Tread Lightly

[jps4jeep]

I have had some conversations via email recently with a very active member in the on-going battle over land usage and privatized land. I would just like to remind everyone about tread lightly program which does not only encompass the 4wd past time but all outdoor activities!

Travel and recreate with minimal impact
Respect the environment and the rights of others
Educate yourself-plan and prepare before you go
Allow for future use of the outdoors-leave it better than you found it
Discover the rewards of responsible recreation


I know sometimes it is all to hard not to resist spinning your tires and throwing mud, but we do have to remember the impact that it has on the environment. If trails are not maintained and simple wheeled on, eventually erosion and politics will destroy the trails and eventually bring our beloved past time to a stand still!

Johnny

 

[MudderChuck]

Tread lightly and other conservation programs. Mostly make good sense. But like many such things, they get taken over by fanatics and radicals. Some people have a driving need, to lead a movement, some have the drive to explore and wander. The born explorers, are probably doomed to remain constipated, because the organisers and fantics are driven to control.
I´ve found plastic garbage bags, full of dirty diapers in pristine streams (I carried them home smell and all). I´ve also seen sheep graze down and errosion destroy whole mountain sides. Kaiser mining digs holes, in the middle of nowhere, big enough to hold whole towns. Two lane roads graded into the middle of the desert (twenty miles and more), where four wheeling is forbidden. For a small mining operation and a broken down trailer.
I´ve seen the fire department, unable to access brush areas, because the Jeep trails that used to be open, were overgrown, due to land closure.
Part of the reason, the California Condor is extinct, is because the refuge was closed to four wheelers and the last birds burnt in a brush fire, the fire department was unable to access, because the trails were overgrown. I guess they protected that bird to death.
They receintly, closed an area, to off roading, because there was a rare frog in the area. They filled in all the mud holes and planted brush on the trails. Two years later, no frogs. Amazing, the frogs owed there existance to the mud holes the off-roaders dug.
The answer could be, that off roaders, are a part of the enviroment, in a modern world. An accomodation, is probably, a better solution than an absolute ban. Off roaders do have an impact, but in the last hundred years, much of the plantlife and wildlife has adapted, closing the areas could have as much impact or more, than the vehicles. Generally speaking, turning over the soil some, is good for the growth of the flora. Gives the seeds a foothold. Like what the buffalo used to do.
There was an area closed to hunters, as a wildlife area. Mainly for ground dwelling birds. The Coyotes, foxes, Havalinas and wild pigs, made short work of the birds. Habitat is a tricky thing.
I´ve worked for decades, as a game manager, I´m not just talking through my exhaust opening.
I´ve seen many Deer just stand there and look, when a Jeep drove by. But head for the hills in panic and abandon there young, when a jogger or mountain biker comes by. Hikers don´t seem to have much impact either, as long as they keep moving. Most game has little fear, of a walking person. It´s when they are startled (snuck up on) or they hear running footsteps, that they get in a panic. Most animals are nocturnal anyway.

 

[graewulf]

so very true.. all things in moderation..... do the best you can and respect others....

 

[Mxpx182lit]

the main trail i run lots of times has broken jeep parts and sometimes even broken and trashed cars on it. When i can i try my best to collect alot of the stuff i see on the side of a trail. If i wanna go wheeling and see that stuff i'd go wheeling at my local landfill!

 

[BostonJeep]

leave it better than ya found it

 

[JEEPWRIDE]

It really comes down to plain old common sense.

 

[gunner]

bingo...

one for all and all for one - if one screws it up, he or she screws it up for all...

 

[jps4jeep]

I know that it is impossible to float across the land and not leave a print, but it might not be exactly what these ideas are that we should obey but rather take into consideration. I have wheeled with a gentleman who while wheeling , strated a camp fire and left his trash behind. Not cool! I remember remarking to laura on a recent trip about a coffee cup on the side of the trail, I went back to pick it up, and it was gone, some one else in the group picked it up, that was awesome. I just want people to remember to respect the land and laws as much as possible, I am not preaching cause I too am guilty of ripping my tires now and then, as we all are. just rather that we be conscience of what the sport entails!

Leave it better than you found it!

 

[MudderChuck]

I get the tendancy to rant on occasion. Programs like tread lightly. have made me aware, of my personnal responsibilty, to mess up as little as possible. And has probably encouraged me to pick up numerous piles of junk, over the years. Or maybe it was just maturity.
When I think of tread lightly, it brings to mind land use issues.
Being a game manager, I´ve been to hearings on land useage, listening to lawyers make there arguements. Various groups, with various agendas, seeing the same piece of property in different ways.
I´ve heard lawyers argue, that tread lightly, is an admission, by off road users, of there impact on the environment.
I´ve seen them shut down areas to off road traffic, that had been driven for fifty years or more. The arguement being, tread marks,trash and fire danger. Then the same area, closed to hikers, miles of no stopping signs posted, at tax payers expence, with the arguement of protecting the wildlife, the trash left by hikers and the fire danger. Then the same area burnt to the dirt and then shortly there after, argued, that it should be opened to developement, seeing as how it isn´t used for recreation and the wildlife is gone. It´s now a super market parking lot and a rich mans housing developement. Really makes a person wonder, who set the fire and if the 10 year program wasn´t planned in advance.
Anytime, an area is closed to recreation, it is often subject to developement or other land uses, like cattle grazing leases. Then after the land is grazed to a desert, mining and whatever.
I´m not saying this is always the case, but often enough.
Off roaders and hunters, just might be doing the environment a service, by fighting for access and usage as a recreational areas.
Most of the serious damage, I´ve seen done by off roaders, is where they´ve been forced into, a too small recreation vehicle usage area.

 

[jps4jeep]

I think sometimes the agenda of land usage is pushed to its limits. If someone wants to be balls to the walls and save every last inch of land then we will have to kill off any wild animal. Deer hooves create small "imprints" into the land causing eventual erosion, Kill 'em! insects eat and destroy a number of plants for food, kill 'em! Birds build nests in trees and use other branchs and twigs that might still be from a thriving bushes, Kill 'em! Man builds dams and over develops beautiful landscapes, no no let them live!! Hell do it some more!


I am just joking here, no nasty emails.

Mudderchuck, I agree with you, and disagree on some issues. For example, the california condor was probably in bad shape prior to that fire, especially if only one (or a couple) was (were) left. Not sure about where you are Mudderchuck, but lots of land around the north east that i see has been closed to public use by people purchasing the land, privitizing it, and closing it off!

Johnny

 

[MudderChuck]

I was part of the Condor watch in Cal. I was an avide hunter, was one of the few hunters licsenced to hunt in L.A. County (varmint control) and at the same time, was a L.A County fire Department Reservist (heavy equipement mechanic/operator). Was familiar with the area, had hiked and driven most of it. A group was payed, by UCLA (not very much) to do game census and such in the area, Gorman clear to Santa Barbera. I was approached by some people, seeking info. and decided to show them around and collect the allowance (gas money).
They had closed off a huge tract of land, as a bird sanctuary, after they had opened the condors habitat to agriculture. It was right next to where the Condors used to live. The area had been grazed to the point, that the only plants were trees, root plants and inedible brush, not very hospitable to small game. The remaining Condors, mostly, skipped that area and moved into the slopes overlooking the Gorman area. There was a good bit of small game in the area, mostly due to the Jeep trails. No chit, Jeeps trails, are often lined with weeds and grasses, that are good forage for small game. Some good intentioned people, managed to shut down the area, as not to stress the Condors and lower the fire potential. There were two major fires, in the course of three years, the first was hairy but doable. The second, the trails had overgrown to the point of inpassability. By closing down the Jeep trails, they had changed the habitat, less forage for small game and made it impossible to access the nature preserve, except with a C-10 Cat. An adjacent area, was closed to hunting, Wildlife preserve. The wild pigs, that used to be hunted, destroyed everything edible, plant and animal (and some Condors). Then died of starvation and disease. Seems to me, good intentioned conservationists, had a mental picture of wild and habitat, that was a little removed from reality.
Much of the privatized land in the West and the South. Is purchased with an eye to access. If a person owns the land accross a canyon or near a road, they can effectively control a large slice of federal and state lands. That really belong to everyone. Many times they don´t want four wheelers around, because they don´t want wittnesses. More often than you´d think.