Enviros Extend Hand of Friendship to OHV?

In 2005, I wrote my “I Have a Dream” article about the time when various user and conservation groups might find a way to work together to manage public lands.

2005 I Have a Dream Article by Amador
http://www.off-road.com/atv/voice/i-have-a-dream-47747.html

After reading Peter Kareiva’s  “New Environmentalism” article,  I feel that we may be a bit closer to that reality.  Kareiva is a chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy.

Peter Kareiva’s Essay on New Environmentalism

http://breakthroughjournal.org/content/authors/peter-kareiva-robert-lalasz-an-1/conservation-in-the-anthropoce.shtml

E&E News Article on Kareiva’s Essay – A long read but worth it

http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/04/03/1

As somebody who worked in the timber industry back in the 1970s, I appreciated where – at the end of the article – Kareiva extended a literary hand of friendship to “loggers.”   Maybe one day, that hand will be extended to the OHV community as well.  In some places, I think it already has.

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High Sierra Showdown on Feb. 15 - Regular Folks v. TNC in Fight at Independence Lake

Map of Independence Lake (click on photo to enlarge)

Back in August 26 of 2010, HQ featured a story about a small but determined band of local recreationists fighting for their historic access rights at Independence Lake located in the Sierra Nevada. It is one of those all to familiar and tragic stories where a land trust comes and “buys’ up acreage and does not tell the local folks that they will be turning that land into de facto Wilderness.


Aug. 26 Blog on Fight between The Nature Conservancy and Local Recreationists
http://thegeneralsrecreationden.blogspot.com/2010/08/loss-of-freedom-at-independence-lake.html

Since that post, the Friends of Independence Lake have been aggressively fighting for their access rights to a lake that many families have used for generations. Those efforts have resulted in the Sierra County Board of Supervisors taking up that issue on Feb. 15 at a board meeting in Loyalton, CA.

Feb. 15 Sierra County Board of Supervisors Meeting at Loyalton
http://www.sierracounty.ws/index.php?module=calendar&calendar[view]=day&month=02&year=2011&day=15

It’s not just lake access that has been impacted, but general public motorized use of historic county roads. Some of those roads are gated and use by street legal and non-street legal OHVs and OSVs are at risk as well.


For a current overview of the battle, please go to the Friends of Independence Lake and read their story. It is important for users to show up and let the board know that they should defend continued OHV and OSV access as well as historic boat access at the lake.

Friends of Independence Lake Website (great overview of issue and how taxpayers are helping fund closures like this - read about how Grandpa was told to take a hike)
http://www.friendsofindependencelake.org/

If you want to find out more about what land trusts and other green interests are doing to attack your access and property rights, feel free to visit the Property Rights Foundation of America’s website below. They have a lot of good information.

Property Rights Foundation of America’s Website
http://prfamerica.org/

HQ urges all access interests in the Loyalton area or others who recreate in or near Independence Lake to attend the Feb. 15 BOS meeting.  Since my August 26 blog, I have talked with several retired FS staffers who know the area and they feel that the lake should have gone to the FS where that agency would have kept it open for multiple-use recreation.

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Loss of Freedom at Independence Lake - A Sierra Tragedy

The Recreation HQ has mostly focused on the current battle to protect historic access to motorized trails on public lands. Those efforts include; TMR, Obamuments, eco-lawsuits, and new Wilderness or other restrictive land proposals.

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PHOTO: Map of Independence Lake (click on map for expanded view to see roads, boat ramp, and campground)

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Today, HQ wants to direct your attention to a small albeit important water-based access fight currently taking place at Independence Lake near the Little Truckee Summit OHV/OSV staging area.

Aug. 25 Article on Lake Fight
http://www.sierracountyprospect.com/Tired_of_TNC.html

This hugely popular lake was managed by Sierra Pacific Power and was open for use by campers, power boaters, fisherman, and the general public. Recently, The Nature Conservancy “bought” the 2,300 acres that surrounded the lake from the power company.
Of the $15 million dollar purchase about $13 million dollars were public funds.

TNC Project Overview
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/nevada/preserves/art29603.html

What makes this story important is that there are a small yet grimly determined group (several are BRC members) of local users who think they got the raw end of the deal (they did!) when TNC closed the campground, roads, and boat ramp (click on the above map to see the ramp, campground icons and the roads) to the public and banned the use of even small fishing boats with trolling motors on the lake.

HQ believes that with the current trend of power companies divesting themselves of land surrounding water projects that riders (and water users) should be engaged in any public process surrounding these land purchases.

The General will be watching this issue as the loss of public access to lakes in California via “less than honest or transparent” land deals is just as important as losing historic access to motorized trails. This also begs the question, “Should public monies be used to buy lands and then close them to local users?” HQ believes the answer is a big NO.

Rather, these lands that often sit in the middle of our National Forests should be transferred to the adjacent federal land agency that has a multiple-use mandate vs. a green land trust with a mission to restrict or ban historic public use on lands or waters they acquire.

Thanks for your interest in this story!