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						March 2005

Dear  (Your Rep.'s name)		

I am writing to express my concern about H. 334, the bill pertaining to Ancient Roads. This bill could eliminate public rights of ways across the state that might be used as mountain bike or walking trails (or other folks such as horses, four-wheelers, snowmobiles), but not currently appearing on official maps. The pending bill proposes to extinguish ancient roads, and sets a standard of maintenance for 2-wheel drive cars.  Rights of way are for people -- not just for people in cars. 

This proposal is partly driven by the real estate industry that is concerned about ancient roadways preventing clear titles/deeds.  I understand that this is a concern, but Vermont's public right of ways are a valuable resource that should not be given up without careful deliberation.  

Obtaining a public right of way for a road or a trail is a difficult, expensive, and time-consuming process.  Please don't throw away our municipalities' abilities to preserve these rights of way for future public use. Vermont's public right of ways are a valuable resource that should not be extinguished without careful consideration, solid knowledge, & thorough research.

Please support the VLCT alternative proposal that would give towns longer to map out the ancient roads before they "disappear" and would give municipalities some funding/support to research or map rights of way that should be preserved.

Thank you,


_________________________ Name/Org.

_________________________ Address

_________________________ City, Zip