I was wondering when the term Pathways was going to roll officially out of the DNR. It is all over the PARKS SEARCH maps now. Campgrounds and Pathways. I was very curious on how Jim Radabaugh, DNR Trails Head would get that term out to the public so that they would get used to it, and actually embrace something they knew nothing about. Well here it is. The debut of the PASSPORT system video. The term PATHWAYS just comes blurring by, like a Mountain Bike on a trail, in the video.
The new PASSPORT video tells of just what our dollars will pay for when we opt. in with the Secretary of state. Your PASSPORT dollars will support State Parks, State Recreation areas and State Campgrounds. Sounds pretty good. But then, and very quickly, the words Supporting state PATHWAYS whizzes by on the screen. Not Trails, the things Hunters, Hikers, geocachers, Birders, Horseman, Mushroom Hunters, and others use most often, but rather PATHWAYS.
Seems like it shouldn’t matter Ehy? But not if you know specifically what the term PATHWAY stands for. It stands for LINEAR BIKE TRAIL. Now….Linear Bike trails are reported to be for all those people on foot as well as Bikers. Only problem is how many of you have had a quality Nature experience on a shared trail with a Mountain Biker? And then there is the fact that these are Linear trails. Not Trails loops like most of the existing Trails systems are in our Parks and Recreation area. Straight Pathways. ONE WAY. Or back if you are on a Bike and can cover 25 miles that day.
I do not want a penny of my PASSPORT money being spent on more Linear Bike Paths in this state. We already have more Linear Bike Paths then any other state in the USA. And the DNR wants more. Why? Why? Mountain Bike Lobbyists(John Gonaway) selling the agenda of Eco-Tourism and how having a Linear Bike Path through your community will bring business prosperity to your community and all types of out of state visitors to the Bike Path. Has that worked anywhere in the USA except in very specific areas in and around a very few National Parks?
If this is not the plans of Jim Radabaugh of the DNR and his friends the M.Bike Lobbyists and Greenways Linear Pathways people, then how is this happening? Not on it’s own. Someone somewhere is steering this ship. Feeding the public little bits of info at a time, while a whole program of Pathways and inter-connectors are being built and connected together. We will all hear of this, when it is time to unveil the whole big picture. By then, much money will have been spent on these things and the “Spin” will be so going, that it will be very hard to tell what is what and what is the truth.
Stop it now. Email or Call Jim Radabaugh, Rodney Stokes (DNR head) or any other Lansing DNR official and tell them NO money for PATHWAYS. Trails YES. Pathways NO.
GO GET OUTDOORS
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