The donation supports ORBAs work preserving and
Promoting responsible OHV use on public lands.

ORBA is pleased to announce it has received a Yamaha OHV Access Initiative GRANT (Guaranteeing Responsible Access to our Nation’s Trails) of $15,000 for trail identification and mapping equipment. The GRANT was awarded as a part of Yamaha’s OHV Access Initiative promoting safe, responsible riding and open, sustainable riding areas.

The funding will be used to purchase equipment that will enable ORBA to expand its efforts on behalf of its members and the OHV community as a whole. The GPS mapping equipment, mapping software, and laptop computers will enable ORBA staff to inventory current trails and provide accurate, detailed information to land managers involved in travel planning and route designation. This information will assist land managers to identify routes that they may not be aware of or to update information.  We expect that this will reduce arbitrary closures because of a lack of current information and that the end result will be that more existing routes will ultimately be formally designated for OHV use.  With all National Forests currently going through the Route Designation process, and many BLM offices also revising their Resource Management Plans or Travel Management Plans, this equipment will be a very valuable tool to make our input more effective.

Fred Wiley, Executive Director of ORBA, stated “We are honored to have our application approved by the GRANT funding committee. We look forward to using the equipment and funding to help provide continued access to trails that are threatened by closure and hopefully enable the designation of many routes not currently on agency inventories or designated for motorized travel.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) located in Twentynine Palms, CA recently submitted a withdrawal application to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to essentially put a hold on 422,000 acres while it studies those areas for possible acquisition into the base. Uses that are currently allowed in the area will continue, but no new uses or projects will be permitted.

A large portion of the Johnson Valley OHV area is being is located in that study area. Besides taking public comment, the purpose of these meetings is to help people understand both the proposed action and the decision making process.

Johnson Valley OHV area is approximately 189,000 acres and is located in the high desert of California, just east of Los Angeles. The area is a Mecca for off-road recreation and is home to many events including off-road racing and competitive rock crawling.

The public meetings are scheduled for October 23, 2008 at Hay’s Gym, Twentynine Palms Junior High School, 5798 Utah Trail, Twentynine Palms, CA from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and October 24 at Hilton Garden Inn, 12603 Mariposa Road, Victorville, CA from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

It is important that members of the OHV community attend these meetings and make it known how important this area is to the families that recreate there. The types of comments that would be most productive at a meeting like this would be: The Marines have yet to demonstrate that their need to train outweighs the devastating impact the loss of this area would have on our community. A better option would be to have the Marines expand to the east of the current base.

Popularity: 3% [?]

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER AT TWENTYNINE PALMS TO STUDY 422,000 ACRES OF LAND SURROUNDING THE BASE—INCLUDING MUCH OF A POPULAR OHV AREA—FOR POSSIBLE ACQUISITION

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) located in Twentynine Palms, CA has submitted a withdrawal application to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to essentially put a hold on 422,000 acres while it studies those areas for possible acquisition into the base.

A large portion of the Johnson Valley OHV area is being considered. Johnson Valley OHV area is approximately 189,000 acres and is located in the high desert of California, just east of Los Angeles. The area is a Mecca for off-road recreation and is home to many events including off-road racing and competitive rock crawling.

For the past six months the OHV community has been aware that the Marines are studying this area for possible expansion. As a result, a small working group of OHV leaders has been working with the Marines to help them understand just how important this area is to the Southern California OHV community. It is the largest open OHV area in the country, and home to a myriad of competition events such as motorcycle races, 2- and 4-wheel drive off-road races and extreme rock crawling events. Jerry Grabow, President of the American Motorcyclist Association District 37, Off-Road, stated “Over half of our race program occurs on land within the Johnson Valley OHV Area. We have been racing in this area for over 50 years; there is simply not another open area large enough to hold these types of races.”

The withdrawal application the Marines submitted requires that the BLM prepare a “Notice of Proposed Withdrawal and Opportunity for Public Meeting.” When this notice is published in the Federal Register it starts a 90-day public comment period and segregates the public land identified in the application for two years. Uses that are currently allowed in the area will continue, but no new uses or projects will be permitted. “We are hopeful that another solution or compromise can be found that fulfills the training needs of the Marines while still allowing OHV recreation to continue in this area treasured by so many off-road enthusiasts,” stated Meg Grossglass, ORBA Land Use staff member.

Popularity: 4% [?]

After nearly three years since the American Sand Association (ASA) first petitioned the Secretary of the Interior that the Peirson’s Milk Vetch be removed from the Endangered Species List, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced today that the plant warrants continued protection and will remain on the list of endangered species.

The battle encompassing the 49,300 acres of land temporarily closed to off-highway vehicles (OHVs) at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area (ISDRA), which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has inarguably been one of the highest profile cases involving U.S. public lands and the differing interests between off-road enthusiasts and extreme environmental organizations.  Environmentalists were able to get the plant listed under the Endangered Species Act without first conducting any scientific studies or providing data that the plant warranted protection in the first place. Off-road enthusiasts contend the plant was simply a tool used by environmental extremists to have the dunes temporarily closed, and off-roaders have spent millions of dollars and countless volunteer hours trying to prove the plant is flourishing in the dunes and does not qualify as a species that deserves federal protection.

Off-road recreationists who have been battling the environmental consortium in federal courts for several years believe the scientific data the FWS and BLM have collected over the last few years should have verified the PMV was doing well and did not require continued federal protection. The anti-access advocates and environmental extremists continue to use every avenue available to them to further their agenda to close public lands. “Their weapon of choice during the past several years at the Imperial Sand Dunes has been the Endangered Species Act,” said Jim Bramham, a member of the ASA Board of Directors. Bramham and the other Board of Directors with the ASA have chosen to work closely with the land management agencies, and Press Release — American Sand Association support the method of gathering scientific data to make logical decisions whether public lands are closed for environmental protection or remain open for recreational access.

Many off-road enthusiasts are understandably outraged over the decision by the USFWS to keep the PMV on the Endangered Species List. They believe this is a politically-charged ruling, rather than a decision based on what is best for both the environment and the economic impact to both the private and public sectors. Off-road recreation is a hobby that has become a way of life for many generations of people living in the western United States, and losing valuable riding areas because of a blatant misuse of the Endangered Species Act is a sad situation that impacts many Americans, not just those who ride off-road vehicles. The members of the American Sand Association urge fellow Americans, whether they’re enthusiasts of off-road vehicles or other types of outdoor recreational activities, to take a hard look at the science behind this 8-year battle. The fact remains that the Peirson’s Milk Vetch plant ranks as the most studied plant in the entire California desert! The studies conducted by Dr. Art Phillips, as well as the Bureau of Land Management, clearly conclude this plant is not deserving of a “Threatened” status by the USFWS. In 2006, a count of 1.8 million PMV plants were found at the ISDRA. In addition, notable data suggests that less than 0.5% of the plants are affected by offroad vehicles. What many people do not realize is that nearly 26,202 acres of land situated within the ISDRA, north of Highway 78, have already been designated as a “Wilderness” area, closed to OHV use. This area, coupled with the current administration closures, make it nearly impossible for OHV activity to damage or threaten the PMV plant which is shown to be thriving in the barren desert environment. The American Sand Association stands fast to its resolution that the PMV is not deserving of a Federally protected status. The plant has been the subject of many extensive and costly studies, and all the reports draw the same conclusion: The plant is very hardy but its numbers fluctuate according to rainfall; and there is no evidence that OHV use negatively affects the continued viability of the PMV. The ASA urges its members and other OHV enthusiasts to continue honoring the “temporary” closures that are currently set in place.

Popularity: 5% [?]