DAC MEETING - TO DO

[Paige]

<font color=yellow>The next DAC meeting will be in Ridgecrest on June 15th & 16th at the Kerr-McGee Center located at 100 West California Avenue. </font color=yellow>

Tim Salt, the Desert District Manager, has scheduled the meeting as far from the major off-road communities as possible. What a surprise!

The DAC members will be staying at the Best Western China Lake Inn located at 400 South China Lake Boulevard.

On Friday there will be a tour starting at 7:15 a.m. in the China Lake Inn parking lot. Members of the public are welcome. They will be touring the Rand Mountain and the Jawbone Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area.

The BLM is very <font color=yellow>proud</font color=yellow> of the way they have closed many miles of 4-wheel drive trails in that area. Anyone wishing to attend should call Doran Sanchez at (909) 697-5220 so he can coordinate the tour.

On Saturday the council will meet in formal session from <font color=yellow>8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Kerr-McGee Center.</font color=yellow> The meeting will include updates/briefings on BLM's off-highway vehicle program, OHV management related issues, the OHV Grant Program, and a discussion of the "Off-Road to Ruin" publication. It should be a very interesting session.

Mr. Salt has invited <font color=yellow>Paul Spitler, the Director of the California Wilderness Coalition - the organization that published "Off-Road to Ruin."</font color=yellow> Mr. Spitler will have an opportunity to defend that report - if he shows up. Roy Denner will have a report from a San Diego Environmental analysis company that is dissecting the studies referred to in that report. He is hoping to have a representative from the environmental company in attendance as well. No fireworks allowed!!

They will also be discussing the draft of the first Desert Area Management Plan - the "Northern & Eastern Colorado Desert Coordinated Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement" - also known as NECO. This is NOT a Management Plan - it is purely an EIS. (Environmental Impact Statemetn) It starts out by closing five OHV areas - some because they are over-used and some because they are under-utilized. It goes on to provide reasons and methods to close any area that might have an impact on sensitive or possibly sensitive species and/or their habitat. This so-called management plan is written in the shadow of the current law suits and attempts to satisfy the enviro-extremists to the point that they will never again have a reason to sue the BLM in the history
of the world. What a joke! If this plan is implemented the way it is drafted it will become the guideline document for BLM plans all over the country.

Roy should have, at that meeting, a report on the NECO plan that is being prepared by a top-notch environmental attorney from San Diego. He is reviewing NECO in detail and commenting on the poor science and anecdotal information used to draw far-reaching conclusions. We will not be caught short again like we were with the Glamis closures!

So - if you can make the next DAC meeting you might find it interesting.

Lets try to make sure we have a group there to listen and respresent racing and all aspects of OHV use. I am CERTAIN that ASA will be in attendance, however CORVA has two meetings scheduled that day so we need to pick up the slack and get some peeps in attendance. If you are available and can give up a saturday, please make a point to go.

Thanks!!



<font color=yellow>Paige<font color=yellow>

 

[rdc]

Paige, as promised I will be going to the meeting on Sat. If anyone wants to car pool then let me know. I will be coming from Oceanside.

Tony

 

[Paige]

Hey guys ~ Don't forget if you can go we need people there - the meeting is all the way out in Ridgecrest and I bet the opposition will find the time to show up. If you can make it let Tony know!



<font color=yellow>Paige<font color=yellow>

 

[Wayne_Nosala]

Hey Paige,
I will be there saturday

Ive talked to Mr Spitler via Email, ....this guy & his wacky coalition
want ORVs out of the desert!
Here is a quote from their report,

"Off-road vehicle users regularly disregard the law and trespass into
wilderness and other closed areas, as well as onto private property."

Pure Cow Poop!
See ya
Wayne

 

[Paige]

Great Wayne, Glad you'll be there.

Yeah I've read the report and the executive summary and even wrote an article about it, it is truely insane crap - I totally agree.

I can't be there long planned vacation - but I hope that you guys take points from the report and challenge Mr. Spilter in Public.

One thing that really got my goat was - they claim that OHV'ers are resposibille for the trash left behind in the ORD mountains. Well I pointed out (and think it should be pointed out further) that In Johnson and Stoddard Valley the users, the racers, are the ones that hold the clean ups. At our clean up last October, Paul from MDR caught some local out there dumping his trash and the BLM confirms that the local dumping is a problem in the area. We also had some enviros show up (since the last Big DAC meeting was at barstow college that was right before they closed Glamis) and some enviros showed up, took the literature and then left, they didn't help.

In the report, they use Joe Citizen as proof that there is a problem - who the heck is Joe Citizen? Their statics are all fuzzy, the methodology in the report is lame - they took other reports and findings, extracted what they wanted to and called that a finding to put in that report.

IT'S LAME. I was so pissed when I was reading that thing, Kreg was sitting next to me watching me get madder and madder... he moved to the other couch as I started talking back to the report.

The article I wrote further breaks down my view of Off-Road to Ruin and if you want you can read <font color=yellow>The Environmental Extremist Recipe for Disaster</font color=yellow> in the April Issue of ORC the address is - http://www.off-road.com/landuse/paige/paige0401.html</A>

Wayne ~ hope everything is going well with your Jawbone assignment.

I hope that more people can join Wayne and Tony at the meeting !

<font color=yellow>Paige<font color=yellow>

 

[Paige]

Desert District Advisory Council Meeting is this saturday!

To all that are going - Don't forget - to all unsure - try and make it to this meeting.

Thanks!

<font color=yellow>Paige<font color=yellow>

 

[rdc]

Everyone who can needs to get out to the DAC meeting this Saturday!!!! Here are some directions if you need them. I got them from ASA so if they are wrong don't get mad at me. I have never even been to Ridgecrest.....

The meeting will be held in the Pinnacles Room (room probably will change due to number of attendees expected) at the Kerr McGee Center, located at 100 West California Avenue in Ridgecrest. To get to Ridgecrest, take the 395 exit off of FWY 15 and head north. To reach the Kerr McGee Center, go west on California Avenue from China Lake Boulevard and follow the road to the Center


Hope to see a good turn out of Dez folks at this meeting!!!!

Tony

 

[Paige]

Desert District Advisory Council (DAC) Meeting Saturday, June 16 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00

There is strength in our numbers. Plan on attending if you can.

From: Roy Denner, SDORC Education Chairman and DAC Vice Chairman

Subject: Desert District Advisory Council (DAC) Meeting The Desert District Advisory Council will meet Saturday, June 16 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p. m. at the Kerr-McGee Center in Ridgecrest.

The meeting will be an important one for OHV interests. The agenda includes updates/briefings on BLM's off-highway vehicle program, OHV management related issues, the OHV Grant Program, and a discussion of the "Off-Road to Ruin" publication.

It should be a very interesting session. Paul Spitler, the Executive Director of the California Wilderness Coalition - the organization that published "Off-Road to Ruin" - has been invited to attend and will have an opportunity to defend that report - if he shows up. Mr. Spitler also sits on the OHMVR Commission - the people that control our green Sticker funds.

I will have a report from a San Diego environmental analysis company that is dissecting the studies referred to in that report. I am hoping to have a representative from the environmental company in attendance as well. No fireworks allowed!!

We will also be discussing the draft of the first Desert Area Management Plan - the "Northern & Eastern Colorado Desert Coordinated Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)" - also known as NECO. This is NOT a Management Plan - it is purely an EIS. It starts out by closing five OHV areas - some because they are overused and some because they are underutilized. It goes on to provide reasons and methods to close any area that might have an impact on sensitive or possibly sensitive species and/or their habitat.

This so-called management plan is written in the shadow of the current lawsuits and attempts to satisfy the enviro-extremists to the point that they will never again have a reason to sue the BLM. What a joke!

If this plan is implemented the way it is drafted it will become the guideline document for BLM plans all over the country. I expect to have, at that meeting, a report on the NECO plan that is being prepared by a top-notch environmental attorney from San Diego. He is reviewing NECO in detail and commenting on the poor science and anecdotal information used to draw far-reaching conclusions.

We will not be caught short again like we were with the Glamis closures! So - if you can make the next DAC meeting you might find it interesting.

The meeting will be held in the Pinnacles Room (room probably will change due to number of attendees expected) at the Kerr McGee Center, located at 100 West California Avenue in Ridgecrest. To get to Ridgecrest, take the 395 exit off of FWY 15 and head north. To reach the Kerr McGee Center, go west on California Avenue from China Lake Boulevard and follow the road to the Center.






<font color=yellow>Paige<font color=yellow>