Sunday, April 6, 2014

Editorial Response - No Room for Trail Bigots in the 21st Century

Failed Sediment Basin in Non-Motorized Recreation Area

Trail bigotry is ugly and counterproductive to ongoing collaborative efforts between OHV, conservation groups, local government, and land agencies to manage motorized recreational opportunities in a sustainable manner.

I was prompted to write this response after reading Jan Ziman’s Editorial: “We're being taken for a costly ride” in the Wyoming Trib.Com.

Link to Ziman’s Editorial

Cherry-picking anecdotal stories about trail impacts to the resource, user conflicts, and planning challenges is an old literary trick that is outdated and ineffective.

I could cite a recent incidence in the San Gabriel Mountains where an equestrian jumped off his mule and sliced the rear tire on a kid’s bike when the small group of mountain bikers pulled off the trail to let him pass.

Or, I could include a picture (which I am going to do at the top of this story) of a failed soil catchment basin along a “Hiking only” trail in a large non-motorized recreation area in East Contra Costa County, California.

As I work with various land agencies and user groups of all persuasions in California and elsewhere, I have found such illustrations – when used to try and impugn other user groups – to be nothing more than a cheap shot that makes the presenter look small and mean-spirited.

Merriam-Webster defines a bigot as a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group.  In my view, there is not a lot of room left in the land use debate for trail bigots who seem stuck in a 1960s-era mindset.


4 comments:

  1. PS - tire tracks are from the agency's Bobcat trail tractor - yes it is indeed a hike only trail for the public.

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  2. I love'd your response to this post.

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  3. These people are always spouting off about OHV caused damage etc. but never offer any facts or proof. Unfortunately many who don't use all terrain vehicles buy into these types of hit pieces. Thanks for rooting out these so called journalists and keeping us informed.

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