BIG CYPRESS SPORTSMEN’S ALLIANCE

                                           COMMENTS
                   DRAFT GENERAL MANAGEMENT PLAN/WILDERNESS STUDY/
                               OFF ROAD VEHICLE MANAGEMENT PLAN

   HISTORY 
Once upon a time many many years ago the Native Floridians discovered a wonderful piece of God's green earth in south Florida. This area came to be known as the "Big Cypress", not because of the size of the Cypress trees but due to the massive expanse of the area. The Native Floridians, referred 
to today as the "Gladesmen", soon considered this area "home", hence a treasured Culture was born. The diversity of this area is simply amazing including, Huge Cypress Strands, Vast Pine and Palmetto Uplands, Oak Islands and Endless Open Prairies. The area has been continuously used hard yet respectfully by the Native Floridians for over 75 years with no documented negative effect to this day. 
                        TRADITIONAL SWAMP BUGGY and AIR BOATS
The Big Cypress is extremely wet a good portion of the year making traveling on foot near impossible. The solution to the problem was a light weight vehicle equipped with large airplane tires for flotation hence the "Swamp Buggy" was born. Even though the Swamp Buggy offers a lot of recreational enjoyment, it is actually more of a necessary tool in the Big Cypress. [Ban the Buggy, Ban the People]. 
Access to the wetter glades type areas is by Air Boats. Air Boats are flat bottom boats propelled generally by aircraft engines.
          OR V IMPACT 
During the 2008/2009 hunting season the Big Cypress Sportsmen's Alliance took it upon themselves to do a much needed detailed ORV impact study. During the combined eleven week black powder and general gun hunting seasons, all of the ORV's entering the Preserve were documented.
All ORV's are transported on trailers. All ORV trailers were counted each week end at all of the ORV entry points from the Bear Island unit to the Oasis Rangers station. During this eleven week hunting season there was an average of 122 ORV's per week in the Preserve. 122 ORV's in the 580,000 acre Preserve equates to one ORV per Four Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty Four [4,754] acres. It is uncommon to pass over one or two other ORV's in a typical day in the Preserve. 
The eleven week hunting season likely represents eighty to ninety percent of the annual ORV impact in the Preserve. We ALL should know the true facts in order to form reasonable, well informed opinions. 
    ORV TRAIL RESTRICTIONS 
Speaking of facts, here is a major fact we ALL should be fully aware of. During the late Nineties a grou of dedicated sporting organization leaders, along with many members of the public, spent countless hours with the NPS in public workshops and locating ORV trails on maps. At the end of this massive effort it was agreed by all parties including the public and Superintendent John Donahue that approximately fifteen hundred miles of ORV trails were necessary to allow reasonable ORV access to all of the original Preserve. Par for the course this was another false promise.
 An arbitrary decision was made by the NPS to restrict ORV's to only 400 miles of primary ORV trails. 
This decision was made overnight with absolutely no input from the public. A major factor in this decision was an out of court settlement of a law suite between the National Park Service and the Bio-Diversity Project. 400 miles of ORV trails in the 580,000 acre original Preserve puts the ORV trails from five to six miles apart. The INTENT of the Preserve creation legislation was not to arbitrarily restrict ORV'S to a limited mile trail system. The INTENT was to create an ORV trail system based on reasonable ORV access, not limited miles of trails. The NPS and the Extreme Enviros figured out long ago, restricting ORV trail mileage was a creative way to create de facto wilderness out of any and all areas not reachable by ORV’s.

. We all need to fully realize the fact that this minimal 400 trail system was and is the worst of the worst restriction placed on the Preserve by the NPS. In addition to the above, ORV's have been improperly banned from 40% of the original Preserve. 60 day annual Preserve closure as well as ORV night closure exists to this day with no documentation by the NPS that these continued restrictions are justified. ORV trail mileage in the original Preserve is one and one half miles per one thousand acres. Proposed ORV trail mileage in the Addition Lands is one mile of trails per one thousand acres. One more example of NPS take away. 
ADDITION LANDS 
The Addition Lands were acquired with our tax dollars in 1988. The public should have had access to these lands within two to three years from that 1988 date. The National Park Service seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that all the rules necessary to manage the Original Preserve as well as the Addition Lands were clearly established in the legislation. The Addition Lands were to be managed as per the Original Preserve legislation. The NPS chose to ignore this fact and insists on putting the Addition Lands under separate management plan. The key word is ADDITION Lands. Not ALSO Lands, not OTHER Lands but ADDITION Lands. If I add an ADDITION to my home it is part and partial of my home, not ANOTHER home or a SEPERATE home. Someone help me, what am I missing here? 
You could get an average group of fifth graders together and first give them the true history of the Addition Lands past activity, including the fact that the area is split by a major four lane divided interstate highway. Then carefully explain to them that Wilderness Designation is intended for land untrammeled by man, making sure they understand the definition of the word untrammeled. I predict you would have a very confused group of fifth graders. 
All of the Addition Lands including the mile wide strip by S.R. 29 must be designated Backcountry Recreation, allowing dispersed camping. Eliminate all considerations of Wilderness or Backcountry Primitive. Both Wilderness and Backcountry Primitive go totally against the INTENT of the legislation.· ~ 
All units of the original Preserve including all of the Addition Lands must be connected by multiple inter connecting ORV trails. 
ORV trail system in the Addition Lands must be based on reasonable ORV access to all of the Addition Lands as opposed to a limited mile ORV trail system. There is no reference to total miles of ORV trails in the legislation. Due to the fact that the Addition Lands are under a separate management plan a limited ORV trail mileage formula should not and must not be considered or incorporated in the Addition Lands. A reasonable ORV trail system should include ORV trails one and one half miles apart on average. To walk over one half to three quarters of a mile to a mid point between ORV trails is unreasonable. Bear in mind this is a hunting area where hunting gear must be transported in and out as well as retrieving harvested game.
I have been told numerous times by the Park Service that they must consider the interests of all Visitors to the Preserve. That is exactly right, the interests of all Preserve visitors were considered in the Preserve legislation. All Preserve visitors have the same rights including, hunting, fishing, hiking, bird watching, camping, sightseeing including operation of ORV’s. No new rules are needed, no new zoning is needed. The National Park Service needs only to enforce the rules clearly set forth in the Preserve and Addition legislation. The National Park Service needs to tell those who see fit to have all public lands turned to Wilderness that the NPS can’t do that because it’s against the rules.

           READ MY LIPS, IT IS A NATIONAL PRESERVE, IT IS NOT A NATIONAL PARK

I make the above comments after spending a great deal of my time over the past 40 years in the Big Cypress. I ask that my comments as a long time local dedicated user be considered very seriously. A great number of your comments will be coming from people far away who have never seen or probably will never see this beautiful paradise. Therefore it is impossible for them to care as much about this land as I do.

Sincerely
Lyle McCandless   Personal
And
Lyle McCandless
Pres.
Big Cypress Sportsmen’s Alliance
88 Hall St. South
LaBelle, Fl. 33935
239 370-8532