It's bad enough to have the cactus-huggers messing with our riding areas, but too many boneheads caused this one...
ASSOCIATED PRESS
9:16 a.m. May 13, 2008
PHOENIX – The federal government has announced a temporary off-road vehicle ban on one of Arizona's most prized parcels of public land because of severe environmental damage.
Starting in June and lasting about two to three years, the federal Bureau of Land Management will ban motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles on 55,000 acres of popular wilderness in the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
The area, which includes nearly 89 miles of vehicle routes, will be open only to hikers and equestrians.
Land use officials and conservationists said the action is necessary because reckless riders have torn up the soil, ripped up native plants and marred the desert landscape with illegal dumping.
“There are places in this closure (area) that look like a moonscape because the recklessness of these vehicles has been so extensive,” said Daniel Patterson, Southwest director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “There is no plant life there at all.”
Quads are for people who can't ride two-wheelers... KTM 200EXC KDX220 Auto-Clutch KDX220 KX100 CRF150 CRF150
Don't believe a $%& damn word Daniel Patterson says. He used to be the guy at the CBD, center for biological diversity. He and his past organization are the only reason for the non-sensical partial closure of the Glamis Dunes area.
2004 30' Fleetwood Gearbox FS, RevRed
2003 Ford F250,6.0L,4x4,CrewCab,4.5"D.R.Lift, 35"BFG's
2002 Honda CRF450
2004 Honda CRF230
2007 Kawasaki KX85
2004 Honda CRF70
2000 Honda Shadow Sabre 1100
and a couple of Jet Skis
Yep, you only hear one side when the environmental whackos get their way. Usually 3/4 BS. Notice how no one else's opinion was included in the article. I'm so sick of enviro whackos. I wish Al Gore would lead them all to some South Pacific Island where they could live in harmony with the bugs and milkweed they claim they are trying to protect.
* This post was
edited 05/13/08 02:04pm by an administrator/moderator *
I agree that you shouldn't take any 'environmental' press release at face value. If you do, you'd believe the lies the Audubon Society and Defenders of Wildlife are spewing about people driving on the beach at Cape Hatteras.
They lie, lie, and then lie some more until they get what they want!
Jeff
1994 Coachman Catalina 280RK behind a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD 6.0L + Equalizer 10,000# + Prodigy brake controller
Here is some information a friend posted on a Arizona OHV forum.
A little clarification on what is going on the Sonoran Desert National Monument
The news article wasn’t totally clear, but the road closure is not permanent, it is temporary. However, it is relatively long-term (2-3 years). The temporary closure covers about 15% of the route system on the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
The temporary closure is intended to stop the ongoing resource damage being caused by inappropriate vehicle use. During the closure we will be working on two things: repairing the damage and implementing a recreation plan to allow vehicle access without incurring more damage (including improved visitor information, stabilizing the road system, establishing parking & camping areas).
The reason we think the closure will be 2-3 years long is because it is going to take some time to get all the rehab work done and to get the recreation plan implemented. We will have some public meetings this winter to talk about the recreation plan & get ideas from the users. We’ll check with Shannon on getting the meeting info posted on RA when we figure out the time/date/location info. For those of you who ride out there often, please be sure to get involved in those meetings. Also, we have a lot of rehab work to do & we will be looking for volunteers to help out, so if you are interested in some manual labor we’d love the help. The more help we get the more quickly we will be able to get this problem fixed and the area reopened.
Some History
The National Monument was designated in 2001 to protect the natural and cultural resources of the area. Until recently, it was fairly remote, but as Maricopa, Goodyear & Buckeye have continued to grow, the monument is getting a lot more recreation use, particularly since about 2005. The Butterfield area (north of Route 238 between Maricopa and Gila Bend) is particularly popular. In addition to the National Monument, the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail and the North Maricopa Wilderness Area are located here, so there are many important resources that we are trying to protect. The temporary closure is the next step in a process that started in the spring of 2006 to try to stop & repair damage in the Butterfield area. Depending on how long you have been a RA member, you may recall that in the spring of 2006 Shannon & Greg posted several requests for help on a rehab project in this area. During a temporary 3-week closure we had nearly 800 hours of volunteer help to rehab along the East Butterfield access road. We’ve continued the rehab efforts over the last year and a half, along with installing a lot of signs, especially along the East & West Butterfield access roads. While we have had some success with the rehab work, unfortunately we’ve continued to have people driving off of the road system & the damage has spread to other roads in the area. We hope that with the work we will do during the temporary closure we will be able to reopen the area without incurring new damage and no further action will be needed.
Desert Hawk & billygoat mentioned an area north of the monument that we went to look at & discuss a few years ago for OHV recreation (we call it Buckeye Hills East). That area is outside of the temporary closure and what we talked about during that field trip still holds. As was mentioned though, Buckeye Hills East is inside the dust boundary. I’m sure most of you are aware of the new regulations the state is working on for dust. We aren’t sure yet how that will affect riding areas inside the dust boundary so that’s another important topic to stay involved in."
The thing that really sucks is the illigal dumping that is probally occuring. I have been to places that people leave furniture, trash, you name it in areas and the off road community has to suffer becouse of it! That stuff is so frustrating. We have done clean ups in the areas near Calico and Johnson Valley and the stuff we pulled out of there was terrible.
* This post was
edited 05/13/08 03:48pm by jasona33xj *
jasona33xj wrote: The thing that really sucks is the illigal dumping that is probally occuring. I have been to places that people leave furniture, trash, you name it in areas and the off road community has to suffer becouse of it! That stuff so frustrating. We have done clean ups in the areas near Calico and Johnson Valley and the stuff we pulled out of there was terrible.
The worse part is that the private property near Johnson Valley is in worse shape than the OHV area. It amazes me when I ride Johnson and get close to private property. I've seen TVs, refrigerators, stoves, burned car frames. It's truly amazing. Us off roaders probably get blamed for the mess by the enviro nuts even though we don't camp or ride in those areas.
jasona33xj wrote: The thing that really sucks is the illigal dumping that is probally occuring. I have been to places that people leave furniture, trash, you name it in areas and the off road community has to suffer becouse of it! That stuff so frustrating. We have done clean ups in the areas near Calico and Johnson Valley and the stuff we pulled out of there was terrible.
The worse part is that the private property near Johnson Valley is in worse shape than the OHV area. It amazes me when I ride Johnson and get close to private property. I've seen TVs, refrigerators, stoves, burned car frames. It's truly amazing. Us off roaders probably get blamed for the mess by the enviro nuts even though we don't camp or ride in those areas.
Althogh I doubt the OHVers put the trash in th eprivate parcels, maybe expanding hte clean-up efforts to those parcels also (with owner consent) woudl go a long way towards making the sheeple see that OHVers do good.
The BRC mag had an article about Arizona OHVers collecting tons of trash near 4 peaks?
"Honey, are the brakes suppose to touch the floor"
jasona33xj wrote: The thing that really sucks is the illigal dumping that is probally occuring. I have been to places that people leave furniture, trash, you name it in areas and the off road community has to suffer becouse of it! That stuff so frustrating. We have done clean ups in the areas near Calico and Johnson Valley and the stuff we pulled out of there was terrible.
The worse part is that the private property near Johnson Valley is in worse shape than the OHV area. It amazes me when I ride Johnson and get close to private property. I've seen TVs, refrigerators, stoves, burned car frames. It's truly amazing. Us off roaders probably get blamed for the mess by the enviro nuts even though we don't camp or ride in those areas.
Althogh I doubt the OHVers put the trash in th eprivate parcels, maybe expanding hte clean-up efforts to those parcels also (with owner consent) woudl go a long way towards making the sheeple see that OHVers do good.
The BRC mag had an article about Arizona OHVers collecting tons of trash near 4 peaks?
Run the "spell check" once in a while. It makes reading the post much easier
jasona33xj wrote: The thing that really sucks is the illigal dumping that is probally occuring. I have been to places that people leave furniture, trash, you name it in areas and the off road community has to suffer becouse of it! That stuff so frustrating. We have done clean ups in the areas near Calico and Johnson Valley and the stuff we pulled out of there was terrible.
The worse part is that the private property near Johnson Valley is in worse shape than the OHV area. It amazes me when I ride Johnson and get close to private property. I've seen TVs, refrigerators, stoves, burned car frames. It's truly amazing. Us off roaders probably get blamed for the mess by the enviro nuts even though we don't camp or ride in those areas.
Althogh I doubt the OHVers put the trash in th eprivate parcels, maybe expanding hte clean-up efforts to those parcels also (with owner consent) woudl go a long way towards making the sheeple see that OHVers do good.
The BRC mag had an article about Arizona OHVers collecting tons of trash near 4 peaks?
Run the "spell check" once in a while. It makes reading the post much easier
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