All Entries Tagged With: "recreation"

Today Is Unofficial “Lobby For The Hobby” Day

I recently became aware of two things:

1. Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Four Wheeler, Off Road, and others (90 web and print properties total) are all owned by one company. I guess I should have paid closer attention.

2. Today, November 1st, 2010, is SEMA’s unofficial “lobby for the hobby” day, where anyone who is an avid automotive enthusiast is encouraged to think about recent regulatory changes that endanger automotive hobbies. For example:

• Changes in off-road access rules for federal lands
• Changes in federal fuel economy and emissions requirements
• Changes in state emissions laws (California, I’m looking at you)

While laws are always changing, the case could be made that the pace and direction of these changes has been “anti-automotive” over the last 2 or so years. SEMA and Source Interlink Media want you to think about these issues today, which just happens to be the day before election day.

Is this a legitimate gripe? Judge for yourself.

Wilderness Regulations Threaten Off-Road Recreation

The latest craze in state and federal land management is to designate large tracts of public lands as “wilderness,” a term that sounds perfectly reasonable and innocuous. After all, who doesn’t love “wilderness?”

View of Yosemite national park

Of course, there’s a catch: The Federal Wilderness act of 1964 states that areas that are “untrammeled” by man (a.k.a., untouched) can be set aside as wilderness. This means they can never be built upon, sold, leased, mined, etc. It also  means that “wilderness” can’t be used by trucks, 4×4’s, ATVs, snowmobiles, and even mountain bikes.

According to the Blue Ribbon Coalition (a special interest group dedicated to responsible recreation on public lands), the flurry of Wilderness bills being proposed and/or signed into law has raised a red flag in the access community and other multiple-use interests.

The Blue Ribbon Coalition – Protecting The Right To Go Off-Road

A lot of off-roaders got into the sport in the first place because they love being outdoors. There’s something special about breaking trail in the morning as the sun comes up and scatters light off the dew on the trees all around, or the way the forest or desert sounds at dusk as a new nature cycle slowly creeps in along with the darkness. A lot of the most pristine and untouched areas are only accessible via four-wheel drive vehicles, and the isolation and splendor of these vistas are something that off-road drivers treasure.

Much of the best four-wheeling land also happens to be public land, a fact that is both a bonus and a scourge to 4×4 drivers. Not all areas have a history of being friendly to off-roaders interested in trail driving, and sometimes off-road use is banned for arbitrary and uninformed reasons. Fortunately, there’s an organization devoted to protecting the use of public land while also protecting the environment – the BlueRibbon Coalition.