Jeepndel
10-03-2011, 07:20 PM
This note is from Del Albright, sent to the Hammerdown list (Johnson Valley), October 3, 2011
Johnson Valley (JV) and the southern CA desert have a long history of OHV user involvement. Some folks have asked me lately about how things got started, why the Marines want to take over some of our OHV land, and who has done what to whom over the years. If this interests you, please keep reading.
First of all, JV (and the Hammers) has been around for some time, but “land use” awareness – getting OHV users in the game -- really started way back on October 31st, 1994 (about when email was being born) and the Desert Protection Act was signed into law. 8 million acres of our desert was gone; and I wanted it back (along with a slug of other folks). We weren’t very organized then. So I started the Land Use Network (LUN) back then to unite motorized voices around the country, especially in the soCal desert areas. Email wasn’t around much so most of our communications started in hard copy mailings and faxes. I personally wrote and mailed over 700 clubs in the USA asking for help getting landuse organized and cohesive.
The LUN was the first real landuse and access communication portal done via email and internet. It later lead to the Resource Education Network (REN) that was started by folks from the BlueRibbon Coalition that eventually concentrated on the Sierra Nevada Framework. Today we have the California Motorized Recreation Council (CAMRC), which follows the model of the bigger North American Motorized Recreation Council (NAMRC) that works to coordinate and unify motorized groups on the national scale.
Anyway, so the REN and the LUN dealt with Johnson Valley, the whole SoCal desert, and many national issues affecting our recreational access from 1994 on. In 1996, BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) facilitated the start of the North American Motorized Recreation Council (NAMRC) to bring together national voices to sing off the same sheet of music, under the guidance of the BRC. In 1997, here in CA, I initiated the first Multiple Use Workshop that brought together landuse interested folks from all over CA and the West. It was all about access; all about saving our sport; and all about working together to save areas like those we love in the desert.
In 2003 we had another Multiple Use Summit here in CA that brought together over 60 leaders in OHV and backcountry recreation (including non motor folks along with tons of off road motorized groups). We were trying to find more ways to share trails – the motto and website of the BlueRibbon Coalition.
More about NAMRC and the history of OHV landuse is located here: http://www.delalbright.com/Access/namrc.html
In 2008, I started the first website to save the Hammers located here: http://www.savethehammers.com/ followed by this email list, Hammerdown, to orchestrate communications and action about the Hammers and JV. It was then that BlueRibbon Coalition also helped facilitate the start of the Friends of Johnson Valley.
BlueRibbon Coalition members and thousands of other OHV recreationists have participated in public input and scoping workshops, while writing letters by the reams to help save JV from unnecessary take-over by the Marines or anyone else.
More about the grassroots user group helping to keep JV open for all, Friends of Johnson Valley here: http://www.fojv.org/forum/index.php
Of course you can learn a lot and get more help on Pirate4x4 about JV at: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=86
I hope this helps your understanding of landuse in California and the nation for that matter. The solution to saving trails like the Hammers in JV resides in YOU, the user. JOIN the BlueRibbon Coalition and whatever other groups you believe in and be PART of the solution.
More on BRC here at http://www.sharetrails.org
Del
KI6WER
Ambassador, BlueRibbon Coalition
TRAIL ACCESS PARTNERSHIP TOUR (TAPT)
State EA Coordinator, CA4WDC
Home Page; BLOG; Facebook;
Del's Training Course (RLTC)
Featured Sponsors: BlueRibbon Coalition and T&T Customs; NAXJA; Raceline Wheels; and BFGoodrich Tires.
C: (209) 304-7693
Email: brdel@sharetrails.org; or del@delalbright.com
# # #
The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national recreation group that champions responsible use of public lands and waters, and encourages individual environmental stewardship. It represents over 10,000 individual members and 1,200 organization and business members, for a combined total of over 600,000 recreationists nationwide. 1-800-258-3742. http://www.sharetrails.org
Johnson Valley (JV) and the southern CA desert have a long history of OHV user involvement. Some folks have asked me lately about how things got started, why the Marines want to take over some of our OHV land, and who has done what to whom over the years. If this interests you, please keep reading.
First of all, JV (and the Hammers) has been around for some time, but “land use” awareness – getting OHV users in the game -- really started way back on October 31st, 1994 (about when email was being born) and the Desert Protection Act was signed into law. 8 million acres of our desert was gone; and I wanted it back (along with a slug of other folks). We weren’t very organized then. So I started the Land Use Network (LUN) back then to unite motorized voices around the country, especially in the soCal desert areas. Email wasn’t around much so most of our communications started in hard copy mailings and faxes. I personally wrote and mailed over 700 clubs in the USA asking for help getting landuse organized and cohesive.
The LUN was the first real landuse and access communication portal done via email and internet. It later lead to the Resource Education Network (REN) that was started by folks from the BlueRibbon Coalition that eventually concentrated on the Sierra Nevada Framework. Today we have the California Motorized Recreation Council (CAMRC), which follows the model of the bigger North American Motorized Recreation Council (NAMRC) that works to coordinate and unify motorized groups on the national scale.
Anyway, so the REN and the LUN dealt with Johnson Valley, the whole SoCal desert, and many national issues affecting our recreational access from 1994 on. In 1996, BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) facilitated the start of the North American Motorized Recreation Council (NAMRC) to bring together national voices to sing off the same sheet of music, under the guidance of the BRC. In 1997, here in CA, I initiated the first Multiple Use Workshop that brought together landuse interested folks from all over CA and the West. It was all about access; all about saving our sport; and all about working together to save areas like those we love in the desert.
In 2003 we had another Multiple Use Summit here in CA that brought together over 60 leaders in OHV and backcountry recreation (including non motor folks along with tons of off road motorized groups). We were trying to find more ways to share trails – the motto and website of the BlueRibbon Coalition.
More about NAMRC and the history of OHV landuse is located here: http://www.delalbright.com/Access/namrc.html
In 2008, I started the first website to save the Hammers located here: http://www.savethehammers.com/ followed by this email list, Hammerdown, to orchestrate communications and action about the Hammers and JV. It was then that BlueRibbon Coalition also helped facilitate the start of the Friends of Johnson Valley.
BlueRibbon Coalition members and thousands of other OHV recreationists have participated in public input and scoping workshops, while writing letters by the reams to help save JV from unnecessary take-over by the Marines or anyone else.
More about the grassroots user group helping to keep JV open for all, Friends of Johnson Valley here: http://www.fojv.org/forum/index.php
Of course you can learn a lot and get more help on Pirate4x4 about JV at: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=86
I hope this helps your understanding of landuse in California and the nation for that matter. The solution to saving trails like the Hammers in JV resides in YOU, the user. JOIN the BlueRibbon Coalition and whatever other groups you believe in and be PART of the solution.
More on BRC here at http://www.sharetrails.org
Del
KI6WER
Ambassador, BlueRibbon Coalition
TRAIL ACCESS PARTNERSHIP TOUR (TAPT)
State EA Coordinator, CA4WDC
Home Page; BLOG; Facebook;
Del's Training Course (RLTC)
Featured Sponsors: BlueRibbon Coalition and T&T Customs; NAXJA; Raceline Wheels; and BFGoodrich Tires.
C: (209) 304-7693
Email: brdel@sharetrails.org; or del@delalbright.com
# # #
The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national recreation group that champions responsible use of public lands and waters, and encourages individual environmental stewardship. It represents over 10,000 individual members and 1,200 organization and business members, for a combined total of over 600,000 recreationists nationwide. 1-800-258-3742. http://www.sharetrails.org