[CPEO-MEF] Recreationists fight to save trail

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New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE
Recreationists fight to save trail
By Shea Andersen
Tribune Reporter
April 23, 2003

Hikers and bikers are putting their mouse-clicks where their mouths are
to save a favorite trail.

After hearing that much of the Otero Canyon trail network outside
Tijeras will be closed off by a Department of Defense fence, trail
enthusiasts are signing a Web petition.

By late Tuesday, 170 people had signed the petition at
www.saveotero.org.

The online petition against the fence is the work of Scott Gunn, a
University of New Mexico student and a big fan of the Otero Canyon
trails. His parents live in the area, he said, and he has used the trail
for years.

"Every time I go to visit my parents, I go ride those trails," Gunn
said, noting that he visits weekly.

The Department of Defense intends to close off public land, which is
under its control, because of a series of "military withdrawals" of the
land the past few decades. The land is National Forest land, and
therefore public, but over the years the military has claimed control
over areas that are near its operations.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news03/042303_news_trail.shtml

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