It seems no matter what part of the country I try to find information on off road use areas, there seem be be notices of closures, added restrictions to use, or shrinking of the parks and trails where OHV use is legal.
Having only gotten into off-roading this year at the tender age of 42, I'm wondering if this trend is accelerating? or if the overall area remains "relatively" constant... Have there been instances of park openings in the last 5-10 years?
I think what prompted me to write this thread is that I find myself in a position where I have a greater understanding of the elements which fuel both sides of the debate between pro and anti OHV groups...
For the majority of my life I was your basic average "Joe"... High-school - College - Job in the tech industry - wife - house in the suburbs etc etc...
Though many of my friends enjoyed outdoor activities that included camping. My outdoor activities revolved around cycling, archery, shooting etc... Activities which were less "outdoor" and more simply "outside".
I had bits and pieces of the off-road debate from friends who engaged in that activity, and since I never had, I dismissed the concerns of BOTH sides as the overzealous railings of "activists"...
To me before trail riding, the forests were "quaint" and a nice source of building material and furniture... The "tree-huggers" were goofy hippies, and the off-roaders were low-brow beer drinking hooligans.
Knowing neither side well, I ignored both...
I got the KDX dirtbike mainly because I had so much fun trying out my brothers Yamaha one day at an OHV... Since then, I've been struggling to get better, and still having alot of fun, but there is a spin-off or side-note to the experience:
Trying to keep it as non-cheesy as possible, I find myself thinking more and more about the surroundings I find myself riding in. I sit at the top of a hill and look down on everything and there is a tangible sense of connection with the ground underneath me that previously was impossible for me to know in any other way.
I look at the trees less as furniture and lumber now and have this spreading desire for them to remain. Does this mean that I am becoming a "tree-hugger"? No, because I see the existence of OHV parks and BLM land where you can ride, as more than a place for the "hooligans" to congregate, but as a conduit to allow more and more people to appreciate that which the environmentalists are struggling so hard to preserve...
Its funny how much both sides are on the same page and don't even know it... the unfortunate result being that the sides are instead at odds, and we all know that its far easier to close facilities, then to create and maintain them... For the Government agencies involved, it is a no brainer that ultimately serves to put the areas at risk of development for things like urban sprawl.
To me, its almost exactly analgous to the elimination of the humanities courses in high schools all over the country... You eliminate music, and literature, and art, history... and you leave Math, Science, Economics etc... What you've done is to remove the reason the sciences were created... to understand who we are and to appreciate the world around us... Science is the language, Humanities are the substance and inspiration...
Closing BLM land to off-road use and closure of OHV parks eliminates a source of appreciation that might ultimately prove to be the greatest contributing factor to the disappearance of natural habitats...
Apologies for going on this way, but in a real sense... I have SO much more appreciation for the areas around me when I ride, its hard to avoid the sense of wonder even when having a blast of a good time with friends, and in a real sense, I see that lady that sat in a tree for two years as slightly less of a "crazy" understanding a bit more what inspired her to act that way...
There is a happy medium somewhere... Hopefully someone will find it soon...
Feanor
Having only gotten into off-roading this year at the tender age of 42, I'm wondering if this trend is accelerating? or if the overall area remains "relatively" constant... Have there been instances of park openings in the last 5-10 years?
I think what prompted me to write this thread is that I find myself in a position where I have a greater understanding of the elements which fuel both sides of the debate between pro and anti OHV groups...
For the majority of my life I was your basic average "Joe"... High-school - College - Job in the tech industry - wife - house in the suburbs etc etc...
Though many of my friends enjoyed outdoor activities that included camping. My outdoor activities revolved around cycling, archery, shooting etc... Activities which were less "outdoor" and more simply "outside".
I had bits and pieces of the off-road debate from friends who engaged in that activity, and since I never had, I dismissed the concerns of BOTH sides as the overzealous railings of "activists"...
To me before trail riding, the forests were "quaint" and a nice source of building material and furniture... The "tree-huggers" were goofy hippies, and the off-roaders were low-brow beer drinking hooligans.
Knowing neither side well, I ignored both...
I got the KDX dirtbike mainly because I had so much fun trying out my brothers Yamaha one day at an OHV... Since then, I've been struggling to get better, and still having alot of fun, but there is a spin-off or side-note to the experience:
Trying to keep it as non-cheesy as possible, I find myself thinking more and more about the surroundings I find myself riding in. I sit at the top of a hill and look down on everything and there is a tangible sense of connection with the ground underneath me that previously was impossible for me to know in any other way.
I look at the trees less as furniture and lumber now and have this spreading desire for them to remain. Does this mean that I am becoming a "tree-hugger"? No, because I see the existence of OHV parks and BLM land where you can ride, as more than a place for the "hooligans" to congregate, but as a conduit to allow more and more people to appreciate that which the environmentalists are struggling so hard to preserve...
Its funny how much both sides are on the same page and don't even know it... the unfortunate result being that the sides are instead at odds, and we all know that its far easier to close facilities, then to create and maintain them... For the Government agencies involved, it is a no brainer that ultimately serves to put the areas at risk of development for things like urban sprawl.
To me, its almost exactly analgous to the elimination of the humanities courses in high schools all over the country... You eliminate music, and literature, and art, history... and you leave Math, Science, Economics etc... What you've done is to remove the reason the sciences were created... to understand who we are and to appreciate the world around us... Science is the language, Humanities are the substance and inspiration...
Closing BLM land to off-road use and closure of OHV parks eliminates a source of appreciation that might ultimately prove to be the greatest contributing factor to the disappearance of natural habitats...
Apologies for going on this way, but in a real sense... I have SO much more appreciation for the areas around me when I ride, its hard to avoid the sense of wonder even when having a blast of a good time with friends, and in a real sense, I see that lady that sat in a tree for two years as slightly less of a "crazy" understanding a bit more what inspired her to act that way...
There is a happy medium somewhere... Hopefully someone will find it soon...
Feanor
