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Managed Recreation, Responsible Use, and Cancelled Events

Op-Ed
By Don Amador
Western Representative
BlueRibbon Coalition, Inc.

On a national basis, federal land managers are formally designating roads, trails, and areas for motorized vehicle use as they transition from “unmanaged” to managed recreation. To make that effort successful, the agencies are asking that off-highway vehicle (OHV) clubs partner with them in various fashions. Those activities include volunteer trail work, helping with route inventory, and riding in a responsible manner.

Many OHV organizations are already donating thousands of hours of volunteer labor to fix trails, improve campgrounds, or help with public outreach. OHV groups are functionally engaged in numerous route inventory and designation processes. Operating an OHV with a sound-compliant exhaust system and following trail etiquette are good examples of responsible use.

In addition, OHV recreationists years ago imposed a mandatory registration and fuel tax program upon themselves. These “user fees” are required for anyone who operates motorized vehicles off-road in the State of California. Other states have similar programs. The fees are generally available to land managers for trail maintenance and law enforcement as well as the development of OHV opportunities.

In the new era of managed recreation and partnerships the term “responsible use” now requires OHV organizations to incorporate resource or trail conservation into their events.

In January of 2006, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) signed the Record of Decision that designated OHV routes and areas in the Clear Creek Management Area (CCMA), near Coalinga, California. That document allows OHV clubs including the TimeKeepers Motorcycle Club (TMC) to hold their popular AMA and District 36 Sanctioned Wild Piglet and Wild Boar Enduros. Those events were scheduled for March 11 and 12, 2006.

However, a powerful winter snow storm hit the evening before the events started and forced the club to make some hard decisions. The BLM had just lifted their wet-weather closure on Friday, the day before the event weekend. I had toured many of the course routes with BLM ranger, William Schwarz, and the area had dried out enough before the storm hit to hold the events. Ranger Schwarz also pointed out the agency’s new signing program to identify open routes and restricted areas.

Since not enough measurable precipitation had fallen to technically trigger an emergency closure the organization had a decision to make. Hold the events to make the riders happy or cancel/postpone them to protect resources. Many of the participants had driven hundreds of miles to attend. Also, club members had worked hard marking the course. Event specific t-shirts had been purchased.

Post-storm, running hundreds of motorcycles on a number of the course’s snow covered single-track trails would have caused a significant impact to the routes. TMC trail crews had gone out and surveyed the course and came back and said that holding the events would be an irresponsible decision.

I believe the BLM would have called the events. However, TMC chose to make the correct call themselves. Historically, many clubs would select to make the agency look like the “bad guy” by having them cancel the event. In this new era of managed recreation and partnerships, I believe that OHV clubs and riders will have to shoulder more of the burden for making responsible land-use decisions.

The 2005 National Survey on Recreation and Environment showed the proportion of people age 16 and older who said they participated in OHV recreation increased from 16.8 percent in 1999-2000 to 23.8 percent in 2003-2004. With that growth in OHV activity comes responsibility. I witnessed that in action at CCMA.

Don Amador writes on recreation issues from his office in Oakley, California. He is a consultant for the BlueRibbon Coalition and former chairman of the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission at California State Parks.

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