Latest Trail Tracks Newsletter from American Trails

Below is a link to Trail Tracks, the latest monthly e-Newsletter from American Trails.

Of particular interest is the recent controversial order by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that gives the Bureau of Land Management immediate authority to "designate appropriate areas with wilderness characteristics under its jurisdiction as 'Wild Lands' and to manage them to protect their wilderness values." The new order will allow the BLM to review up to 220 million acres of federal land not currently designated as Wilderness, and possibly apply the new "Wild Lands" designation which has similar use restrictions. There are many who feel this order will provide activists with a way to bypass Congress and cover millions of acres in western states with the same restrictions as Congressionally-designated Wilderness areas.

Among the other topics covered in this issue, you can also check out the gallery of 180 pictures that were entered in the annual National Recreation Trail Photo Contest. The winners of this American Trails contest will be announced in the February Trail Tracks.

To read the newsletter, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com