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 Topic: Land UseThe new items published under this topic are as follows.
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ESCONDIDO, CALIFORNIA (January 30, 2006) –A lawsuit filed on January 27th, 2006 against the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR) Commissioners alleges they held secret meetings during their December 8-10 meeting. It also alleges Commissioner Paul Spitler spoke to at least 3 other commissioners about grant proposals that were to be voted on at these meetings prior to the actual meeting. Both of these alleged actions violate provisions of the Bagley-Keene open meeting law.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims the Commission violated California law when it denied a number of grants that had been recommended by the OHMVR Division staff and would have provided benefits to the OHV community, even though no new information or testimony was presented to support the denials. The Commission also chose to fund some grants that fit their own personal agenda for closing roads and trails permanently and restoring damaged landscapes, even though Division staff had deemed the proposals inappropriate because the areas had never been used for OHV recreation. In both of these circumstances, the commission’s actions were arbitrary and capricious and not supported by evidence in the record, as required by statute.
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United Four Wheel Drive Associations joins law suit to prevent off-road vehicle closures in National Park Service units United Four Wheel Drive Associations (UFWDA) and other organizations, including the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance, filed a motion in U.S. district court for the District of Columbia today to intervene in a suit brought against the National Park Service by Friends of the Earth, Bluewater Network Division, National Parks Conservation Association, and Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads (known as Bluewater Network).
Bluewater Network is asking the court to stop all off-highway vehicle (OHV) use in all National Parks and to stop all OHV use in all recreation areas, seashores, lakeshores, or preserves until such units adopt special regulations for OHV use. Bluewater is hoping the court will issue an injunction to immediately stop all OHV use at places such as Canyonlands National Park, Big Bend National Park, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Death Valley National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Cape Code National Seashore to name a few.
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January 13, 2006
The Salinas Ramblers and BlueRibbon Coalition have been notified verbally that our protests have been denied and that on Friday, January 13th State Director Mike Pool signed the Record of Decision. This action will effectively close over 300 miles of routes and the vast majority of the BLM barrens in Clear Creek. As of today, riders may only recreate on routes that have a brown carsonite trail sign and use designated barren play areas (mostly along R002).
There are currently about 170 miles of routes signed for public use and the EIS calls for 242 miles of routes for recreation use. The EIS also calls for the addition of additional routes up to a total of 270. A changes most evident will be the closure of R010 that runs from Clear Creek Road to the summit of San Benito Mountain as well as the access to the San Benito Mountain summit overview. The BLM will also close R008 between T151 and Four Corners.
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by Del Albright, Moderator, Land Use Network
I wish I knew how much money the anti-access folks spend on their image – and perhaps how much of that money goes towards tainting the image of recreationists. Have you ever wondered how the media always seems to be able to get its hands on plenty of bad press about multiple-use on public lands? It occurs to me that someone else is painting MY image – not me. I don’t think I like that.
Politicians certainly have no shortage of photos and “studies” showing a one-sided view of multiple use of our lands. Anti-access folks seem to be able to come up with plenty of fodder that taints the image of recreationists and other multiple users. Targeted activities include: driving on beaches that for years were public access (Black Sands Beach, CA); logging (everywhere, USA); mining (Utah and other western states); controlled burning (Los Alamos, etc.); snowmobiling (Yellowstone); and four-wheeling (most everywhere, USA).
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Sixty feet under the warm Mexican waters off the coast of San Felipe , the giant creature swam effortlessly, constantly on the prowl for food. Weighing a hundred pounds, he could pretty much eat anything he wanted, so when he saw the Corvina rock fish dangling in his path, not trying to escape, the monster went in for the kill.
On the surface, lulled by the tropical sun, I drifted in and out of a sleepy state as our old boat drifted lazily with the Baja current. The smell of salt air was strong, but the wind was light. We used parachute cord hand-line for fishing in these Mexican waters because the fish were so big, rods and reels were just too slow on the retrieve for meat fishing. I came suddenly awake when the hand-held fishing line began to tighten in my gloved hands.
Strung over my knee, down under my foot, then over the boat gunnels, the hand-line set up was designed to transmit the fight of a fish throughout the lower half of my body. Immediately there was no doubt that I had a big fish on the line. My gloves began to smoke as the line streamed out to sea. I tugged back with all my strength and began to haul the line in hand over hand. I pushed down with my shoe on the hand-line to increase the tension against the big guy on the other end.
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By Dan Stra and Del Albright
Note: For the sake of brevity the masculine gender has been used in this article.
Volunteer (noun); an anomaly within the human race. Rarely seen, the volunteer frequently works in the background while doing things for the benefit of others. Volunteers work for free and with the best of intentions yet they get little thanks - nor do they expect it - and, in fact, are frequently criticized and sometimes publicly insulted when things don't go well. Volunteers get enjoyment from the success of others. Volunteers have a very short life span with an average life span of less than 7 years. With proper care and feeding this time period may be extended. On the other hand, improper care and feeding of a volunteer can significantly reduce its life span. Due to the rarity of a volunteer any actions that would reduce its lifespan are to be avoided at all costs.
Motorized Recreational Club Volunteers
Historically, motorized recreation sports have always required a high percentage of volunteers. The list of things that need to be done to make a club or other organization run smoothly can easily exceed the capacity of one person or a small group of people.
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About once a month I get a note from Del Albright. Each one provides some insight into some of the problems we face with our land being locked up. Soon I'll have a spot here dedicated to the Del archives. Until then, here's this month's piece of insight from Del!
Basic Training for Life
(Rules for Recreationists)
By Del Albright, BlueRibbon Ambassador
Does it seem to you that not all recreationists follow the same rules?
Have you ever encountered an angry land owner upset with someone who did not close his gates? Have you ever had a loaned piece of equipment returned to you broken? Can you recall meeting an inconsiderate trail user? Are you tired of picking up after others?
I'm sure you answered yes to most of these questions because these things are common in our sports. In my opinion, these things need to stop! Well, I have some suggestions that might help. In fact, I'd like to share with you these rules of life I found the other day posted in an RV park. I think if we all followed these, we might find our lives and our recreational pursuits in better shape. Check these out.
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by Del Albright, BlueRibbon Ambassador
I would like to introduce you a management system that you can use to organize your organization (or event or conference or meeting or training). It works wonders and is used by thousands of agencies across the United States. It's called the Incident Command System (ICS).
ICS is a management and communications system that provides a standardized method of getting the most out of folks and making your activity all the more productive. It's designed to give you an organization to meet your objectives.
First used by emergency service providers (like fire departments), ICS has now become widely accepted as a management tool to handle about anything that requires organization. I've used it for conferences, meetings, training sessions, workshops, and recreational events. It works. And boy does it save time and confusion.
I am one of the trainers and developers of the ICS system, especially as it applies to conferences and events. I can help you get this idea off the ground if it has appeal to you.
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by Del Albright, BlueRibbon Ambassador
(Note from Editor: This month Del doesn't really address Land Use directly. However, I found his article useful regardless and chose to go ahead and publish it here.)
For those of us who’s recreation depends on some sort of wheeled vehicle, there is little more important that your tires. I've seen a lot of trail and highway breakdowns related to inadequate tire selection and maintenance, that I thought I'd share a few thoughts in this article. And believe it or not, I get nearly daily emails from folks asking about choosing the right tire for their wheeler or their tow vehicle.
The information here applies to RV’s, four-wheel drives, ATV’s, assorted tow vehicles (pickups and horse trailers) and about anything else that runs on rubber.
First off, you must select the right tire for your rig. By that I mean size, tread and application. Don't get the biggest ugliest tire on the market just because you like the looks of them. They may be a nightmare for you.
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by Del Albright, BlueRibbon Ambassador
As we’ve recently seen how precious and short life can be, many of us are viewing decisions about how we spend our time differently. We are now looking to the future more too. We’ve seen terrible things happen in this world lately that don’t seem to make sense. But they do cause us to reflect on just what the heck is going on in our own lives, and what kinds of things we want to do now and in our future. The question becomes: How do we decide on a course of action now, when the future is so unpredictable?
For young people, it’s a common malady that they want everything now. For us in the older generation, we still want it all, but realize that there are some things we can’t have.
So most of us struggle throughout our lives balancing what we want with reality. But this does not have to be traumatic. There are some tricks to learn that can help us deal with life’s mundane, but bug-the-heck-out-of-you, decisions.
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