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A little information about misinformation and how it gets out of hand when it gets into the wrong hands:
The article posted at the Message Forum at http://www.PropertyRightsResearch.org has some additional information. I'll paste it here, so that you and others in our loop can see how important having all the information is!
(Note from John Stewart)
Information Resource Network:
This article is reflective of the misinformation that is circulating about RS2477.
In short, RS2477 is not about building roads, it is maintaining the "right-of-way" over federal lands not otherwise reserved.
Colorado Eyes 1866 Mining Law to Settle Right of Way Claims
June 6, 2003
Denver, Colorado (ENS) -
Conservationists fear that Colorado Governor Bill Owens is seeking to use an 1866 mining law to turn hiking trails in the state's National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges and wilderness lands into paved highways.
Owens has asked Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Colorado over how to pursue claims and resolve disputes under the nineteenth century right of way law know as RS-2477. The request from Colorado state officials comes on the heels of an agreement brokered between Bush administration officials at Interior with the state of Utah, an arrangement that enraged environmental groups and many in the outdoor recreation industry.
"The Bush administration opened Pandora's Box when it resurrected this loophole," said Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign for America's Wilderness. "Now there's a land grab on by developers who will attempt to use this loophole to prevent treasured lands from receiving permanent protection as wilderness."
Matz's organization, along with some 17 other local, state and national conservation groups, have asked Owens to reconsider his proposal. On April 8, Norton signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state of Utah to establish a process to use RS-2477 to recognized rights of way across BLM lands. The law intended to grant the right to construct and use highways across public lands that were not otherwise reserved or protected for other public use.
Although repealed in 1976, claims on right of ways prior to the repeal can still be made. When announcing the settlement, Norton and Utah Governor Mike Leavitt said it only applies to existing publicly traveled and regularly maintained roads. But critics say it could allow private interests and state and local governments to bulldoze through federal lands and some say the Colorado request could be even worse.
Conservationists cite a letter sent by Colorado Department of Natural Resources Director Greg Walcher to Norton on May 15th asking that Colorado and Interior cut a deal on routes claimed under RS-2477. The letter suggests that Colorado is keen to press claims through federal lands and that these claims for rights-of-ways for highways could include cattle trails, hiking trails, riverbeds, and jeep trails.
In particular, the letter says Colorado takes issue with the Utah decision that only provides rights-of-way claims to roads that can accommodate four wheel drive vehicles, instead asking for a ruling that deal that relies on "mere passage of vehicles" -- or even no surface treatment whatsoever.
In addition, Walcher wrote Colorado should not be subject to federal environmental permitting requirements when routes under RS2477 are "upgraded" and that Colorado need not even show exactly where the right-of-way existed.
In his letter, Walcher writes that most modern RS-2477 claims originate out of the need "to protect public safety and resources," but conservationists are not convinced. They contend the Colorado proposal puts at risk such lands as Dinosaur National Monument and Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern Colorado, where Moffat County has proposed taking over hundreds of miles of cattle trails, hiking paths, jeep tracks, and nearly invisible routes as "constructed highways" using the RS2477 claims.
"This proposal would irreparably degrade Colorado's habitat and water quality, undermine the purpose and essence of the state's protected areas, and diminish Colorado's economy and quality of life," said Suzanne Jones, assistant regional director for The Wilderness Society. "The state's proposal defies explanation."
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