What about an article on how irresponsible governing bodies are falling on their faces and blaming it on the uneducated users? It's unbelievable what your country has done to preserve its parks. I understand there's been a lot of work by enthusiasts that have plowed the way. However your efforts and battles seem to not exist in the land of snow. You need to write an article that our politicians can read and copy. After returning from TTC , I can't believe how blind the Canadian society is, to our blatantly retarded perspective towards our vanishing playground.

 If our government isn't closing it , they're clear cutting it  

                              Help

                            Clay  

Yo Clay---

Thanks for comin' out to Hollister Hills this year. The readers of Four Wheeler willing, we'll hopefully see you there again in 2008.

We're working on a story that (sort of) addresses the issue you raise about government management of off-road areas. In particular, we're gonna spend some time "behind the scenes" at Hollister Hills, showing what the park rangers do there to prepare the courses and maintain the property while still keeping true to the legal mandates they receive from the government in Sacramento. It's very time-consuming, it's expensive, and it requires a lot of different considerations (to the state, to the wheelers, to the neighbors, to the environment, to their ever-shrinking budgets, etc.), but they provide a good example of how a government agency can Do It Right, showing that you can preserve the ecosystem and protect threatened species without having to close public lands to four-wheel drives.

Anyway, stay tuned, we oughta have this story done in the next few months. And thanks again for coming out to TTC this year---it was our pleasure to have you there.

Editor Doug  

" If our government isn't closing it , they're clear cutting it "

That has to be one of the most depressing things I have read in a long time... it's a shame it really is.  

so since I last wrote we lost one more large area. Once again  trucks were the focus point , Even though there were very few  at the now closed site. The damage to the area occured on a long weekend. It was caused mainly by partiers out to tear it up. Many didn't even have ohv's . They did the usual burning of cars ,spreading of garbage everywhere and it got so out of hand , that our police force(the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) were afraid to stop them. Can't blame them there were a few thousand people there. At the end ,one of our clubs ,the Cja jeep club , stayed and cleaned the massive mess up. I say one club because as I said earlier there were next to no 4x4's  in the  area.  Our new minister closed the area of "destruction" that week. The kicker to this is he only closed it to 4x4's. All other recreational users are still allowed.   He blamed it all on trucks.
  I had enough and held a peaceful protest .A group gathered at the one area we have left and fenced off a wet land that is on it's way to being destroyed . We built a large fence that was friendly to the ranchers quads and bikes but blocked 4x4's we also picked and hauled all the garbage and derelic cars out of the bush . (we do this every long weekend) The protest was that we were tired of waiting for our gov't to do something and did it ourselves.(which I do on a constant basis but I had the news there this time filming)  It made the news and I wound up with a warning from the ministers office. My goal was to get a fine for repairing a trail without a permit which they should have given me. I know your rangers have no tolerance.  


Anyway  I hope your article is a very good one , so that I can use it to show my srd minister  how things are properly run by people who care . My trip to hollister still amazes me.


          Clay  

Wow. Thats all I can say. Wow. It truly sucks that so few can ruin it for so many with their blatant disregard for the environment and for others.

Even though I'm down here in So.Cal. I have to say a big Thank You Clay for the work that you are doing to try and save your wheeling area. I wish there was more I could do to help.

Be sure to keep in touch with what is going on up there. Good luck!  

This was a trail we lost with the last closure. It had only been run by these two guys. The guy who found it spent two years on a bike finding a path in. The local rangers gave the go ahead and by chance our new sustainible resource minister closed the area. These trails don't exist in cananda . It was a big loss.

 

The blue dodge has been in the ultimate truck adventure twice. His brother phil found the trail  

That looks like a really cool trail too... what is wrong with people? Seriously...  

Dont give up and dont give in! find some newsies that are simpathetic to the cause,or maybe,become the newsie who lets the world in on the plight. We have more than our share of irresponsable,irrational idiots who are only there for themselves and are never concerned with the damage they cause,on different levels.(1) the enviroment (2) the land owners who get to clean up after them. (3) the state who foots the bill for the clean up after the tree huggers cry wolf,,again.(4) the end user, us the responsable wheeler that gets the poo end of the stick jabbed at us by everyone for enjoying the very outdoors they never visit or use,the carry out more than you bring in, the tread lightly,the self regulating socially concious wheeler that actually takes care of the area we wheel in, no sir the first slap stings,but they better be wary of the reciprocation! peacefully of course.happy wheelin!  

it must truely suck to live in canada these days. normal, peasable citizens can't do anything up there anymore. a few years ago, the putz that was running your paliment came up with a billion dollar boon doggle, to strip away you firearms freedom, and look at all the violent crime going on now. i will never understand slick politicians that choose to take the easy way out, by ignoring the obvious problems of a few individuals. this kind of stuff makes me nuts, blame everyone except the wrong doers.  

"If our government isn't closing it , they're clear cutting it"

I know...I'm in Alberta...Indian graves wont allow 4x4s n e more...atleast they didnt last time I checked. But I go muddin at McLean Creek and every year I see less and less trees. It's terrible, I get depressed when I see it.  

yea the second amendment may be under fire,again.i think its about politicos lose sight of real life as soon as the taste of power is in their teeth.there has to be a happy middle ground for land use,wonder how many acres get deforested after they'r closed to public access,where are the enviromentalists then? the using public is more in tune with their local enviroment than a lacky in the capitol.obviously the predjudice runs deep in the enviromental front,rampant and dark,for any thing that runs counter to their misinformed belief system..  

Well nosman those rock pictures above were at indian graves   . That was the last area lost . We just spent a bunch of time with the rangers plotting out trails to keep at maclean. In fact this broadcast below put me on the governments most hated list. It did more damage to their "4x4's are wrecking the back country" campaign than any clean up or media to date.


4x4 s giving it to the government  

Very cool Clay! Keep fighting the good fight, the world needs more people like you.