In this issue:
1. Wilderness issue on MT Lemmon MTB trails near Tucson AZ
2. Share the Experience Photo Contest
3. Traverse event update
1. WILDERNESS ISSUE ON MT LEMMON MTB TRAILS NEAR TUCSON AZ
From our Arizona Representative Mark Flint:
We got a Tucson MTB newsletter today which asked every person to send an email to prevent the designation of Wilderness in the East Catalina and Samaniego Ride area, which includes the trails on Mt Lemmon, and also the Upper 50. There is more information on the forums on TucsonMTB.
1. PLEASE READ and RESPOND: There is a call to action to respond to a Wilderness proposal affecting our own Catalina Mountains and beyond. We have until this Friday April 30th to send an email to Erin Boyle, (Assistant Forest Planner) and express our interest in keeping mountain bike access for several trails around Tucson. So far we have sent in over 40 emails, but we need many more! Be sure to include your name and address on your email for the ability to respond in future open comment sessions. See Forum topic for details and sample letters:
http://www.tucsonmtb.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3285
Here´s what I sent. Please draft an email and send it in. Deadline is Friday April 30th.
Email to coronado-plan@fs.fed.us
Dear Erin:
I was notified today of the potential for the Samaniego Ridge and the East Catalina areas to be designated as Wilderness.
I feel that this is un-necessary and would limit opportunity for recreation in the area. I am an avid Mountain Bicyclist, and I utilize trails in that area. These trails are unique, spectacular, and provide a very specific mountain biking experience, an experience that is NOT available on other trails in the Tucson region. If the designation for Wilderness is approved, these trails would no longer be open to mountain bike enthusiasts. The Tucson area is home to many Mountain Bicyclists, and this potential wilderness designation would prohibit many of the area´s residents from recreating in this beautiful area. I am a registered member of TucsonMTB, a regional forum for Mountain bicyclists which promotes trail advocacy and recreational opportunities in the Tucson area. We are over 800 members strong! There is a very large mountain bike community in Tucson, and this large of a community deserves to have recreational opportunities that are not limited by boundary lines.
Tucson is currently a Gold Level Bicycling city, a designation given by the American League of Bicyclists. It is well known that Tucson is trying to achieve the highest level designation, the Platinum Level. One of the criteria for that designation is for the area to have open access to all levels of mountain biking, as well as road biking. By cutting off mountain bike access in the East Catalina and the Samaniego Ridge areas, this could detrimentally effect the application for the Platinum Level status.
The community leaders of the Tucson area depend heavily on tourism dollars. Inability to provide recreational opportunities that are open to ALL persons is detrimental to attracting tourism dollars. Considering the climate of Tucson, summer mountain biking opportunities are limited to the higher elevation trails that are located in this area – the Mount Lemmon area. Taking that away would severely limit any mountain biking in the whole Tucson region in the summer months.
I reside part of the year in Pennsylvania, but I also own a home in Tucson, specifically because of the mountain bike opportunities available in the Tucson area. To have mountain bike access in this area (East Catalina and Samaniego Ridge) taken away from me is very disheartening.
Please, DO NOT make this area another Wilderness area. There are enough Wilderness areas in the Tucson region, and we need open areas to recreate in.
Brenda Mummert
eyebikepa@comcast.net
2. SHARE THE EXPERIENCE PHOTO CONTEST
Enter your favorite photos of your visits to America’s Federal recreation lands by entering the 2010 Share the Experience Photo Contest* for a chance to have your photo grace the front of the 2012 Federal Recreation Lands Pass. From June 1st to December 31st, you can submit up to three photos for the chance to earn national recognition for your picture. Great prizes include: Olympus digital cameras, trips to a Federal recreation area, Federal Recreation Lands Passes and more! For another chance to win, at the end of the photo submission period, the public will be invited to vote for their favorite photo. Each time you vote, you will be entered to win an Olympus camera! Enter by visiting www.sharetheexperience.org, or pick up a brochure and entry form while visiting a Federal recreation land this year. You could have the next winning photo to adorn the Federal Recreation Lands Pass!
*The Share the Experience Photo Contest is sponsored by Olympus Imaging America Inc. and the National Park Foundation in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U. S. Forest Service.
3. TRAVERSE EVENT UPDATE
To all our Traverse Participants:
Thank you for your support of the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund.
Here is information you will need to know what’s going on with the event.
Aid Station:
The main aid station will be at the Main Divide and Maple Spring (Four Corners), roughly at the half way point. Be sure to have enough water storage thru camel backs and water bottles to carry you thru the event. Temps are predicted to be in the mid 60’s. If you want to bring your own supplies to the Aid Station at the Main Divide and Maple Springs (Four Corners), we must be able to throw way any left over contents and the bag they are in. All bags will be thrown away after the event. Your Aid Station bag must be dropped off at the registration table the morning of the event.
Cut-off times:
You must reach Aid Station 1 located at the intersection of Maple Springs Road and the Main Divide Road (4 corners) by 11:00 a.m. to be allowed to finish the course. You must also reach the intersection of the Main Divide and Lower Holy Jim by 12:30 p.m. to be allowed to finish the course.
Packet pickup:
We are encouraging everyone to pick up their number plate and event t-shirt packets at Rock n’ Road Cyclery in Irvine on Thursday, May 6th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This would save all of us tons of time the morning of the event. If you don’t pick your packet up at Rock n Road you will need to pick it up the day of the race at 6:00 AM.
For the general info on the event go to our web site at:
http://www.warriorssociety.org/events/traverse_general_info.html
Shimano is the Major Component Sponsor of the Warrior’s Society
Rock N Road Bike Shops, El Pollo Loco and Switchback Cyclery are Major Sponsors of the Warrior’s Society
O’Hara’s Pub at the Orange Circle is the Official Watering Hole of the Warrior’s Society
Hammer Nutrition is the official Nutrition bar and gel of the Warrior’s Society
The Warrior’s Society is a Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC) affiliated organization
The Warrior’s Society is a Tax Exempt Organization under 501 (c) 4 of the IRS Code
“Far better it is to dare mighty dreams, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take the ranks with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in that gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat!”
Theodore Roosevelt
www.warriorssociety.org
