Re: Fwd: The Curtailment of "Mudboging"...

[bill london <london@moscow.com>]

Sean:
You missed the point.
I have nothing against 4-wheelers cruising on established or posted
roads.
I have everything against 4-wheelers making their own muddy roads across
pristine lands.
Why should I show tolerance for those who are breaking laws and ravaging
beautiful meadowlands for their own nasty thrills?
BL

sean wrote:

Bill, Don et al.,I am somewhat surprised to see such a close-minded reaction to "alternative" outdoor recreation.  If it is not hiking is it outside the realm of validity?  I suspect that many of those who would outlaw or even implement destructive devices to deter OHV use are the very same "visionaries" who cry foul when skateboarders are told they must stay off sidewalks and streetsŠwhile simultaneously being provided with no alternative terrain. What happened to tolerance?  where is the "vision" of developing designated recreation areas?  The charge against skaters is that they damage property and threaten the safety of others.  Sounds like a similar charge to the one leveled at ATV's, 4x4s, etc.  So why be any less open-minded and creative with this group? This is not simply an issue from some far-off API story.  There is a vigorous body of recreators in the Palouse who seek to use their motorized vehicles.  They, like others in this billion dollar market, deserve well thought out and equitable recreation areas (remember equity?).  There are no such locations in within a reasonable drive.  The same can hardly be said for other outdoor recreation.  Want to rock climb?  Mt bike?  hike?  Those and many more sports ARE provided for.  Many were once marginalized, considered to be "fringe", and experienced being ignored.  Any snowboarder from way back will remember those days (and not very fondly). The elitism that is routinely applied to OHV enthusiasts is embarrassing and smacks of hypocrisy.  Are there any sports lacking "jerks"?  Do any of us not find some group whose members do not generally rub us the wrong way?  And are those not the groups we are most apt to avoid (and therefore remain ignorant ofŠand even fearful of) and therefore to misunderstand?  How does user conflict equate to a right to outlaw and exclude a sport? Educating oneself about a group and then helping them by providing for their needs is a far better approach than ostracizing them.  Marginalizing and making enemies of off-roaders has been the approach used in recent decades by those wishing to protect wildlands.  Where has it gotten anyone? Here's to showing true vision in the future.s ps- before chanting "Hayduke, Hayduke, Hayduke!", recall that he drove a 4x4 (equipped--gasp!--with a winch)Šand tossed beer cans asunder.  

 

Visionaries:

 

All I can say is, "Heyduke Lives"!

 

I'm with you, Bill.

 

Don Kaag (Who loves the wilderness and despises motorized scofflaws and their illegal depredations...)

 

From: bill london <london@moscow.com>

Date: Sat Jun 15, 2002  11:36:22 AM US/Pacific

To: Vision2020 <vision2020@moscow.com>

Subject: mud boggers

 

 

    The Thursday Lewiston Tribune (6/13, page 1C) included an article

about tire-piercing spikes found in mug bogs in the Pomeroy Forest

Service Ranger District.  The spikes were placed illegally.  The spikes

were discovered because they punctured tires on 4-wheelers that were

being driven through forest meadows creating mud bogs.

    The "mud-bogging" (driving through the meadows) is illegal because

of the damage to water quality and to the meadows themselves.  However,

the authorities involved said they were more concerned with the spikes,

and considered the placing of the spikes an act of eco-terrorism.

    While I do not support the vigilante justice action of placing those

spikes, I certainly can relate to the emotion and anger behind it.  I

have seen beautiful mountain meadows ravaged through the thoughtless and

wanton destruction by 4-wheelers and motorcylcists.  In just a few

minutes, the wet soils and fragile flowers of a meadow can disappear,

churned to mud--which then fouls streams and invites further desecration

later.

    Given the impossibility of stationing guards at every meadow or

catching any of the perpetrators in the act, perhaps stopping

mud-bogging with spikes is not such a bad idea.  Maybe the US Forest

Service should place tire-piercing spikes in areas where "mud-boggers"

go for their kinky thrills.  The USFS could post plenty of warning

signs.  Perhaps the potential threat to their machines would keep these

scofflaws on the roads and out of the meadows.

    The situation is the same as the commion practice of police placing

strips of tire-piercing spikes on roads when they are trying to stop a

vehicle in a chase situation.  Of course, the police do not place spike

strips randomly across roads.  They use the spikes when they are trying

to stop someone in a dangerous and illegal act.

    Same with the spikes in the meadows.  By definition, anyone driving

in the meadow is committing an illegal act.  A flat tire is better than

a ravaged meadow.

BL

  --Thanks,
s
 

        * * * * * * * *
        Sean Michael
        .dwg