Articles of Interest To The Off Road Community

Headlines Dated January/February 2007
Last Ditch Effort for Paragon Adventure Park
Another article about this past weekend's ride.

Sign The Petition To Save Paragon Adventure Park
Let the voices of the off-road community be heard, sign your name to the growing petition list to save Paragon Adventure Park. There are already over 6,000 signatures! The power of this petition may help the Knosps to raise political support to find a new location for the park.

Aitkin County, MN To Get a New 85 Mile ATV Trail
It's not all bad news about OHV places. A new 85-mile OHV trail has been approved by Aitkin County officials and and the Minnesota DNR. The new trail will link with existing trails, giving OHV riders almost 500 miles of trails to ride in northern Aitkin County and southern Itasca County.

U.S. Forest Service Says It Wants To Do Better - Yeah Right!
Stung by negative press about campground closures, as well as criticism from conservation activists about a lack of public involvement in the process, the US Forest Service says it wants to do better. In one of his last acts as chief of the Forest Service, Bosworth has tapped a national review team to gauge the effectiveness of citizen participation in the recreation facility planning process. He charged the national team to conduct a thorough review and make recommendations by April 2, 2007. For the next 60 days, according to a Forest Service spokesman, no national forest will make any decisions about what recreational facilities will be closed, kept open or changed to meet public needs. Asked how the the recreation facility planning program came about, a spokesman said it was an internal initiative, neither prompted by Congress or the Bush administration. They intended to use the program to shut down areas deemed "unprofitable" or undesirable (defined by who?).

How bad could the land closures get? The Forest Service manages about 15,000 camping areas and other recreational sites on 155 national forests and 193 million acres of public lands. The agency is imposing a for-profit model on all of those sites. An example of what we're looking at is in Oregon's Deschutes National Forest, where only 14 out of 212 existing developed recreation sites would remain open and free to public use according to research by the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition. All the rest will be shut down, turned over to concessionaires or kept open as fee sites, he said. In Colorado, half of the 140 campgrounds and other facilities in the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests face closure. The US Forest Service spokesman acknowledged that in the face of mounting criticism and press attention, it was time to figure out how public participation in the process might be best improved. How about this you wads? Cut out all of the bureaucratic fat in Washington DC and use the money to run National lands!

Series of Recreation Forums To Be Held This Spring With the American Recreation Coalition and the US Forest Service
In order for outdoor enthusiasts to keep their right to enjoy and use public lands and waterways, a series of recreation forums will be held throughout the country this spring. A series of Recreation Forums convened by the American Recreation Coalition (ARC) and the National Forest Foundation in conjunction with the US Forest Service and other agencies and partners will be held throughout the country this Spring. Forums will be conducted in Golden, CO, Marietta, GA, Los Angeles, CA, Portland, OR and Chicago, IL. The Regional Forums will produce information and a listing of suggestions and recommendations for a national Recreation Forum in Washington, DC, in April 2007. If you live in one of these areas please go and be heard!

ATV's Mean Big Business In Canada Just Like Here in the USA
An economic impact study commissioned by The Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors Council (COHV) reported that in 2005, Canadians spent $3.3 billion on activities directly involving 975,000 operating All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs). The largest share of expenditures, 25.4%, was for acquisition of new ATVs, and, second and just a little less, 24.9%, was spent on accommodations and meals outside the home. Only a bureaucrat would spend good hard earned money on a study to prove something that has been proven a hundred times before. ATVs are good for the economy and provide good tourist dollars for riding areas; that's a fact no one can dispute.

Wayne County, Utah Officials Take on the BLM!
Angered by the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) emergency order restricting off-highway vehicle (OHV) travel in the popular Factory Butte area, the Wayne County commissioners have proposed an amendment to the county's general plan that would basically trounce the BLM's new rules by allowing cross-country OHV use in the area, which is located east of Capitol Reef National Park. The proposed draft reads "Open, cross-country OHV recreation is a firmly established recreational activity and an important cultural value for a large segment of the citizens of Wayne County." The county's intent according to the draft is to preserve the open and unrestricted nature of cross-country travel that has existed historically in the Factory Butte area. The BLM closed most of the land to OHV use citing threats to two endangered species of cactus. Last fall the BLM began a new off-road policy for the area limiting OHV use to 220 miles of designated trails and a 2,600-acre "OHV zone" known as Swing Arm City. The entire Factory Butte area comprises almost 200,000 acres. According to the Utah Shared Access Alliance, "The county has a duty and even a fiduciary responsibility to protect the interests of their citizens." We agree!

Eco-freak Mentality - You Tell Them J.!
Public forum letter posted at the Salt Lake Tribune tells it like it is!

What's Happening With Paragon Adventure Park!
This article in the Times Leader spells it out. Basically the landowner has been offered $9K an acre for 2,500 acres of the 4,300 acre property. That's a cool $22,500,000 for the landowner, PCA Corp. Paragon Adventure Park's opponents have announced a press conference where they will reportedly go over the details of the planned project. The plans are said to call for an air cargo facility that could create approximately 5,000 directly-related jobs and more than $100 million in investments, and that the project could lead to another 100,000 created jobs by businesses that would relocate close to the airport. One of the only things standing in the way of this prosperous project is the 25-year lease that Overland Enterprises, owner of Paragon Adventure Park, has with the landowner, PCA Corp. The landowners are suing Overland and its President, Kyle Knosp, for breach of lease. Simply put they want Overland out of there! Mr. Knosp said that he is being bullied into giving up the lease so the landowner can make a huge profit on the property sale. Attorney Jill Moran, representing the landowner, has stated that Mr. Knosp failed to make rent payments and failed to provide financial and insurance information to the landowner's agents as was called for in the lease. She went onto say that Overland also damaged the land by cutting tress and paths, and digging ditches. The killer here may be the insurance that Paragon was to carry. The rumor has been that a number of off-road parks have lost their insurance coverage the past few years. If Paragon lost theirs, the cause may be lost.

US Forest Service Abusing the Recommended Wilderness Areas programs?!
This Blue Ribbon Coalition article brings you up to date on how the northwest US Forest Service agents are planning on robbing us of our public lands by use of this program. The most important quote of the article is "sadly, the Northern Region of the US Forest Service seems to think they, not Congress, have the authority to manage these lands -- as Wilderness! New Forest Plans state that Raw will now become closed to all motorized use, including winter snowmobile use." The forest service is yielding power it is not authorized to use as designation of "Wilderness" is supposed to be left to Congress and the American citizens not some cheese-head bureaucrat!

Why should you care? New Forest Plans, under the guidance of the Northern Region Forester, dictate that large areas of the 25 million acres managed by US Forest Service Region 1 (Northern Region), which are public national forest and grasslands in Montana, North Dakota, northeast Washington, northern Idaho, and northwest South Dakota, will be classified as RWAs and be closed all forms of motorized recreation.

Shoshone National Forest (WY) Management Plans - Is Bad News On The Horizon?
According to Forest Officials preliminary options for management of the Shoshone National Forest range from creating five new wilderness areas to none, and from no new road construction to some road building. These officials are outlining the various scenarios in a series of meetings in Jackson Hole, Thermopolis, Dubois and Lander.

According to one of the forest service staff, they are just showing people where we they are in the planning process. They say that they are not done yet, but based on what we've seen from other supposed plan meetings and the result, I wouldn't bet the house on that. They go onto say that there are a lot of things not in the plans yet, but they want to give folks an idea of what the plan is going to look like. If its not done or anywhere near completion then why hold the meeting. I believe it is their plan to just wear people down to not care and give up. The forest officials hope to develop a more extensive plan that is 80 to 90 percent complete for another round of public meetings targeted to be held in February. Then, the public will be given almost six weeks to provide feedback on the plan and a follow-up meeting in April. Then a draft revised plan will be released in June, followed by a 90-day comment period for interested groups and individuals to officially present their concerns before the final plan is selected. Two of the more important issues are roadless areas and recreation. In its current state, the draft plan offers three options with land uses designated to address these issues. The options were reportedly created based on information received from public meetings last October and November. To no one's surprise one of the options will place more land in wilderness designation, thereby eliminating any motorized use there. This appears to be just one more slap in the face to the OHV community waiting to happen.

Paragon Adventure Park In Fight For It's Life
According to Paragon's owner: "currently Paragon and PCA Corporation (land owner) is in legal dispute over our lease agreement for this property. We have done everything within our powers to honor our agreements with the land holding company, but they are trying to evict us from the premesis so they can sell the property. We are still in business and will remain in business as long as possible and we are fighting this with every measure available."

What else can we say other than this really stinks! Paragon is reportedly in the 3rd year of a 25 year lease with the landowners, and they decide well we want to sell it right now so we're going to try and put the screws to you! It is just not right!

National Forests and Grasslands Could See Large Closures!
Your federal government and bureaucrats at work against you! Read this article and the one right below if you want to understand what is really going on with the Federal Government's new Recreation Site Facility Master Planning fiasco for our national lands! The US Forest Service is planning to cut their $346 million maintenance backlog by 20 percent by 2010, 70 percent by 2015 and 90 percent by 2020. How will they do this? By shutting down a lot of facilities. Many critics are saying that the Forest Service is sneaking the process through with very little if any public involvement. The end result will be a lot less access to forests and fewer recreational opportunities. Read on to become outraged.

A Really Informed Editorial Regarding the Recreation Site Facility Master Planning Issue
Read this article if you read nothing else this year! Written by Robert Funkhouser, President of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition Group, this commentary goes into the nuts and bolts of how the USDA-Forest Service is using the Recreation Site Facility Master Planning (RSFMP) program to gut our National Forest program here in the USA. Mr. Funkhouse's article contains numerous facts that will enlighten you and point out the true end result. The Forest Service is trying to tell us that they aren't getting nearly enough money to run all of the national forests and grasslands, while their funding has increased 22% over the last 10 years. What's the real problem? While funding has gone up, more and more of it has gone to support the forest service bureaucrats in Washington DC and not the forests themselves! According to one study, less than 20% of the funding gets to the forests. The Western Slope No-Fee Coalition estimates that RSFMP will close or decommission between 3,000 and 5,000 recreation sites. Many of these sites will be gated and will no longer be accessible. Closures already have begun on some forests, with little or no public notice. So has decommissioning, including the removal of drinking water systems, picnic tables, toilets and fire rings. Thousands of other sites are slated for increased fees, new fees and reduced operating seasons. RSFMP focuses on the Forest Service's developed recreation program, including trailheads, day-use areas, lake and river access points and campgrounds. But similar policies are being embedded in forest Travel Management Plans and will bring the same approach to hiking, biking and equestrian trails, OHV areas and even roads. In other words, lots of closures and restricted use for these activities. All being done as quietly and secretively as possible. Folks we need everyone to write their congressional and senate representatives and voice their outrage about this now. Before it is to late! Fire the bureaucrats!

Find your Congress Rep here and Senate Rep here. Write to them now and tell them the US Forest Service's RSFMP program is not for us.

Travel Management Open House For The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (WI) on Jan. 31
The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest will be hosting five open houses in January to present information related to this new rule. The rule, which moves the forest to designate a system of roads and trails for OHV use and prohibits their use in any other areas of the forest. According to a forest spokesperson this open house provides the public an opportunity to interact with Forest Service personnel, ask questions and learn more about the Travel Management Rule, and to offer their input regarding the forest's travel route plans. The open house is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 31 at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, Ashland. A presentation at 6-6:45 p.m. will be followed by the open house 6:45-8 p.m. For more information, call Ms. Suzanne Flory at (715) 362-1354. Wisconsin OHV folks need to attend this meeting to make sure our voices are heard!

ATV Gear and Accessories Tips and Tricks
ATV's, are small motor vehicles with large tires used of transportation or racing across off-road terrain. All Terrain Vehicles are controlled with motorcycle hand controls. The ATV's are a fun and exciting way to experience the wilderness, and can be a useful means of transportation in rural settings. The ATV has gained huge popularity because of its versatility. So there are many different types of ATV's nowadays from companies such as Honda, Polaris, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Arctic Cat. There is a variety of models and varying engine sizes for the different outdoor activities like racing, hunting and camping.

ATVs and Public Use of Forests
Another opinion letter coming out against the ATV crowd. This one is from Minnesota. The author is specifically stating that ATV use and a good-quality non-motorized experience are not compatible. But it is reported that the writer, Matt Norton, is the staff attorney for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. Gosh I wonder if that is an environmental group that is totally against OHV use and this is their tactic to seem somewhat reasonable to gain more ground. That is after all their tactics! They'll appear reasonable to gain cooperation and once they've maxed out those results then they turn to extremes and the the courts. On top of that, he's siting statistics that are 4 years old. Things have changed dramatically in the past 4 years!

Another Page In The Epic Surprise Canyon Battle!
In October of 2006 San Bernardino County launched a new skirmish in the old fight, using an 1866 law to claim it owns most of the roads within Mojave National Preserve. The county in October sued the US Department of the Interior, seeking title to 14 roads within the preserve. The county says that it would like to have a guarantee that the network of roads across the preserve could not be arbitrarily closed or excessively restricted. In its response filed Tuesday (January 2007), the federal government denies the county's claims and asks the court to dismiss the suit. According to a Greenie attorney, Utah and some counties have viewed R.S. 2477 not as a shield to protect public access, but as a sword to defeat protection of land and water. The sky is falling, they'll lay waste to everything!! How can you listen to these people any more. They'll say anything to further their cause.

Quartzsite (AZ) To Host An Attempt at the "World Record ATV Parade" on February 10, 2007
Scroll down on the page to see the blurb about the event. Fore more information call 928-916-0657. Read about their first attempt in 2006.

Proposed Changes To ATV Law in WV Goes Down
The proposed ATV safety law that had many folks concerned and would have caused problems for many West Virginia towns with connectors to the Hatfield-McCoy Trails System did not make it out of an interim committee. The committee rejected the proposed ATV safety bill by the slimmest of margins, six to five. If it had passed through committee it would have been up for consideration when the legislative session began. The bill would have prohibited anyone under 18 from riding an ATV on paved roads; allowed all counties to regulate ATV use (pass their own set of laws); prohibited any passengers on ATVs unless the manufacturer instructions allowed them and would have created an ATV incident form for police to use when gathering information about accidents.

As many of you know, we were against the legislation for a number of reasons. The primary one being a potentially different of laws for each and every county. If the state wants to regulate ATV use, it needs to grow a backbone and propose a set of rules for statewide enforcement. At least make it easy on everyone to be informed.

12 ATVers Charged With Riding In Off Limits Area of the Jefferson National Forest (VA)
Twelve ATV riders accused of riding through national forest land face up to 50 federal charges in what officials call an illustration of an escalating problem. A US Forest Service representative stated that illegal ATV use has overtaken illegal dumping (dumping of garbage) as the national forests' top enforcement issue. This certainly doesn't help our image! First time offenders that get caught riding in the national forest illegally, don't have to go to court. They simply pay a fine of around $150. The second time offenders face a much bigger punishment! They have to appear in federal court and could be fined up to $5,000 or six months in jail.

Another Negative Article About ATVs - This one In South Carolina

Florida To Open Two Parks For ATV Riders
ATV enthusiasts took to the streets in the past protesting delays in the promises of an ATV park. Their protest efforts were not in vain; their efforts lead to the state promising to open two off-road vehicle parks, one temporary and one permanent, in Collier County. Political activism works. We just need to do it more often! Now what about the full-size rig folks?!

Dixie National Forest Has A Proposal To Restrict OHV Use
Going off-road in the Dixie National Forest in Utah will be restricted to authorized roads, trails or other specific areas if a proposed motorized travel plan is approved by federal officials later this year. According to a spokesman for the Dixie National Forest team, this is a proposed plan and now they want to hear from the public. Off road enthusiasts now its time for you to be heard!

Possible ATV Licensing For South Dakota
Governor Mike Round's task force began work Monday on a new law that may require licenses for more than 60,000 ATVs in South Dakota! The new law also could lead to license fees, taxes and/or other “funding mechanisms” to pay for off-road trails, including a major trail system being proposed for the Black Hills.

Additional Important Off-Road and OHV Articles