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Sounding (the silent sports) Alarm [8.07] Wis. gop would limit dnr's spending power The state budget proposed by Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly on July 9 would prevent the Department of Natural Resources from spending more than $400,000 in park revenue. "The Assembly version of the budget is very harsh and painful," said Peter Biermeier, chief of external relations, planning and trails for the DNR Bureau of Parks and Recreation. "We need to grow and fix things, but this would mean the closing of trails and facilities." Biermeier said the restrictions on the DNR's spending authority would result in shuttered park facilities and campgrounds, and the elimination of staffing for new campgrounds at Harrington Beach and Kohler-Andrae state parks in Ozaukee and Sheboygan counties respectively. The Assembly budget would also remove a requested funding increase of $298,000 for the operation of the new Milwaukee Lakeshore State Park. The Republican plan would also cut spending on the Knowles-Nelson Steward-ship Fund – which is used to buy natural areas to save them from development – from $60 million to $25 million a year. Only $3.5 million a year would be left for the DNR to add park amenities to the purchased properties. Democrats want to increase the land conservation program to $105 million a year from 2011 to 2020. Senate and Assembly leaders will have to resolve the vast differences between their budget proposals in a conference committee. In 2005, Wisconsin ranked 49th in the nation for the amount it spent on its state parks. The National Association of State Park Directors reported that Wisconsin put only 0.07 percent of its expenditures toward maintaining and developing parks. Only the state of Mississippi spent less. If the Assembly's funding restrictions are enacted as proposed, Wisconsin Gov-ernor's State Trails Council Chairman Dave Phillips said, "we'll have the wonderful honor of being dead last in the nation in terms of spending on our state parks." pro-biking provisions backed by Rep. Oberstar Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar has introduced a couple of provisions in climate change legislation that would benefit the bicycling community and industry. The main one would require state rescissions (the federal recapture of funds that have already been sent to the states) be applied evenly among the various transportation programs. This would stop states from gutting Transportation Enhancements (TE), the primary source of federal funding for bicycling and pedestrian programs. This spring, bicycling advocates in Illinois successfully argued that the 2007 mandatory rescission be applied proportionally to the state's transportation programs. This saved nearly $10 million for trails, bikeways and pedestrian projects, according to the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. Wisconsin, however, took $19 million or nearly a third of its $66.8-million rescission away from potential TE projects, continuing a decade long trend. Oberstar also included a nonbinding provision that would take Congress a step closer toward adopting a federal Complete Streets policy. Complete Streets policies require departments of transportation to address the needs of bicyclists, cyclists and transit users whenever they build or perform major rehabs of roads, which helps make bicycling safer and more convenient. Chicago cyclist killed in illinois road race A 24-year-old Chicago bicyclist was killed June 30 when she was struck by a pick-up truck pulling a horse trailer during the Proctor Cycling Classic in the Brimfield, Illinois, area near Peoria. Three miles from the end of the 17-mile race, Elizabeth Kobeszka collided with a competitor in a pack of more than 25 riders which sent her into the oncoming traffic lane on Brimfield-Jubilee Road. The truck driver slowed and pulled over, but Kobeszka's head went under the wheels of the horse trailer, according to the Journal Star. Kobeszka's mother told the newspaper she was "appalled" that the course, like many others, was open to traffic during the race. She said she hoped her daughter's death would "open people's eyes to say we need to block off these roads." Kobeszka, a member of XXX Racing-AthletiCo's women's development squad, won the Cobb Park Criterium the previous weekend. She graduated from Northwestern University where she was a runner. For memorial information, go to www.xxxracing.org. RANGERS: OHVs BIGGEST THREAT TO PUBLIC LANDS Reckless off-roading has become an acute law enforcement problem and is now the single greatest threat to American landscapes, according to a new coalition of rangers and public land managers assembled by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The rangers say tough new policies, such as suspending hunting and fishing licenses and, in extreme cases, confiscating vehicles, are needed to stem irresponsible off-road vehicle use. The coalition, called Rangers for Responsible Recreation, consists of more than a dozen of America's most seasoned law enforcement and natural resource management specialists from every major public lands agency covering several different administrations. The coalition contends off-road abuse is creating chaos on public lands and ruining the outdoors for everyone while overburdening an already strapped ranger force. The Rangers for Responsible Recreation is urging a congressional inquiry that accounts for the real costs to taxpayers from off-road abuses on our public lands, as well as augmented law enforcement funding dedicated to coping with the avalanche of problems occasioned by reckless off-roading. "Off-roading is becoming the most widely destructive, problematic and demanding use of public lands," says Southwest PEER Director Daniel Patterson, an ecologist who formerly worked with the Bureau of Land Management. "America needs a new national approach to what has become a plague on our legacy of conservation. No one has a right to abuse our public lands." Motor rep. wants more power on trails council At a Wisconsin Governor's State Trails Council meeting on July 13, council member and president of the Wisconsin ATV Association Randy Harden suggested recreational 4-wheel-drive truckers deserved "equal representation" at the table. Nevermind that ATVs make up at least 80 percent of the off-highway vehicle ownership in this state, and snowmobiles are a category unto themselves who's owners also have a seat on the council, too. Let's think about this. Bicyclists, who outnumber ATV'ers almost 10-1, have just Robbie Webber of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin to speak for them on the council. Webber is a very able and articulate advocate, but by her own admission, she's an urban roadie. So should we insist on adding a mountain biker (it is a "trails" council, after all)? Maybe we should have two cross-country ski reps as well (one classic skier, one skate skier) and a race walker in addition to a hiker. Harden's tortured logic makes about as much sense. Harden frequently complains about an "elitist" and "discriminatory" campaign waged against ATV'ers, as he does in the June issue of Wisconsin Trail Rider. But there are few activities more selfish and status driven than taking over public natural areas with the deafening noise and trail rutting power of a $4,000, 500-pound machine. The fact is, ATV'ers have bought (through gas taxes and vehicle registration fees) far more representation than they should expect. Little more than 10 percent of Wisconsin ATV'ers are dues paying members of Harden's organization or a local ATV club. And only a minority of Wisconsin ATV'ers ride on public land or say they lack uncongested trails. (See the Editor's Letter for some other surprising results from a survey of state ATV owners.)
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