Supervisors Vote AGAINST Support of Boxer Wilderness Bill

We the undersigned are concerned about the re-designation as Wilderness and effective closure of recreational areas throughout California, specifically in Nevada County. We understand that in the near future, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors will be voting whether to support Barbara Boxer's California Wild Heritage Act of 2002, and we encourage you to vote against supporting it.

This bill, if passed, would result in closure of nearly 25,000 acres of Nevada County public lands to mechanized public use -- effectively shutting out 95\% of the public from the ruggedly beautiful high country in the Grouse Lakes and Castle Peak areas. Four-wheelers, snowmobilers, dirt-bikers, and mountain-bikers would be banned from this Wilderness. Rafters, kayakers, miners, campers, horse-riders, and fishermen would also suffer dramatically decreased access .... All but the most-fit individuals would be out of hiking range of their destinations, even though these lands have supported these multiple uses -- many for decades, and some, for more than a century.

One of the primary effects of Wilderness designation is the reduction of access especially for recreation -- but the "no mechanized transport" rules also prevent use of bulldozers, trucks, and helicopters, which will severely restrict the ability of the Forest Service to fight fires... Without mechanized means of access, land managers cannot patrol these public lands, or the reservoirs and resources within the Wilderness boundaries. Designating these lands as Wilderness will result in reduced revenue from tourism, increased resource-loading on the few remaining areas open to managed multiple-use access, and magnify the risk of wildfires even as it reduces the ability of the Forest Service to respond to and contain wildfires.

Boxer's Wilderness Bill is poorly conceived, and support of it by Nevada County's Board of Supervisors just isn't smart. Please vote AGAINST SUPPORTING Boxer's ill-advised land-grab. It is wrong for California, and especially wrong for Nevada County.