Welcome to the UFWDA eNews edition for
May 2020
With the continued problems associated with COVID-19, the number of 4x4 related events being cancelled in the U.S.A. for this year, continues to grow, Two recent cancellations have been the Bantam Jeep Festival and the Mile-Hi Jeep Club 2020 All-4-Fun event. Across the country however, many areas are re-opening to recreation which has to be good for four wheeling... just watch that 'social distancing'!
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 at https://www.united4wd.org/join-ufwda
Stay safe
Peter Vahry: editor
|
|
Memberships of UFWDA
United Four Wheel Drive Associations Inc.(UFWDA) has a variety of levels of membership, both as individual or as organizations, that can be found on https://united4wd.org/join-ufwda
Among those categories are Lifetime members and we'd like to welcome our most recent, William Ratliff.
With the sorting and shift of membership data to our new online system, it appears that we mistakenly 'filtered' some of our other 'Lifetime' and Ambassador' members out of the 'system', which we regret and apologize for.
It also seems that many of our 'international' members may have been inadvertently 'filtered' too, including a number of Canadians and we encourage anyone who may have been a UFWDA member and suddenly got 'cut off', to please contact membership@united4wd.org
Some of those past members have been added to this mailing list but will probably need to renew or re-join if they wish to continue with UFWDA.
|
|
“The Power of Positive Fourwheeling"
Continuing the theme started by Chris Boucher last month, I'll take it international and in a slightly different direction... four wheeler's planting trees..For over ten years a couple of clubs in Auckland (New Zealand) have assisted with the re-vegetation of a large piece of parkland about 70 kilometres from the city. It was a block of farmland bordering the Kaipara harbor on New Zealand's west coast.
The long-term aim is to create a rural park with regenerating native plant species to bring back birds that had been pushed out by farming.
Over those years of planting, the Auckland 4WD Club and the Land Rover Owners Club (Auckland) have combined and so far have managed to plant over 18,000 of various native species.
The park rangers appreciation is shown by the barbecue lunch they provide and if weather conditions allow, there can also be a cross-country 'tour' of the park. That 4x4 trek is sometimes not possible as the planting is held in our winter (OK, no snow and no colder than about 12 C), but often wet and over grass. Wet long grass and rubber add up to minimal grip, irrespective of tire style! 30 or so 4x4s stuck in a slippery valley of wet grass is an unwanted situation on a family day out.
The two clubs credibility with the Auckland Council Parks organization has been positive and the club members have been able to see tangible evidence of their volunteering as the re-planted areas flourish; as can be seen in the background of this photo.
|
|
2020 Survey of four wheelers by UFWDA
United Four Wheel Drive Associations (UFWDA) have at various intervals over our 44 years of existence, conducted surveys of the four wheeling community to identify demographics, trends and other patterns around our recreation.
The last survey was back in 2015 and with the likely shift in many lifestyles in the immediate future, as a consequence of efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, we have another 'online' survey that can be found on
the UFWDA website
We encourage you and your four wheeling friends to take part in this survey which will close at the end of May.
|
|
|
|
