SHARE THE ROAD, NOT THE LANE, WITH CYCLISTS
How to Drive a Motor Vehicle
A couple of weeks ago, I was riding my bike up MacDonald Pass, on four-lane U.S Highway 12, on the shoulder. It was a mid-day, low-traffic time, and even though the left lane was available, a driver purposely hazed me by speeding by with his right wheel on the fog line going at least 80 mph. His mirror missed my helmet by about six inches. One minor correction to miss a rough spot on the road, and I wouldn't be writing this.
Besides wondering if this reckless driver realizes how close he came to killing somebody, the incident reminded me of one of the first commentaries I wrote for NewWest.Net when I started the Wild Bill column three years ago called I Can Feel the Scorn. I'm sorry to say that I can still feel it.
[more]
SAME ROAD, SAME RULES, SAME RIGHTS
Montana Adds Section on Driving with Cyclists to New Driver’s Manual
Commendably, and with the council of a committee of road cyclists from around the state, the Montana Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) allowed me to re-write the three-page bicycle section of the Montana Driver's Manual, which is now being distributed. It replaces a woefully outdated bicycle section written decades ago and constantly re-used with minor if any updating.
In it, I emphasized the "same road, same rules, same rights" philosophy and urged motorists to "share the road, not the lane."
[more]
LET'S GET OUR WORDS STRAIGHT
Wilderness is Multiple Use
Have you ever heard somebody say they prefer "multiple use" over Wilderness? I have what seems like a thousand times, and every time I hear it, I say to myself, wrong!
So, it seems like a good time to say it out loud because the words, "multiple use" have been lost in the Wilderness.
[more]
Advertisement
CLASS ACTION SUITS TO BE FILED TUESDAY IN ARIZONA, COLORADO
Public Land Owners Taking RAT, Forest Service to Civil Court
Enough is enough, say the owners of our national forests. And they may have finally found a way to spike the Recreation Access Tax or RAT.
After years of working through cumbersome administrative channels and several rounds in criminal court, people interested in reasonable and free access to their public land have dragged the Forest Service (FS) into civil court. In addition to asking for injunctions against collecting "illegal" fees while the case is being litigated and if successful the fee program terminated, the plaintiffs in the class action complaints--to be filed tomorrow morning in Arizona and Colorado--want all fee collection signs removed and all fees collected through the years under the program returned to the people who shouldn't have had to pay them.
Suffice to say, it's panic time in the FS offices back in Washington, D.C.
[more]
2008 COMMENTS WORTH REPEATING III
The Wilderness Drought and How the Green Group Feud Keeps it Alive
Over the past two years, I've been periodically posting selections of my favorite comments from readers of my columns and articles. I plan to continue doing this, but differently. Instead of listing comments chronologically, I've edited them into general subject areas. In this case, here are a few insightful comments that came in over the past few months on several articles on the wilderness drought and the green group feud that keeps it alive and if not endless. Enjoy.
Editor's Note: For a complete list of Comments Worth Repeating, click here.
[more]
COMMENTARY
On Energy Development, Hunters and Anglers Push Back
Eight months ago, President Bush signed an executive order directing federal agencies to do everything necessary to "facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat."
The president gave those agencies--specifically the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (FS)--a year to come up with a plan to implement this order, which was, conceptually anyway, drafted to combat news that participation in hunting was waning in the United States.
About the same time, the BLM announced plans to lease the Roan Plateau in Colorado for natural gas development. Plans were also announced to lease nearly 45,000 acres of land in the Hoback River drainage of western Wyoming, and the West was--and still is--in the throes of a full-on energy boom. Sportsmen--the very people who stood to benefit from Executive Order 13443--were deeply involved in important campaigns to protect a number of special places throughout the West from irresponsible oil and gas drilling that would not only trash important fish and game habitat, but significantly reduce hunting and fishing opportunity.
[more]
new west news brief
Feds Say Bull Trout Still Threatened
After five years of review, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that bull trout, one of Montana’s largest native trout, should remain protected under the Endangered Species Act, the AP reports.
"The health of bull trout populations varies by location but overall, the species in the United States still needs protection," said Ren Lohoefener, director of Fish and Wildlife's Pacific Region.
Bull trout, considered the most environmentally sensitive cold-water fish around, have been listed as a threatened species in the Lower 48 for ten years. But in recent years, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, the former governor of Idaho, and the Idaho congressional delegation have contested the trout’s status as “endangered.”
Click here for more.
[more]
A TECTONIC FIX LONG OVERDUE
Merge, Remake the Forest Service
Last month, the General Accountability Office (GA0) announced it was studying a plan to take the Forest Service out of the Department of Agriculture and merge it into the Department of the Interior. Predictably, this news was met with a chorus of yawns because we've heard many grandiose plans for reorganizing federal land-managing agencies. In every case, after significant wasted staff time and much stress for employees, nothing happens.
But this one wasn't a yawner for me because something like this really needs to happen. This time, let's get serious and seize this opportunity to remake the Forest Service (FS), an agency lost in the today's political landscape.
[more]
WATCH OUT FOR THE NEW KID ON THE BOAT
Governor’s Cup Walleye Tourney Set
The 21st running of the Montana Governor's Cup Walleye Tournament on Fort Peck Reservoir in eastern Montana has been scheduled for July 10-12, according a recent press release sent out by the Glasgow Area Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture.
And there's a rumor striking fear in the ranks of walleye fishing pros that a rookie tournament angler is coming this year who could threaten their dominance of the event--none other than old Wild Bill from NewWest.Net. Check back in July to see how the amateur does against the pros.
[more]
