Nov 3 Election, Land Use Lessons, and OHV Politics

The General has received a number of private emails from riders who are asking what, if any, land-use lessons can be learned from yesterday’s political earthquakes in Virginia and New Jersey.

The easy answer would be to say that yesterday’s vote was a referendum on the Obama Administration’s policies that seek to expand the role of government, increase taxes, and decrease people’s freedom. Any political commentator could say that.

Rather, I believe the vote was really a political shot fired across the bow of legislators and bureaucrats in general regardless of party affiliation. As it relates to federal or state land agencies, the “folks” clearly said they are mad as hell and not going to take it any longer when it comes to imposing top-down “We Under the Dome Know Best” programs that ignore local publics, increase bureaucracy, assault family traditions, and negatively impact the economy.

An example of where a local government and riders are standing up and fighting for reasonable access is in Shasta County where the Shasta Trinity NF has proposed to close almost 100% of single-track motorcycle trails and ATV trails less than 50 inches in width. Also, the Forest has proposed to close thousands of miles of level 3 dirt roads to non-street legal OHV use.

Nov. 4 - RECORD SEARCHLIGHT Article
http://www.redding.com/news/2009/nov/04/supervisors-ask-forest-service-to-let-ohvs-use/

Nov. 4 Op Ed - Forest Shifts Stance on OHV Road Policy?

http://m.redding.com/news/2009/nov/04/shasta-trinity-shifts-gears-on-ohv-policy/

I believe there are two separate yet related messages that were created by yesterday’s electoral tsunami. One message is for riders and the other for land-agencies.

RIDERS – Never give up. Be respectful, yet bold, in your advocacy for trail access to public lands especially as it relates to travel management.

LAND AGENCIES – Don’t force ill-conceived travel management plans down the throats of local OHV users and county governments. Many TMR plans have little to do with “travel management.” Instead, they are simply being used as a political tool to effect landscape level closures in an attempt to please the anti-access lobby. Land managers should not be afraid to push the “reset button” if they find themselves with a plan that does not have the support of the local OHV community or county residents.

Maybe it is time for land agencies and users to take a time-out in TMR and work in a genuine collaborative process that blends the requirement to address legitimate resource concerns with the need to respect traditional recreational access to public lands.

GOOD NEWS - Fed Judge Blocks Green Prelim Injunction

The General does his best to share good news on the rare occasion that it happens with his followers. Just recently, Judge Donald W. Molloy, a federal district court judge in Montana, denied a request by environmental groups to stop -via a motion for preliminary injunction - wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho.

News stories on Decision:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/894431.html

(includes quote from Paul Turcke) AND

http://www.ktvq.com/Global/story.asp?S=10982463

14 Page Molloy Decision
http://montanasnewsstation.com/Global/Link.asp?L=406871

Paul Turcke’s (BRC’s legal counsel as well) Filing on the Wolf Case
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/Wolf-ESA_Case/Wolf_Turcke_PI_memo_FINAL_8-27-09.pdf

We all know of or have been victims of lawsuits filed by extreme anti-OHV groups where they petitioned a court at the eleventh hour to stop a permitted OHV event(s) or activities.

This decision, correctly in The General’s view, acknowledges important U.S. Supreme Court precedent from last summer that rejects a 9th Circuit formula regularly used to justify injunctions in Endangered Species Act and other “environmental” cases. In case you’re wondering, against the anti’s cries of impending doom, as of today there have been a total of four (4) wolves taken in the Idaho season, against more than a hundred “control” actions in which wolves were killed in 2008.

The General believes that the correct interpretation of “new law” reflected by this decision should make it harder for anti-OHV groups to stop permitted OHV events or activities under the threat, or even filing, of a lawsuit. This is a very important development in the OHV legal arena.

Statesmanship and OHV Advocacy

The General believes it is helpful to occasionally go back in time and review a specific land-use event that may give riders insight into an agency action and what the OHV community’s response was or should have been and if that response was effective.

The case-study for today is the post-Angora-fire decision by the Tahoe National Forest to ban OHV use on their trail network during the summer of 2007 because of critical fire danger.

FS 2007 News Release with OHV Restrictions
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/tahoe/news/07_news_releases/07_jun_29_addl_fire_rest.shtml

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Overview of Angora Fire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_Fire

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As the western representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition, I was shocked by the Forest’s rather unprecedented action to ban OHV use even on designated trails. Historically, most Forests allow OHV use on their trail and road networks – even through times of critical fire danger – since OHVs operating with legal spark arresters on trails are not considered a fire danger.

The closure was met with fierce opposition by many riders who wanted OHV groups to file a lawsuit or raise hell in some form or fashion. However, another tactic was employed by The General and several other organizational leaders and that effort included us voicing our strong objection to the unwarranted closure while also stating our equally strong feelings and understanding about the devastating impacts of the recent Angora Fire on the local community and Forest Service staff.

I believe our message of objection and concern about the unprecedented temporary trail closure combined with a thread of understanding and support including our request that the agency keep OHV trails open in future orders related to critical fire conditions resulted in OHV trails remaining open in this year’s Fire Closure Order
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FS 2009 News Release with OHV restricted to trails and roads
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/tahoe/news/09_news_releases/news-2009-07-27-fire-restrictions-begin.shtml

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Many times in land-use advocacy the easy way would be to throw red meat to the masses by making undeliverable promises of revenge, litigation, and retribution on agency staff that do not do our bidding. While taking the agency to task on policy issues is legitimate and sometimes necessary, there will come an occasion where you have to blend advocacy, policy, access, effectiveness, and statesmanship into a position that looks at the big picture and considers the human element. Is making the right call easy? Not always, but it should be.

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State Park/OHMVR Update - Parks Takes a Hit

While many folks are cheering the Governor as he signed the budget today, the General is left with the impression that he witnessed a very dark and ugly day in California’s history.

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Photo at right is from my recent trip to

Rockefeller Forest at Redwood State

Park near Fortuna

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When the Assembly did not approve the budget enhancements (off-shore drilling and taking gas taxes from local governments) the $1 billion dollar hole had to be filled with additional cuts.

The California State Park budget appears to have been one of those targets as well as the OHMVR Program. Although it appears the OHMVR operations (SVRAs and day-to-day administrative duties) and grants program stays intact, the fact remains that over $110 million dollars was “borrowed” from special OHV accounts. That means there will be basically no capital outlay projects or acquisitions for the foreseeable future.

The landscape that used to be the Golden State is now faced with a state park system that may close 100 or more non-SVRA units. State Parks is tasked with a very difficult issue. Also, OHMVR will have to put on hold any plans for new areas.

Certainly the long-term sustainability of State Parks will be based on their ability to find partners, sponsors, and creative methods (we should support those efforts) to become self-supported and more of a user-pay/user benefit program such as the OHV or Boating and Waterways programs.

Also, we are on a 5 month budget cycle so that means we may be doing this all over again in a few months.

If there is a silver lining in the clouds… it is a fact that because of a lot of hard work by unsung heroes (I know who you are and I SALUTE YOU!)… our OHV Program remains. It reminds me of the famous image of the metal structure at the Twin Towers – a Phoenix rising out of the ashes.

Sure things look dark now, but it is during hard times that Californians buck it up and get’er done. Let’s just hope that our leaders in Sacramento have that same metal.

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Victory in CA OHV Budget Battle

The General wants to thank all the troops who contacted their legislators today regarding the potential attack on the OHV trust fund. I heard from club members throughout the state who faxed or called their legislators about protecting the OHV program. Some of those clubs who let The General know they had sent letters include, but are not limited to, the FWMC, MCMA, BARF, CERA, D36, CAL4WD, DVMC, EOMBs, etc.

I believe the professionalism and volume of your letters helped make the difference. Although the battle is not completely over, it looks at this time that the OHMVR program will remain whole.

The General watched the conference committee debate the issue (item #3790) on a live video feed. It appears the conference committee decided not to move OHV money to offset park costs. Instead, it has been proposed that there be a $15 increase to the Motor Vehicle Account (MVA) which, unlike the Vehicle License fee - a personal property tax - is an actual fee. Ultimately, if it is dropped into a trailer bill it will only require a majority vote.

The General salutes all of you who took the time to make your voices heard today.

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California Budget Cuts - A Train Wreck in the Making

According to breaking news articles that are hitting the wire, Governor Schwarzenegger is planning to close over 200 state parks and cut 2,000 park-related jobs as a result of the current budget fiasco.

As a native Californian, The General is asking the law-makers in Sacramento,”What have you done to my state?” In my opinion, this train wreck has been coming for a number of years. I believe this “worst case scenario” as described by State Park’s spokesman, Roy Stearns, in an AP article, is a result of gluttonous spending, zealous taxation, gleeful over-regulation, and enactment of politically-motivated wacky environmental proposals by wrong minded law-makers in Sacramento -- a clear example of politicians serving themselves instead of the people.

AP Article – Statement by Roy Stearns
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g93pjBNH32Pl10TKma8epVgR39XgD98FS1OO0


It’s no wonder that many of my friends have left California for greener pastures (e.g. states with lower or no taxes, less regulations, and more freedom). If politicians don’t “get it” soon… that number of tax payers leaving the state is only going to grow as they “get the heck out of Dodge.”

Time will tell just what sort of impact the state park budget cuts will have on the OHV program. In theory, the OHV program is user-pay/user-benefit and is “protected” as a Trust Fund, but in this day and age… that may not mean much… we will see.

As the sun shines down on California today, the golden glow it used to cast upon our beautiful state has been replaced with a dark shadow that is ugly.


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