Ask you Senators to Oppose Two Anti-Wilderness Bills—S. 1686 and S. 1222

Mountain Bikes in Wilderness

For over 57 years, the Wilderness Act has protected Wilderness areas designated by Congress from machines of all types. This has meant, as Congress intended, that Wilderness areas have been kept free from cars, trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles, bicycles, and all other types of motorized and mechanized transport.

Unfortunately, a loud contingent of mountain bikers and an off-shoot mountain biking organization, the Sustainable Trails Coalition (STC), have convinced a notoriously anti-Wilderness member of the U.S. Senate—Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah)—to introduce S. 1686, a bill to weaken the Wilderness Act and blast open every Wilderness in the nation to mountain bikes and other machines. This bill comes up for a Senate subcommittee hearing on June 16 so please take action now!

During the last session of Congress, Wilderness Watch spearheaded a sign-on letter to Congress in opposition to opening up the National Wilderness Preservation System to bikes. 150 wilderness-supporting organizations from around the nation signed on, clearly showing that the conservation community is united in its opposition to the mountain bikers’ efforts.

Now we need your help! Please take a few minutes to urge your senators to oppose S. 1686 and all attempts to amend and weaken the Wilderness Act to allow mountain bikes in Wilderness.

At a time when Wilderness and wildlife are under increasing pressures from increasing populations, growing mechanization, and a rapidly changing climate, the last thing Wilderness needs is to be invaded by mountain bikes and other machines!

Wasatch Front (UT) Wilderness De-designation

Also coming up in the Senate Subcommittee hearing on June 16 is S. 1222, the so-called “Bonneville Shoreline Trail Advancement Act.” This bill would de-designate 326 acres of Wilderness in several Wildernesses along the Wasatch Front in Utah to allow a large trail construction project to be built. Though 326 acres from an old Boy Scout camp would be designated as Wilderness in exchange, this is no way to treat the supposedly “permanent” designation of Wildernesses just because the metropolitan area has grown nearer to wilderness boundaries.

Please ask your Senators to oppose S. 1222 as well as S. 1686!