Joe Watts: January 2012 Archives
(from Rob Grant) Dear Members of the CRT Council of Advisors:
The Recreational Trails Program is in very deep trouble. The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved transportation reauthorization legislation known as MAP-21 that would effectively eliminate the RTP by stripping the program of its dedicated funding.
But all hope is not lost.
CRT and its member organizations have been working to identify key Champions in the Senate with the aim of having an amendment to restore dedicated funding for the RTP added to the bill before it is considered by the full Senate.
Reaching this goal will not be possible without your help.
Now is the time for all organizations and individuals who support RTP to tell their Senators to protect dedicated funding for this absolutely essential program.
The key messages are simple:
· Unless the bill is changed, MAP-21 will effectively eliminate the Recreational Trails Program; and
· Please amend MAP-21 to include dedicated funding for RTP.
Other helpful messages include:
· For the last two decades, RTP has received a portion of the gas taxes paid by users of off-highway motorized vehicles to fund trail building, maintenance and other trail-related projects. More than 13,000 projects have been funded across the country for all kinds of trail uses. This is a very successful program.
· At its current level of annual funding - $85 million - RTP receives less than 42% of the Federal Highway Administration's conservative estimate of the federal gas taxes paid by America's nonhighway recreationists. The Senate bill would reduce that percentage to zero and represents a substantial new tax on motorized recreation enthusiasts.
· The return of gas taxes to trail users through the RTP is in keeping with the user-pay, user-benefit philosophy of the Highway Trust Fund. Ending dedicated funding for RTP takes these gas taxes away from the people who pay them. Ending dedicated funding for RTP is bad public policy and just plain wrong.
· The RTP is the foundation of state trail programs. If the RTP loses its dedicated funding, organized trail planning and development will simply vanish in many areas of the country.
Now is the time to act. Write, email or call your two Senators. Here's a link if you need it: http://www.senate.gov/. Make sure your entire grassroots organization is engaged as well.
We need to show the United States Senate just how many Americans are committed to the Recreational Trails Program. If we don't act, the very backbone of trails in America may be forever lost.
Please be sure to send us a copy of your message. Thank you for your help.
Marianne Fowler, Co-Chair, Coalition for Recreational Trails
Derrick Crandall, Co-Chair, Coalition for Recreational Trails
1225 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 450
Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 682-9530 Fax (202) 682-9529
cahern@funoutdoors.com
The Recreational Trails Program is in very deep trouble. The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved transportation reauthorization legislation known as MAP-21 that would effectively eliminate the RTP by stripping the program of its dedicated funding.
But all hope is not lost.
CRT and its member organizations have been working to identify key Champions in the Senate with the aim of having an amendment to restore dedicated funding for the RTP added to the bill before it is considered by the full Senate.
Reaching this goal will not be possible without your help.
Now is the time for all organizations and individuals who support RTP to tell their Senators to protect dedicated funding for this absolutely essential program.
The key messages are simple:
· Unless the bill is changed, MAP-21 will effectively eliminate the Recreational Trails Program; and
· Please amend MAP-21 to include dedicated funding for RTP.
Other helpful messages include:
· For the last two decades, RTP has received a portion of the gas taxes paid by users of off-highway motorized vehicles to fund trail building, maintenance and other trail-related projects. More than 13,000 projects have been funded across the country for all kinds of trail uses. This is a very successful program.
· At its current level of annual funding - $85 million - RTP receives less than 42% of the Federal Highway Administration's conservative estimate of the federal gas taxes paid by America's nonhighway recreationists. The Senate bill would reduce that percentage to zero and represents a substantial new tax on motorized recreation enthusiasts.
· The return of gas taxes to trail users through the RTP is in keeping with the user-pay, user-benefit philosophy of the Highway Trust Fund. Ending dedicated funding for RTP takes these gas taxes away from the people who pay them. Ending dedicated funding for RTP is bad public policy and just plain wrong.
· The RTP is the foundation of state trail programs. If the RTP loses its dedicated funding, organized trail planning and development will simply vanish in many areas of the country.
Now is the time to act. Write, email or call your two Senators. Here's a link if you need it: http://www.senate.gov/. Make sure your entire grassroots organization is engaged as well.
We need to show the United States Senate just how many Americans are committed to the Recreational Trails Program. If we don't act, the very backbone of trails in America may be forever lost.
Please be sure to send us a copy of your message. Thank you for your help.
Marianne Fowler, Co-Chair, Coalition for Recreational Trails
Derrick Crandall, Co-Chair, Coalition for Recreational Trails
1225 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 450
Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 682-9530 Fax (202) 682-9529
cahern@funoutdoors.com
That in 2009, Alabama's Legislature passed a law that allows Class 7 and 8 Municipalities (populations from 1 to 11,999) to adopt a rural scenic right-of-way plan for the development, improvement, and use of right-of-way along municipal roads and streets and county roads within the corporate limits and police jurisdiction of the municipality (except those roadways under ALDOT's jurisdiction)?
http://arc-sos.state.al.us/PAC/SOSACPDF.001/A0007369.PDF
That if you want to learn to identify birds native to Alabama, find out where you can view them, or learn how to lure them to your backyard, the Alabama Wildlife Center can show you how?
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/12/alabama_wildlife_center_at_oak.html
That the GRCA Green Progress Report, compiled by the nonprofit Green Resource Center for Alabama, highlights some of the year's important developments toward making Alabama a greener place to live, work and play? You can read about some of the best green moments of 2011 - including outdoor recreation and trail related news!
http://www.greenalabama.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011GreenReport.pdf
That experts are seeing a remarkable number of hummingbirds along the Gulf Coast this winter?
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2011/12/experts_are_seeing_a_remarkabl.html
About the new Off-road haven coming soon to Talladega County?
http://annistonstar.com/bookmark/16661643
That Alabama's State Parks thrive when times get tough?
http://annistonstar.com/bookmark/16645991
Who owns the rivers?
http://www.nationalrivers.org/us-law-who-owns.htm
That Red Mountain Park held its first organized sporting event Saturday, the New Year's Eve "Resolution Run," a jump-start on a new year that is set to bring major changes to the park?
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/12/red_mountain_park_trail_romp_a.html
http://arc-sos.state.al.us/PAC/SOSACPDF.001/A0007369.PDF
That if you want to learn to identify birds native to Alabama, find out where you can view them, or learn how to lure them to your backyard, the Alabama Wildlife Center can show you how?
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/12/alabama_wildlife_center_at_oak.html
That the GRCA Green Progress Report, compiled by the nonprofit Green Resource Center for Alabama, highlights some of the year's important developments toward making Alabama a greener place to live, work and play? You can read about some of the best green moments of 2011 - including outdoor recreation and trail related news!
http://www.greenalabama.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011GreenReport.pdf
That experts are seeing a remarkable number of hummingbirds along the Gulf Coast this winter?
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2011/12/experts_are_seeing_a_remarkabl.html
About the new Off-road haven coming soon to Talladega County?
http://annistonstar.com/bookmark/16661643
That Alabama's State Parks thrive when times get tough?
http://annistonstar.com/bookmark/16645991
Who owns the rivers?
http://www.nationalrivers.org/us-law-who-owns.htm
That Red Mountain Park held its first organized sporting event Saturday, the New Year's Eve "Resolution Run," a jump-start on a new year that is set to bring major changes to the park?
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/12/red_mountain_park_trail_romp_a.html
From the article "Huntsville named one of the best places to retire by Where to Retire magazine" by Mike Marshall in The Huntsville Times:
Huntsville, a city becoming accustomed to accolades, has made another national list. The city has been selected by Where to Retire, a magazine designed to help retirees with relocation decisions, as a top retirement town. Huntsville will be profiled in the magazine's January/February 2012 issue. That issue will be available on Dec. 20. "Huntsville is a growing city, yet it maintains the charm and hospitality of a small Southern town,'' said Mary Lu Abbott, the Where to Retire editor. "Retirees easily stay busy, volunteering for local charities, enjoying a live performance at a theater or participating in one of the country's largest adult-learning programs at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.'' Among Huntsville's other recent honors: one of the world's top 10 smartest cities by Forbes; the nation's fourth-strongest building market by Businessweek; and America's top midsize city to launch and grow a business by Fortune Small Business magazine.
For the complete article please see http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/12/huntsville_named_one_of_the_be.html.
Huntsville, a city becoming accustomed to accolades, has made another national list. The city has been selected by Where to Retire, a magazine designed to help retirees with relocation decisions, as a top retirement town. Huntsville will be profiled in the magazine's January/February 2012 issue. That issue will be available on Dec. 20. "Huntsville is a growing city, yet it maintains the charm and hospitality of a small Southern town,'' said Mary Lu Abbott, the Where to Retire editor. "Retirees easily stay busy, volunteering for local charities, enjoying a live performance at a theater or participating in one of the country's largest adult-learning programs at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.'' Among Huntsville's other recent honors: one of the world's top 10 smartest cities by Forbes; the nation's fourth-strongest building market by Businessweek; and America's top midsize city to launch and grow a business by Fortune Small Business magazine.
For the complete article please see http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/12/huntsville_named_one_of_the_be.html.
The Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division (WFF) of the Alabama
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) is currently
accepting applications through its Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) to
continue longleaf pine restoration efforts in Alabama. The grant was
awarded through a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS), and will be made available to qualifying landowners for
longleaf pine restoration on private lands.
Landowners are encouraged to submit applications to receive assistance with the site preparation, seedlings, planting, native grass restoration and/or exotic control costs. For landowners to be considered eligible to receive funding, the property must be within the historic range of longleaf pine in Alabama, or contain suitable soils to support longleaf pine. Program details include: cost share at 50 percent, no minimum acreage is required, and cutover sites and agricultural sites are eligible.
The LIP funds are administered to complement habitat restoration goals of the longleaf pine ecosystem. This program provides financial and/or technical assistance to private landowners to conserve, manage or enhance the habitats of species in greatest conservation need associated with Alabama's longleaf pine ecosystem. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2012. For application information contract Traci Wood at 334-353-0503 or Traci.Wood@dcnr.alabama.gov.
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama's natural resources through five divisions: Marine Police, Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR, visit www.outdooralabama.com.
Landowners are encouraged to submit applications to receive assistance with the site preparation, seedlings, planting, native grass restoration and/or exotic control costs. For landowners to be considered eligible to receive funding, the property must be within the historic range of longleaf pine in Alabama, or contain suitable soils to support longleaf pine. Program details include: cost share at 50 percent, no minimum acreage is required, and cutover sites and agricultural sites are eligible.
The LIP funds are administered to complement habitat restoration goals of the longleaf pine ecosystem. This program provides financial and/or technical assistance to private landowners to conserve, manage or enhance the habitats of species in greatest conservation need associated with Alabama's longleaf pine ecosystem. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2012. For application information contract Traci Wood at 334-353-0503 or Traci.Wood@dcnr.alabama.gov.
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama's natural resources through five divisions: Marine Police, Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR, visit www.outdooralabama.com.
