Those Lovable Trees

Here we are again.

I simply can't believe that I have enough to fill this every week, yet, time and again, I do.

First off.

ALERT!

There are now land owner issues at Pain Hill. There is a very small chunk of the area that is privately owned and not part of the state forest. I was contacted just recently regarding this issue pertaining to the Wheelin 4 Healin event taking place there this past weekend.
It seems as though, according to the landowner, that the best road in the forest is actually not a road but his neighbor's and Uncle's land. (this one particular land owner is not affected by our use).
These are roads that were specifically given to me from the now retired unit manager for that area.
I am waiting to hear back from the current unit manager on this. Until further notice, please request a map from me with the current state forest roads on it before venturing in there.
Thank you!


CT ATV Bill

From Aili (EC4WDA CT land Use Rep): April 30th.

Due to a typically governmental cluster****, our bill died in Finance Committee.

It was a miscommunication on which chair of the committee would be there, and neither showed up, so the final meeting on which our bill had to be voted on, never took place. So we (and a whole lot of other groups with bills in committee) are pretty disappointed, especially due to the "death" of the bill having nothing to do with its content. We knew we were up for a fight with a pretty fair chance of losing... but this just stinks.

There are other options like tacking our issue onto another bill by amendment on the house floor, but its harder that way. We're strategizing later this morning via conference call, and will keep everyone posted if something more comes up.

As soon as I hear more, I will surely forward it along.


Land Use Seminar May 17th

The CCJC has the pleasure of introducing Dave Brill from EC4WDA. Dave is extremely active in the ORV world his resume speaks for itself.....

Land Use Chair, EC4WDA
VP and LU Chair Region D Northeast, EC4WDA
Pres. Eastern 4 Wheelers
Blue Ribbon Coalition NLUAC Northeast Rep.
SEMA/SAN State action leader
CTU/COALT
NOHVCC
Tread Lightly! Trainer
North American Motorized Recreation Council BOD

He has agreed to put on a "Land Use Seminar" for us and the community. This is a great event that you should attend to get the feel of the region in regards to our beloved sport.

Date and Information:

May 17th

Mass Maritime Academy, Nantucket room (Bay State Conference Center)

10am Seminar Start

Coffee, Pastry, Fruit Starting 9am

Ending around 2pm

If we take a lunch break around 11:30 or 12

Fees: Non CCJC Members $25.00

Brunch can be purchased from Chartwells (our sponsor) for $6.00. Brown bagging is ok to....

Please RSVP to Dan Stepnick

danstep@capecodjeepclub.org, or danstep@thekitchenstudio.com,

COY HILL CLEAN UP canceled.
Originally scheduled for next weekend, May 10th.
The town and state both have gone missing and will not respond to Joe Ostrenga.
Also, someone has gone in and done some cleaning of their own.
This from Joe:

Greetings,
First, I want to thank everyone who has stepped up and volunteered to help clean the Coy Hill area. It is greatly appreciated! Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that the cleanup scheduled for May 10th, 2008 has been canceled. During our final preparations to acquire the dumpster, we conducted another trash survey this past weekend. To our surprise, much of the trash and larger objects have been picked up. While this is somewhat good news, at this time we do not know who has cleaned the area. I drove through again today and verified that there isn't enough trash to even fill my truck and therefore does not justify the expense of a dumpster or large cleanup effort. A scaled-down cleanup may be planned at a future date and will most likely be incorporated into the repair work to several of the damaged private properties. Please check the FOCH forum for updates.
Again, I want to thank everyone who has volunteered and apologize for this unexpected cancellation.

Thank you,
Joe Ostrenga
Team Leader
Friends Of Coy Hill

OHIO Issues

From Bill Kaeppner, President, OMTA, associate member of EC4WDA.

Last Monday the Vinton County Commissioners vacated 4 roads. The “Reason” was inexcusable inappropriate use in the area.

This is the same area OMTA tried to get a RTP grant on in 2005 to stop the inappropriate use and make it a sustainable riding area. I was surprised to find out we did not get notification that an action was eminent form the Ohio DNR.

I gave each commissioner a copy of the law that showed that what they were doing was against the law. Unfortunately it did not matter to two of them.

We need to appeal and win. The precedent that commissioners do not need to follow the law as well as other issues must not be allowed to stand.

We have one lawsuit now that has languished for years.

OMTA has very little money and at this time has not found an Attorney to work for us. I will be going to the court Monday to see what I can do to get court time before the time limit to file an appeal ends.

I am afraid this will set a precedent.

Any help would be appreciated.

Bill Kaeppner

www.ohiotrails.org

614 404 6189

Local Article on this.

Access to Cape Hatteras

From Americans For Responsible Recreation Access (ARRA)

If you think that access issues are the exclusive domain of the western part of the United States, think again. For the folks who live near and/or visit the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, beach access is becoming a life and death issue especially as it relates to their local economy.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore
North Carolina
Visit the National Park Service NPS.GOV website for current news about the OHV access. By way of background, back in 2007, the National Audubon Society, the Defenders of Wildlife and Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit in a Federal District Court against the National Park Service because the Park Service did not have a travel management plan for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. In an attempt to resolve the lawsuit, the Park Service negotiated an interim agreement to satisfy the concerns of the plaintiffs. The long and the short of it is that the interim plan would ban OHV travel at night during the peak summer and shoulder seasons and altogether at certain breeding grounds. The proposed plan is subject to approval by a Federal judge and that approval could occur within a matter of days. The interim plan, once official, would remain in effect until a permanent OHV management plan is completed by a deadline of April 1, 2011.

Needless to say, sport fishermen, OHV enthusiasts, and the County Commissioners for Dare and Currituck Counties are less than pleased. To be blunt about it, they are livid. The national economy is hurting local real estate sales, high gas prices are cutting down on vacation travel, and limiting access to some of the most exciting sport fishing grounds on the east coast seems to be the last straw. To those who like to cast out that first line at the crack of dawn, the new regulations will make that a little more difficult. Perhaps they will have to pitch a tent for a sleepover on the beach, but then, I'm not sure that's legal either.

A number of ARRA members have contacted me and have asked why we haven't focused on the Cape Hatteras issue. They are exactly right. We should have and for this oversight, our apologies. We do know that a number of citizens in North Carolina have been contacting their congressional delegation in hopes that the Congress will intervene to ensure that OHV access to Cape Hatteras remains unrestricted. For them, beach driving and surf fishing are beloved local traditions dating back far before this particular National Seashore was created in the 1930's. Congressional pressure is certainly needed to change this situation. The Park Service claims that the interim plan will not adversely impact access to the Seashore. That's not what local folks think. We will check back in a couple of months to see who is right, but on the face of it, it seems like the Park Service is trying to put a positive spin on a bad outcome.

Also from ARRA

Participate in the Travel Management Survey

ARRA, in cooperation of with a number of other national groups, is sponsoring a survey on the U.S. Forest Service Travel Management Rule process. If you have participated in the implementation process or even if you haven't, your input is important. If you haven't already completed the survey, please click here.

Legislative Quick Hits from SEMA.

Summary of SEMA-Model Street Rod/Custom Vehicle Bill

• Defines a street rod as an altered vehicle manufactured before 1949 and a custom vehicle as an altered vehicle manufactured after 1948.
• Provides specific registration classes and license plates for street rods and custom vehicles.
• Provides that replica vehicles and kit cars will be assigned the same model-year designations as the production vehicles they most closely resemble and allows the use of non-original materials.
• Exempts street rods and custom vehicles from periodic vehicle inspections and emissions inspections.
• Provides that vehicles titled and registered as street rods and custom vehicles may only be used for occasional transportation, exhibitions, club activities, parades, tours, etc. and not for general daily transportation.
• Exempts street rods and custom vehicles from a range of standard equipment requirements.
• Allows the use of blue-dot taillights on street rods and custom vehicles.

To date the SEMA-model bill has been enacted in various forms in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington. The bill is currently pending in Delaware, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The measure was also introduced and approved by the Wyoming House of Representatives last year. However, given the short legislative session, there was not enough time for the measure to be considered by the Senate. The bill will be reintroduced in 2009.


Automotive Caucus

The SEMA-supported caucus is a bipartisan group of state lawmakers whose common thread is a love and appreciation for automobiles.

Here the current members that pertain to our EC4WDA membership:

Chairman
Assemblymember Bill Reilich
(New York)

Connecticut
Representative Toni Walker

Delaware
Senator Steven Amick
Representative William Oberle Jr.

Kentucky
Representative Charlie Hoffman
Representative Reginald Meeks

Maine
Senator Douglas Smith
Representative Richard Cebra
Representative Carol Grose
Representative Lawrence Jacobsen
Representative Everett McLeod Sr.
Representative Peter Rines
Representative Nancy Smith

Maryland
Senator J. Robert Hooper
Delegate Don Dwyer, Jr.
Delegate Barbara Frush
Delegate Cheryl Glenn
Delegate Barry Glassman
Delegate Benjamin Kramer
Delegate Warren Miller
Delegate Richard Weldon

Massachusetts
Representative Robert Hargraves

Michigan
Senator Glenn Anderson
Senator Ron Jelinek
Representative David Agema
Representative Fran Amos
Representative Bill Caul
Representative Joe Hune
Representative Rick Jones
Representative Kathleen Law
Representative Richard LeBlanc
Representative John Pastor
Representative Tom Pearce
Representative John Proos
Representative Bettie Cook Scott
Representative Joel Sheltrown
Representative John Stahl
Representative Lorence Wenke

New Hampshire
Representative Michael Reuschel
Representative Kevin Waterhouse

New Jersey
Assemblymember Richard Merkt
Assemblymember Charlotte Vandervalk

New York
Senator Jeff Klein
Senator Thomas Libous
Assemblymember Jim Bacalles
Assemblymember Greg Ball
Assemblymember William Barclay
Assemblymember Philip Boyle
Assemblymember Daniel Burling
Assemblymember Marc Butler
Assemblymember Nancy Calhoun
Assemblymember Mike Cole
Assemblymember James Conte
Assemblymember Janet Duprey
Assemblymember Steve Englebright
Assemblymember Joseph Errigo
Assemblymember Ginny Fields
Assemblymember Gary Finch
Assemblymember Mike Fitzpatrick
Assemblymember Dennis Gabryszak
Assemblymember Joseph Giglio
Assemblymember Steve Hawley
Assemblymember Janele Hyer-Spencer
Assemblymember Brian Kolb
Assemblymember Peter Lopez
Assemblymember Donna Lupardo
Assemblymember David McDonough
Assemblymember Marcus Molinaro
Assemblymember Bob Oaks
Assemblymember Thomas O’Mara
Assemblymember Jack Quinn
Assemblymember Andrew Raia
Assemblymember Bill Reilich
Assemblymember Joseph Saladino
Assemblymember Teresa Sayward
Assemblymember Mark Schroeder
Assemblymember James Tedisco
Assemblymember David Townsend Jr.
Assemblymember Rob Walker

Ohio
Senator Lance Mason
Senator Robert Spada
Representative John Hagan
Representative Lynn Wachtmann
Representative Kenny Yuko

Pennsylvania
Senator Michael Waugh
Representative Scott Conklin
Representative Patrick Harkins
Representative Scott Perry

Rhode Island
Senator William Walaska
Representative John J. Loughlin II

Vermont
Representative Joseph Baker

West Virginia
Delegate Robert Beach
Delegate Cliff Moore

If you see your rep listed, pen a quick email note to them thanking them for their membership in the caucus and let them know just a little about you and your club.

If you DON'T see your rep/sen listed, email them a quick letting them know that their fellow congress members are on the caucus (list who) and ask if they'd like more info on it.
If they respond, send them to this link: State Automotive Enthusiast Leadership Caucus

If you don't even see your state listed, contact your legislators and send them the above link.



Again, enough to make most of you go to sleep at your keyboards.
Hopefully some of you made it this far and will take the few minutes to act on the above issues.

It truly will be the difference between having places to go wheeling and not.

Talk soon,

Dave Brill