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Yesterday I made a posting which I titled -- "Notes" - a document to boil your blood" . I claimed that it was an extraordinary document and I am still discovering how extraordinary it really is.
On page 28 of "Notes", US Forest Service Director of Recreation and Heritage Resources Jim Bedwell, made a statement that particularly caught my attention because he was clearly speaking about me personally. Bedwell wrote:
"Context - opposition is stitching these issues together and creating a big story: travel management, fees, and rec site facility master planning. People are saying that the 3 work together to keep people out of the woods. As we continue to give messages on all of these we emphasize that we have a commitment to recreation in the FS. Recreation and ecological restoration are the 2 pillars of the FS future."
 YES, in combination, these three issues make an enormous story. Their combined impact upon outdoor recreation and the changes they will usher in are difficult to exaggerate. If Bedwell is denying the connection of these three issues, or if he was suggesting that within the highest rungs of USFS these issues are not intimately connected, then I have just caught Mr. Bedwell telling an enormous lie.
Let me be as clear as possible. Travel Management Planning, Recreation User Fees and Recreation Site Facility Master Planning are the three most important USFS recreation issues that exist today. Fortunately, you needn't take my word for that.
Here is a quote from the American Recreation Coalition's reporting of a meeting they hosted on October 7, 2006 in which Chief Bosworth was their honored guest. I provided full details within days of its occurrence and invite you to now read or perhaps re-read ARC's account of this historic meeting.
<continues>
--BEGIN QUOTE--
Washington, DC -(October 17, 2006) -Dale Bosworth, Chief of the
USDA Forest Service, told the Recreation Exchange that his agency is
making progress in its effort to reposition itself for the 21st
century, including a much higher role for recreation -in spite of
budgetary constraints caused by the war on terror and unprecedented
wildfire activity. These achievements include:
- development of the Travel Management rule in response to the threat of unmanaged recreation and now being implemented;
- passage of the Recreation Enhancement Act to sustain recreation
management and to provide for stakeholder input into the use of
fee-generated funds through Recreation Resource Advisory Committees; and
Recreation Site Facility Master Planning, a process to
combine analysis of use trends with financial analysis to provide, in
consultation with the public, "the best recreation opportunities in the
right places."
--END QUOTE--
Upon re-reading the entire October report from the ARC, I see
that it too was a most extraordinary document. I see that the October
report is DIRECTLY relevant to the Shenandoah National Park press
conference and meeting President Bush had just days ago with ARC's
Derrick Crandall and Gary Kiedaisch, President of the Coleman Company.
I see that the October report relates directly with an even MORE
extraordinary document which I have recently obtained.
Stay Tuned. I'll be sharing that NEW document within the next few days!!
Scott
PS... here's one more passage quoted from the 10/7/06 report.
"Also speaking to the group was Gary Kiedaisch,
president of The Coleman Company, which, he said, is "committed to
building a cause to get people recreating outdoors." In a recent
meeting with President Bush, Mr. Kiedaisch urged the President to
extend the mission of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and
Sports to include outdoor recreation explicitly. The outdoor industry,
he said, needs to join with the recreation industry to "get people
active and grow our business." He suggests that the WOW camp out on the
White House lawn should become a national camp out implemented by the
private sector on national parks and forests."
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