From:
http://rubicontrail.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2000516%3ABlogPost%3A3390
Virtual on-line Rally to be Held by 4x4 Enthusiasts Off Highway
Vehicle
enthusiasts organize to hold first ever online rally over trail
closures
In a landmark event, thousands of Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) users
across the
world will participate in a online, Virtual Rally to voice their
concerns
over a popular OHV area in Southern California. On Wednesday March
12th,
2008 Pirate4x4.com, a leading website for the OHV community, will hold
this
rally from 2 to 6 PM PST.
The Hammers trail system in Johnson Valley, California is being
considered
for requisition to expand the United States Marine Corps training
facilities, which would effectively eliminate public access to Johnson
Valley's unrivaled OHV Mecca.
Virtual Rally participants will be asked to post their experiences,
photos
and history recreating with their families in the Johnson Valley Area,
and
the concerns they have with losing this unique recreational resource.
These
comments will be posted and tracked in bulletin-board format, with a
goal of
creating a lasting record of how im****tant this unassuming stretch of
desert
is to a vast number of people from many places -- some who visit
Johnson
Valley multiple times a year, and others who just dream of the
op****tunity
of visiting the Hammers in the future. Interested parties are
encouraged to
attend the rally and read the thread, as this is a public rally, you
do not
need to be a member of Pirate4x4.com to read what is posted.
Families and clubs have recreated in this area for many years with
OHV's,
and competitive rock crawling, rock racing, motorcycling, and ATV
events
have been held there for more than a decade, with significant rewards
for
the area economy. In February, the famed "King of the Hammers" annual
rock
race crowned its king.
The Bureau of Land Management currently manages the Johnson Valley's
varied
landscape of steep red rocky mountains, rolling hills, open valleys,
dry
lake beds, dunes, and sandy washes. The main attraction for most
visitors is
family OHV recreation: trail-rides, competitive racing events, and
general
OHV free play. Johnson Valley sees hundreds of thousands of recreation
days
with users motorcycling, ATVing, 4x4ing, rallycrossing, camping,
hiking,
rock-hounding, and wildlife-watching.
"It is ironic that the BLM has OHV users recreate responsibly by
staying on
marked trails and not having campfires at certain times of the year,
but now
they sell the same area to the Marines who will tear all over the area
and
conduct live fire drills", said Todd Ockert, The United Four Wheel
Drive
Association Director of Environmental Affairs.
The link for the rally on Wednesday, March 12th will be
http://www.pirate4x4.com/jv
More Land Use information is available at
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=85
# # #
If you would like more information on this topic, or to schedule an
interview with Kurt Schneider the Pirate4x4 Land Use Officer
From:
http://rubicontrail.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2000516%3ABlogPost%3A3390
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