Dishonesty and disingenuousness
are not admirable traits in either our personal or professional lives. Over the years you have seen the Recreation
HQ chronicle such behaviors by faux recreation groups and some hard-core
anti-access groups.
The most recent example of
this is where Kathryn Phillips, Director of the CA Sierra Club, has embraced
the aforementioned undesirable traits via their ongoing campaign to attack the
CA SVRA system with a disinformation blitz of unequaled proportion.
Sierra Club Attack on
SVRAs
Link to History of Eco
Campaign to Ban OHV Use at Carnegie/Telsa
As many of you know, I
often work with environmental groups in various stakeholder processes. Some of those efforts to find common ground
have been productive. The key to any
collaborative process is based on the personal and professional integrity of the
participants.
I would have refrained
from this missive if the Sierra Club had acknowledged the hard work by SVRA
staff and volunteers to manage those units in a sustainable manner. Phillips’ disingenuousness is highlighted by
the fact she never mentioned the new engineered contour trails that have been
constructed and the many historic hillclimbs that have been closed and restored
to a natural condition over the last 35 years.
A Hillside Restoration Project Ignored by Sierra Club
Also, she failed to cite
the many trail delineators, signing efforts, and water quality structures
installed to protect natural and cultural resources.
Resource Protection Project Ignored by Sierra Club
It is my hope that some of
the mainstream leaders in the environmental community will urge their colleagues
to abandon their outdated and tired attack strategies and work with the SVRAs
and OHV user groups on effective on-the-ground projects that protect resources
and provide quality motorized and non-motorized recreational opportunities
throughout the state.
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