Letter: Truth about road closures

Congressman Stevan Pearce has again shown his anti-wilderness stance by providing misinformation and falsehoods about the Gila National Forest and recommended road closures. As William James, the father of modern psychology, said: "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it." This is the case for the absurd ranting of Congressman Pearce.

Recently, the US Forest Service released a carefully prepared Gila National Forest Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the implementation of the USFS Travel Management Rule to manage the increased motorized vehicle use in the forest. With political rhetoric and no understanding of the "Impact Statement," Congressman Pearce has wrongly described it "as dangerous, economically damaging, and contrary to the freedoms and traditions upon which the country was founded." His arguments are pure and unadulterated poppycock and are simply intended to inflame his anti-wilderness political base.

Forest Service employees have diligently reviewed and recommended road closures to safeguard the Gila's natural beauty and ecology for future generations. However, the Congressman bellows: "The potential closing of roads also directly threatens the safety of New Mexicans by impeding our law enforcement, firefighters, and other emergency officials."

This is blatantly false. The statement explicitly exempts emergency, military, and law enforcement vehicles from travel restrictions. In fact, the closure of certain roads will serve a safety measure. The increasing use of modern Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) would threaten the lives of the riders on unsafe, remote, or unimproved routes.

Finally, Congressman Pearce provides another untruth that road closures will negatively affect ranchers and farmers. The Travel Management Plan absolutely makes no alterations or reductions in grazing allotments on the Gila.

Please contact Representative Pearce at 1-855-473-2723 and tell him to read the 300 page document. I guess that is too much reading for this anti-wilderness Congressman.

Greg Lennes, Las Cruces

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Source: http://www.demingheadlight.com/ci_17406622?source=most_viewed

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