YZ#58 said:
I guess the point I was wanting to make is that the government has taken away plenty of land and has designated it as "wilderness" or has made it "roadless". My other hobby is dirtbikes, and being able to ride on federal land in states such as Utah, and Colorado is important to me. As I said, this has affected the western states the most. But we are talking millions... of acres of land, no longer accessible to end users... us. SO much land is now off limits to recreational users, it is no longer FUNNY.
And it sure seems like a coincidence that the people that want to do this, also believe that individuals owning firearms, handuns, ASSUALT rifles, etc., is a bad ideal.
A lot of this land is typically desert or wasteland. Gotta watch out for the egg miltch plant or whatever it is called. This also makes it where no oil drilling can be done either. Gotta go 50 miles offshore, gee I wonder if that causes any problems. Not sure what everyone else thinks, but oil is over $90/barrel, it is time to start "drill here, drill now". Oh, wait, can't drill here, it's a wilderness...
I understand where you're coming from I really do. BUT and yes there is one, I for one am just like you when it comes to dirt bikes and off-roading, some here can contest to that since I took them on a 4-wheel drive trip through Anderson Creek few months back. But not all but some people ruin great things, and they dont even care. They destroy property that once was beautiful. Donuts, yanking trees down, cutting paths through the mtns with their winches and demo saws. Fact is bro some things just need to be left alone, and if the Gov can protect that, then so be it. My local law enforcement don't necessarily care thats for sure, so someone needs to. DNR is stretched so thin that theres MAYBE 1 person that patrols 5k square miles of forest, I personally know Merideth, she patrols Nimble Will side and sadly they have to lock off trails to TRY to persuade people to not use them due to erosion. 9 out of 10 times some kids and EVEN adults winch up, and yank trees and rocks out around the fence and drive on by.
We're destroying what makes this country beautiful and unfortunately its at a cost. Look at the Great Smokie Mtns for example. The most visited national park in the United States. They're on the brink of shutting it down due to pollution issues and acid rain. If you wanna visit it during that time, you have to hike in to enjoy it and honestly thats how it should be. I for one hate Gov control, but there is some things they have to help with and this should be one of them.
without some sort of control: