here is my thoughts:

off roading is always over run and out voted by naturalist hippies. plain and simple. they complain that off roading has to much of a neg impact and crap gets closed down. that being said, what is the off road community doing to help ON THE LARGE SCALE?

nothing.

there are thousands of small clubs (some but not all help on a small scale locally).
there are dozens of GOOD low impact offroaders, but for every low impact offroader there is 2 rednecks is big ford trucks tearing up someones corn field or blazing illegal trails (is a huge problem in clark and champaign county alone, i dont knwo about other countys but im sure they have there issues too).

off roading is like gun control.. the NRA keeps gun control hippies under control. without the NRA and the rednecks guarding there houses from gun removal, who to say some politician wouldnt just say, "lets ammend the ammendments and control guns!"... the NRA keeps thing under control AND does alot of positive things like giving back, and encouraging hunters to give back. and they do. more hunters and NRA members give more money and time enviromentally than all the other funding orginizations combined.
(though there are still poachers)

until the offroad community makes there recognized version of the "nra" and starts making positive steps to give back to the places they use in a MASSIVE way, then they will all slowly close down and fade away, or be limited to horses or quads.

then the private park will be it. thats why the private park is the future of off roading... sad to say...

IMO... just something to think about....

may even only relate to the east coast.. thats where i am from and some thing i have noticed out here.

god damd rednecks and those ford trucks!
im from washington and from what ive seen the local trails and mud pits in my erea are being gated and shut down not do to the offroaders at all but because of the amount of garbage and stolen vehicles being dumped:mad3:.but if thers more to be done than treading lightly and helping keep the trails clean im all for it.it will be a very sad day when the only place left to wheel is orv parks:bawling:

What do think Blue Ribbon Coalition, United Four Wheel Drive Asso., National Off Off Road Asso. and groups like this are doing. If you aren't a member and are not donating to their legal funds you have no room to bitch. There are groups fighting for us, but they need money. Be part of your local clubs and donate to your state and national organization. If you are not part of the solution, you might be part of the problem.

What do think Blue Ribbon Coalition, United Four Wheel Drive Asso., National Off Off Road Asso. and groups like this are doing. If you aren't a member and are not donating to their legal funds you have no room to bitch. There are groups fighting for us, but they need money. Be part of your local clubs and donate to your state and national organization. If you are not part of the solution, you might be part of the problem.

i agree completely. thats why i said some clubs give back. our club is newly forming but has already planned on a major % of our dues (once we start charging them) going to the afformentioned orginizations. i was more specifically speaking of one leading orginization to head the way for the ORV community. those orginizations do well, i will not argue that, but one hasnt stepped up to be a trail guide for the ORV community to get itself re-established with the US forest service and other BIG public land control offices like DNR, DOW ect. i was not complaining. just thoughts i was having. if anything just trying to be motivation for the ones that just wheel and dont do there part to get involved, whether its intentional or not.

UFWDA does already have links to the majority of govt departments and is the only 4x4 dedicated 'national' organization in the US. In fact it is 'international' in its membership. In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) there are twice as many 4x4 owners involved with their state association than there are members of UFWDA in the USA!

In New Zealand the NZFWDA membership exceeds 2000 out of a total population of less than 4 million people. Extend that sort of 4x4 community support to UFWDA as 'the' 4x4 national organization in the USA and you would have a practical and adequate body to represent you to government and in local issues.

What UFWDA does not get, is the sort of support from the 4x4 community that will allow it to have the staff level so that those we do have, can dedicate their full attention to 4x4 issues.

It's that endless conundrum where without good funding support, the fight is difficult to maintain, along with the process of telling everyone the successes etc. With adequate funding and the 4x4 community support of the type seen from places like this forum, there is a realistic possibility of resisting the march of the land closure brigades and having the capability to craft and distribute news updates to keep the community informed.

The answer comes back to the 4x4 community, if you want to have a future then you will need to contribute towards it. That may be with personal involvement such as demonstrated by quite a few on this land use forum or by putting your hand in your pocket and helping to pay for someone to do the hard graft and the legal stuff. The annual cost of being a UFWDA member is $30 as an individual and that's only once a year, compared to the cost of filling your fuel tank every time you do a 4x4 trip.
www.ufwda.org/memberapps/join_individual.php

It is no use debating whether a 'national organization' is doing enough for you if you limit its capability by not supporting it.

Get behind UFWDA as the 4x4 dedicated support organization and by being members, help to provide the funds and the member number status that gets the full attention of departments and politicians.

It can be done, ask any 'environmental' group!

UFWDA does already have links to the majority of govt departments and is the only 4x4 dedicated 'national' organization in the US. In fact it is 'international' in its membership. In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) there are twice as many 4x4 owners involved with their state association than there are members of UFWDA in the USA!

In New Zealand the NZFWDA membership exceeds 2000 out of a total population of less than 4 million people. Extend that sort of 4x4 community support to UFWDA as 'the' 4x4 national organization in the USA and you would have a practical and adequate body to represent you to government and in local issues.

What UFWDA does not get, is the sort of support from the 4x4 community that will allow it to have the staff level so that those we do have, can dedicate their full attention to 4x4 issues.

It's that endless conundrum where without good funding support, the fight is difficult to maintain, along with the process of telling everyone the successes etc. With adequate funding and the 4x4 community support of the type seen from places like this forum, there is a realistic possibility of resisting the march of the land closure brigades and having the capability to craft and distribute news updates to keep the community informed.

The answer comes back to the 4x4 community, if you want to have a future then you will need to contribute towards it. That may be with personal involvement such as demonstrated by quite a few on this land use forum or by putting your hand in your pocket and helping to pay for someone to do the hard graft and the legal stuff. The annual cost of being a UFWDA member is $30 as an individual and that's only once a year, compared to the cost of filling your fuel tank every time you do a 4x4 trip.
www.ufwda.org/memberapps/join_individual.php

It is no use debating whether a 'national organization' is doing enough for you if you limit its capability by not supporting it.

Get behind UFWDA as the 4x4 dedicated support organization and by being members, help to provide the funds and the member number status that gets the full attention of departments and politicians.

It can be done, ask any 'environmental' group!

why are there no threads on this matter? more specifically where are there no threads for people that want to start groups that will band together and donate to these places? on pirate that could be huge. a community this size could give 100's of thousands im sure. if it can be done, what do we do. what is the simplest step towards it? youre the vice pres? why not have the pres of USA or whatever get on here and make a thread stating all the stuff you just said in american terms and ask people to donate?

There have been numerous threads about who to donate to.

Del and I post this info about every 4 to 6 months when the question comes up again.

I am on Pirate every day.
I may not post everyday though.

Todd
United Four Wheel Drive Associations
Director of Environmental Affairs