Off-road vehicle enthusiasts rally to 'Take Back Utah'

[accadacca]

This may end up in the environmental section. Maybe, maybe not, but we can start chatting about it here.

Thoughts about the demonstration and general purpose? Very interesting video...

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7465475

[Iceaxe]

Take Back Utah Is a Success

If you haven't heard already the capitol parade and rally was a huge success. We had about 3500+ attend the rally! The parade took over an hour from the first vehicle leaving downtown and the last arriving at the capitol building. There were many different groups represented and a atmosphere of unity and strength was felt by all.

Every single local TV station covered our event as did both major Salt Lake news papers. Some reports were more accurate than others. Some can't help themselves and have to spin everything the report on. Channel 2 was the most favorable and Channel 5 (KSL) was the most inaccurate with downright shoddy reporting. A previous version of the one we have linked to claimed, "that hundreds" participated, and they made reference to environmental concerns that ATVs are often the culprit of wild fires. They have since moderated their story. We will include a full list of media coverage on our website. This should be updated by late tonight or early tomorrow. Sorry for delays we really are a small grass roots movement so things (website updates, etc) don't get done as quick as we all would like.

During the rally we were pleased to hear from many different speakers and be entertained by talented artists. We wanted to thank all involved. 2 days prior to the event we found out we could broadcast it live to the entire state. We had to do many last minute changes and it changed how we conducted the rally. We appreciate everyone's willingness to work with us on that.

We were most impressed with the behavior of the rally and parade participants. I personally was so proud of everyone. There was not a single incident or problem with anyone. All were on their best behavior. All were passionate yet under control. The SL police department commented on how well it was planned and executed. I especially want to thank the nearly 100 volunteers we had. These individuals took ownership and control of their responsibilities. Planning such an event was a big undertaking for us. None of us have professional event planning experience. This really was a grass roots effort. The planning committee made up of myself, Chris Brimhall, Rick Whiteside, Shawn Taylor, Chad Booth, Braxton Southwick, and Representative Mike Noel. These guys deserves a HUGE pat on the back. They all gave much time and energy to make this happen.

For those who felt the rally may not have hit their issue or been what they expected, fear not. This really is just the beginning. There will be more rallies, more events, and much more to come. We know there were some mistakes made on Saturday and we will get better at this as we do more events.

We want this movement to sweep the western United States. We intend to facilitate that. We first and foremost want to protect our interests as citizens of Utah. But we know this is something that neighboring states need. Take Back Utah will begin to be a leading voice on state's rights issues. Protection of access to public land will be a key and leading issue for this movement.

If you were impressed by what you saw at this rally consider donating to our cause. It costs an incredible amount of money to pull this event off. We are still paying for it. We would like to do more events to inspire even more people to get involved. We have provided a link in this email if you would like to donate and help us do this. Your dollars will stay in a restricted account to help do future events and protect access to public land.

The event on Saturday brought much needed attention to the issues of access to public land, it showed a unified broad cross section of the public, it made political leaders want to act, it gave leading organizations like USA-ALL a larger voice and more influence with political leaders, it brought many new individuals, organizations, and businesses into supporting our movement. Also notice was served to our opposition that we are not going to lay down and let them take away our rights, our quality of life, control our government, or harm our citizens.

With your continued support of this movement we will accomplish our goals and not only take back Utah but we will take back our country.

Spread the word, get on board, we're going places!

http://www.takebackutah.org/

[Scott P]

"We're God-fearing and gun clinging," said Mike Swenson of the off-highway vehicle group USA-ALL, who offered a message for what he called radical environmental groups: "You guys that love rocks and trees more than human beings, you have awakened a sleeping giant. We are not going away. We've been way too easy on you. There is a new war in the western United States to take back our lands."

[RedMan]

"We're God-fearing and gun clinging," said Mike Swenson of the off-highway vehicle group USA-ALL, who offered a message for what he called radical environmental groups: "You guys that love rocks and trees more than human beings, you have awakened a sleeping giant. We are not going away. We've been way too easy on you. There is a new war in the western United States to take back our lands."

Someone should stick a sock in Mike Swenson. The idea that a dipshit like that pretends to speak for the offroad community irks the crap out of me.

[asdf]

Someone should stick a sock in Mike Swenson. The idea that a dipshit like that pretends to speak for the offroad community irks the crap out of me.

No joke

[Reedus]

He doesn't come off as a "compromising" individual with those words, but he resonates how I feel about it. Just needs to rephrase a tad.

[stefan]

Take Utah back from outlaw ORV riders
By Tom Patton
Salt Lake
Op/Ed
Tom Patton , a former ski resort professional, is now a freelance writer living in Salt Lake City.
He has ridden OHVs on Western public lands for more than 20 years.


I attended the recent Take Back Utah rally at the Utah Capitol, not so much to support the idea but to see what other off-road-vehicle users meant with this movement and to see if any concerns of mine might be addressed.

If ever there was a category of people who fit the remark "we have met the enemy and he is us," it is the ORV riders of Utah. The continued widespread abuse of public lands by ORV users could result in further restrictions unless immediate and firm measures of self control are put in place.

My guess is that the majority of the folks attending the rally care enough that they are, in fact, not the abusive riders, but those sorts certainly do exist. The increasing controls on ORV use is not a knee-jerk reaction by authorities succumbing to pressure from far away land-use advocates, it is rather a reflex reaction to the astounding destruction of resources verified by widespread studies.

Preliminary studies done by the Bureau of Land Management of virtually every resource unit showed both widespread resource damage by ORV use and a significant increase in conflicts between ORV users and all others.

Admittedly, even one of the increasingly larger and more powerful ORVs can cause a lot of destruction, but the land abuse is so widespread that it surely involves a fairly large number of riders.

The public lands abuse is not limited to BLM lands. Both the U.S. Forest Service and state School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration have also noted increasingly extensive damage to the lands they are charged with managing, especially during hunting season. SITLA recently asked the Grand County Council for assistance in managing parcels in the scenic LaSal Mountains outside of Moab, citing "rampant off-highway abuse."

It is likely that some of the restrictions and closures that have recently come about are because those challenged with management of public lands are overwhelmed. In fact the three agencies mentioned above, along with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, have formed the Natural Resources Coordinating Council to identify ways to manage rapidly expanding ORV use in the state, while protecting Utah's natural resources. On the NRCC Web site --http://www.utahohv.org -- there is a statement saying that continued irresponsible behavior will lead to further pressure to limit ORV use during hunting season, something many hunters are already pushing for.

Upon researching ORV clubs and other groups involved in either the rally or discussion of it, I found a universal tenet written into the by-laws or philosophies of both the clubs and the blog sites: responsible use of public lands. This is good, but more than lip service needs to happen, especially considering overwhelmed regulatory agencies now further impacted by the economic downturn.

Instead of fighting the regulatory agencies, let's "take back" Utah from the abusive elements of the ORV community. More (and more frequent) citizen patrols and taking the initiative to educate and advise abusers informally would help.

The history of the West is filled with stories of citizens working with authorities to corral outlaws; let's take our lands back from outlaw OHV riders.

[cachehiker]

Take Utah back from outlaw ORV riders

The backcountry of Utah was owned by backpackers, hikers, and horse packers long before the recreational vehicle lobby came on the scene. I've always wanted to take up rowing but thanks to them, there are very few large bodies of water around that aren't similarly overrun by the motorized community.

Long live Bonnie, Doc, Hayduke, and my personal favorite, Seldom Seen Smith.

[Rev. Coyote]

"We're God-fearing and gun clinging," said Mike Swenson of the off-highway vehicle group USA-ALL, who offered a message for what he called radical environmental groups: "You guys that love rocks and trees more than human beings, you have awakened a sleeping giant. We are not going away. We've been way too easy on you. There is a new war in the western United States to take back our lands."

Someone should stick a sock in Mike Swenson. The idea that a dipshit like that pretends to speak for the offroad community irks the crap out of me.

RedMan: I'm really glad to hear you say that. Between him and Mike Noel (sure you're familiar with him), the two give the offroad community a real black eye -- and most people outside Utah won't be able to make the distinction. The Paria Canyon protest ride was really stupid.

These guys do for the offroaders what PETA does for the Humane Society....

[JP]

Hey Rev! Lots of mods to the Dooge

[Rev. Coyote]

Hey Rev! Lots of mods to the Dooge

I've been off this site a while... Weird, I never go to Bogley when I'm in Utah.

SO: What's new on trucky? All I did this summer was replace U-joints and ball joints and tie rod ends after they all made their presence known in Long Canyon.

Hope yer well.

[RedMan]

Noel and Swenson might be singing from a similar Hymn book but there is no comparison.

[Wasatch Rebel]

The way I see it, there's gotta be a balance. Roads that have been roads for many years, should remain open for the most part. At the same time, wilderness needs to be preserved, and open-spaces left without tire tracks going through them. I personally prefer large tracts of land that no one can get to without a lot of physical effort. On the other hand, when my dad was old and crippled, it was nice that he could still experience the outdoors on his ATV.

There just needs to be a place for both off-roading and untouched wilderness.

[Rev. Coyote]

The way I see it, there's gotta be a balance. Roads that have been roads for many years, should remain open for the most part. At the same time, wilderness needs to be preserved, and open-spaces left without tire tracks going through them. I personally prefer large tracts of land that no one can get to without a lot of physical effort. On the other hand, when my dad was old and crippled, it was nice that he could still experience the outdoors on his ATV.

There just needs to be a place for both off-roading and untouched wilderness.

That's how most peoplle see it, I think. Unfortunately, there are some serious head-cases from the ORV side that have completely co-opted the conversation.

[BruteForce]

The way I see it, there's gotta be a balance. Roads that have been roads for many years, should remain open for the most part. At the same time, wilderness needs to be preserved, and open-spaces left without tire tracks going through them. I personally prefer large tracts of land that no one can get to without a lot of physical effort. On the other hand, when my dad was old and crippled, it was nice that he could still experience the outdoors on his ATV.

There just needs to be a place for both off-roading and untouched wilderness.

That's how most peoplle see it, I think. Unfortunately, there are some serious head-cases from the ORV side that have completely co-opted the conversation.

There are serious nuts on both sides of the issue.

I see Mountain Bikers destroying fencing and signs meant for ORV'ers (because they want the trail for themselves), I see idiot ORV'ers tearing up the sides of mountains and destroyed USFS/BLM signs indicating "No Motorized Vehicles" and I've seen folks on foot (hikers) bad mouth people on ATV's (even though they were hiking on an ATV designated trail).

Everybody just needs to mellow and follow the Golden Rule.

[RedMan]

The way I see it, there's gotta be a balance. Roads that have been roads for many years, should remain open for the most part. At the same time, wilderness needs to be preserved, and open-spaces left without tire tracks going through them. I personally prefer large tracts of land that no one can get to without a lot of physical effort. On the other hand, when my dad was old and crippled, it was nice that he could still experience the outdoors on his ATV.

There just needs to be a place for both off-roading and untouched wilderness.

That's how most peoplle see it, I think. Unfortunately, there are some serious head-cases from the ORV side that have completely co-opted the conversation.

You mean like the kind of head cases that would go out and throw roofing nails on a trail?

[Rev. Coyote]

The way I see it, there's gotta be a balance. Roads that have been roads for many years, should remain open for the most part. At the same time, wilderness needs to be preserved, and open-spaces left without tire tracks going through them. I personally prefer large tracts of land that no one can get to without a lot of physical effort. On the other hand, when my dad was old and crippled, it was nice that he could still experience the outdoors on his ATV.

There just needs to be a place for both off-roading and untouched wilderness.

That's how most peoplle see it, I think. Unfortunately, there are some serious head-cases from the ORV side that have completely co-opted the conversation.

You mean like the kind of head cases that would go out and throw roofing nails on a trail?

Only on illegal trails. Gotta have morals, you know.

[accadacca]

The way I see it, there's gotta be a balance. Roads that have been roads for many years, should remain open for the most part. At the same time, wilderness needs to be preserved, and open-spaces left without tire tracks going through them. I personally prefer large tracts of land that no one can get to without a lot of physical effort. On the other hand, when my dad was old and crippled, it was nice that he could still experience the outdoors on his ATV.

There just needs to be a place for both off-roading and untouched wilderness.

That's how most peoplle see it, I think. Unfortunately, there are some serious head-cases from the ORV side that have completely co-opted the conversation.

You mean like the kind of head cases that would go out and throw roofing nails on a trail?

Only on illegal trails. Gotta have morals, you know.

Classic.

[Wasatch Rebel]

The way I see it, there's gotta be a balance. Roads that have been roads for many years, should remain open for the most part. At the same time, wilderness needs to be preserved, and open-spaces left without tire tracks going through them. I personally prefer large tracts of land that no one can get to without a lot of physical effort. On the other hand, when my dad was old and crippled, it was nice that he could still experience the outdoors on his ATV.

There just needs to be a place for both off-roading and untouched wilderness.

That's how most peoplle see it, I think. Unfortunately, there are some serious head-cases from the ORV side that have completely co-opted the conversation.

You mean like the kind of head cases that would go out and throw roofing nails on a trail?

Only on illegal trails. Gotta have morals, you know.

Classic.

Maybe we could take the extremists from both sides, put them all in a cage match and the rest of us will go out and have a good time.

[Sombeech]

You mean like the kind of head cases that would go out and throw roofing nails on a trail?

Only on illegal trails. Gotta have morals, you know.

Rev = bringin' back the LOLz

welcome back you sunuvabitch