The BLM informed us today that due to fire restrictions as of today being at the highest level, they would prefer that the Rock Garden 4 Wheelers cancel their annual competition at the Rock Garden. So, the event scheduled for June 8-9 is cancelled, probably for this year. Bummer, our competition is one of the oldest going.:mad3:

Figure I'd send this back to the top one time, there were some guys from CO that I know for sure were coming, want to make sure anyone that had plans knows about the cancellation.

This seems ridiculous. A whole bunch of rigs with fire extinguishers on board might just catch a forest on fire?

It seems ridiculous, but after talking with the BLM we figured we better see it their way. With things as dry and windy as they have been, it would be really, really bad publicity if something did go wrong. The memory is still there of last falls womens' competition at the garden when the promoter left the place a mess and did some damage to the vegetation. So...wanting to keep things OK with the BLM the decision was made. There are some areas in the Rock Garden and around it that are fairly heavily forested with pinion pine and juniper, that stuff as dry as it is could go up really fast, especially whipped by the wind. Sucks, but it seems to be reality for this year, its only early May and the number of fires in NM has already been huge.

it sucks but i think you made the right choice..... is there a better month to do it in? maybe i different time next year would help this a little...

Originally posted by landuseorc
The memory is still there of last falls womens' competition at the garden when the promoter left the place a mess and did some damage to the vegetation. So...wanting to keep things OK with the BLM the decision was made.
I figure I better mention that the same promoter that did last falls womens comp. also did the ProRocks event in the same area a couple weeks ago. We did NOT have the same problems with the ProRocks event, there was very little damage and the area was thoroughly policed afterward, very little trash left. They did a good job this time, and also came in just under the wire as far as being able to run the event, we weren't so lucky.:mad: