What off-road issues are at the forefront in your state?

[aphrodite3500]

FJAggie07 previously said:

No Public Land in Texas.

Yup you gotta pay to wheel in TX or use your priv land. Utah.. I just moved here but there's lots of land... just a lot of people aren't educated about the areas we are using.. look at Mojojo4's post (Mike's FJ in the mud at Forest Lake) for example who honestly didn't know he was mudding in an area with protected wild life... spread more education out there and stop ripping into people who just don't know any better... maybe some kind of 4x4 orientation for newbies kinda like you take drivers ed before you drive on the highways... off road drivers ed..

[Kzoocruiser]

aphrodite3500 previously said:

"...look at Mojojo4's post (Mike's FJ in the mud at Forest Lake) for example who honestly didn't know he was mudding in an area with protected wild life... spread more education out there and stop ripping into people who just don't know any better... maybe some kind of 4x4 orientation for newbies kinda like you take drivers ed before you drive on the highways... off road drivers ed..

I agree very much with that statement; yet the surpising thing I'm finding is that the attitude you just described above is actually rampant within our community.

Example:
Question any level of orv leadership....get ripped about "what have you done?" by everybody and his brother.....

Question the fact that single track users often work outside of this community and even use 'their-impact-vs-ours' comparisons to arrogantly grab more "me-only" trails that exclude the vast majority of us....and you get the feeling that the AMA is some kind of godfather-like organization....

Question why an anonymous "22,000 member" orv representative council refuses to simply reveal their actual names or even anonymous public positions....you're thrown out of the community for eternity while the character asassinations begin from every direction.

I'm starting to not blame some of these people for not getting involved or educated for the simple reason that I have actually dealt with some of these orv leaders on the local and national level....and I'm not very darn impressed.
As somebody once said:
"Any organization is only as good as the ongoing genuine efforts made by its members to constantly clear the riff-raff opportunists from it"

Unfortunately, in some of these "send in your money and shut your mouth" orv non-profits...the housecleaning needed here has never been done and never will be.

[jeshua]

I now here in california there is so much going on it is just about to much for one person to keep track of. I live in riverside county and the people incharge here have basicaly made offroading illegal. What we as a group of people with comin intreset need to do is take part of the groups that are formed in your area where I am at it is ORBA & CORVA along with some others these types of groups are at the front line fighting for us and need are support if we want to keep what we have. Also do as AA did and confront/inform people of there mistakes and how importante it is that we are the best examples we can be by follwing the rules.

[Briman42487]

Angry Andy previously said:

Not many people in California know, but all trails are currently being mapped and analized.

In the interum, you are ONLY allowed to park within 50' (that means 25' from CENTER of trail line) of the designated trail.

Many of the "spur" trails that used to lead to AWESOME campsites are now "out of bounds".

Doesn't mean you CANT camp there, just means you cant DRIVE there, or park there.....so imagine a campsite on the lake that is 150' from the trail. If your found with a rig parked next to camp, your in violation.

On the Rubicon, I saw 2 sheriff's on foot patrol. Their sole job is to enforce these rules, along with the rest of the 'assumed' rules that go with camping/wheeling within their assigned boundries.

when we go to the rubicon we always camp at loon lake because they dont allow fires inside the trail. very anal about keeping it on the trail as they should be, too many idiots ruin it for the rest of the guys. also people overcamping and not knowing the right things to do ruin it. most people dont bury (burie, burrie, burry????) their poo, caused a major problem.

there are sherrifs on quads and they even have a built cherokee that they use.

the trails are in bad shape as far as the tree huggers are concerned. not many people have the respect that many of us do, which causes lots of problems for us.

[TruffleShuffle]

Wow, this is a really great post with some absolutely essential points on what needs to be done about our RIGHT to enjoy what nature has to offer without having to cut through miles of red tape. Like it was said before, just like in all political realms, house cleaning needs to be done to get these beaurocrats out of there seats of power. Some months back there was a short article in Backpacker Magazine from an enviroactivist claiming that offroaders destroy much os what is sacred in the backcountry. This is a stereotype we DO NOT have to live with. Like said before also, it goes no further than this thread if we do not actively pursue solutions to these major issues ourselves. Everyone always expects some hero on a white horse to ride in and save us. Its time for us to stand up.

"United We Stand, Divided We Fall"

[Ordoman]

I recently posted some information about how to get involved in this thread on trail expansion and federal money available.

Granted, it has a Northeast focus, but there is good information for everyone and has links to a couple of forums, one national.

[Kzoocruiser]

Ordoman previously said:

I recently posted some information about how to get involved in this thread on trail expansion and federal money available.
Granted, it has a Northeast focus, but there is good information for everyone and has links to a couple of forums, one national.

While I applaud and appreciate the link regarding your attendance at the NOHVCC workshop; how do we address issues such as below which affect just who attends and who does not? My state orv agency has held up the public's next right to meet with them again pending details concerning the NOHVCC meeting below....yet when I have contacted previous meeting sponsors concerning the actual announcement of said meetings on our state agency website (our only place for official info)....these same 'national representatives' claim that they cannot "force" the orv-related state agencies to do anything! (which forced us 'lowly peon 4-wheelers' to finally demand that these meetings be publicly displayed and not screwed around once again as you will see below with the next round

From the NOHVCC website on the morning of December 13th: NOHVCC — Park Guidelines
USFS OHV Route Designation Workshop Schedule
Lower Michigan National Forest (Manistee and Huron) OHV Route Designation Workshop, Grayling, MI
Further details to come
USFS Personnel: Feb. 1-2
Public: Feb. 3-4

From the "me-only-trail" AMA District 14 website at the same time: AMA-District 14
USFS Travel Management Workshop
Posted 2006-12-03, 20:18:25
***Click here to read the public session agenda on February 3-4***
***Click here to register***.
(my, my!...these arrogant cyclists obviously get an 11 day and counting 'jump' on this hugely important information....as opposed to the rest of us fighting to get rid of me-only trails and turn them into true multi-use experiences!)

....and our state's contention that no public meetings will be held concerning $4 million in recently unfrozen dollars; 750 miles of trail and a huge sticker price increase...."until the NOHVCC workshop meeting date is set".
From the Michigan DNR website:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dn...s_179305_7.pdf (last page/"next meeting").

I have contacted both our local NOHVCC representatives and the president of the NOHVCC itself about including simple question and answer periods in these important workshops for the benefit of any orv user driving this distance to attend.
The last time I contacted these people regarding our previous workshop here in Michigan having the wrong registration cutoff date (much to early)...I was treated to not thanks one and several '2nd party' e-mails (I guess none of these parties has the stones to talk/email me in person) speculating as to whether I would "disrupt' the conference itself....simply for pointing out the error affecting non-cyclists from attending!

I suppose that the current 'silence' I've received on our ability to actually question these people when we attend these workshops is "refreshing" when compared to the treatment above; yet I just wanted to point out that every one of you had damn well better keep your mouths SHUT when it comes to dealing with many so-called leaders in our (quote/unquote) "representative community".....

[Chaseman]

Thank you for posting this thread. The only local off roading rules I have found are in area specific forums and it is usually by an admin telling others not to post pictures or talk about participating in illegal activites.

In Hawaii there are many rules that force private land owners to grant public access. The rules are not well defined and the land owners don't like to participate. I have found that there are many official looking signs that say no tresspassing which are fake and other areas where you shouldn't be that have no prohibitive signs at all. I tend to stay away from any area that I have not researched and found out what the actual rules are. Unfortunately it is hard to trust any source.

I think it is very important to pay attention to what your local off road club posts about where it is okay to wheel and how you can do it. I will pay attention to this thread.

Thanks again,
Sean

[Ordoman]

Kzoocruiser previously said:

While I applaud and appreciate the link regarding your attendance at the NOHVCC workshop; how do we address issues such as below which affect just who attends and who does not? My state orv agency has held up the public's next right to meet with them again pending details concerning the NOHVCC meeting below....yet when I have contacted previous meeting sponsors concerning the actual announcement of said meetings on our state agency website (our only place for official info)....these same 'national representatives' claim that they cannot "force" the orv-related state agencies to do anything!...

You have valid points. I don't know what the answers are. I do think these forums are a way to be kept abreast of issues whether you or anyone else attends meetings or not. I received an email that contained this link today encouraging members what to write, who to write to, etc.

I don't really know how the politics work, but in general, organized campaigns work better than angry individuals. It's good to get as much information as you can from wherever you can get it.

[ruebarb]

There's no public 4x4 in Mass, only on private land, which sucks. Kind of hard to hide a sun fusion in the woods.