The Big Picture

The following is from an email from an inside government official that wishes to remain anonymous.  He or she won’t even tell me who they are – I believe him/her to be a reliable source since what I have been able to verify checks out.  The rest, his/her opinions, scare me: ti should scare us all.  Take it for what it is worth.  It does convince me, now more than ever, we must amass our resources and fighting potential JUST TO KEEP WHAT WE HAVE. - vjb

 Thanks for the response so soon.  I have to disagree with you on one point. You say you can't help with the federal issue, I disagree. You have mobilized to stop the possible closure at Glamis without much thought (I think, but I may be wrong) as to what will occur anywhere and everywhere else.  If you save Glamis, but Ocotillo, Stoddard Valley, Pismo, Corral Pink Sands, Moab, Redrock/Ridgecrest, and the 3 So Cal forests close to any and all off road use, what occurs at Glamis?  Initially there will be 3 to 4 times the number of users as before, overcrowding, then limits on use (reservations? only so many visits per year?). 

The industry will begin to feel the die out as off roading becomes harder to participate in. Then it will die.  That’s why we lose so much; we look at individual closures rather than the overall fight to protect multiple use in areas where multiple use is already occurring. 

You have a web site, you obviously have some connections, this needs to become a national effort (or at least a western states effort as that is what the gov't/green attack is targeted at) Californians, Nevadans, Utahans, Oregonians, etc. should band together. 

Right now, there are factions that use the lands for recreation that will in a heartbeat sell out some other factions to save their own use.  The mountain bike folks are a perfect example. 

They feel that if they stay away from us, they will not be attacked.  Yet, more and more state and federal parks are limiting or eliminating mountain bike use because of erosion, noise, speed...does this sound familiar?  Horses are also on the list.  The future will be directed towards petroleum-powered boats on rivers and lakes.  This is supposed to happen after they get rid of the above as well as mining and logging.

The truth doesn't matter.  The propaganda is totally false in most cases.  Fact-the amount of board feet of timber removed from California last year was 35% of what was taken in 1985.  This reduction occurred under a republican gov't, but you won't hear that.  Even with this reduction, California is still the single biggest moneymaker for the U. S. Forest Service when it comes to timber sales.  More wood is taken from private land holdings than federal, state, etc. yet the greens want that stopped as well.  Fact- the single biggest threat to the desert tortoise is the raven.  The ravens are a non-native species to the desert.  They came out to feed at the landfills that are created to hold refuse.  They have found the young tortoises with soft shells to be very tasty.  They wipe out baby tortoises annually. 

When the BLM decided to do a bird kill to reduce the number of ravens to help the tortoise population, they were stopped by a lawsuit by a green group based on cruelty to animals.  This was not it at all.  If the tortoise population rebounds while nonpolitically correct recreation occurs, then they lose that prong of the attack.  They have to have these animals remain on the endangered species list, or they lose their ability to sue in the name of the animal. 

       These types of actions only prove that they are simply trying to regulate other people’s lifestyles.  They do not believe in others’ rights because no one else is right but them.  These people need to be exposed for what they are.  Only by organizing on a national level, can we attack their views and not appear to be small fringe groups that don't matter in the big picture.

You mention the AMA, well, the AMA gets much of its funding from the motorcycle manufacturers.  They have been approached by racers, promoters, and clubs for help.  While they support multi-use, the manufacturers will not jeopardize non-OHV sales on a national level to protect what is considered a regional problem.  Honda, Yamaha, etc. don't want to be branded as environmentally irresponsible and the stigma that will be attached.  Non-west coast sales might suffer with the east coast populace if Honda does not do all it can to protect the only wilderness and wild lands left in the U.S.  Therefore, they sit back and wait to see what will unfold while their OHV sales are at an all time high; they still want to sell snow blowers and generators to folks in Connecticut and Vermont. 

So we continue to do what we do, fight at the local level while the greens take control of the USDA and dictate to the rest of us.  When we have little left to fight for and are numbers are so low, they will say that we shouldn't be doing what we're doing and legislate us into oblivion, then go after the boating industry. 

I hate to use one of their terms, but we need to think globally.

-anonymous