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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125796
BLM WILL REQUIRE PERMITS
FOR OFF-ROAD EVENTS
Organized off-road vehicles events
involving 25 or more vehicles on public
lands administered by the U.S. Bureau
of Land Management will require a
special land use permit effective
immediately, BLM California State
Director J .R. Penny announced today.
"This' is an important step toward
management of this growing and
poten tially damaging use of the public
lands," Penny said.
"We believe off-road vehicle use is a
legitimate use of the public lands. But
like all other uses - such as mining,
timber,
grazing
or
non-vehicular
recreation, it must be a managed use in
order that it does not become a
destructive use.," he said.
Penny noted that there were 150
""en ts involving 60,000 motorcycles
representatives against all demands,
claims or liabilities resulting from
off-road vehicle events. The permittee is
required to mark the course, confine the
vehicles to it, and to clean up litter '!Jld
Tau te markers after an even t.
I!enny said the BLM district offices
will hold public meetings in the near
future to describe and discuss the new
procedures and seek assistance in
developing the fmal rules.
He described the requirement for
permits
as
one
step
toward
implemen tation
of guidelines
for
off-road vehicle use developed by BLM's
Off-Road Vehicle Advisory Council
(ORVAC) and this .year's Executive
Order 11644 in which President Nixon
mandated a ~rogram of management of
off-road vehiCh:s using the public lands.
ORVAC recommended - and the
executive order requjres - an inventory
and other ORVs on public domain lands
last year, the bulk of it on the California
Desert_ These events accounted for
800,000 visitor days of recreational use •
of the public lands.
The
BLM's district offices at
Riverside, Bakersfield, Folsom, Ukiah,
Redding and Susanville have been
instructed to require special land use
permits (SLUP's) for events competing
on a defmed course in off·road vehicles.
A standard $I 0 fee will be charged for
the permit, plus a rental fee for the use
of the land.
Sponsors of events will be required to
post a performance bond depending
upon the size of the even t and poten tial
damage to the land and resources, as
comprehensive
liability
well
as
insurance. The permitttee also shall
indemnify, defend and hold harmless
the Unlted States and its agencies or
OPINION
~• • • •~...~• •~• •~• •II!I••II~••IIII••III.~••••
By Charles Clayton • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
is more.
B.L.M. BARON DEMANDS $$
In
the
case
of
the
annual
TR IBUTE
Barstow-to-Las Vegas Hare 'n' Hound,
the Baron's take would be about
J . Russell Penny is the Baron of the
desert. His domain is the largest single
$30,000 in advance plus another $6,000
landholding in the U.S.A., butJ. Russell
or so at the finish of the race and the
Penny is not satisfied, for the army he
difference, if any, might be refunded to
commands is only a small one, so far.
the sponsoring club at the whim of the
Just a few thousand soldiers to rule over
BLM.
millions of acres. This same dilemma
Mind you, it is only a suggestion, so
faced the so-called Robber Barons of
far, but the phrase "recreation use fees"
the ancient Rhine River, who earned
appears nine times in the memorandum
their
nickname
for
ruthless
- enough to impel some zealous desert
money-grabbing the same way that
rangers to try demanding money from
Baron Penny proposes to raise cash for
surprised riders these past weekends.
the demands of his ambition.
What J. Rqssell Penny hopes to do
What the old Robber Barons did was
with the tariff treasure is pretty clear
stop any travelers on the Rhine who had
from his futile demands to the U.S.
·
to pass b y th elr castles. A cannon ball
Dept. 0 f '
Intenor th e past coup1e 0 I
M
k
across th e b ow usually di d th e tric' f or
.years. He wan ts more B L cops, wan ts
ships, while a traveler on land would
to buy guns for them, wan ts to raise any
merely find a knife pointed at him, Thearmy to protect his domain from
demand in either case was the same: a
"vandals, hippies and motorcyclists~"
We are reprinting the entire proposed
. certain percentage of any cargo you
were carrying, pius a utribute" - a few
vehicle land use perm.it memorandum so
pieces of gold. Then you were free to go
that reaQers may express their views to
on your way through the Baron's turf.
the Baron's boss, Secretary of the
In the modern version of this old
Interior,
C.
Roge.rs
Morton
in
hold-up, as outlined in a draft memo
Washington, D.C. What happened to the
from the State Director of the Bureau
old Robber Barons was they got so
of Land Management (Baron Penny),
greedy that the King had to go and kick
the "persuader" is a piece of paper
them out of their castles, putting an end
to the concept of a fee for public land
called Land Use Permit for Off-Road
Vehicle Events, and the tribute for safe
passage (robbery) until J. Russell Penny
passage is $10 per rider, in advance, or
brought it up agam.
1 am strongly suggesting that Mr.
10% of the whole operation, whichever
Complete 1972 line-up
on display at'
the VALLEY'S
LARGEST,
MOST EXPERIENCED
RICKMAN DEALER
KOLBECYCLESALES, INC.
22123 Ventura Blvd.
Woodland Hills (213) 348-7891
tlj1RI~~~~
250cc Low pipe
59 95 + tax
410cc Low pipe
of all public lands to identify areas of M
-use and non-use, adoption of guidelines I!l.
to implement existing regulations, and rf
an
extensive program of public N
information seeking to
gain the:;;
assistance of ORV users in maintaining the public lands.
~
The Off-Road Vehicle Advisory.;,
Council, appointed by Penny in 1969, J.
represen ts
a
wide
variety
of
conservation and user groups as well as ~
wildlife and law enforcemen t agencies. ~
Its 1970 report proposing guidelines for w
management of off-road 'vehicles bas ...J
been used widely throughout the nation ~
as a basis for ORV management.
U
"We hope funds will become available
in the fu ture to provide designated trails
and race courses, as well as other
fadlities, for the off-road vehicles,"
Penny said. "In the meantime, we must
strive for effective management with the
tools available to us."
MORE
POWER!
69 95 + tax
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