OFF-ROAD ORGANIZATIONS PRESENT ISSUES TO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WESTERN CAUCUS.

Representatives from ten different organizations were invited to a meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives Western Caucus in Washington D.C. to present their concerns regarding management of public lands by federal agencies.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 19, 2004) – An historic event took place on Wednesday, May 19^th, when organizations from California and Arizona with a direct interest in off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation sent representatives to Washington to present their concerns to the U.S. House of Representative’s Western Caucus.  Roy Denner, President and CEO of the Off-Road Business Association, and delegation leader, explained, “We believe it is vitally important that our Congressmen understand that, as OHV recreation is growing dramatically across the U.S., lands available for this form of recreation have been drastically reduced.”  Congressman Chris Cannon, from Utah, Chair of the Caucus, expressed similar concerns.

Vice Chairman of the American Sand Association, Bob Mason, ran a short video clip that depicted kids, families, and handicapped off-roaders enjoying recreation at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area (ISDRA) – an area that has been reduced to almost 1/3 of its original size as a result of lawsuits filed by environmental organizations.  Wally Leimgruber, Imperial County Supervisor, told the Caucus “Closures in the ISDRA are having a serious negative impact on the struggling economy of Imperial County.  Many of our merchants depend on this world-class recreation area for their survival.”  “I certainly agree with Wally”, said Ken Rosevear, representing the Yuma Chamber of Commerce.  “One of our Yuma toy box trailer dealers sold 140 units last year.”

Americans for Forest Access representative, Eddie Phillips, displayed maps and photos depicting closures in the San Bernardino National Forest.  According to Phillips “Closures of access roads have made it impossible to maintain forest health and block fire fighting apparatus from getting to fires.  This was a major problem in last year’s forest fires all over California.”  He also maintains that actual use of the forest roads is what keeps them clear for travel.”

Becky Antle, representing the Arizona State Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs and John Stewart of the California State Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs told the caucus that thousands of miles of backcountry dirt roads in the desert and the forest across the western states have been closed to public access.  Randy Banis, of the Southern California Land Rover Club added, “A thorough gps survey of a portion of the California Desert, performed by my club, shows that less than half of the routes we found were included in the BLM’s route inventory.  We think this is typical of route inventory across the desert.  What this means is that routes that are not in the inventory will be automatically closed.”

Following the Western Caucus presentation the OHV group met individually with many Congressman and staff who are particularly concerned about public access to public lands.  Denner commented, “We believe that the recreation community needs to visit our country’s leaders in Washington regularly to make sure that they know what’s happening on the ground with regard to OHV recreation.  We expect lawmakers to be concerned about public access to public lands as well as environmental protection.”