In 1982, NIA began working with over 15,800 recreational cabin permittees and successfully fought off a huge fee increase and the threatened removal of permittees by the Forest Service. Thousands of them joined the NIA to successfully fight that bad legislation. Along the way, NIA had thousands of ranchers, private property owners and others join to protect their rights from the excesses of regulations such as the Endangered Species Act, wetlands, etc. In the early 1990s, continuous green attacks on mining and mining-claim owners escalated. Thousands of miners joined NIA in an attempt to stop legislation that would wipe out small miners and mining in America.
Mining claims are simply another form of private property.
NIA helped defeat the most serious threat to mining in 1994 but the Clinton Administration and environmental extremists have not stopped. With 26,000 members located in all 50 states, ALRA is an activist grassroots association growing to meet the demands of various groups and individuals needing help. Its purpose is to oppose selfish, single-use, restrictive land use designations that damage local economies, schools and roads in rural America. Converting these lands into wilderness and parks often removes people from the equation and discriminates against the handicapped, elderly and very young. Parks and wildernesses can be positive and should be established where they do not damage the socioeconomic fabric of rural America.