Cool News

Court papers filed today indicate that the lawsuit brought by motorized recreation advocates against the U.S. Forest Service over the Upper Tellico Off-Highway Vehicle Area will be voluntarily dismissed. The case was filed by the BlueRibbon Coalition, United Four Wheel Drive Associations, and Southern Four Wheel Drive Association and challenged temporary closure orders issued by the Forest Service in Dec. 2007. According to a stipulation entered by all parties to the case, it is the Forest Service's "stated intention to complete a public planning process and announce a new decision in the near future which will likely substantially impact or change the interim orders referenced in the complaint..." The Forest has provided proposed management alternatives and received comments through July 2008, on the new plan from the recreation organizations and many others interested in Tellico management.

"We are pleased that the Forest Service has made active management of Tellico a high priority, and that this planning process seems to have avoided some of the diversions that have delayed similar decisions in other areas," observed Jay Bird, immediate Past President of Southern Four Wheel Drive Association. "Under these circumstances, and mindful of the desire for both Forest Service personnel and recreational enthusiasts to focus on the new decision and future management, we agreed that dismissing this action was the right thing to do," Bird concluded.

The dismissal is without prejudice, meaning that these same organizations or other interested parties could file administrative appeals or lawsuits challenging the ultimate outcome of the new planning process. Further info about the plaintiff organizations, including info about the ongoing planning process at Tellico and developments in other matters, can be found at the following Web sites: http://www.sharetrails.org/, http://www.ufwda.org/ and http://www.sfwda.org/.