Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

RANGER DISTRICTS OF THE ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST ~ w Z W ..J U > U • Pearblossom Newhall • D i II [J By Ron Schneiders One of the most difficult questions facing people today is the question of land use. Each day the number of people increases, but the amount of land available stays the same. Thus each person's share becomes smaller and smaller. Not too far back the Indians owned the western United States. The entire population west of the Mississippi was probably' not much greater then than the population of Glendale today. Now we have people fighting over each acre. We motorcyclists need land to indulge in our favorite sport. Noland, no sport. Not very complicated. It is currently illegal to ride off-road motorcycles in the counties surrounding Los Angeles without permission in writing from the land owner. So now, proud owner of a Yamsuki 250 with ear-splitting expansion chamber and knobby tires, where do you ride? Well, if you're young and fit and have a fair amount of money you can ride competition. For the moment at least, organized competition is not being outlawed. But have you noticed that more and more people are showing up at each event? Were you one of the ones who recently paid several dollars for admission to a motocross park, several more dollars for an entry fee, waited an intermintable length of time only to be allowed to ride a mere 6 laps around a one mile course? Has it occurred to you that maybe some of the people glutting the motocross course would rather be riding somewhere else, if only there were a place ro ride? Could it possibly be in your interest to help in the search and fight for new places to ride? The situation is critical right now. There are many people who would like to see motorcyclists banned, or maybe even exterminated." We have a reputation for being loud, noisy, rude, crude and uncouth. These anti-m/c people 'are not great in number but they have severaI advantages over us. First is organization. Second is money. Third is energy. They aren't lazy. We can beat the first two advantages but I don't know about the third. One of the places where you can ride in Southern Califomia right now is the Angeles National Forest. Surprised? So was 1. But the entire forest with the exception of a National Wilderness area is open right now. That wilderness area comprises less than 5% of the area of the forest: The rest? There are just short of 700,000 acres of forest in the Angeles National Forest. That's.a lot of . riding room. But before you load your scooter and head for the forest, read the rest of this article. There are a 'few things you need to know. The U.S. Forest Service is charged with administering the National Forest with several goals in mind. - Most important, they must protect the forest. Neither we nor anyone else can be allowed to destroy the forest for fun or profit. So several areas of the forest are closed to the public during the most critical fire season. These areas-are along the southern face of the mountains. Proposal San Fernando • 2 3 4 Shaded areas represent approximate proposed area closures. immediately above the towns of ,Pasadena, La Crescenta, Upland" Pomona and such. They are closed from July lst until the area receives one inch of rain, which is usually about January. Right now they are all open. The fire closure areas aTe not static; as the situation changes, changes are made in the closure area. This year a large chunk of area was removed from closure because the forest service got some access roads and some fire stations in the area which, reduced the hazard. With the exception of the closure area and the wilderness area we can virtually ride where we want to in the Angeles National Forest. Of course there are some natural problems. The mountains in this area are incredibly steep and rugged. Many of the canyons are so steep that even hikers don't use them. And right now, much of the area is under a nice white blanket of very cold snow. For those of you unfamiliar with the phenomenon, traction in snow is chancy to say the least. And the trails are hard to spot, even when they aren't covered with snow. To help get around some of these problems, we at Cycle News are going to find trails and riding areas, locate them accurately and then publish directions and description~. We will devise some sort of a grading system so that hopef\llly we won't have people dying of either boredom or multiple injuries. Does that sound good to you? It should. because it means that within a few months or a year there will be a published network of trails and dirt roads for cyclists to ride that may total several thousand miles in all. These will be suitable for all grades of rider, from beginner to ace enduro star. The one fly in this ointmen't is that several interests might combine to get the forest closed to us before we ever get started. Like any other organization, the Forest Service responds to pressure, and right now they are being pressured to close the forest, particularly to motor vehicles. Chief organizations responsible for the pressure are the horseman groups and the Sierra Clubers. These two groups have a common policy, "Close the forests to everyone but us because we really enjoy nature and we don't do any harm." It's a short-sighted, stupid policy and the last part of it is a lie, but that is what's going down. There are three ways to fight. First of all, we must remove their ammunition. The chief complaint is that we destroy everything we come in contact with. They say we tear up the ground with our tires and pollute the air wi·th a ghastly din. By now you know one of the answers as well as I do. Spark arresters· and silencers. They are an absolute must. Get them on your own scooter and persuade your buddy to put one on his. After all, it's your land he's going to los.e. If he won't help, he's part of the problem. Secondly, learn about the soil you ride on. Dori't tear up virgin soil when there's a perfectly good trail or road a few yards away. Curb your urge for speed on wet or fragile ground. Pasadena Glendora There are over a million of us; if we each destroy one acre, where are our sons going to ride? Try to ride like an Indian would, leaving no trace of your path. Secondly, we must learn-to write to our legislators and Forest Service administrators and the like. We outnumber our adversaries 10 to I but we can never convince anyone of it for in the letter writing game they outnumber us by IOOO-to-one. Most of the people who have tried to help us think we're illiterate, or at the very least too poor to afford postage. Here's a suggestion for everyone who belongs to a club. Get someone in the club to track down important people. (M.O.R.E. or your local daily newspaper can be a big help.) We'll publish the address of a lot of them in Cycle News. Then make it a regular part of the club meeting to have each member of the club write letters righ t there on the spot to the people selected for that week. They don't have to be long, just something like, "Dear senator, What are you doing to help promote more riding areas for motorcyclists? Have you supported bill - - - - - ? If you don't, don't expect my vote next November. Yours truly" If the 100 AMA clubs in Southern California do this once a week for a period of one year, our legislators will get 300,000 letters from us. One hint: don't rely on anyone mailing the letter, even if he writes it during the meeting. Collect all the letters and have the secretary mail them. To start with write to: Mr. Art Dufault Public information officer Angeles. National Forest 1015 N. Lake Ave. Pasadena, Calif. 9 II 04 and: Mr. Thomas Neff Recreation Officer Angele~ National Forest 1015 N. Lake Ave. Pasadena, Calif. 9 I 104 Just tell these gentlemen that you would love to ride in the Angeles National Forest, if you just knew where to go, and assure them that you have no wish to destroy the forest. Mr. Dufault would love to help us if he had just a little backing. He even went so far as to seek out a pominent ma""zine editor, a man who is involved in setting up one of our national championship enduros; and asking him to help set up programs for cyclists and help get them involved. The man wasn't interested. He felt that there was still area north of Trona where we could ride, so the problem wasn't urgent. Art told me that the letters are what gets the action. If you don't write, don't bitch when there isn't any place to ride. On March 16, 17 and 18 there are going to be some public meetings held to determine the fate ,of the Angeles National Forest witl\ respect to motorized vehicles. Mr. Dufault has some maps drawn up representing various views. On each map he has an area painted red. That represents the area that will be closed to us permanently. On one map it just shows the wilderness area and some small areas where we presumably come in conflict with the horseman. On the next map; the southern two thirds of the map is red. Dufault thinks this is what they'll finally wind up with. "l\ft~r all," he says, "This forest had seven million visitors last year and very few of them were motorcyclists. And we don't get very many letters from cyclists asking about facilities." The next map shows the whole Eastern portion of the forest red. The last map shows the whole forest red. This last map represents the position of the Sierra Club. In the March meetings, everyone who is interested will have a chance to have his say. The horsemen will be there; the Sierra Clubbers wilI be there. The Forest Service will be there listening. Is anyone going to be there.to represent our side? I would like to think that the A.M.A. will be there and maybe a delegration from the M.LC. but why can't we have a delegate from each club? Or better yet, why not have each one of us show up to express our views? Or maybe, like the do-nothing editor, you think we don't need the Angeles Forest to ride in. I'm not going to tell you where the meetings are. Call Art Dufault and ask him. He'd like to hear from you, even on the telephone. His number is (213) 681-2631. And why doesn't someone propose that we ban horseman from the forest? After all, that's just as logical and there are a lot more of us than them. Garden Grove Leads Cities With New Minibike Park January 10, Garden Grove, Calif. became the first U.S. city on record to provide a place to ride for its citizens. Their new minibike park of only lY2-acre opened recently with 250 riders using the trails, for free, under supervision. The Mayor of Garden Grove stood in the middle of the new minibike park at 9301 Westminster Ave., opposite the Bolsa Grande High School and said. that the noise is no. louder than the freeway nearby. The park is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Other cities which would like to follow Garden Grove's lead by accommodating rather than arresting its law-abiding kids are urged to contact Garden Grove's Park and Recreation Dept. or Jr. Chamber of Commerce. Only an acre or so is needed to make a minibike park. Paren ts of the kids who were watchi~g from the sidelines were. overheard by Honda P.R. man Les White remarking, UNoW that the kids have a place to run, how about .us?;'

• Cover