A Washington D.C. based natural resource news service, Environment & Energy Publishing  (www.eenews.net), today reported that five House Democrats introduced legislation that would designate five new Wilderness areas in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and West Virginia. According to E&E's report, the legislation (H.R. 5610) was introduced by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall of West Virginia and Reps. Jim Costa of California, Peter DeFazio of Oregon,  Grijalva of Arizona and Tom Udall of New Mexico.

The bill would designate just about 500,000 acres of Wilderness in West Virginia, Arizona's Tumacacori Highlands; the Redwood Mountain Grove in California's Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park; the Sabinoso Wilderness in New Mexico; Oregon's Copper Salmon area and the South Fork of the San Jacinto River Canyon in Riverside County, California. E&E's report says the Wilderness proposals are also included in separate measures.

This is an important reminder of how important the 2008 election season will be to mountain bikers, OHV users and others who value access and recreation on our public lands. If you have not done so already, please register to vote and please let your local political representatives know how important OHV use is to your family.

Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107