Rider, Wheeler, Whatever

 

 

 

(Note: It is truly important for all to read this brief article. Its author "gets it," and many more should. This is about respect and what is involved with responsible recreation and continued access by, not only recreationists, but also resource providers and those that consume what they produce.)

 

 

 

June 6, 2006

 

 

 

By William A. Kaeppner kaeppner@ohiohills.com 

 

http://www.ohiotrails.org 

 

I'd like to announce all the work OMTA [Ohio Multi-Use Trails Association] is doing to get more opportunity for off pavement recreation. We are working to get a bill to put more money in the SRV [State Recreational Vehicle] fund. We are working on a grant to purchase property. We are working to get riding areas in Northeast Ohio. We passed a bill last year to help keep our township roads, we have made impressive strides. We are going to meetings as stake holders instead of beggars. The State of Ohio, as well as federal agencies, know who we are and who we represent.

 

The reason for this letter is the folks working against us. You are aware of the anti-access groups, the eco radicals. They are not our biggest enemy; they would not have a leg to stand on if it wasn't for one group alone!

 

I saw their work last year when we GPSed trails at the Wayne, and when I donated time and equipment to repair trails. I have seen them on our wonderful township roads, which are our only destination trail system in Ohio. I saw four of them Sunday. They were not my friends, and they should not be yours. Who are they? They are the folks who think it is neat to ruin a trail with a BIG MUD BOG! Folks like to try their equipment in mud holes and God love them, I do not care if they do it on their own property. I do not care what anyone does for fun but when they destroy the center of a township right of way it is flat wrong! If the road is soft, stay off of it, if you do not have the equipment to get you thru with out digging holes, stay home. Anyone else using the road has to leave the roadbed and become a trespasser and landowners use that to get the roads vacated. At the Wayne, I saw many bog holes generated just for fun, one after the other. We do not want to see fees raised but when you have three-foot deep holes full of water due to vandals you have to haul material in to fill it. The money to repair vandalism comes out of our fees, they are hurting your riding opportunity and giving our enemies ammunition, you should be angry.

 

The folks I saw Sunday did not have winches or any equipment like that, just huge digger tires that just flat destroyed the road. One rig had poor tires so the folks with the diggers “pulled them thru.” They did have a cooler of beer to celebrate their accomplishment. How do I tell a trustee or government agency that they should leave the road open? I do not know a single national 4x4 organization, from East Coast 4x4 to United 4x4, and all the groups and clubs in between, who would endorse their behavior!  

 

I ride dirt bikes, I own utility quads, and a lot of my friends have 4x4 vehicles.  How would you go to a trustee or agency person and ask for more trails and more access? What is your answer when they show you the costs to repair wanton damage? I have seen pictures on a number of web sites of those “crazy mud boggers” just having “BIG FUN” on township roads and adjacent private property, further hurting our reputation.

 

To keep your sport going, you have a number of challenges. To keep your sport alive, you have to write letters. You really have to join every advocacy group you can.  You have to make your voice heard, but unless we stop inappropriate use, the anti’s will have a bigger club. Every time some one on a bike, quad or 4x4 donuts all the gravel off an intersection, we have a new enemy. Every time someone destroys a roadbed, we have made an enemy of the adjacent landowner and every other user of the trail, be it horseman or hiker. Every time someone goes to our too-few trails on public property and damages the trail, makes a “hill climb” or cuts an outlaw trail, we have a new enemy and a new weapon for folks who hate our sport.

 

This is the hardest thing to do: Nobody wants to be the “bad guy,” but do it we must. If you see inappropriate use, tell them they are hurting everyone. Do not threaten them but do take down their license number or tag number and report them. Folks should have places to play but mud bogs on our trail systems and township roads are not the place.  If we do not stop them, they will stop all of us from having anywhere to ride at all. How would you feel if it was your property? Now realize [that] it is, and we can lose it!

 

OMTA is your organization, working for you. Your mother never said this, but it is time for you to get selfish. Help us by helping yourself keep the places you love to ride and wheel. We must stop any and all inappropriate and extreme use on our public trails and roads.