Sustainable Trails Coalition Makes Major Progress
We would like to inform you of some major developments in the past week regarding the work of the Sustainable Trails Coalition (STC). December 7, 2017 was a major day for their efforts to end the blanket ban of bikes in Wilderness as Ted Stroll, the President of STC, testified to the House Committee on Natural Resources regarding H.R. 1349. If you’d like to see any of the videos extracted from the hearing, here is their page on the hearing.
One week later, on December 13th, the House Committee on Natural Resources voted on and passed the bill through committee! Below is the full language of the amended bill as amended on December 13, 2017:
« Section 4 of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(c)) is amended by adding at the end of subsection (d) the following: “(8) Allowable uses. Each agency administering any area designated as wilderness may allow the use of motorized wheelchairs, non-motorized wheelchairs, non-motorized adaptive cycles, non-motorized bicycles, non-motorized strollers, non-motorized wheelbarrows, non-motorized survey wheels, non-motorized measuring wheels, or non-motorized game carts within any wilderness area. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘wheelchair’ means a device designed solely for use by a mobility-impaired person for locomotion, that is suitable for use in an indoor pedestrian area.”. »
The Board of STC feels that there is a very good chance that they might be able move things along and actually make their bill into law and they need your help.
If they can get the House bill passed, they will either need to get the bill re-introduced in the Senate, and passed, or get the Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior to take on the issue. Both of these efforts are going to require the work of their DC adviser, and that does not come for free.
So if you would like to see the ban of bikes in Wilderness ended in your lifetime, or at least in the next year or two, please consider giving STC some support so they continue this fight.
How can you help?
1. Here is their donation page, and if you’d prefer to write checks and not give 2.9% to Visa, please mail your checks to: Sustainable Trails Coalition, PO Box 402, San Jose, CA 95103-0402. Please be aware that STC is a 501(c)4 organization and therefore donations are not tax deductible.
2. STC also has a great new batch of shirts, and a hoodie, available for order at this link and they receive approximately $15 for each purchase.
3. If you have a strong opinion on this legislation, please consider writing a letter or calling your Congressional Representative and letting them know. Check this page for how to contact your representatives.