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Can your club make a difference? Well you must first decide what purpose
and goals your club has. Is your club a small family like group that
just wants to stay that way? Do you feel your club should have goals
such as educating people about proper land/trail use? Do you want to
stress the importance of safe off-roading practices? What about
recruiting, organizing and educating people to stand up for the rights
of the off-road land use community?
If your club wants to stay small that is fine but even a small clubs
need somewhere to go. Land closures are happening more frequent all the
time. I truly feel the most important thing a club can do is to educate
the off-road land users of environmentally kind land use practices and
proper trail use. Second after that would be to educate them about the
actions of anti-land use organizations. Teach them how to react and
organize against these attempts to close off-road land areas.
Lets face it we are at war to protect the freedom we believe in. The
freedom to enjoy this beautiful country in the way we choose which is in
our off-road vehicle. As club’s we must recruit people to educate,
organize and just plain increase the number of voices that are heard by
politicians who control the closing of off-road land areas. Anti-land
use groups spend millions to be heard by the politicians. The anti-land
use groups easily acquire these millions through Corporate America.
Corporate America likes to look green, or pro-environmental. It’s good
business; customers like to see the companies they purchase from
protecting the environment they live in. Well we, the off-road land user
also believe in protecting, preserving our environment too. I think I
speak for the majority of off-road users when I say this. We love and
enjoy the outdoor lands because of the beauty as much as the hiker does.
We just prefer to do it on four wheels. We don’t have millions, but we
can have lots of voices that would be heard all the way to Washington.
There are a few who have given us all, the off-road land user a bad
image by blasting across meadows or driving over small saplings, shrubs
and flowers. We must find, educate and change the practices of these
few. Lets change our image, why can’t we be seen as green? As clubs we
must work to change our image. Support reforestation, erosion repair and
just plain trash pick up on public lands. Write about it, and the good
things we do. Most local papers will publish articles about local
groups, clubs doing good deeds.
One simple thing I think every club should do is adopting a stretch of
Highway for trash pick up. I know what your thinking “Highway? What the
%#@!” Well most clubs adopt a trail but how much of the public see that
sign on the trail that the off-road community is cleaning up the
environment? Well as we all know California has the busiest highways
that means the most sign viewers. We can show the public we care about
the environment. Lets go one step farther, adopt that stretch of highway
in the name of the CA4WDC. We could make that familiar yellow round
decal the most common thing you see on adopt-a-highway signs in the
state.
SUV sales are higher then ever and every SUV owner is a potential
off-road land user. Promote your club, practice environmentally kind
land uses, educate people and support CA4WDC.
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