**Please** read this, regarding closure of a huge area of nat'l forest land, and wilderness areas, in Colorado.  This was sent from Ottie Otterstein, Chairman of the Back Country Horsemen of Colorado. It is concerning proposed closing of an extremely large area of wilderness trails to horse use. PLEASE, read this, and WRITE to the "Content Analysis Group" - address is below. I do not know what the cut off time is, but apparently it is a very short "comment period."

I'm sending this in hopes to get the word out to a lot of people. I apologize that this is so long, but it is very important. We are losing access to "our" public lands, slowly ... well, it's not so slowly any more. Seems to be speeding up.  I have a “sample letter” if anyone is interested, I can e-mail it to you privately, for your use. 

Carla Richardson
Colorado

-------Original Message-------
Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 6:02 PM

Subject: Closing of wilderness areas to horses and stock

Dear fellow trail riders,

The White River National Forest Travel Management Plan is out. This plan will close horse stock use in areas of the WRNF. This is the largest NF in the U.S. and is located in Colorado. Some of the areas it includes is the Collegiate Peaks, Eagles Nest Wilderness, the Flat Tops, the Holy
Cross, Ptarmigan area, Fryingpan, Maroon Bells, Snowmass. As you can see, this is a vary large portion of the Colorado Rockies.
One of the areas of this proposal that I think we all need to be made aware of is the use of segregated trails. Most districts use a system where foot traffic, and horses can go on any trail, then you have non-motorized use such as mt. bikes, the motorized use, etc. The proposed plan changes that system. They are trying to create areas where hikers will not run into any stock-horses. Some of the trails are proposed to be closed to horses even though you don't ever see anyone using them. It is important that horse people get involved. There are people out there trying to keep horses out of all wilderness areas.

My concern isn't just about which trails are being closed but about the precedent this sets for other areas. Most of these areas are in the Wilderness where you see very few if any other users. I can understand segregating usage in busy areas such as state parks close to big towns where safety is of concern. The FS states that, "Within wilderness, travel
management conflicts exist.  Some hikers dislike encountering horses or even the evidence of horse use in wilderness areas." They feel that it is their job to provide a horse free experience for these hikers. If this proposal passes, the closure of more wilderness in other areas and states could follow.

The comment period to the FS for this proposal is very short, so trail riders need to send letters voicing their opposition to this plan ASAP. If we can voice our concerns with credible data, it will have more of an impact. If we keep silent, other interests with louder voices will cause us to lose our right to ride on state and federal lands. Did you realize that the horse industry is larger than the tobacco industry? We need to stick together and make a big commotion. Everyone who is involved with horses needs to join together and make sure our voices are heard.

Please write the Content Analysis Group, White River National Forest. Forward this letter to all of your trail riding friends and all who are involved in the horse industry.

Write to:  WRNF Travel Management Plan and DEIS
c/o Content Analysis Group
PO Box 2000
Bountiful, UT 84011-2000