Still Winter

Yes, its still winter.

The season is nearly upon us however. Is your truck ready?

Are YOU ready?

Its my weekly time to ramble on about Land Use. Every week I think.. "what the heck am I going to say this week?" and yet, I end up with something.

"Ya gotta work to play" as the saying goes. Steve spoke a bit about Volunteers in his blog this week, I'd like to touch on the same for a bit before I hit on news items. In our sport of choice, 4 Wheeling, we have special circumstances unlike many other recreationists out there.

If you fish, for instance, you simply take your poles, bait and possibly boat down to your favorite hole and cast away. Sure, you have to purchase a license but when was the last time you heard of fishermen in a battle with anti's over where they fish? Yeah, they do happen, but MOST fisherman don't worry about them or are even aware of them.

What about golf? Take your clubs, head on out to the course and swing away. Membership dues, greens fees, etc. When was the last time you heard of golfers rising up and protesting on the steps of their congressmen over unfair home-course rules and regs?

In both of those, however, in order to do either, you DO need money. We often get money by working.

Now, how about 4 wheeling? Well, yes, of course we need money.. probably more than many other recreations.
Here's the BIG difference. Our choice of recreational pastime is under constant attack from those who simply feel we should not be in the woods.

Below is an excerpt from a recent article:

The Moronic Sport

ORVs on Public Land

By GEORGE WUERTHNER

I do not accept the premise that abuse of our lands is something that we must tolerate as inevitable. It is our land. It is our children's land, and their children's land. We have a responsibility to pass these lands on to the next generation in better condition than we found them. And we have a collective responsibility to protect our national heritage against the thrillcraft menace.

You hear a lot about "responsible" ORV use and "a few bad apples" from thrillcraft promoters themselves, as well as some government bureaucrats. But these are misleading terms to say the least. What is responsible about tearing up the land? It's like suggesting we ought to promote "responsible wife abuse" or "responsible child abuse." There is no level of violence to our lands that is acceptable. Working with agencies to create designated routes or play areas is just helping to legalize public vandalism. There is no way to use these machines in a responsible manner except to leave them parked in a driveway.

The rest of the article is here: http://www.counterpunch.org/wuerthner01242008.html

That is what we are up against. Have you ever seen an article like that printed about snorkeling or mountain climbing? They only get published with RE to motorized recreation.

We need to work a lot more for what we enjoy then other recreationists.
What does that work entail?

VOLUNTEERING

Whether its VOLUNTEERING to write letters to your congresscritters or attending a hearing on a particular bill. Whether its VOLUNTEERING to help with a clean up or organize a food or toy drive.
Maybe its just VOLUNTEERING to help out on the club level with a BOD position. Helping to layout a flier or passing on a contact for private land.
To coin some ideas from Steve, We all need to shop at the store but what we buy may be totally different each other. We all need to volunteer in order for our sport to survive. Some may be able to help once a year or once every two.. some can work something in every weekend. Whatever your skill, your schedule, etc, we have something you can do to help us all be able to keep wheeling. As Steve mentioned, often, we have to ask instead of hoping people will come to us and offer.. so consider this the question. What can you do to help us all keep wheeling?

News Items:

CT BILL
A bill has been introduced into the CT GA, although right now its in committee. This bill will put a timeline on the state of CT designating land for OHV use.
Aili was a major part of this initiative. She pretty much co-authored the bill. She even attended the hearing just the other day.
It WILL get extreme opposition because of those who feel like the article above.
We will NEED to let our legislators know how we feel EN MAS to make this happen.
As soon as I have the pertinent info, I will forward on to everyone. Be ready!

Some legislative Quick Hits from SEMA.

Associationwide:
New Jersey Historic Vehicles: Hobby-friendly legislation that would amend the state’s current law governing historic motor vehicles to permit their use for pleasure driving one day per week has been introduced in the New Jersey State Assembly. Under current New Jersey law, use of historic vehicles is strictly limited to exhibitions and educational purposes by the owner.

Pennsylvania “Show Car”: A version of SEMA-model legislation to create a vehicle registration classification for “show cars” and provide for special license plates for these vehicles was introduced and referred to the Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee for consideration. The bill would permit show cars to be driven up to 5,000 miles per year and would exempt them from the state’s new enhanced vehicle inspection program.

Vermont Scrappage Program: A SAN-opposed bill has been introduced in the Vermont State Senate that would implement a vehicle scrappage program and finance it with a progressive purchase and use tax and higher registration fees for some new motor vehicles based on fuel-efficiency ratings. Funds collected under the program would be used to dismantle vehicles deemed by the state to be “clunkers,” regardless of their historical value or collector interest. If this effort is successful, purchasing the vehicle of your choice could be significantly more costly. Further, this proposed scrappage program could deny hobbyists the availability of vintage cars and parts for restoration projects.

West Virginia Inoperable Vehicles: For the third time, a bill has been introduced in the West Virginia State Legislature that would further restrict the ability of West Virginia vehicle hobbyists from maintaining inoperable vehicles on private property. The SAN-opposed measure would redefine “abandoned motor vehicles” to include vehicles or vehicle parts which are either unlicensed or inoperable, or both, are not in an enclosed building and have remained on private property for more than 30 days. Under current law, the abandoned vehicle law applies primarily to vehicles on public property. The bill would make a violation a misdemeanor offense punishable by substantial fines, community service and jail.

New Jersey AB 1905: Creates a 50% tax credit for the purchase of a diesel-engine conversion device that allows the vehicle to be powered on fuel other than diesel fuel.

New York AB 9877: Prohibits the sale and use of any product that alerts drivers of photo enforcement equipment.

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Our scouting of old, discontinued, unimproved town roads is moving ahead. We are working on other parcels as well. If you'd like to be involved with these, please visit the EC4WDA Forum and head over to the Northeast Region D area.

Think thats all folks.... for another week...

Talk soon,