That doesnt surprise me. Here locally , theres talk of closing some portions of the Angeles Nat Forest to off roading. Probably to save the endangered blue spotted tittsy mouse...
Yeah this is a big deal with 4x4 groups and
the nationarl organization that also includes
ATV's and motorcycles.
I went to a local National Forest Service meeting on this 2 yrs ago. They had a national plan to go over all their maps and see which roads and trails they really wanted to keep open. BLM was involved too I believe. The new maps with just the roads they were going to keep open was to come out in late 2009 but I think the program stopped. I do not remember the details. We were gearing up for GPS'ing all the NFS roads in our state and handing the data over to them with pics and write ups of reasons to keep these open, like old mining sites up in the mountains. The alarm has somewhat gone away about that massive forest and BLM road closing deal but the national or international 4x4 association has lawyers constantly working against what some groups are always working on, turning more and more areas into wilderness areas. We have a few of those inside the National Forests in CO. You can only access them on foot, and maybe horse. Our military planes cannot even fly low over these backcountry areas. (local C-130 crew advised me of this) Here is our state 4x4 linke, may get you to some info on this, CoA4WDCi - 4WD Resource Links
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'87 AM General M35A2C
'83 Parkhurst M105A2
MVCC member -Military Vehicle Collectors of Colorado
Associate member of the Pikes Peak Detachment Marine Corps League
(did not serve, but haul them in parades)
Land Use is probably the term to google on with your state name and maybe 4x4 to get info on roads and trails and areas being considered for closure. Would definitely pertain to some in this hobby.
I just put this info out there for help. I found my 4x4 club by the internet when I moved out here, we do stuff to help the community and they love the deuce. May be a path for many of us to be informed and keep areas of the outdoors open to the public.
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'87 AM General M35A2C
'83 Parkhurst M105A2
MVCC member -Military Vehicle Collectors of Colorado
Associate member of the Pikes Peak Detachment Marine Corps League
(did not serve, but haul them in parades)
I've been on all sides of the off-roading issue. I've driven 4x4s, motorcycles, and yes an MV, off road. I've also been a land manager as well as a land owner.
I'm not going to point at any one group of off-roaders, I'm just going to say that off-roaders, as a whole, are our own worst enemy. As long as rules like "stay on the trail/road" "keep out" "no trespassing" and "foot travel only" don't apply to us, we will continue to provide everything "they" need to shut us down and kick us out. This problem would be correctable, but I don't know that it ever will be.
Another major problem is one of numbers. When I started riding dirt bikes as a teen, the trails we used might see a dozen or so motorcycles a month. By the time I gave it up to do other things, in my late twenties, they might see a couple dozen a weekend, and maybe a few 3 and 4 wheelers. Eventually, those same trails were seeing a few hundred a weekend. Now they are all closed.
Then there is the problem of voice.
I attended several "Limits of Acceptable Change" meetings for the Daniel Boone National Forest. There were a lot of representatives from several different groups at these public meetings. There were horseback riders, hikers, backpackers, environmentalists, forestry professionals and volunteer trail workers. If there were off-roaders there, I never saw them. These meetings are public. Anyone can attend, and anyone can voice their opinion, as long as they are civil about it.
As you can see, I don't have any answers. Like others, I just point out the problems.
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A proud member of the Leak of the Week Club.
1966 Kiaser-Jeep M35A2 W/W Hard Top
1967 Kiaser-Jeep M35A2 W/W Hard Top W/Heater
1970 Kiaser-Jeep XM817 Wo/W
1953 Fruehauf M107E2
1954 Fruehauf M107E2
1953 Ford F100 (retired USFS truck?)
Road Closed
