I agree that the data used does not always make the best outcome. The people making the decisions are not the people in the field. The decision makers sit behind desk, read reports, listen to the tree huggers and watch out for there own BACKSIDE (politically). The reason is the tree hugger will spend the effort and time to go ply their case, however misinformed or misguided, to the decision makers. While the rest of us wait till it really twists our arm into action. No different than our present condition our country is in right now. People are just waking up now to realize our country is getting ready to fall on its face.
But the subject of limits and the data that sets them is really still up to us. We just have to speak in extremely large numbers to be heard.
As hard working Americans, most of us don't cry until you hit our pocketbook. So thats where we have to hit the government if we want to be heard. Fees from registrations, fuel (taxes), supplies (taxes), repairs (taxes) and maintenance is how our government survives. If we slow the flow of that money they have to listen. But we have to suffer to do this, no boating, no fishing, ohhhhh , wait now I'm talking crazy, no boating, no fishing? Man, I don't know if I can handle that.