RVing members.

And discover how American Recreation Coalition is the true puppet master behind this entire program.

Here's a taste of what you will find on ARC's page:

   "The audience was taken on a "virtual drive" through Colorado's Guanella Pass, where a highly sophisticated CAD system has been used to produce a plan for upgrading a scenic Forest Service road and the plan, which considers soil types, views, driver safety, economics and more, is presented using very sophisticated computer simulations which can even show views changing as vegetation grows and changes. Maps via the web, interactive kiosks in the Adirondack State Park and new devices to collect fees at remote sites were among the other developments highlighted."

Scott 

The push to designate, fund, build and market  Long-Distance Recreation Trails  is a HOT developing environmental issue. Related to this, is a to develop American Heritage and Outdoor Adventure Tourism Products  as export commodities aimed primarily for consumption by the European and Asian markets.

From the Clinton Administration on down the line, virtually every Washington DC insider is touting the economic and social benefits of developing these expensive high-profile programs as public-private partnerships. Everyone is called this a "win-win" .... which should send up the RED FLAG right away!

Over a series of postings, I shall draw attention to these new and very important issues and explain why they must be opposed. These threats are moving forward "fast and low" .... and virtually unnoticed and unopposed. These programs are, in some cases, being supported and promoted by "brand name" environmental, conservation and recreation organizations.

This first post provides some background about the organization "American Trails" and invites you to learn more about this powerful force which is helping shape the future of outdoor recreation on America's Public lands through their trail related efforts.

American Trails is a member of the American Recreation Coalition. Their byline reads: "American Trails is the only national trails advocacy organization working for the common interests of all trail users."

Have a look at their "Patron Members", however,  and you quickly discover that they mean  when they say: "ALL USERS" .

Complete Listing of PATRON MEMBERS:
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Blue Ribbon Coalition
Colorado Association of 4 Wheel Drive Club
Hatfield-McCoy Recreational Development Coalition, Inc.
International Mountain Bicycling Association
National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
Wisconsin All-Terrain Vehicle Association

Appended are the agenda items for selected panels from the American Trails 1996 Trails Symposium. Without providing any additional specifics, I hope this provides a sense of what's going on.

Over the next few posting I will flesh out this story and hopefully make a strong case why the GRASSROOTS conservation/ environmental community MUST put this issue on their radar screen.

Scott

PS.. Not surprisingly, American Trails has a real dislike for Wild Wilderness, as can be read here.

Here's an new article about Utah's current push to market down hill skiing. This effort follows immediately upon the heels of a $600,000 campaign authorized by the USFS to promote the 2002 Winter Olympics (paid for, incidentally, with your tax dollars!)

Scott

PS ... what's telling about this article is to see the depths to which ski markets must now compete for their share of a declining number of customers. 

The following is a great story article from the Web Site of "ATV Connection".

If you weren't quite convinced that the American Recreation Coalition is really using "user-pay" as part of its strategy to "Motorize America's Public Lands" ..... please read on.
 
Here is the gist of the article: (Quote follows):

Senator Kempthorne's work in highlighting the NRTF's user-pay status and the need to provide adequate, reliable funds for the program was greeted with enthusiasm by the recreation community.

"The Senator has proven himself a real friend of the recreation community through his advocacy of the National Recreational Trails fund," said Derrick Crandall, Co-Chair of the Coalition for Recreational Trails. "We look forward to working with him to ensure that the program is funded at a level that reflects both its value and its user-pay status."

The Coalition for Recreational Trails, a federation of trail-related organizations, was formed in 1992 to support the implementation and continuation of the National Recreational Trails Fund.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

• This article appeared on the web site of "ATV Connection".
• Derrick Crandall is ALSO the President of the American Recreation Coalition
• NRTF is the progeny of the Blue Ribbon Coalition's, much dreaded "Symms Act".
• This trails initiative was authorized last fall as part of NEXTEA.
• 270 Million Dollars were earmarked for trails by this act.
  

Isn't "user-pay" swell?

Scott