From The Top Only you can stop trail closures, what does this mean? I have worked on land use issues for nearly 20 years. We work both with, and against, the land management agencies and regulators, federal and state. I have often heard, “why did you not do anything about a particular issue. Yesterday we may have saved the day, but the next you did nothing”. The criticism often comes from others in the fight wanting help with their issue. Don’t get me wrong, we do make progress and have wins for our community, but we need more resources and collaboration to be successful.
When a land use agency like the Bureau of Land Management proposes a management change, do I have the knowledge and ability to make a meaningful argument for or against the complex regulation? The answer is most likely I do not. I may be able to get an expert to help, but the experts available to us are limited. So, if the Sierra Club or the Center for Biological Diversity want to have input, do you think they rely on part time volunteers to provide the expertise to get what they want? Of course, they don’t, they have the resources to make a difference.
I was recently told that I need to learn about water issues and get to know legislators and that I could do a better job keeping land and trails open. Well, I can’t do all those, I have a job as a pork producer, I am just one small volunteer who really can’t make much difference individually or be the land use expert. The one thing I got from this, is that we as a community need to do something BIG to make a difference and move to the next level. So, what is it that we do?
We need to increase awareness and participation by our recre3ation community. Our land use advocacy groups are too small and underfunded to do all the work we need them to do, to keep our public lands open. They also need to work together to ensure threats to closure are addressed. One Voice works to help learn about and address issues affecting access to public lands. One Voice has grown to get groups to work together, but participation needs to increase, so issues are not missed or fall through the cracks.
To help increase awareness in our community, United Four Wheel Drive Associations has begun the “Only you can stop public land closures” campaign. We want to get internet influencers to share the message to our communities. We have developed short 20-30 second public service announcements for influencers to share to their followers. With the support of their followers, we hope to start to turn the tide and get the word out to our wider communities.
If you would like to see the PSA’s visit our YouTube Channel
To find out how you can prevent closures visit our web site at United4wd.org
If you are an online influencer, or know one, please contact me so I can help get them set up to help us.
Thanks
Steve Egbert President
Prescott National Forest Alert
This proposal will prohibit dispersed camping within the Prescott Basin in the Prescott National Forest. You will no longer be allowed to pull off the side of a forest road and camp. Public land users will be restricted to 111 campsites within 10 Designated Dispersed Recreation Areas. The project area spans from the Big Bug area near Crown King to the Alto OHV area north of Prescott, Arizona.
Approximately 40 miles of forest roads will be permanently closed and the Motor Vehicle Use Map will be updated. This new proposition comes from the Verde Front Collaborative. The same group trying to restrict access to forest roads around Sedona.
Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway; The Lawsuit Settled
Since 2016, SFWDA has been involved in a ground breaking lawsuit to ensure that the county road known as Mountain Springs Rd (Formerly Furnace-Pilot Rd) in Estill County, Ky USA remains open and as a portion of the Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway. This stretch of road links Estill County and Powell County, Ky. The Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway is over 200 miles of easy moderate
trails.
Supporting Organizations
Such as United Four Wheel Drive Associations, ORBA, TreadLightly! and many others have assisted with the immense funding challenges that were created by this lawsuit. They have all participated in the SFWDA mission of Conservation, Education, and Recreation. As with any legal process, additional funding is always needed. Especially it seems at the end of the process which is where we are today!
Settled!
On March 20th at 2:50 Pm 2022, a settlement agreement was obtained to keep this section of the DBBB OPEN! As with any settlement there are conditions that must be met by both sides. As part of the settlement, Estill County Ky must maintain the road as noted in Ky Law requires a county road to be maintained. They have already begun this process and are committed to maintaining the road. This model is now being used throughout the USA, most recently in W. Virginia. Do Your Part
The TreadLightly! principles apply to the OHV community to help the county maintain this section of the road. Several of the local SFWDA clubs such as Kentucky Toyota Land Cruiser Association, Kentucky Crawlers, and the Ohio River Four Wheelers are already planning to assist in the maintenance of this section of the DBBB. It is FAR cheaper to follow the principles than it is to handle a legal matter. For every dollar you spend in education you save $100 in conservation.
United Four Wheel Drive Associations
UFWDA has great tips, video’s and other resources available to you on their website, Facebook, and the new YouTube channel. Be sure you give them a like, follow, and share!
Legal Fees
There are still what feels like an insurmountable amount of legal fees surrounding this lawsuit. If you’d care to donate please check out www.SFWDA.org/donate.
Bo Rosa
SFWDA President
UFWDA Vice President
Treadlightly! Master Tread Trainer
West Virginia visit
Aaron Roddy, the UFWDA public relations director, recently met with the West Virginia Department of Tourism, Agriculture, Environmental. Also met with the West Virginia State Parks, and Forestry Department promoting OHV and economic impact for the state of West Virginia and how it can positively impact that state. Also met with person in charge of their RTP grant program.
They are working on a pilot system to map out all the old county roads in the District 3 and create a downloadable GPS map that you can download to your cell phone.
They also just added a ATV route in one of their State Parks
Australia
UFWDA has had interest expressed by the top Australian 4WD body 'Four Wheel Drive Australia' in again joining with UFWDA. They had been members a while back and would be most welcome again.
SB1377 | Massive changes to the Arizona OHV fund
March 12, 2022
There is an organized effort by anti-access groups to convince our lawmakers to close motorized access to public lands because of a handful of novice users in rental UTVs around Sedona. It’s clear that our lawmakers do not understand how responsible and respectful the majority of the 4×4 community is. We must respond with the overwhelming support of motorized access. Go to this website
Uwharrie National Forest in North Carolina is 52,000 acres in Montgomery, Randolph & Davidson Counties.
"Small piece of proposed closures on the Uwharrie taken from a larger list emailed today from the USFS."
Globe Ranger District welcomes feedback on Pipeline area improvements
David Sowders/Arizona Silver Belt Staff of the Tonto National Forest’s Globe Ranger District meet with community members at the Pipeline OHV area Saturday morning.
Staff of the Tonto National Forest’s Globe Ranger District, along with members of the Tonto Recreation Alliance, met with off-road enthusiasts and other community members Saturday morning at the Pipeline OHV area east of Globe, to share plans and get feedback on improving the popular spot.
District Recreation Management Specialist Sheryl Cormack said they had received $200,000 from the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020 for improvements at Pipeline. “Right now we have a bunch of social trails, which means they’re not legal routes per our travel management rule. We’re technically supposed to either rehab the area or include them into our system,” she said. “With the funding, we want to get feedback from the public on what they think about this area. What do they like about it, what do they not like and what changes need to be made?
“We’re going to take this information and compile it, get an idea of what everybody’s thinking and then go back to our regulations and what we can do with the people we have. Maybe we could do something like improve the ramadas, put in a bathroom or maybe add some trees for shade. We have to use the funding this fiscal year, and then we’ll start the contract next year. It needs to be completed by August-September 2023, hopefully sooner.”
The event enjoyed a good turnout, as a number of visitors stopped by to meet with District staff and Alliance members and leave suggestions. Their ideas included adding a bathroom, sprucing up the area around the current ramadas and installing more ramadas farther in, away from the highway.
The 56th annual Easter Jeep Safari is scheduled to take place April 9-17, 2022, in Moab, Utah. Thousands of die-hard off-roading fans gather every year to see the latest in trail-performance Jeeps. Moab’s Red Rock 4-Wheelers club hosts the annual event. Jeep will once again send several one-of-a-kind concept vehicles for the off-roaders to test out on the gruelling trails.
If the Easter Safari concept vehicles are extremely popular, they may end up as special custom models that can be ordered straight from the factory. Jeep has several custom shops set up near their main plants that customize the vehicles so that they can be produced with factory-backed Jeep Performance Parts
4x4 off-roading gets more takers in Kolkata post third wave
Peter Vahry
UFWDA editor
International vice president
UFWDA Ambassador
Please feel free to forward these editions of UFWDA eNews to other four wheelers. Because some of our member organizations don't enroll their members as members of UFWDA, we don't have email addresses of those individuals. Member numbers count when advocating for a cause.
Here at UFWDA, we are volunteer based and our Board members are geographically dispersed, so regular 'online' meetings have been our primary management tool for quite some time. Our 'overheads' are minimal, but we still need to have a good membership base. You can join or renew athttps://united4wd.org/join-ufwda
UFWDA eNews is published monthly, about the 15th of each month. Compiling eNews depends on you, our readers, for material about events, land access issues, etc. The monthly deadline is the 10th of each month and material, or links to sources should be emailed to editor@united4wd.org
