Adventurer, outdoorsman, four-wheeler, author, and defender of sustainable outdoor motorized recreational access.
 |
| Your 4x4 tires are NOT illegal, but... |
California just approved the nation's first efficiency standards for replacement tires — and understandably, the off-road community is asking: What happens to our mud-terrain and aggressive off-road tires?
25-30 years ago, a 10,000 – 15,000-acre fire was a huge conflagration. Now, we regularly experience 100,000 - 400,000-acre fires.
.png)
Key Historical Highlights:
1992: The publication of the California Spotted Owl Technical Report highlighted the need to shift forest management practices from clear-cutting to the protection of owl nesting areas, large trees, and canopy cover.
1995: The Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP) was commissioned by Congress to conduct a scientific assessment of the Sierra Nevada's ecological conditions, providing a foundation for future management strategies.
1999: The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment was released, outlining proposed changes to forest management practices aimed at balancing ecological health with human uses.
2001: The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and the accompanying Record of Decision (ROD) were issued, establishing new management directives focused on: Protecting old forest ecosystems and associated species, including designating key core areas for the California spotted owl and Northern goshawk; Implementing measures to reduce wildfire risks through strategic fuels management; and Enhancing aquatic, riparian, and meadow ecosystems.
The development of the Sierra Nevada Framework involved extensive public participation. Over 60 public meetings were held before the draft EIS, and an additional 60 meetings were held between the draft and final plans.
In 2004, the Forest Service revised the 2001 Framework, leading to legal challenges from various environmental organizations. These disputes were eventually settled in October 2014, ending 13 years of disagreements over land management directions.
The Sierra Nevada Framework represents a significant shift in forest management philosophy, emphasizing ecosystem health and species protection alongside traditional resource uses.
(Author's Note: These things change with the tide - and Administrations. So always stay tuned in and engaged with your favorite organizations to ensure your voice is heard).
##
MORE HELPFUL LINKS:
DEL'S BOOKS (LAND USE, WILDFIRE, DEATH VALLEY, COWBOY POETRY, AND MORE)
WEBSITE (HOME PAGE)
PINTEREST (BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND MORE)
DEL'S ARTICLES (LAND USE, LIFE, WILDFIRE, VOLUNTEERISM, AND MORE)
More land use and volunteerism help here:
FYI for OHV stakeholders who plan to attend the upcoming OHMVR Commission meeting in Sacto on April 2, 2025 and/or who are interested in the fiscal health of the CA OHV Program.
https://quietwarriorracing.blogspot.com/2025/03/opinion-ca-ohv-program-budget-must-grow.html
Quiet Warrior Racing LLC
MORE HELPFUL LINKS:
DEL'S BOOKS (LAND USE, WILDFIRE, DEATH VALLEY, COWBOY POETRY, AND MORE)
WEBSITE (HOME PAGE)
PINTEREST (BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND MORE)
DEL'S ARTICLES (LAND USE, LIFE, WILDFIRE, VOLUNTEERISM, AND MORE)
More land use and volunteerism help here:
Once Upon A Time…
"My fingers were ragged from climbing a jagged mountain peak, only to find a wise, old man sitting there, legs crossed, deep in thought.
“Old man,” I said, “what are you doing here
and so absorbed in concentration?”
“Son,” he mumbled, “it’s the tickets.”
“Tickets,” I exclaimed, “what the heck are
you talking about?”
“How many Win-A-Jeep tickets should I
buy? This will be a good year,” he
decreed.
I asked, “What’s so great about these tickets
and this Jeep?”
“Well,” he slowly explained, “even if I don’t
win, I’m helping this great outfit save trails and keep roads open. But if I do win, I can get the heck off this
mountain!”
That did it right there. I scrambled down that mountain, found a WiFi hot spot, logged in, and bought my share of tickets.
You should do the same!
The End.
Now the rest of the story. This will be a fantastic build with adventure written all over it. And the time is right now. You can get tickets before the build is even done, but you won't regret it. It's always a great vehicle. If tickets are not yet up, just keep checking back. Get yours at http://www.cal4wheel.com/win
Thanks for helping us keep our four-wheeling sports and alive and our trails open.
Del
##
MORE HELPFUL LINKS:
DEL'S BOOKS (LAND USE, WILDFIRE, DEATH VALLEY, COWBOY POETRY, AND MORE)
WEBSITE (HOME PAGE)
PINTEREST (BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND MORE)
DEL'S ARTICLES (LAND USE, LIFE, WILDFIRE, VOLUNTEERISM, AND MORE)
More land use and volunteerism help here:
By Del Albright
The "nibblers" are after your freedoms the same
way you eat an elephant – one bite at a time. "They" want to nibble
away at everything you hold precious if it doesn't fit in with their radical
liberal agenda. They have many names, but more importantly, they have influence
and are instituting daily changes in your life – that you may not like at all.
Check it out.
Let's take landuse and access to our motorized trails as an
example. If "they" don't like a trail we're doing, they will find an
endangered species, an invasive species, or some archeological site to use
against us. And they nibble. One bite
at a time is all it takes.
It's easy to succumb to the one-bite approach. It doesn't
seem like much if we give up a section of trail or re-route a trail over just
one itty bitty endangered frog. Right? Nibble. Then comes the arch site—another
nibble.
Anyway, you get the picture. There is always some nibbling
going on around our sports that include motors. So what do organizations and
groups do? Well, let's form a committee and study it. For sure, that is
government. But let's get into what happens with committees.
In this day and age, most resource-oriented efforts strive
to attain long-lasting results. Currently, "sustainable" is America's
most significant buzzword (especially with government and anti-access groups).
And who can argue with that – if we can't sustain it, we'll for sure lose it.
And the nibblers love that word. It's easy to throw up a
roadblock to show that something may not be sustainable. Then we have to study
it in committees – more.
Now to complicate things more, let's bring in organizational
turf battles and who's boots are filling with liquid. Sure, we can form a
committee and study it, but we go into it "walls up" and are ready to
fight to defend our turf, sometimes to the detriment of getting something
positive done. Personalities and egos set in.
Ok, no worries. Let's find cool names that sound very
important and problem-solving-like and keep studying them. But doesn't it look
like we're doing something if it's "in committee?"
California came to land use life on October 31, 1994, with
the loss of 8 million acres to the Desert Protection Act. Immediately we
started to form committees and groups to fix stuff.
1994: Land Use Network (LUN), the first significant land use
email and internet group.
1996: North American Motorized Recreation Council (NAMRC), a
national multiple-use motorized group.
1997: Resource Education Network (REN), CA's first multiple-use
group.
1997: Multiple Use Shared Trails Workshop (MUST), CA's first
hands-on multiple-use land use workshop.
1997: BLITZ 1997, a massive marketing effort to engage
motorized users nationwide under the umbrella of the LUN.
1999: Sierra Nevada Framework, CA forest plan amendment
efforts (stemmed from same folks in REN).
2003: Multiple Use Summit, CA's first organized gathering of
all aspects of recreational leaders in backcountry uses.
And I'm sure I left out a few. But my involvement started in
1981 when I completed a Master's Thesis in Coordinated Resource Management and
Planning (CRMP), trying to bring diverse interests together for a common goal.
CRMP was part of the founding principles for the start of the REN and NAMRC.
Now we have names like Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration to Advance
Sustainable Recreation, Sustainable & Accessible Recreation, Responsible
Recreation, and so on. For example, in California, we implemented the
California Motorized Recreation Council (CMRC), a direct and state-specific
spin-off of NAMRC. But, while always hopeful, it never ends.
We
keep finding new names for the same idea with similar
slants/missions. SO WHAT??? Follow-ups and actions that accomplish
something are more important than having more meetings (and committees).
Committees produce reports. Reports get passed around and filed. But not enough
gets done to save trails or keep our sports alive. We MUST change that and ensure
whatever committees and groups we have working for us have the ability to get something done!
The
nibblers are winning, bite by bite. And it's all because we aren't doing enough
– we aren't engaged enough. We don't insist on more actions and less talk.
Further, we don't support our organized recreation groups enough to fight
back. Worse, we don't feel the gate closing on our butt – yet.
It is my humble opinion that, yes, we have more than enough
committees, and yes, we need to be part of them – to ensure we get ACTION out
of these cool-named entities that leave open doors for the nibblers. But we
need to bolster our organized recreation groups (who make up the committees) to
the point that our fight-back is strong, solid, and sustainable.
Allow me to say that again; we need to ensure our
fight-back is sustainable.
Join, donate, and volunteer your time to those organizations and groups you believe in to help keep the nibblers away from our dinner table.
HELPFUL LINKS:
DEL'S BOOKS (LAND USE, WILDFIRE, DEATH VALLEY, COWBOY POETRY, AND MORE)
WEBSITE (HOME PAGE)
PINTEREST (BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND MORE)
DEL'S ARTICLES (LAND USE, LIFE, WILDFIRE, VOLUNTEERISM, AND MORE)
"CENSORBOOK" IS MY NEW NAME FOR THE "BOOK."
Censorship is at an all-time on Facebook. I've never seen anything like it in my decade of concentrated social networking and posting. A couple weeks ago FB took down my viral post (it was over 60,000 Shares) about Welcome to the Unnecessary Mega-Fire Generation.
They said I "violated community standards" and made people "feel unsafe" on the Book. Unsafe? Because I spoke the truth and articulated how radical environmental groups have imposed excessive restrictions on how we manage our forests and rangelands?
Then yesterday after growing to 172,000 members, FB yanked down the group dedicated to re-opening California.
See a pattern here? We are just over a month away from the most controversial election in history. Things like my mega-fire post fly in the face of CA government rhetoric. Things like Re-Open CA flies in the face of CA government rhetoric. And of course, CA government is strongly centered on the opposite side of the isle from national leadership.
Does it not appear that the Censorbook is helping remove any resistance from the "party line?" It sure does to me!
LESSON: if you get too big on the Book and don't follow their slant, you'll be dumped and hidden from public view. It is a sad day, but we have to realize this reality -- we are being controlled, manipulated, pounded with fake news, and bombarded by bipartisan bickering...not to mention the obvious censorship. Do not lose track of your copy of the Constitution. It may become a relic if we are not careful.
Del
##
URGENT NEWS from Ron Schiller, High Desert Multiple Use Coalition:
The California Wilderness Coalition (CWC) is proposing to close off a large chunk of public land around Trona, Great Falls Basin, and the Slate Range outside of the China Lake Navy Base. A public meeting will be held Tuesday Jan. 13th in Trona regarding the CWC proposed wilderness bill that they hope Senator Feinstein will soon introduce in Congress.
Please be there and speak out against this new Wilderness.
Read the notice here (pdf).
Thanks, Del
Tahoe National Forest Plan Released (Sep. 2008)
Public Comment Period Runs Until Nov. 26, 2008
Seven (7) Alternatives are offered. OHV recreationists need to carefully exam this plan and the alternatives for issues like winter closures, road and route closures, and change in land designations. Be sure to comment as these early Forest plans are setting the trend for motorized recreation and route designation – where we can ride/travel, and where we cannot. If your trail is not on the map (Travel Map), you no longer have that trail.
Read/download the BlueRibbon Coalition alert with links to copies of the plan right here:
http://www.delalbright.com/Articles/tahoe_plan_brc.html
Del
Happy Veterans Day, you old (and young) warriors! We're still here, still standing, and still proud to have served. To my fellow...
