Riders group fighting proposed land designation
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) recently told a key U.S. House committee that it opposes a bill to designate 850,000 acres in Colorado as federally protected wilderness.
The AMA noted its opposition in a formal letter dated March 10 to the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands that will be part of the committee report for the bill, H.R. 4289. The AMA also pointed out the measure did not have input from local-elected officials and affected user groups.
“By designating these public lands wilderness, the legislation will close off responsible motorized access to hundreds of thousands of acres,” Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations, said in the letter.
Moreland sent the letter to committee Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and ranking member Rob Bishop (R-Utah) prior to the committee’s hearing on the bill, which was introduced by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).
Moreland noted the affected land isn’t in DeGette’s congressional district, and “to date not one Colorado representative has co-sponsored H.R. 4289. This is very telling — the local population in the area affected does not support this bill.”
The AMA has set up a way for the industry to comment on this issue. Go to AmericanMotorcyclist.com > Rights > Issues and Legislation.
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