here's what i've got...

[4.0B2]

here's what i've got... BLUE RIBBON COALITION

i'm very disturbed that i do not see any support of blue ribbon coalition or any other organization that helps to keep the OHV parks open... there is a huge fight going on in washington about our land probably daily. WE NEED THESE LANDS. we are losing land faster than most realize... since there is not a land use forum on here, i'm using general-- for the most traffic. i'm gonna be cost posting a lot of what our land use director of MSJ. so i'm not coming up with a lot of this, it is stuff that i have been made aware of...

first, i do support our armed forces, no doubt- but the marines are trying to take Johnson valley, HOME OF THE HAMMERS!... here is the quote from Kate(our land use director)
I am reposting this from another thread...

If you are not familiar with the fight, the summary is this: The Marines Need a Training area and are considering Johnson Valley, the home of the Hammers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hammers Needs Your Help!

The fight to save Johnson Valley is not over. The 19,000 comments made in the last round of this fight had a huge impact on the Marines and prompted them to offer alternatives. The Marines are still willing to hear from us. This may be our last chance to tell them what we think.

Click here (https://extranet.tecinc.com/29Palms_DEIS/) to tell the Marines what Johnson Valley means to you and why you why it needs to stay an OHV area.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a good copy and paste reply that you can use from Jerry Bransford if you don't feel like writing your own:

Johnson Valley may seem like just another featureless typical desert area, but to many from throughout the U.S. and indeed beyond U.S. borders, it is a completely unique and beautiful area that is unlike any other. Families and recreationists from far and wide flock to enjoy Johnson Valley and the endless recreational activities it provides. Visit the area and you'll find its visitors have license plates from across the U.S. Talk with more visitors and you'll discover that many of them come from as far away as Australia and Europe, and they are here solely to enjoy what Johnson Valley offers. Johnson Valley is that unique.

In fact, even many of the surrounding desert communities depend on those visitors for their very livelihoods and that if the visitors stopped coming, some of those communities simply may not even survive.
Johnson Valley hosts many events throughout the year including one of the fastest growing and toughest off-road competitive events in North America called King of the Hammers. That event alone drew over 15,000 visitors including TV and radio coverage that brought much needed revenue to the surrounding communities.

One of the largest groups of visitors includes the offroading community. Offroaders are completely supportive of the US military and especially our Marine Corps. We believe in the mission of the Marines and would do nothing to jeopardize the training that is so vital to the Marine Corps mission. With that in mind, we believe there is more than enough suitable terrain outside of and adjoining the Johnson Valley recreational area for the Marines to conduct their training in. There are certain areas within the Johnson Valley recreational area, particularly inside the canyons, that simply cannot be duplicated anywhere else. To lose those valuable recreational resources that are, truly, so unique would be tragic to a huge number of families and recreationists.

We believe few within the Marine Corps knew just how much Johnson Valley meant to so many and just how important of a national recreational resource that it has become. We believe that you do now understand its importance and because of that, we simply request that you give the most possible consideration to expanding your training areas to adjoining desert terrain that does not take our Johnson Valley away from us.


i'm trying to make a push towards blue ribbon coalition here. i'm a member, and will be a member before i pay for premium membership here or MSJ. its a fight, they are using the money to support our habits.. have y'all not seen the amount of lands that the west has already lost? and we don't even have a lot of land around my area as is... so if we lose any, that's it...

i want these PUBLIC lands to be open to the public-- if it be fishers, mountain bikers, horse riders, jeep guys, us, hikers or anyone else. it needs to be open to all people, a lot of these groups are trying to keep 4x4's off these public lands..

i know i have mentioned johnson valley and blue ribbon here, not really the same- but both are about keeping 4x4 land open.

take a second, copy and paste that message and send it in.

thanks.

 

[4.0B2]

here's another link that needs signed


Support Legislation to Expand Multiple Use Access to Public Lands
Send an Email Urging Your Representative to Cosponsor the “Wilderness & Roadless Area Release Act”

https://secure3.convio.net/arra/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=277

 

[4.0B2]

an example of how we got the shaft
From the Timber Tamers up in Washington state:

Link to full bill: ESB 5366
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/CMD/showdoc....npkJNRwh3hJC37yHk2UZOQeyY10ZfZa+hTPA==&y=2011
SB5366 (limited 2&4 wheeled ATV use of roads) got a hearing today.

Two amendments were proposed.

If either is adopted, SB5366 must die.

Representative Upthegrove's amendment would along with other things, open the door to closing every ORV area in the state.

Section 3 states:

No person may operate a nonhighway vehicle on public lands
unless the area is designated by the land manager as open for
nonhighway vehicle use, permission has been established, and the land manager has identified that all proper permitting, engineering, and environmental impacts have been addressed or mitigated. This subsection includes the creation, building, and development of a trail or system of trails on public land, in either an organized or unorganized manner, for the purpose of nonhighway vehicle travel.
Driving a nonhighway vehicle on lands that are designated as closed to nonhighway vehicle travel by the land manager is, for the purposes of this subsection, considered a trail building activity.

And breaking this rule while riding would be a gross misdemeanor the first time and a felony the third time.

Riding on an unapproved road on public land with a nonhighway vehicle, even ones open to street vehicles would get you in more trouble than stealing the same vehicle.

This amendment would also require full sized license plates on the front and rear of all ORV

The other amendment is by Representative Armstrong.
He just kicks two wheeled vehicles to the curb and makes it a quad only bill. Really nice considering motorcyclists did the heavy lifting to get this bill as far as its gotten.

The House Transportation Committee has not voted on the bill or the amendments yet.
===============================================================

So it appears as though, once again, the Representatives crap on the people they are supposed to be working with.
I don't know why it surprises me, it certainly shouldn't!
This is a prime example of why WE have to stay active, informed and involved in these things in our own and neighboring states.



this means all off road vehicle in that area has to be street legal, no strictly trail rig..

 

[4.0B2]

https://www.sharetrails.org/

 

[4.0B2]

i don't think yall even care about blueribbon or anything to do with keeping trails open, but... i'm gonna continue to post stuff.. maybe someone does care, they just don't show it.

guys this is a fight we need to be in on, we gotta help where we can.

here's the update letter of BRC








Things have been buzzing at BRC this last month... a lot has been accomplished and there is much more yet to do. While we continue to work to help our members engage effectively on local and regional planning issues, there have been some changes happening recently on the national front as well:

Forest Service Planning Rule: The proposed new Forest Planning Rule has drawn a great deal of our attention this past month. The Forest Service completed the latest round of meetings introducing the proposed rule just a couple of weeks ago, so the focus now shifts to the rapidly approaching comment deadline of May 15, 2011. The recreating community needs to weigh in heavily on this important process, and we are here to help. BRC will have a letter generator to help you comment. Watch for an alert this week. Get the background on the issue at: http://www.sharetrails.org/public-lands ... nning_Rule.

Recreational Trails Program (RTP): Good News! The RTP program made it through the latest round of budget discussions for 2011--the product of a job well done by a lot of groups working together at the national level. As Congress now turns its attention to Budget 2012, RTP will still face a lot of competition for the funding that supports the program. Congressional champions of the Recreational Trails Program are currently passing a "Dear Colleague" letter through Congress to drum up support for this critical trail funding program. We need you to contact representatives and encourage them to support RTP and sign on to this "Dear Colleague" letter. See our alert on this issue at: http://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/?alert=1319. The deadline for congressional representative to sign on has only been extended to May 5, so time is still short... Please call your representative today.

Salazar's Big Wilderness: More good news! During the budget wrangling for 2011, Congress did the right thing in defunding Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's Wild Lands policy for 2011. Recreationists are doing the dance of joy. See our update at: http://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/?alert=1327. For more background on the issue, visit our dedicated webpage at: http://www.sharetrails.org/public-lands ... azar_order.

Other business:

While we have made progress, we still haven't achieved our goal for the Mumm's the Word fundraising program. If you haven't donated, please do. We've made it simple and secure for you online at: https://www.sharetrails.org/secure/mumms-the-word.

Please also tell your friends about the BRC. BRC's effectiveness is driven by the strength of our grassroots membership base. We need members bringing members to help us grow our collective voice. We've also made joining or renewing simple and secure online at: www.sharetrails.org/join

Want to stay on top of what's going on? Sign up for BRC Rec News, Alerts, and Media Releases at https://www.sharetrails.org/secure/list ... cribe&id=2

Make it a great day!

Greg Mumm
Executive Director
BlueRibbon Coalition

 

[straycat]

I really only wheel in three places..Moab and Florida and Mississippi. I have property in Lithia and the Ocala area. I have property up in Mississippi. I can wheel in Moab and in the Ocala area. Moab, Utah is a log haul from here and I only go there every other year when we take my Jeep out there with a few other people with their Jeeps or 'Yotas.
I support only good groups who don't litter or tear up the place. I respect people who clean up after they are done and on their way home. I saw the area you are talking about and saw how tore up it was 4 years ago when I was there. Trash every where and open fire pits left abandoned. Not much real memories of the place when we left there. I will never go there again.

 

[lethal-threat-b288]

stray dont you live in st pete?

 

[4.0B2]

the thing is... most of the "fighting area" might be in the west, but its gonna be everywhere...


but to be clear, as a part of MSJ we are in part of several groups like tread lightly and BRC. we clean up, we even take trash out that aint ours all of the time. its just the way we work.

stray- i don't really know what you're talking about. i wasn't refering to any certain area... its just the BRC update letter they emailed me.

 

[superds]

I care. I just haven't shown it yet. I've been meaning to join the fight against the tree hugging hippy liberals just haven't gotten around to it yet on an organized level. I do get in disagreements on occasion with my liberal friends about social/environmental issues and I do vote the correct way, if that counts for anything.

 

[4.0B2]

thanks.
now if we could get TRS as a club to join BRC, everyone could have their first year of joining BRC for $15 instead of $29(or whatever it is)

i'll pay my brc before i will my msj or trs, and MSJ gets me discounts at a lot of places...

 

[adsm08]

Wow, never seen this thread before.

I'm not apathetic to the fight for land use, but I'm also not an off-roader.

 

[RollinWOT]

Another fellow BRC Member here! Glad to finally have a place to let people know what's going on with our OHV parks. We need as many people as we can get for the BRC!!! We can't let our lands fall into the wrong hands guys, we need to have a place to wheel.

 

[4.0B2]

here's another update
It is rare day when our government considers a bill supporting recreation access, but that is happening today. Now Congress needs to hear from you. It is vital that you send a letter urging Congress to pass this important legislation.

Congressman McCarthy's recently released HR1581 Wilderness and Roadless Release Act of 2011, which fully embodies both recreation and stewardship, so this bill is something we think most every reasonable person can heartily support. Over twenty years ago the Wilderness Study and Roadless Lands included in this bill were determined to be unsuitable for Wilderness Designation by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Yet the lands were never released and in many cases continue to be managed under extreme restrictions as de facto Wilderness. This has been to the detriment of recreation, the local economy and the environment. This bill is long overdue. Decades are a long time to keep lands locked up in limbo for no valid reason. Under HR1581:

These lands would once again provide places for families to recreate, camp, mountain bike, dirt bike, 4x4, hunt and fish.
These lands would once again be actively managed to promote forest health and prevent unnatural wildfires.
These lands would once again provide jobs and income to rural economies.
These lands will once again be managed for multiple use under the strictest regulations in the world to the benefit of the land and the people.


In just TWO MINUTES you can help by submitting a letter using pre-drafted comments or your own comments to Congress urging them to pass this important legislation.


Please ACT NOW. Click the link below to create your letter urging Congress to release these lands back to multiple use.
After submitting you will receive a confirmation email that must be acknowledged before your letter is submitted.

link to do so is
http://www.savethetrails.us/Default.aspx?PetitionID=49

 

[4.0B2]

Wow, never seen this thread before.

I'm not apathetic to the fight for land use, but I'm also not an off-roader.

well then it doesn't really pertain to you. or does it? b/c it keeps public land open to the public for anything that's legal. like fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and other things like that. BRC is not just about the 4x4 offroading side of it.

 

[4.0B2]

BLUERIBBON COALITION PARTNER ACTION ALERT!

CALIFORNIA - Oceano Dunes SVRA in Jeopardy - Public Comments Needed!

Dear BRC members, supporters and action alert subscribers,

I just received an email from the American Sand Association (ASA) asking us to pass along an alert on an important issue concerning the Oceano Dunes SVRA that needs IMMEDIATE ACTION.

I've pasted their alert below, so please take a minute to read it over and take action. Then pass this important alert on to your friends and family, and ask them take action as well.

Thanks in advance for your involvement,
Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107
======================================================


Dear Fellow Duner,

The Friends of Oceano Dunes have asked that we help spread the word on the proposed plan by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to designate a large portion of the Oceano Dunes SVRA in Pismo Beach, California as critical habitat for the Snow Plover which would eliminate OHV activity and would greatly affect access to the dunes.

Comments on the proposed plan must be received by 5/23/11. The Friends of Oceano Dunes have drafted a letter for OHV enthusiasts to send to USFWS:

SUGGESTED LETTER:

Public Comments Processing,
Attn: FWS-R8-ES-2010-0070
Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222
Arlington, VA 22203

Re: Opposition to Inclusion of Oceano Dunes SVRA in the Critical Habitat Designation for the Western Snowy Plover

Dear Fish and Wildlife Service:

I OPPOSE designating Oceano Dunes SVRA as plover critical habitat. It should remain excluded for economic reasons as it has been for the past 6 years without harm to the plover.

I am a frequent visitor to Oceano Dunes SVRA in Pismo Beach, California, where I enjoy one of the most unique off-roading experiences in the world. I have just learned that the Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to declare a significant part of Oceano Dunes to be "critical" habitat for the western snowy plover.

I am confused by this proposal since I know that in 2005 the Service specifically excluded Oceano Dunes from plover critical habitat because of the severe impacts such a regulation would have on the local and regional economy in San Luis Obispo County. Miles of riding area have already been off-limits to off-road recreation even though this is not critical habitat. The plover seems to be thriving with all of the conservation measures that State Parks currently has in place. I understand that State Parks is planning even more. In light of all this, what additional benefit can adding the critical habitat regulation have? It seems like it will just be used by extremists to try to shut down the park to off-road recreation.

Sincerely,

Sign Name: *______________________________ Date* _________

Print Name:* ______________________________

Address: *________________________________

City *____________ State:* _______ Zip* ____

*REQUIRED


The American Sand Association
Unite, Inform, and Mobilize