From the May 2001 Idaho Observer:

USFS informs public it is closing forests to motor vehicles;

denies agency connection to FEMA, UN, BLM roadless areas

PAYSON, Ariz. -- Nearly 400 citizens packed themselves into the high school auditorium here the evening of April 24, 2001 and listened to U.S. Forest Service (USFS) spokesman Jim Anderson explain why the federal government intends to justify the elimination of motor vehicles from federally-administrated forests.

Billed a meeting to gain public input as to why the federal government should not eliminate motor vehicle access to the national forests, public input was not allowed until the last hour of the four-hour meeting. “By that time, all but about 40 people had left in disgust,” commented pro-American activist Pat Revere.

Revere also discovered that the meeting was not recorded so there is no official record of what transpired. According to Revere, Anderson said, “We didn't have time to record this meeting.”

Revere had two weeks advance notice that the meeting was to be held and doubts that the federal agency was short of time to prepare a recording of the event -- especially since they had been prepared enough to make a three-hour presentation.

Is the USFS lying?

Revere was finally given the opportunity to ask a few questions of Anderson. He began preparing the questions he intended to ask shortly after being notified that the meeting was to take place.

Question #1: “Are you, the U.S. Forest Service, in any way connected with the United Nations?

“No” Anderson stated.

Question #2: “Is the “Roadless Forest Plan connected in any way to a treaty with the United Nations entitled, 'Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage Sites' that was ratified by the U.S. Senate in Sept. 2000?”

“No,” answered Anderson.

Question #3: “Are you, the U.S. Forest Service, connected in any way with similar 'roadless areas' plans being planned by the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?”

“I am not aware of any other plans,” said Anderson.

“I believe Anderson's answers to my questions were bold faced lies,” said Revere.

The “Delphi Technique” used at the meeting is designed to “dialogue people into consent of a preplanned outcome. The meeting appeared to be yet another example of agency officials presenting the facade of representative government. The plan is to eliminate motor vehicle access to forests being managed by the federal government regardless of public opinion. Meetings such as the one held at the high school are merely a pretense of adhering to statutory obligations that demand public input.

At present, there are 47 biosphere reserves and 27 world heritage sites in the U.S. As much as 70 percent of our nation's parks and monuments are currently, in theory anyway, being “protected” by international agreements.

International treaties notwithstanding, the federal government manages nearly 80 percent of U.S. soil west of the Rocky Mountains -- 42 percent of the land nationwide.

* The Bureau of Land Management controls approximately 268 million acres;

* The USFS controls approximately 191 million acres;

* The National Parks Service controls approximately 77 million acres and;

* The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service controls approximately 87 million acres.

Though funds made available to the federal government to purchase land from private parties is forever on the increase, the sale of public lands into private ownership was prohibited in 1976 with the passage of the Federal Lands Policy Act.

“To believe that the USFS is not aware of any connection of its own land use intentions to the internationally-influenced agenda to eliminate public access to our forests would be naive. There is an agenda to control our national treasures and natural resources and the USFS is part of it,” concluded Revere.