The reality of political influence

Katrina has observed through her experiences with the BLM and by attending these meetings that ordinary citizens have very little impact upon the decisions of these government agencies. It appeared to me that unless you had a substantial number of voters who are very active in their communications to the politicians and/or money for campaign funds or control of substantial amounts of money influence, you have very little impact, even if you are completely right in your position.

Some of the other powerful influences with these government agencies are the laws concerning the endangered species act and the rights and protections provided for Indian Cultural Artifacts.

Whether we like it or not, there are various groups of public land users who have a right to use and enjoy our public lands. The user group with the most potential to create a negative impact upon the public lands is the OHV community. As the numbers of this user group increase, the impact will increase accordingly. This is an issue that will not go away and if not put into some kind of compliance with the open routes, the potential for illegal trails will multiply.

The solution has to be education of the user groups to bring them into voluntary compliance with the regulations. Many members of CORVA are aware that this will only benefit their user group. Juniper Flats has had no regular patrol visits that I am aware of over the years. I really think we should research this area and obtain their patrol records for the area. Let's find out what is in their budget for this purpose.

Juniper Flats has come into the forefront with the newspaper article and I am sure is attracting more motorcycle riders because of this article. Dirt bike riders read the LA times. If Juniper Flats does not receive some random patrol visits to encourage riding on legal open routes soon, I think you will soon see an increase in illegal trails. It is sadly predictable.

In order to obtain this assistance from the BLM and/or Forest Service, you would be more successful with a grant to fund these activities. Grants are available to government agencies and nonprofit groups. From what I understand in order to qualify for these grants, your group needs to represent all public lands user groups. In addition, there is the task of writing the request for the grant as well as obtaining letters of recommendation from recognized community organizations.

CORVA already has this in place through a multiple user group entitled "Action". Anyway, I see this as an opportunity to obtain the money needed to accomplish this task.

Since we have to share our public lands with all user groups, I think you will get alot farther if you work cooperatively with these user groups. I believe that your confrontational style actually resulted in an increase of OHV damage probably just to spite you.

As AZ Mike pointed out, you have written numerous letters as well as evidence to the BLM about this issue and have receive no positive results. This is the reality of a small citizen group with little money or influence with these government agencies.

I remember the first time I was on a trail in the back country when I heard the roar of a motorcycle coming up the trail. It was a jolt of reality. Man and motorcycle had arrived and had drowned out the sounds of nature, the breeze through the pine needles and bird calls.