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OHV in Y2K Open or Closed: The Choice is Ours
Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division
Year: 1976 Place: Somewhere in the Southern California Desert A group of young riders make their way from their suburban homes, bikes in the back of a pickup, and head for a short trip to the wide expanse of Southern California’s desert. A quick jump from the state highway to county roads places the group in a landscape reminiscent of a set from Planet of the Apes. But it’s not movie magic. It’s real and it’s the California desert—dry, quiet, unassuming, enormous. Bikes out, gear on, see ya! As difficult as it is for some to comprehend, these riders are on a quest for peace and solitude. The world is theirs and, better yet, no one is around and no one seems to care about what they do or where they go. No signs, no fences, empty. California’s population is one-half the size it is now, the Eagles just released Hotel California, Vietnam is over, the Endangered Species Act is in its infancy. Life is good. Year: 2000 Place: Somewhere in the Southern California Desert Southern California has ballooned to some 20 million people and is still giving birth. What once were agricultural fields have been replaced by subdivisions and strip malls. Creeping development within rural areas has begun to place riders in conflict with homeowners. Implementation of the Desert Protection Act is in full swing. Expansion of wilderness designations has placed millions of acres of historic off-highway vehicles (OHV) riding areas "off limits." Turtles, lizards, Sierra Club, and NIMBY’s are at increasing odds over what these kids want to do most—RIDE. It’s not so easy anymore. Green Stickers, Red Stickers, spark arresters, cops, fences, more closed areas, less hill climbs, bad press. Life’s not so good. Now what? California’s OHV program turns 30 years old next year and much has changed since the program was created with the support of the environmental and off-highway recreation communities. Today, in a rapidly urbanizing state, many people have an interest in OHV activity beyond the traditional enthusiast. As California has grown, interest in off-road recreation has rapidly expanded and so has the interest in protecting the state’s remaining natural resources from the impacts associated with unmanaged OHV recreation. What once was isolated to remote regions of the Southern California desert or Sierras and enjoyed by relatively few bikers and 4-wheel drive owners now involves some 4 million people and an associated $3 billion industry. Today, snowmobiles, a diversity of trail bike riders, an exponentially expanding sport utility vehicle community, dune buggies and all-terrain vehicles share the sport. In other words, the sport has grown and the state, in terms of elbowroom, has shrunk. It’s a tough situation for a sport that requires a lot of space and prefers few neighbors. In addition, those effected by the sport, both directly and indirectly, have changed, as rural county and law enforcement interests struggle with the challenge of providing for OHV recreation while ensuring maximum public safety. Most agree that the intent of the OHV program is sound, yet with the program facing legislative reauthorization in 2003, many also believe that some reforms are in order. The Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVR) of California State Parks recently initiated a Stakeholders Roundtable composed of statewide OHV interests for the purpose of developing an approach to dealing with conflicts and concerns as it relates to the upcoming reauthorization. Such issues as soils and wildlife monitoring, in-lieu of funding to counties, noise and emission levels, and increasing conflicts between historic OHV areas and expanding urbanization are hot topics that are being tackled by the Roundtable. These topics will also be addressed during a panel discussion led by myself at a joint meeting of the California Biodiversity Council and the Regional Council of Rural Counties on September 20, 2000 in Rohnert Park, California. Panel members will include representatives from rural counties, law enforcement, off-highway recreation, and the environment. The focus of the discussion will relate to California’s off-highway vehicle recreation program and how it will be managed in the future in order to reduce impacts to the environment while providing well managed off-highway access and recreation. The OHMVR Division will also provide an overview of the OHV program and unveil a new approach to the management of off-highway vehicle recreation that is intended to make the program more accountable to the public and the environment. |
