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URGENT: BLM needs to reopen trails in Jawbone

(I have personally never ridden there, but heard it's great. The student quote fires me up. How about you? - Tom)

REOPEN TRAILS IN JAWBONE
Please write a letter using the points made in the letter at the end of this email as well as any other points that you feel are important regarding Jawbone. Together we can make a difference. Please forward this to your lists. Take the letter at the end of this email  to races & events & get other riders involved.
Thanks Chris Horgan, Stewards of the Sequoia

HERE IS THE SITUATION
I have been talking to the BLM about the need to reopen the hundreds of miles of single track in Jawbone that are currently slated for obliteration.
Your OHV grant funding is being used to pay for the removal of these trails. Once they are removed riders in Jawbone will not have sufficient trails to ride on. They will be forced to ride on the remaining 261 miles of designated "trails". These so called trails are mostly roads.

BLM has told me that the squeaky wheel gets the grease & that riders need to tell the BLM that they want more trails in letters & meetings. There are 35,000 riders in Jawbone on a busy weekend. I talked to some of them recently. None of them had written a letter or joined a club like CORVA or Friends of Jawbone, that could represent them. The riders told me that "THEY" are fighting to keep the area open. The only way trails are going to remain open is if "YOU" get involved.

If you are sick & tired of having your own money used to close you out of the few remaining designated motorized riding areas then start writing letters.
Everyone needs to Join Friends of Jawbone for $15 & CORVA for $30, that's less than a tank of gas. These are volunteers, that's right they do not get paid, who have been fighting the fight, but they need more help.

Here is the quote of the month that I recently sent out:
A Student Conservation Corps team leader in charge of closing more than a hundred miles of single track trails in Jawbone CA told me today, that perhaps it is time that motorized users realized that public lands are no longer an appropriate place for them to recreate. Motorized users should stay on private land.

Do you want to keep riding?
Do you want your kids to be able to ride?
Then get involved now.
If BLM got 35,000 letters & everyone joined CORVA it would go a long way to keeping trails open here & elsewhere.

LETTER BELOW PLEASE WRITE YOUR OWN. YOU MIGHT WANT TO WRITE ONE EVEN IF YOU DO NOT RIDE IN JAWBONE
THANKS CHRIS

STEWARDS OF THE SEQUOIA
PO Box 267
Lake Isabella, CA 93240

March 25, 2004

BLM Ridgecrest Field Office
Hector Villalobos, Field Manager
300 S Richmond   
Ridgecrest, CA 93555

Dear Mr. Villalobos,
    There is a situation that needs your attention in the Jawbone motorized use area. I understand that the Jawbone area has approximately 261 miles of designated trails. Looking at the area our members find that these are mostly roads, not trails. Law enforcement at Friends of Jawbone meetings have stated that about 35,000 ohvers come to Jawbone to recreate on busy weekends. These off roaders assume that since this is the area that has been designated for off road use, that there will be adequate opportunities provided for them to recreate. Most of them did not come to ride roads. They have been enjoying the many hundreds of miles of existing undesignated trails in Jawbone for many years, in some cases many decades. It would seem reasonable that since there are 35,000 users enjoying the existing undesignated trails, that they now be designated as open.  We also see that the majority of these undesignated trails are in very good condition, not overly used, widely spaced & not duplicate trails.

    By closing trails the BLM is creating an unsafe OHV area by forcing Ohv’s onto roads where speeds will be higher than on trails. In some areas it is impossible for green sticker Ohv’s to get to legal OHV roads, without illegally going on undesignated trails, or breaking the law by traveling on street legal only roads. This is not acceptable.

    As you know the Student Conservation Association SCA, is in the process of actively obliterating all undesignated trails in the Jawbone area. They are putting in a lot of hard work doing this & are being funded with money paid by off roaders in the form of green sticker & fuel taxes. Once the existing trails are obliterated I understand that no new trails should be created.  Unfortunately no one told the cows & even at this early stage in the obliteration work, the cows have created new trails to replace the ones that were removed by the SCA. The cows also enjoy the hay that is put down to promote the trail obliteration.

    It is reasonable to conclude that once considerable ohv fund money is spent & all the hard work of obliterating trails done, that there will not be enough trails to support the 35,000 ohvers that recreate in this area. The off roaders will inevitably create new trails to address the need for enough trails & of suitable variety. Then closure activists will point their finger at the off roaders & say that they are reckless & the area must be shut down. It is irresponsible of the BLM to ignore the clear need of the existing 35,000 users & create this conflict. The plan that determined  the Jawbone designated trail system is now over twenty years old. Since that time over 50% of legal motorized use areas have been closed, while the motorized use has doubled.

    It is time for the Jawbone undesignated trails to be reopened. Once the trails are opened there will be little need to patrol for illegal use. This will eliminate the need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in law enforcement to stop people from riding the undesignated trails. Much of that law enforcement is currently paid for by the OHV fund. This money can then be used to maintain the trail system & provide the OHV opportunity that the public needs, as well as preserve this historical off road riding area for future generations.
   
    By pursuing further closures the BLM is damaging the resource. You are forcing off roaders onto a smaller & smaller road system. You are eliminating the trail system. This will only increase the impact on the land. It will also increase the cost for law enforcement & maintenance. I understand that your agency like all others are short on funding. It would make sense to open more trails & reduce these drains on your already limited budget.

    The Jawbone SCA team leader told me that, “perhaps it is time that the public realize that ohv use is not an appropriate use of public land. Ohv’s  should be on private land.” The current closure trend that the BLM has made no effort to reverse, in total disregard for increased damage to public land that it will cause, is evidence that the BLM shares this opinion. This is not acceptable. It is also unrealistic that millions of off roaders in California will just disappear or can move to private land. Ohv use is a valid use of public lands & one that Ohvers fund, unlike most other user groups.

    Please let me know your position regarding the designation of non designated trails as open & how we can help the BLM to preserve the resource while increasing & maintaining the existing motorized opportunity that the public obviously needs.

    Thank you for your prompt consideration in this matter.




                        Sincerely,


                        Chris Horgan   
                        Executive Director
                        Stewards of the Sequoia
                        sequoiastewards@earthlink.net


Promoting Responsible Motorized Recreation & Environmental Stewardship