Save johnson valley august 2012 campaign - get involved or shut the hell up!

[kim]

Today is Day 2 of 7 Days to Save The Hammers. Have you made your call or email yet?
Tuesday August 7th, 2012 Please call:
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA 22) or
District Director Vince Fong Bakersfield 661-327-3611 fax 661-637-0867 [email protected]

Johnson Valley OHV Area
Talking Points
ISSUE: Marine Corps plans to acquire 160,000 acres of BLM land next to Marine Corps Ground Air Combat Center
(MCGACC) Twenty Nine Palms eliminates most of the land available under the California Desert Conservation Plan (1980) available for to off highway (OHV) recreation impacting OHV activity and the local and national economy.

Johnson Valley OHV recreation area is 189,700 acres that develops at least 300,000 visitor days per year and is world renowned as an OHV recreation area..

Economic impact: BLM estimates $71.5 million annually into the local economy and $191.2 Million into the national economy.

USMC has a new requirement for MEB level maneuver training and intends to acquire 160,000 acres of this the land from BLM and conduct live fire on all but 40,000 acres - permanently closing access to 120,000 acres.

Local authorities and State authorities and thousands of citizens are opposed to the transfer of this land.

USMC is well into the EIS process and could issue a Record of decision as early as this summer.

Options other than those in the Draft EIS need to be considered:
Permitted use of land from BLM (like at other BLM sites used for training)
Other BLM land in the region (not necessarily adjacent).

More time needed for deliberation and seeking options on both sides and with the State.
Not urgent since Marines have been deploying to combat for 10 years without this extra range - should have more time to seek a broader solution set.
Once live fire starts the land is permanently lost. We need to find accommodation for OHV needs and that will require BLM and State officials.

The US House of Representatives passed an Amendment to the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act that requires, prior to transfer, the Secretary of the Navy to provide a report on the new Marine requirement for this land and on the economic impact and on other potential solutions to the elimination of recreational land.

In spite of this Congressional interest, the Secretary of the Navy just entered the final Environmental Impact Statement into the Federal Register and can now within a short time announce his "Record of Decision" to acquire this land.

The intent of the House of Representatives was to slow this down to have a better look at it. The Navy has run roughshod over the House and ignored their intent. The House should be angry. We are.

Please call the Secretary of the Navy and tell him to stop this provcess until all the stakeholders - including federal legislators - have had their voices heard.

If the Marines went through 10 years of war without this extra land, it surely could wait a few months until all interests could be accommodated.

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[joshbmx1201]

day 2 done, not enough people posting up in these thread.

[ACME]

Bumpitty bump

[J Prich]

Without going in to details, I happen to work in a job that deals with a variety of political issues and that sometimes puts me in direct one on one, face to face contact with members of Congress. On occassion I also see a small fraction of constituent letters written to congressmembers. I can't speak for every member but I am confident in saying that writing definitely DOES matter. It may not ultimately sway the members stance as there are a lot of factors in play, but those letters and emails don't get sent straight to the trash. They will at least make their way through the interns and staff, in some cases making it to the higher level of staffers working a particular field (defense, natural resources, etc).

Bottom line, writing DOES matter. And even if ultimately it doesn't result in what you want to see, it's better in my opinion to put up a fight and voice your concerns than do nothing.

In addition to the letter writing, I would also like to suggest that from first hand experience, members often check their social media. Some rely on it more than others and not all of them are checking their social media sites themselves, but you'd be suprised how many of them are logging in to their Facebooks and Twitters themselves. Point being, I strongly encouraging taking these same messages to the members Facebooks and Twitters if you have those. The public nature of social media in some cases can actually draw even more attention than a private email or letter.

[coilover88]

I look at it like this-----taking action will not guarantee our future in JV. However, not taking action will almost certainly guarantee loosing the largest OHV area in the nation. To paraphrase the thread title---"Speak now or forever hold your piece".

[CMA GUMBY]

Spoken. Letters were faxed and e mailed today. Will follow up with phone calls tomorrow. There is too much to lose.

[kim]

I'm more and more convinced that most of you don't give a happy ** ĦAy, caramba!**** ĦAy, caramba!**** ĦAy, caramba!**** ĦAy, caramba!**** ĦAy, caramba!** about this issue. The proof is in how many views/responses are on this thread as compared to the "Class 5" or "Robby hates BJ" type posts.

However, I will continue to post information on how you can help should you decide that racing exclusively in Mexico or Nevada or Utah is not practicle. Don't you guys have a life outside of racing? Do you take your kids and wife camping or hunting or just driving through our unique and vast desert areas? Do you not care what is being taken away from your kids or do you just feel like someone else will fight the battles so why get involved? Frankly, I'm tired of fighting for people who either don't care or are completely stupid to the issue. You really are not worth my time and energy. But my kids and freedom are worth my time and energy and that's why I fight.

Wednesday August 8th, 2012
Today is day 3 of our 7 day campaign
to save Johnson Valley.
Today’s contact is: Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA 25) or
Deputy COS Bob Haueter
Santa Clarita 661-254-2111 fax 661-254-2380
[email protected]

We need every Off Roader starting August 6th to participate in a targeted outreach. One phone call or fax a day is all we ask. Talking points can be found below the
phone list. Contact name is underlined. Congress is on recess this week, they should be in the District Office. Every Off Roader must participate!

If you'd like to call, email, fax them all in one
day, you can, or just one a day. In an effort to help spread the importance of Johnson Valley to our legislators!

ISSUE: Marine Corps plans to acquire 160,000 acres of BLM land next to Marine Corps Ground Air Combat Center (MCGACC) Twenty Nine Palms eliminates most of the land available under the California Desert Conservation Plan (1980) available for to off highway (OHV) recreation impacting OHV activity and the local and national economy.

Johnson Valley OHV recreation area is 189,700 acres that develops at least 300,000 visitor days per year and is world renowned as an OHV recreation area..

Economic impact: BLM estimates $71.5 million annually into the local economy and $191.2 Million into the national economy.

USMC has a new requirement for MEB level maneuver training and intends to acquire 160,000 acres of this the land from BLM and conduct live fire on all but 40,000 acres - permanently closing access to 120,000 acres.

Local authorities and State authorities and thousands of citizens are opposed to the transfer of this land.

[coilover88]

This issue slowly ramped up to a fair level of participation (over 20k letters) after the DEIS was released last year. Where did the interest go? Did we think it was over at that point? Where are all the people who were motivated enough to write letters, make calls, and put the topic on the front burner? Why is something as critical to us as this not a sticky yet?? I was raised to beleive that America acheived it's greatness because we aren't quitters. Has our culture become so lazy or entitled that we fight for nothing anymore? I think that the complexity of dealing with things like NEPA and the gov't in general has a way of intimidating us salt of the earth types-read blue collar. Get some info on process---ask a friend how the system works. I have spent hundreds of hours gleaning info and learning how the system works so I wouldn't feel helpless. Those of you who acted last year have shown we cared about JV at one time----we need all 20 thousand plus that acted to do it again---the job is NOT FINISHED YET.
PLEASE MAKE THIS THREAD A STICKY

[NIKAL]

I have realized after posting about the new helmet and UTV restrictions law, that not many on RDC seem to be concerned with issues like this. I have seen more participation and discussion regarding laws and land issues on other off-road sites. Maybe it has to do with the fact that RDC is more racing and those who are on here dont directly see or feel the impact these laws will have, as they have race promoters doing all the leg work for them. Or so they think? People on other sites are more recreation, land users and feel the effects of this laws and closures more.

[Shoyrtt]

I have realized after posting about the new helmet and UTV restrictions law, that not many on RDC seem to be concerned with issues like this. I have seen more participation and discussion regarding laws and land issues on other off-road sites. Maybe it has to do with the fact that RDC is more racing and those who are on here dont directly see or feel the impact these laws will have, as they have race promoters doing all the leg work for them. Or so they think? People on other sites are more recreation, land users and feel the effects of this laws and closures more.

I agree.

If this base expansion passes, we will be left with three, small areas to race: Barstow, Ridgecrest and Plaster City. MORE, if it continues to promote races, will either utilize Barstow exclusively or move to one of the other options for some of the events. Do you really want this to happen?

Four years ago when the expansion was proposed, the Marines were looking to completely close the entire Johnson Valley OHV area. After a strong protest from the rock crawling community, the Marines are now pushing this proposal, which allows joint use of some of the area, specifically the Hammer trails off of Boone Rd and Means Dry Lake. The four and two wheel desert racing community, (maybe due to the fact there was little to no protest) will be completely shut out of racing in Lucerne/Johnson Valley. All it takes is a phone call or an email to let these representatives know you care!

Think about this: The MORE/SNORE Chili Cook Off on September 8, 2012 could very well be the LAST race ever held in Lucerne/Johnson Valley.