IMPORTANT REMINDER

The Ridgecrest Area Task Group of the BLM's DAC WEMO Subgroup to Meet At Jawbone Station


The Ridgecrest area Task Group of the BLM Desert Advisory Council’s WEMO Subgroup will meet at the Jawbone Station Visitors Center on May 16, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. to approximately 8:00 p.m.
The purpose of the Task Group meetings is to engage and assist members of the public in identifying important motorized routes in the greater Ridgecrest area that should be designated open by the BLM.
Currently all open and closed OHV routes in the West Mojave desert are being re-evaluated by the BLM. The Desert Advisory Council will be providing input and recommendations to the BLM regarding the process and is requesting the participation of the public. Therefore, this Ridgecrest area Task Group meeting is open to members of the public that wish to participate and provide information on their favorites OHV routes.
If you have a favorite road or trail you’re concerned will be missed, or an area of special interest you don’t want to see closed, this Task Group meeting is a must-attend. For more information visit the West Mojave Route Network Project Subgroup by clicking here.

What's that... Wednesday evening ?  Sure I'll run right over there after work. Should be there by 10PM.  Will you guys wait for me ?

No meeting that need the OHV community's input should be held on a weekday.  Scheduling meetings like this is just a sham.

20 guys from Cal City & Ridgecrest making decisions for 150,000 of us is a joke.  But let us know how it turns out will ya ?

Delete

Edited by Wayne_Nosala, 11 May 2012 - 08:54 PM.

Wayne_Nosala, on 11 May 2012 - 12:37 PM, said:

I burned 6 tanks of fuel on the highway at work days and meetings just last month Wayne.  I focus on SBNF and now Red Cross.  You live in Cal City.  You can make weekday Ridgecrest meetings with ease.  But before I'll add another 3 hour drive for meetings up there that require taking a day off work (self employed like you) they need to be on a weekend or Friday night at the verty least.

My negativity is simple. 100-200 people in YOUR AREA make decisions for 100,000 to 200,000 that recreate there because your neighbors can't hold a meeting when the recreators can be there.  It's pretty simple.  On top of that I have spoken with the decision makers in the area and frankly THEY DON'T WANT A LARGE OHV USER TURNOUT.  They have as much as told me so.  They prefer just to make their own decisions locally.

I'll continue to work where I can get the most benefit for OHV folks.  And I'll start making meetings in Cal City/Ridgecrest when your community quits staging them at unreasonable times for the OHV community that brings the OHV dollars to your town.

Chris Horgan seems to be the only one to get anything positive completed.  However, the Piutes have about 1,000 downed trees on the burn area trails right now.  USFS will probably just close the area rather than actually spend some green sticker funds to conduct trail maintenance.  Just one of those $100K "task force" weekends with green sticker monies to cite everyone in the desert parked/riding on the "wrong" trail would pay to actually maintain some great single track.  Hire six guys with chain saws for $15/hour for a month to cut downed trees.

That will not happen, though.  Green sticker grant money will continue to purchase fences, closed signs, and huge task force missions.

Nothing new here.

Wayne_Nosala, on 11 May 2012 - 05:58 PM, said:

Wayne, I can understand your frustration and I want to honestly say I'm sorry on behalf of you and others who put in a lot of time and work on our behalf.  In addition to family commitments, work conflicts, the cost of gas and meetings scheduled at hopelessly inappropriate times and places  --  the reality is that there's some laziness and flat out disbelief that the system can/could ever be tilted in a positive direction for us.  That's the cold hard reality of 2012.  That negatively impacts any positive involvement that you might otherwise get from these announcements.  And it no doubt impacts how many show up at these things.

I got a good dose of the FOJ attitude a few weeks ago, when I accidentally showed up at the end of some meeting, and my wife and friends got a tour of the new building along with an indoctrination speech about how the FOJ are making the area "better" for OHV enthusiasts.  After seeing the nice new trucks with huge post hole digging augers hanging off the back, I had to leave without opening my mouth, because I couldn't trust myself not to go off the deep end with the ******** this guy was spewing.  It honestly made me sick to my stomach.

Hopefully you can see the "outlaw / non-involved / too-busy-to-try-cause-I-know-it's-a-waste-of-time" side as well. Actually, I think you do.  GPS tracks and comments in other areas have resulted in those suggested trails being closed for flat out lame reasons that were decided in the back rooms long before any "public meetings" were scheduled.  Why would we expect this to be any different?  It's a legal requirement for these meetings to take place, not a real outstretching of hands in hope of compromise.  I wish it were different.  

The reality is that you are correct.  This will ultimately result in less options for riding in the future.  So be it.  I cannot make it, and even if I did, the result would be the same.  I have no practical input into those areas, I don't get out that far often enough to intelligently comment.

I hope you can go home feeling all warm and peaceful after the meeting.  But I'm afraid what's done is done.  Call me a pessimist about these things. I couldn't disagree with that assessment.

bobc1, on 11 May 2012 - 06:38 PM, said:

Bob, the reason for that is that no matter what the law was intended for GS monies are now seen as ways of CONTROLLING OHV use, not opening up OHV riding opportunities.  You know it, I know it, Wayne knows it, Jeff knows it - we ALL know it.  How they can go about even pretending monies are being spent for our best interest is beyond me.  It's like your wife finding out your cheating on her, and you just smile and say "it's OK honey, I'm doing it to strengthen our marriage".  What a crock of BS.  No woman in her right mind would take that as an answer, and yet, year after year, we pay our green sticker money and hope that something will be different.  We're a bunch of fools.  The last straw for me was stopping in at the FOJ building at JB station and seeing and hearing first hand how they plan to help OHV by stringing fence line.  They are AGGRESSIVE about "helping us"  

There was a time when fences caused mini-wars in this country.....

Edited by Bill_P, 11 May 2012 - 06:50 PM.

Well, by God, Bill, you did get me laughing with the cheating analogy.  The rest of it related to closing trails is all the same.

It is not going to be a happy ending unless the revolution covers it.

The last few months have not been kind to me for time to ride.  I've had zero chance to get to any of these meetings.  I might be able to get to this one on the 16th though.  Not sure about that.

Wayne_Nosala, on 11 May 2012 - 12:37 PM, said:

Yea I really lobbied for that Santa Clarita meeting.  It took a bit of extra communication, but we were able to get that to happen.  We got a few people who otherwise would not have been able to make other meetings.  There really were not all that many people if I remember correctly.  At least it was pretty much 95% riders though.

bobc1, on 11 May 2012 - 06:38 PM, said:

I've been on many a outing with Sequoia NF clearing trail.  The stuff that I've been involved with has been more of a force multiplier.  Several groups with one FS guy with a saw and two or three of us basically doing all the non saw work.

Sadly this year I've not been able to free up any time to do any of it.  I'm lucky if I can even make a phone call during the day.

Want to help?  Talk to Bob Frenes and he will likely take up up on offers of help.

Bill I have been able to get the SBNF to request GS monies to do positive things.  Took 2 years and the RIGHT management at the right time.  I don;t pretend that it can happen every where.  The SBNF just doesn't;t have the anti OHV agenda AT THIS TIME.  They just want the GS money to do stuff and stay busy and employed.  So as long as the money goes to real trail maintenance and new trails (old trails becoming legal once again) I will support them as they grab what they can for as long as the GS fund exists.  I think the GS fund is very short lived...  as I think do you.

Wayne if I wasn't driving to AZ on the 15th and back on the 16th for a family emergency I would make the effort...  if nothing else to get educated.  But as long as these meetings get scheduled on weekday afternoon/evenings you know NO ONE in SoCAL can be there.  Please don't act so surprised about low turn outs.

And my numbers are on track.  I wasn't referring to this meetings attendance.  I am saying if you gather all the people that have a say and influence in the process in your area it's 100-200 people and thats being VERY GENEROUS.  On the other hand you have about 100,000 to 200,000 unique visitors annually to the area.  Thats very few locals speaking for the masses.  If Ed was interested in what the OHV world has to say these meetings would be set up as a weekend rally.  He isn't...  and the meeting will deliberately be held so you few can attend.

I appreciate your offer to take tracks from those that have them and be our mouth piece.  It's a much better approach than just assuming people are uninterested jerks if they can't handle a day off work and a 3 to 6 hours round trip drive on a week day.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Try looking at this from another angle.  You take the wife to Huntington Beach.  The ocean smells of polluted run off.  There are hooligans running rampant.  Trash everywhere.  You can't have a fire...  or a beer...  or even take food for a picnic any more.  They have roped off the best parts of the beach for turtles laying eggs.  Everyone is crowded into a smaller dirtier section.  It's just awful and you committed a weekend for recreation.  So when you get home you call the Mayors office only to be told "IF YOU WANNA MAKE THE BIG DECISIONS COME TO A MEETING"  And of course the drive is 3 hours one way... add an hour for traffic cause the meeting is at 5PM on a Wednesday.

It's YOUR BEACH TOO...  are you gonna make the meeting ?  Or as a citizen should you simply be able to expect your fat government to manage your beach resources ?

It is truly arrogant the way those that live in your little dirt pile look down on the rest of us when we can't make your 5PM weekday meeting.  But I doubt very much you'd show up in the reverse scenario I just described !

cleonard, on 11 May 2012 - 07:47 PM, said:

Thanks for the reply Carl
Delete

Edited by Wayne_Nosala, 11 May 2012 - 08:53 PM.

Good grief, maybe I should just stay clear of this place and enjoy what little dignity I have left, LOL

Hey Jeff, wasn't that just a bit over the top?

If anything the representation is primarily made up of dedicated retired folks who have the resourcers to make these meetings.  Us working stiffs are the missing group.  While people in Ridgecrest of Cal City might have a lot easier time making meetings like these, I bet that the participation is still very small on a percentage basis.  If more than 1% of riders in those places show I would be shocked.

One thing is certain.  While showing up to be counted might not magically make new trails appear, it's a lot better than the alternatice of not showing at all and loosing the maximum.

I guess it doesn't matter one way or another if you never ride legal trails as some do.  I'd like some decent legal trails to remain.

cleonard, on 11 May 2012 - 08:52 PM, said:

You're living in the wrong place then Carl.....

Just sayin'...

Wayne_Nosala, on 11 May 2012 - 08:49 PM, said:

Eh.....I'm pretty sure I've heard that from you before Wayne.  And I think Jeff pretty much said the same thing himself a few weeks ago.  

It's pretty much Hotel California around here Wayne - "you can check out any time you like - but you can never leave......"

Edited by Bill_P, 12 May 2012 - 12:07 PM.

This has all gotten too wordy...  myself included.  My bitch is simple...  want people to show up ?  Hold meetings when they can get there or don't complain about the turn out...  SIMPLE CONCEPT !

The big fish in the little pond DON"T WANT OUR INPUT thats why they schedule the meetings when they do...  admitted FACT !

So posting the meeting dates on the internet is kind of pointless in the first place.

What's too wordy about "you can check out any time you like - but you can never leave"??  

And THAT's an admitted fact too isn't it??

As far as holding meetings on Saturdays to get the locals to show up, it hasn't worked up here in N. Cal. for the OHMVR Commission meetings.  The meeting last year in Los Altos Hills (next to San Jose) had the regulars in attendance but very few of the locals who complain about the meeting schedules.

Ride on
Brewster

Bill_P, on 12 May 2012 - 04:50 PM, said:

Too true !