By Michael Hoyt, Corvallis
Dear Ms. Manzella,
In support of the wishes of the majority of your constituents, I strongly urge you to vote against HB 552.
The Bitterroot Valley along with the Bitterroot and Sapphire Mountains include many roads and trails groomed for snowmobiling and/or skiing. Most of these roads and trails are closed with gates and other temporary structures. These roads and trails are used by a large number of your voting-age constituents to snowshoe, ski, dogsled, or snowmobile, often with pets and young children in tow. The passage of HB 522, which removes existing trapping setbacks, would jeopardize the safety, even the lives, of those children and pets.
The number of your constituents who snowshoe, ski, hike, or recreate with their children and/or pets far exceeds the number of those folks who trap in your district. The Chief Joseph Cross-Country Ski Trails and the Lake Como Trails Systems now receive a number of user-visits in excess of 11,000 per winter, a verifiable indicator of the fact that local voters who enjoy outdoor winter recreation outstrip the handful of trappers.
On an annual basis, the Bitterroot Cross-Country Ski Club (skiers) and the Bitterroot Ridge Runners (snowmobilers) bring almost $100,000 into the Bitterroot Valley, money which is spent locally to groom snow-covered roads and trails for outdoor recreation. Grooming snow is a non-extractive activity which inserts dollars, in the form of grants (a portion of federal taxes on gasoline) into our local economy.
Trapping is an extractive activity which removes a local resource, wildlife, and sends it to foreign lands. Those who trap remove dollars from the local economy and deliver it elsewhere.
Trapping causes collateral damage in the form of injury or death to unintended (and unwanted) species and pets. Snow grooming and non-extractive wintertime recreation cause no collateral damage—when the snow melts, all signs of the activity disappear.
A vote for HB 522: sends a clear message that you believe exploitation of wildlife by a small number of trappers has a higher priority than the desires much larger number of your constituents who want to enjoy their public lands during the winter; and that you place no value on the almost $100,000 brought into the local economy by the all-volunteer organizations that groom snow.
A vote against HB 522: shows you follow the wishes of the majority of your constituents; you support the continuation of almost $100,000 per year being infused into the local economy.