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We had the open meeting with the leadership group that has been meeting with the Marines (Partnership for Johnson Valley).
The group is made up of Ed Waldhiem, Mark Howlett, Harry Baker and Wayne Nosala.
Todays meeting was attended by a significant number of people representing a majority of the user groups. Cal4Wheel, CORVA, ORBA, AMA (National and D37), NAXJA, ACORA, Friends of Giant Rock, Friends of Stoddard Valley, Friends of Johnson Valley, Friends of Panamint Valley... and a smattering of Benders and Rock Brawlers thrown in for good measure.
First thing on the agenda was a review of the timeline of past events and a walk through of the pitch given to the Marines a couple of weeks ago. The pitch was fairly represenative and accurate in the facts. It was 'pitched' professionially and recieved very well by the group.
The first real roadblock was stumbled upon when we asked to have a copy of the pitch. PFJV's position is that they need the Marine's approval to release the pitch. This is stemming from the fact that there is a map in the pitch that was provided by the Marines. It was suggested to remove the map, as it's already widely distributed on the internet, and provide the balance of the pitch to the attendees so they could disseminate the information to their local groups. There was no resolution to that request. It is my opinion that PFJV should be proud of that pitch. It was well put together and delivered very well.
There is a significant amount of 'history' between the leadership of PFJV and the common leadership of the other groups. A significant part of this goes back long before this issue existed.
Both sides of the fence ardently agreed that we need to put the past behind us and move forward.
The meat of the meeting centered around next steps and the inclusion of all parties in the leadership and direction of this group.
It was agreed that we basically have three segments of resources.
The steering group is large and evolving, it involves any and everyone that has input.
The working group is more narrowly scoped representing the large user community groups both offroad and non-wheeling entities... Film Commision, Rocketry, Rock Hounds...etc. The size of that group should be 7-10 and it will help layout strategy and planning for the future.
The 'presenting' group, is the senior leadership of PFJV. They will be the group that takes the message outlined by the steering and working group and meets and works directly with the military, BLM, Congress..etc They are our voice.
The biggest disconnect of the meeting came when PFJV was pressed to include outside influences into the presenting group. Mark Howlett initially disagreed strongly and in the end, the issue was not resolved.
A future meeting was planned to convene the 'steering' group and layout, or at the least, discuss the bylaws of PFJV to understand what the groups mission is. That meeting will be held 7/2/08 in the evening. I will post up more details when I have them. I'm assuming the roster of the 'presenting' group will also be a topic of conversation.
We are anticipating a reponse from the Marine Corps soon regarding the initial pitch.
The Marine Corps have also invited a significant cross section for a base tour in late June. I will be attending that tour along represenatives of most of the major user groups.
The above, with the exception of my noted opinion, are the facts that happened today. What does it mean? If you asked the 20 some odd people in the room today what their thoughts were, I'm confident the majority were pleasently suprised by the content of the pitch, but rather confounded by the leadersip of PFJV to acknowledge or accept outside influence or participation.
We need them...whether we like it or not. They need us... whether they will admit it or not. They have the 'keys' to the table right now. We need to be a united front.
In polling the leaders of the various groups, they feel the same, but are growing increasingly wary of the current situation.
I'm fairly confident I'm not cut out for this political world. As evidenced by this and other posts, I'd rather everyone knew the facts and made up their own mind, but I do believe this is a fight we can win.
Sincere Regards,
Dave
The group is made up of Ed Waldhiem, Mark Howlett, Harry Baker and Wayne Nosala.
Todays meeting was attended by a significant number of people representing a majority of the user groups. Cal4Wheel, CORVA, ORBA, AMA (National and D37), NAXJA, ACORA, Friends of Giant Rock, Friends of Stoddard Valley, Friends of Johnson Valley, Friends of Panamint Valley... and a smattering of Benders and Rock Brawlers thrown in for good measure.
First thing on the agenda was a review of the timeline of past events and a walk through of the pitch given to the Marines a couple of weeks ago. The pitch was fairly represenative and accurate in the facts. It was 'pitched' professionially and recieved very well by the group.
The first real roadblock was stumbled upon when we asked to have a copy of the pitch. PFJV's position is that they need the Marine's approval to release the pitch. This is stemming from the fact that there is a map in the pitch that was provided by the Marines. It was suggested to remove the map, as it's already widely distributed on the internet, and provide the balance of the pitch to the attendees so they could disseminate the information to their local groups. There was no resolution to that request. It is my opinion that PFJV should be proud of that pitch. It was well put together and delivered very well.
There is a significant amount of 'history' between the leadership of PFJV and the common leadership of the other groups. A significant part of this goes back long before this issue existed.
Both sides of the fence ardently agreed that we need to put the past behind us and move forward.
The meat of the meeting centered around next steps and the inclusion of all parties in the leadership and direction of this group.
It was agreed that we basically have three segments of resources.
The steering group is large and evolving, it involves any and everyone that has input.
The working group is more narrowly scoped representing the large user community groups both offroad and non-wheeling entities... Film Commision, Rocketry, Rock Hounds...etc. The size of that group should be 7-10 and it will help layout strategy and planning for the future.
The 'presenting' group, is the senior leadership of PFJV. They will be the group that takes the message outlined by the steering and working group and meets and works directly with the military, BLM, Congress..etc They are our voice.
The biggest disconnect of the meeting came when PFJV was pressed to include outside influences into the presenting group. Mark Howlett initially disagreed strongly and in the end, the issue was not resolved.
A future meeting was planned to convene the 'steering' group and layout, or at the least, discuss the bylaws of PFJV to understand what the groups mission is. That meeting will be held 7/2/08 in the evening. I will post up more details when I have them. I'm assuming the roster of the 'presenting' group will also be a topic of conversation.
We are anticipating a reponse from the Marine Corps soon regarding the initial pitch.
The Marine Corps have also invited a significant cross section for a base tour in late June. I will be attending that tour along represenatives of most of the major user groups.
The above, with the exception of my noted opinion, are the facts that happened today. What does it mean? If you asked the 20 some odd people in the room today what their thoughts were, I'm confident the majority were pleasently suprised by the content of the pitch, but rather confounded by the leadersip of PFJV to acknowledge or accept outside influence or participation.
We need them...whether we like it or not. They need us... whether they will admit it or not. They have the 'keys' to the table right now. We need to be a united front.
In polling the leaders of the various groups, they feel the same, but are growing increasingly wary of the current situation.
I'm fairly confident I'm not cut out for this political world. As evidenced by this and other posts, I'd rather everyone knew the facts and made up their own mind, but I do believe this is a fight we can win.
Sincere Regards,
Dave
). I'm sure we will have more developments by the time of the FOJV meeting on 6-25.
