flame if you want, just some thoughts I will share

[OilPatch197]

Off roading is always over run and out voted by naturalist hippies. plain and simple. they complain that off roading has to much of a neg impact and crap gets closed down. that being said, what is the off road community doing to help ON THE LARGE SCALE?

nothing!!!!!

There are thousands of small clubs (some but not all help on a small scale locally). There are dozens of GOOD low impact offroaders, but for every low impact offroader there is 2 rednecks is big ford trucks tearing up someones corn field or blazing illegal trails (is a huge problem in in our county alone, I don't know about other counties but I'm sure they have there issues too).

Off roading is like gun control.. the NRA keeps gun control hippies under control. without the NRA and the rednecks guarding there houses from gun removal, who to say some politician wouldn't just say, "lets amend the amendments and control guns!"... the NRA keeps thing under control AND does a lot of positive things like giving back, and encouraging hunters to give back, and they do. More hunters and NRA members give more money and time environmentally than all the other funding organizations combined.
(though there are still poachers) until the off-road community makes there recognized version of the "NRA" and starts making positive steps to give back to the places they use in a MASSIVE way, then they will all slowly close down and fade away, or be limited to horses or quads.

The result will be the private park, that's why the private park is the future of off roading... sad to say...

IMO... just something to think about....

 

[t0x1k]

I agree. I'm more of a site seeing offroader, not out there to prove myself that I can make it through the deepest mud bog or crawl the largest rock.
New Jersey sucks when it comes to offroading. It has to be registered and I've heard a lot of people being hassled by park cops even when it is a legal truck.


NOVA
National Off-Road Vehicle Association.
There's our name.

 

[97BlackBetty]

You know there is a lot to be said about this topic. There are several groups however who do provide a national voice for responsible off road. One that comes to mind is the Tread Lightly campaign, as well as in my region the Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Administration. I grew up in Northern Illinois where cement grew and trees were out numbered by quarter acre lots with homes on them. For me and my buddies, our escape was our buddies farm, it was legal, but when I moved to Michigan I found that not all of our practices were necessarily "Tread Lightly."

Once I moved to Michigan I found a site, "GreatLakes4x4," now the site is a little vulgar and pretty much anything goes in their public discussions forum. However, I have found that the members of the site all support legal wheeling, and advocate for it. Michigan has been lucky enough to see three parks open in the last 5 years, two of which have opened in the last 12 months. Rocks and Valleys was recently featured in Ultimate Adventures 2009.

I think for our sport to succeed we need more private land to be opened to the wheeling public. Something that is only going to happen through people who are dedicated to volunteering their time to ensure that a park stays in top shape.

 

[PaleBlue90]

heres what alot of clubs around here partner with

http://staythetrail.org/

along with...

http://treadlightly.org/

 

[MountainMike]

Treadlightly is a great organization. They actually pretty big, usally have spots in all the major 4x4/offroad magazines

 

[PaleBlue90]

Treadlightly is a great organization. They actually pretty big, usally have spots in all the major 4x4/offroad magazines

+1, alot of people try to encourage alot of it every 4x4 outing

 

[tony314]

I'm in total support here. I off road because I enjoy the view, not to impress ( stock truck so not possible ) and I have seen people make their own trails and it really annoys me.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Could not agree more. Our local club is a member of treadlightly as well.

 

[Doom's Day Custom]

Off roading is always over run and out voted by naturalist hippies. plain and simple. they complain that off roading has to much of a neg impact and crap gets closed down. that being said, what is the off road community doing to help ON THE LARGE SCALE?

nothing!!!!!

There are thousands of small clubs (some but not all help on a small scale locally). There are dozens of GOOD low impact offroaders, but for every low impact offroader there is 2 rednecks is big ford trucks tearing up someones corn field or blazing illegal trails (is a huge problem in in our county alone, I don't know about other counties but I'm sure they have there issues too).

Off roading is like gun control.. the NRA keeps gun control hippies under control. without the NRA and the rednecks guarding there houses from gun removal, who to say some politician wouldn't just say, "lets amend the amendments and control guns!"... the NRA keeps thing under control AND does a lot of positive things like giving back, and encouraging hunters to give back, and they do. More hunters and NRA members give more money and time environmentally than all the other funding organizations combined.
(though there are still poachers) until the off-road community makes there recognized version of the "NRA" and starts making positive steps to give back to the places they use in a MASSIVE way, then they will all slowly close down and fade away, or be limited to horses or quads.

The result will be the private park, that's why the private park is the future of off roading... sad to say...

IMO... just something to think about....

i agree with you to a certain point because even private parks are get closed down because people are doing something stupid and then they get hurt and sue ever one because of there ignorance and being stupid-ed !!!!! Most of trails getting shut down are because of people illegal dumping and people going out on these trails and don't belong there like walking there dog and i seen this guy chasing his blood hounds running through the woods for no good reason for having dogs out the and it was not hunting season or just up to no good !!!!!

 

[creepinjeepster]

All for treadlightly. Last club I was in also supported it too. For the tree huggers and such getting all these places closed down......GO visit my lands up in ALASKA. Half the provinces in the state you CAN'T get to unless you got a dog sled team or a 4x4. And people do it year round, have fun doing it and STAY to the trail. They want to punish someone, punish the IDIOT that can't stay the trail.

 

[mentalbreakdown00]

In my neck of the woods we used to have the perry bog, midway bog, and when I was a smaller child we had a big commercial bog pit not 1/4 mile from where I am sitting this second. People got sue happy though and through peoples own neglegence they got hurt and sued the people that owned the land, now only perry is open and it is so crowded it is not even funny. Almost all my old stomping grounds from high school is now a 5 K fine if they catch you in there. I just want a place to piddle around in to take my 21/2 yr old daughter, and my fiances kids....but they are closing down so much around here I may have to join a hunting lease just to do it...

 

[_Kyle_]

The future of wheeling is private land owners charging a nominal fee for what they have to offer. While they are still many great 'public' lands available, most are pay to use or require a ORV permit/something similar. Anybody who is active in the community realizes this. We are also the majority advocating organizations such as tread lightly and things like "staying on the trail" and not cutting trails that aren't supposed to exist.

With that said, I definitely go into the Hardcore side of off roading. I'm always looking to try something harder just to see if I can make it (which will be easier when I get new tires ). But I like the rush of it and the ability fall off the face of the earth for a weekend or more and just relax and enjoy myself with my buddies while wheeling and camping.

 

[phatdaddy]

we could all get a little more involved...I'm gonna check some sites out