Political Quotes

“I oppose this highly partisan and divisive legislation. In Colorado alone, this bill puts 700,000 acres into the most restrictive land use category of all--wilderness. I know the intent of the sponsors is to protect the land, but in practice, the use of land under wilderness designation is so restrictive, hardly anyone can use it. Do you dream of taking your kids or grandkids for a bike ride on wilderness land someday? Forget about it. Bicycles are prohibited by BLM in wilderness land as well as motorized vehicles, roads, wheelbarrows, and carts. The land is locked away from future generations. I prefer public lands with many uses, and that is where this bill fails our children. You can't even take a baby onto wilderness land in a stroller. Do you care about the health of our forests? Then don't vote for this bill. The most basic types of preventive maintenance are illegal under wilderness designation. You can't take a chain saw and cut away fire traps, and you can't trim branches or overgrown timber stands and underbrush. Colorado has had too many forest fires, and with beetle kill, parts of Colorado are a tinderbox. Should this become law, with its restrictions on fire prevention, we are going to see bigger and hotter fires in Colorado than ever before. I don't want to see Colorado burn up. That is why I am voting ``no'' on this bill. Many county commissioners, individual citizens, and even the U.S. Representative for western Colorado oppose this bill.…”