Important Announcement! Rally For The Hammers!

[Kurtuleas]

Cross-posted from the JV forum:

Announcing the first ever, Pirate4x4.com: VIRTUAL RALLY FOR THE HAMMERS

Please read the following very carefully!

We need your help to pull this off and make it effective. Any and all input is greatly appreciated and will be carefully listened to.

First, let me be VERY clear. It does not look good for the Hammers.

John Stewart for Cal4Wheel is working extremely hard on this with several other people and organizations, but they cannot do it all alone. Like never before, the OHV community needs to develop a grass-roots effort to show that we have strength in numbers and that we care about our trails being taken away from us.

Here is the goal:

In a four hour time frame pack Pirate with so many people the server fries and Pirate crashes. (OK, just kidding…but that would sound awesome on a press release! LOL!)

All politicians care about is numbers. If you have ever taken a poly-sci class you may remember hearing that 1 letter from a person is seen as roughly equaling 300 votes. The greatest number of users ever logged into Pirate was 3,305 on 2/11/2008. The goal is to CRUSH that number and have all of those people post up in the Rally thread what the Hammers mean to them and to the OHV community.

When the rally is over, we will lock the thread and fab-up ANOTHER press release to the powers that be, showing how many people attended this virtual rally, how many posts there were, and invite them to read the thread and our concerns if they did not attend.

Here is the Plan:

1. We will issue a press release this Friday to politicians, media outlets, companies etc. announcing a virtual rally on Pirate4x4.com and invite them to come.


2. Lance will do a mass e-mail to ALL PBB members this Friday asking them to participate in the rally from 2-6 by posting their concerns in the thread.

3. We will come up with “sample” post to put in the thread to give people an idea of what we are looking for. (post them here please) Even people that have NEVER been to the Hammers need to post their concerns. This is all about showing how many of us there are and that we have a VOICE as a community.


4. The Rally will be on WEDNESDAY MARCH 12th from 2 to 6 pm Pacific Standard time.

5. Mustard Dog will start the “Rally” thread at 2pm that day. As of now, it will be in chit-chat, but we may be able to have it in all forums at once.

6. In the thread people will post their concerns about our trails being taken away, why the Hammers should remain open, pictures of them and their FAMILIES in the Hammers (appropriate ones!), etc. etc. People are encouraged to post multiple times.

ALL CHIT-CHAT BULLSHIT AND INAPPRIOPRATE POSTS WILL BE DELETED! We plan on having important people read this thread. If we are not on our best behavior, the OHV community will look bad.

7. As stated above, after the rally another press-release will be issued showing the number of people attending the rally, the number of posts, data on how fast the thread grew etc… We will also invite those in power that did not attend to read the thread.

What I am asking from all of you:

1. PLEASE: Get the word out! E-mail everyone you know, put something about it in your sig-line, go to other boards and sites and announce the rally, send out bulletins on Myspace etc. etc.

2. Write sample “posts” for people to see and post them here. Hopefully, they can type something up over the weekend and just cut and paste it on the day of the Rally.


Will this Rally save the Hammers? I do not know. But if it shows politicians and land-managers that we are a force to reckon with because of our numbers, it may make them think twice.

Why am I doing this if I have never been to the Hammers? During the ELDO fiasco last summer, I asked for help in chit-chat. People asked me, “Why should we help you guys? Where were YOU when OUR trails were being closed?” After I though about it, they were right. Where was I? It seems that we only fight for our own backyards. Not anymore. I promised the PBB in that thread I would fight route closures EVERYWHERE. So I am.

In a few, I will post up what I plan to post in the rally thread on the 12th.

A huge thanks to John Stewart, Del Albright, Randy Burelson, Cal4, BRC, and the other “Land-use” guys for their help, guidance and support. Many of them are working VERY hard behind the scenes on this issue.

I would also like to thank Lance and Camo for letting us do this on their site.

For all of those that e-mailed and PM’ed me on this: A huge thanks for your input and help. I am asking you to all step up in leadership roles in this.

I am sure there are people I forgot to thank. I am sorry….it’s been a long day already! LOL!!


It’s AWN like Donkey KONG!

GET IT!

Kurt Schneider

The Friends of Eldorado National Forest.

[Kurtuleas]

BTT

Be there!

[mikey_d05]

Posted on 3 different forums.

[Phantom1016]

Posted on my local site. The stuff Ive seen on the hammers is crazy, I just hope we can help.

[Chapes]

posted on Minnesotamud.com

[Kurtuleas]

Thank you guys.

We appricate that.

[Krusty]

I will be happy to do whatever i can to keep the Hammers open for all to use !!!!!

We Tin Benders have called the Hammers 'home' for several years-- and we hope to keep it our home for years to come !!!!!

not for us alone, but for the new format KOH series, the Jambo gatherings, and for the weekend warrior !

[Rubicrawler]

Posted on on site!

I'll be there!

[Kurtuleas]

This stays on top.

[vetteboy79]

Great idea Kurt!

I'll do what I can to get support around here. Even from 3000 miles away we'd feel the loss of that place.

[Kurtuleas]

Originally Posted by vetteboy79

Great idea Kurt!

I'll do what I can to get support around here. Even from 3000 miles away we'd feel the loss of that place.

Thank you!

Like I said, if we only fight for our own backyards and do not work together as a WHOLE, we will continue to lose trails.

Even if you have never and WILL never go to the Hammers, we need your support in this. Please post up in the thread during the Rally.

EVERY TRAIL IS SACRED!

[HardcorewannabeXJ]

Done, I have yet to run the Hammers and from what I've heard I will be wanting to run them alot!

[aaronr10]

I fully support this cause!!!! I love the Hammers and don't know what I'd do if the Marines take over. It's hands down my favorite spot I've been to.

[TRD]

you stole my motto!

I'll be there!

Thank you for your effort!

[Kurtuleas]

HERE IS A SAMPLE POST FOR THE RALLY THREAD ON WEDNESDAY!!

This will be my first post in the thread.

Not the greatest, (I only had a coupla minutes to do it) but I am hoping everyone takes some time to put thier ideas down this weekend and save it so they can just cut and paste on Wednesday.

The post starts here:

To whom it may concern:

Let me start by saying that I am in total support of our military and the Marine Corps.

Still, I am very worried about the Johnson Valley expansion by the Marine Corps, especially the “additional area of interest”. If the Marine Corps expand into this area, it will take away a very important area from the OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) community.

The Hammer Trails, which are located in this area, are a main destination for OHV enthusiasts to bring their families to recreate in California. Competitions such as the recent, highly publicized “King of the Hammers” have also been held in this area.

I have two young sons, aged 4 and 5, who love to camp and four-wheel with me. My family normally attends 10-12 OHV functions and camping trips each year. As Johnson Valley is seen as a “Mecca” by many OHV enthusiasts in the west, it has always been a dream of mine to take my family down there to recreate responsibly. Many OHV enthusiasts that live miles away visit the Hammers on a regular basis.

While I understand that the Marines need space to train, you need to understand that our motor-sport is constantly under attack. Because of many different factors, the areas in which we can four-wheel in have been shrinking at an alarming rate. In Eldorado National Forest alone, for example, we stand to lose 1,800 MILES of trails. For us to lose such an important area as the Hammers to our sport would be like Baseball losing Wrigley field or Golf losing Augusta.

We also have an undeserved reputation for “ruining” the environment. The OHV community is growing by leaps and bounds, while our trails are closing left and right. This results in more users in a smaller area, which results in damage to the trail from condensed use by a greater number of OHV’s. Closing this area to OHV use will create damage to other trails that are already overcrowded, which in turn will give the “other” side more ammunition to lock us out of our public lands.

Whatever you do, please understand that you are not just taking an area of desert, you are effecting the lives of thousands of people who recreate in the Johnson Valley area.

I would like to end this letter by pledging $50.00 to the Blue Ribbon Coalition and $50.00 to Cal4Wheel for their continued efforts in saving our trails on public lands. I challenge others to out-do me!

Kurt Schneider

Proud Member of:

The Friends of Eldorado National Forest
Blue Ribbon Coalition
Cal4Wheel
California Off Road Vehicle Association
Kyburz Krawlerz
The Friends of the Rubicon
The Friends of Greenhorn
Friends of Fordyce
Friends of Tahoe Access
Friends of High Lakes
Friends of Coy Hill
Stewards of the Sequoia
Pirate4x4.com
E Clampus Vitus: Chapter 13

[wngrog]

ttt

[roczuk]

posted on 2 different local sites

[Kurtuleas]

Just a reminder of what we may very well lose:



SPREAD THE WORD FOLKS!

[matts88yj]

Will post on my local forums and my Myspace page in a few minutes!!! Keep up the fight!!!

[extremetoy]

wow im spreading it as much as I can. I would hate for the best place to wheel be gone even though ive only been there twice due to it being over 500 miles away. that place is a huge reason why my truck/ buggy is what it is today.

[jam0o0]

posted in all the forums i know about. added to sigs. i'm building my truck so i can take those long trips out to the west coast to wheel. without places like the hammers they are losing out on all that tourist money.

[desert runner]

I'll spread the word

[Kurtuleas]

Btt

[Devil Dog]

posted on Offroad.com short wheel base...

[yotasmob]

Done! Spreading the word via the net. I will print out some flyers tonight with your post Kurt and take them to all the 4x4 shops in my area tomorrow. Never been to the Hammers but it has been a dream of mine for many years and I will do my best to take on the fight up here in Nor Cal!!