There is so many organizations and issues that it becomes overwhelming, so how do you determine what to focus on. We all have only so much time and resources and i would like to know how you determine what to focus apon.

I really started feeling the heat on this issue a few years ago when I started editing the ORC Land Use Section. What I ended up doing after finding about 10,000 pages of documents on my desk at one time was to sort thru the issues and concentrate on the big ones that are national in scope, such as the Roadless Conspiracy. Then you take a look at the others to see if they could have national implications down the road, such as setting a trend, the Sierra Nevada Framework is a very good example of this. It was N. CA in original scope, trendsetting wise it is huge. A good example of a new issue in this category that a lot of people are going to miss is the AZ forest plan revisions that are for OHVs ONLY . You can find that one at http://www.off-road.com/land/az_travel_plan.html . Basically what they are trying to do there is close everything down that isn't a main FS road. The big point is to avoid burnout, I almost went thru it a couple years ago. Find your niche in our cause. What I have done is scale back on my trying to respond to things and spend most of my time disseminating info so that others with more time can use it. Its just about a full time job hunting down all the info, putting it up on the web in an understandable format.

One other thing. If you want to keep up on what is all out there so you can decide what YOU are going to act on, the ORC Land Use Section (shameless plug) is the best place to look. New issues are sorted by region, makes it easy to find them. Click on the link in my signature.

I think one thing that i would like to do is bring everyone together in order to make sure the issues are known. I would bet that in my MC club that maybe 1 or 2 members even know what we are up against. I have an idea, but need a plan and implementation to, starting with my motorcycle club is to have a land use officer and i will start going to each MC club and push them to do the same. It would be the resposibility of the land use officer to inform his club of whats going on and how to get involved. I know that some clubs already have this but the other thing that i want to do is bring each and everyone of these officers together somehow to share info. I was on offroad.com early today and saw the petition that the Vipers have. Without my surfing this morning of which i started doing at 430 am i would have never known about it yet everyone in my club would and will sign it. I plan to take preprinted letters to our meetings for the members to sign and send. If they choose not to sign and send them which is their perogitive i will ask them to turn the paper over and write their letter of resignation onthe back. I will make it as easy as i possibly can for them. Now to come up with a plan to get all clubs to have a land use officer and how to bring these officers together. I think i have my work cut out for me but it seems that we need to come together somehow and that seems like a doable way to me.

Bringing the preprinted letters to your club meetings is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and the BEST! And its very true, seems very few OHVers can give a rats ass about land use issues, until their favorite riding place gets closed, then they whine and whine. BTW, this apathy is something that is one of the main issues that will be addressed at the UFWDA Land Use Conference in Phoenix April 13.