eddy
Well-known member
NEWS RELEASE
Chairman Jim Coletta
Commissioner District 5
Collier County Government Complex
3301 E. Tamiami Trail
Naples, Florida 34112
Tel: (239) 774-8097 Fax (239) 774-3602
Contact: Executive Aide Nancy Rosiak (239) 774-8097
Building F, 3rd Floor, Ste 303 ATTENTION LOCAL MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PUBLIC MEETING ON SPORTSMEN’S ACCESS TO THE
BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE ADDITION LANDS
(March 16, 2007) Naples, Florida Collier County Commission Chairman Jim Coletta, and Lyle McCandless, President, Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance, will be holding a public meeting at the Florida Sports Park, located at 4750 Collier Boulevard (CR 951) in Naples at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, 2007.
The purpose of this meeting is to disseminate information to the public about methods of solving traditional cultural visitation problems that currently exist at Big Cypress National Preserve and to inform the public how to prevent these problems from happening again in the Addition Lands (146,000 acres) during the General Management Planning Process presently underway. The Big Cypress National Preserve is located in South Florida, 20 miles East of Naples and next to Everglades City.
Some of the areas of concern are the right to use off road vehicles (ORV) such as buggies, ATV’s or airboats in Big Cypress National Preserve and the Addition Lands.
Prior to 1974 many diverse groups, including off road vehicles (ORV) operators, hunters, environmentalists and others came together in support of the establishment of the 582,000 acre Big Cypress National Preserve. Unlike a National Park, a National Preserve allows for a continuation of traditional uses. Preserve advocates realized that more land protection would be required to preserve the watershed. So, ORV operators, hunters (the regions traditional cultural community) and others came together again to support the protection of the Addition Lands’ 146,000 acres that was to be annexed to the Big Cypress National Preserve.
The Addition Lands acquisition by Congress was completed in 1996. Sadly and unexpectedly as soon as the National Park Service was put in charge in 1996, they summarily banished ORV operators and hunters from the Addition Lands’ 146,000 acres; paradoxically two of the groups that were instrumental to the acquisition. This action has resulted in hard feelings by many of the traditional visitors who consider that banishment as a “bait and switch� move.
Eleven years have past now since Collier County’s traditional cultural community was banished from the Addition Lands, and finally there is an opportunity to be instrumental in changing the way this land is used through the National Park Service’s General Management Planning Process, which is currently underway. National Park Service (NPS) is simultaneously in the very complicated and tedious process of developing 3 management plans … 1) an ORV Plan, 2) a General Management Plan (GMP), and 3) a Wilderness Suitability Assessment (WSA). This planning process is also very difficult for citizens to understand how the participation process works and recognize how to be effective in sustaining their culture and legal rights to allow access to public lands via ORV’s, motorboats, etc.
Commissioner Jim Coletta, who has long been recognized as an advocate for access rights, has offered his assistance to the Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance in arranging for this public meeting. He said, “I am proud to assist a local organization recently formed to focus attention on the Addition Lands plan at Big Cypress National Preserve. If you care about your rights of future access to our public lands at Big Cypress, you need to join us at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, March 31 at the Florida Sports Park.�
Lyle McCandless, President of Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance, also expressed his concerns, “If we fail to act now, the Addition Lands that we fought so hard to create could become off limits to ORV access forever.�
Frank F. Denninger, Board Member of the Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance, is an outdoor enthusiast who is recognized as an authority on the enabling documents that created the original Big Cypress National Preserve and the Addition Lands. He has effectively lobbied at both the state and federal level for the restoration of the rights for the traditional cultural community. Frank stated “In the last thirty years I have had to bear witness to the massive loss of public rights of meaningful access to our public lands due to restrictive overkill of regulatory actions that are based on flawed science. Now is the time to make a stand. It is for that reason that the Additions Lands Plan has to be right the first time, since it will cast in concrete the future management of the original Big Cypress National Preserve.�
The meeting’s purpose is to raise public awareness of NPS’s ongoing processes and how to effectively interface with NPS to assure that residents will be able to access the Additions Lands’ 146,000 acres. A very large crowd is expected and will be asking hard-hitting questions. Hope to see you there to help inform others of what is taking place.
For more information, contact Lyle McCandless at 239-370-8532
Chairman Jim Coletta
Commissioner District 5
Collier County Government Complex
3301 E. Tamiami Trail
Naples, Florida 34112
Tel: (239) 774-8097 Fax (239) 774-3602
Contact: Executive Aide Nancy Rosiak (239) 774-8097
Building F, 3rd Floor, Ste 303 ATTENTION LOCAL MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PUBLIC MEETING ON SPORTSMEN’S ACCESS TO THE
BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE ADDITION LANDS
(March 16, 2007) Naples, Florida Collier County Commission Chairman Jim Coletta, and Lyle McCandless, President, Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance, will be holding a public meeting at the Florida Sports Park, located at 4750 Collier Boulevard (CR 951) in Naples at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, 2007.
The purpose of this meeting is to disseminate information to the public about methods of solving traditional cultural visitation problems that currently exist at Big Cypress National Preserve and to inform the public how to prevent these problems from happening again in the Addition Lands (146,000 acres) during the General Management Planning Process presently underway. The Big Cypress National Preserve is located in South Florida, 20 miles East of Naples and next to Everglades City.
Some of the areas of concern are the right to use off road vehicles (ORV) such as buggies, ATV’s or airboats in Big Cypress National Preserve and the Addition Lands.
Prior to 1974 many diverse groups, including off road vehicles (ORV) operators, hunters, environmentalists and others came together in support of the establishment of the 582,000 acre Big Cypress National Preserve. Unlike a National Park, a National Preserve allows for a continuation of traditional uses. Preserve advocates realized that more land protection would be required to preserve the watershed. So, ORV operators, hunters (the regions traditional cultural community) and others came together again to support the protection of the Addition Lands’ 146,000 acres that was to be annexed to the Big Cypress National Preserve.
The Addition Lands acquisition by Congress was completed in 1996. Sadly and unexpectedly as soon as the National Park Service was put in charge in 1996, they summarily banished ORV operators and hunters from the Addition Lands’ 146,000 acres; paradoxically two of the groups that were instrumental to the acquisition. This action has resulted in hard feelings by many of the traditional visitors who consider that banishment as a “bait and switch� move.
Eleven years have past now since Collier County’s traditional cultural community was banished from the Addition Lands, and finally there is an opportunity to be instrumental in changing the way this land is used through the National Park Service’s General Management Planning Process, which is currently underway. National Park Service (NPS) is simultaneously in the very complicated and tedious process of developing 3 management plans … 1) an ORV Plan, 2) a General Management Plan (GMP), and 3) a Wilderness Suitability Assessment (WSA). This planning process is also very difficult for citizens to understand how the participation process works and recognize how to be effective in sustaining their culture and legal rights to allow access to public lands via ORV’s, motorboats, etc.
Commissioner Jim Coletta, who has long been recognized as an advocate for access rights, has offered his assistance to the Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance in arranging for this public meeting. He said, “I am proud to assist a local organization recently formed to focus attention on the Addition Lands plan at Big Cypress National Preserve. If you care about your rights of future access to our public lands at Big Cypress, you need to join us at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, March 31 at the Florida Sports Park.�
Lyle McCandless, President of Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance, also expressed his concerns, “If we fail to act now, the Addition Lands that we fought so hard to create could become off limits to ORV access forever.�
Frank F. Denninger, Board Member of the Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance, is an outdoor enthusiast who is recognized as an authority on the enabling documents that created the original Big Cypress National Preserve and the Addition Lands. He has effectively lobbied at both the state and federal level for the restoration of the rights for the traditional cultural community. Frank stated “In the last thirty years I have had to bear witness to the massive loss of public rights of meaningful access to our public lands due to restrictive overkill of regulatory actions that are based on flawed science. Now is the time to make a stand. It is for that reason that the Additions Lands Plan has to be right the first time, since it will cast in concrete the future management of the original Big Cypress National Preserve.�
The meeting’s purpose is to raise public awareness of NPS’s ongoing processes and how to effectively interface with NPS to assure that residents will be able to access the Additions Lands’ 146,000 acres. A very large crowd is expected and will be asking hard-hitting questions. Hope to see you there to help inform others of what is taking place.
For more information, contact Lyle McCandless at 239-370-8532
