Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ r ... .... '" III ~ .... > 3 .., '" ~ w z w .... tJ > tJ INSIDE THE SIERRA CLUB: PART 4 Regional Leadership, ORV Task Force, Relations with 4WD Representatives, and the Average Dude by John D. Ulrich In this series we have already looked at the Sierra Club from several angles, and in this part we look at the view of regional leaders. Joe Edmiston, member of the Southern California Regional Conservation Commi ttee and the Off Road Vehicle Task Force, both sub-organizations of the Sierra Club, talks about the Task Force and his view of ORV problems. Larry Moss, Sierra Club Southern California Representative addresses himself to the Sierra Club view of the yell-and-scream tactics of 4WD representatives, who are supposed to be working as liaisons in an effort to reach an ORV solution, but who actually are hurting the overall ORV cause. Last but not least, Joe Average Sierra Clubber and J oc Average Biker are compared. In a visit to Sierra Club Regional Headquarters in Los Angeles, I started out by asking Edmiston what exactly the Sierra Club Off Road Vehicle Task Force was. He replied, ''The ORV Task Force was established jointly by the two Sierra Club bodies in California, the Northern California and the Southern California Regional Conservation Committees. It is composed of people who are volunteers, and essentially experts in the field of ORV use. It coordinates the work regarding ORVs among the other various subcommittees, such as the Desert Subcommittee, the State Parks Subcommittee, and the regional groups the Club has, like Angeles Chapter, San Diego Chapter. That is essentially what the function of the task force is." I next asked if the ORV Task Force had any activities that dirC:ctly affect ORV usc at this time. "Actually," said Edmiston, "only indirectly in the sense that the Task Force is primarily responSIble for the presentation of testimony before governmental agencies dealing with ORV usc. It is representing the Club before governmental agencies." What about the rumors that the Task Force, or other subdivisions of the Sierra Club, take down route markers and sabotage ORV competition events? ul've never heard of that sort of thing," answered Edmiston, "and I would liJj:e to sec any documentation the ORV people have on that. There is enough havoc created without someone taking down route markers. We don't have to resort to that. (As far as Sierra Club activities designed to disrupt ORV events, there are) none whatsoever." What about the idea of setting up a compromise with ORV interests on just what land would and would not be open to ORV use? "The Sierra Club is not a land managing agency. I can't stress that too much. The BLM doesn't come to us and say 'Where would you like ORVs and where would you like them restricted?' The Bureau essentially sits there and people come to it. The government agencies make the decisions, not the Sierra Club. Reading the (motorcycle) publications, you would thin k we were making the decisions. We have no governmental authority whatever. Anybody can go to the Bureau of Land Management, just as the Sierra Club can, walk into the state director's office, put down his papers on his desk, and say, 'Here, this is what we wan t!' There was a group called Off Road Vehicle Advisory Council which did exactly that (set up a round table discussion). It had a representative from the Sierra Club, from the stockmen, from the sheepmen, about five ORV groups. They made some recommendations to the BLM. Some of them were adopted, some were not." "That's the government's way of putting everybody off. They say, 'Well ["me, we'll hold as many meetings as you want to hold" we'U all get together, write up a lot of reports, spend a lot of the taxpayer's money, and nothing will happen.' And that's precisely what has happened. We have no objection to attending another meeting. We attend meetings all the time. We'll attend another meeting with anybody you want to bring, anytime, anywhere, anyplace, except it doesn't do any good. We don't make the land management decisions. The governme.n t agencies do. The idea that the Sierra Club can sit down and make the decisions is ridiculous unless you bring the govemment agencies in." Edmiston went on to say that an AMA rep had visited a meeting of the Desert Conservation Subcommittee, and that "I don't think the Sierra Club has been particularly inacceSSIble to the people. We resent people who give us catcalls when we attend public hearings. They essentially have no interest in a reasonable approach. We don't think too much can be gained by that. But if anyone has a reasonable approach we certainly listen. I'U give you the time and place of our next couple of meetings so you can send your representatives if you want to. N'ot all off road vehicles are bad, and not all off road people are bad, that's a valid point. " I asked Edmiston for a closing statement addressed to all you ORV freaks out there. ''The club has never taken a position against either the vehicles or the users, but merely we think they should be restricted in certain areas as to where they can go. This is a very crucial point, one that is lost many times by cycle people: The Sierra Club was THE force that put in to the Beilenson act of 19 7I, SB 2 72, the provision that the state shall acquire motorized vehicle recreation areas. These arc areas of low vegetative value that can be terrain suitable for ORV use. Also in 197 I the legislature adopted the Chappie-Z'berg Off Highway Vehicle Law, with the SI5 sticker fcc. The ORV enthusiasts have not paid into the sticker fcc, and until they do, they can't expect the state to acquire lands. The Sierra Club has testified before the state legislature saying that we are in favor of the establishment of motorized vehicle areas solely for these ORV users. Every time the response from the enthusiasts is 'why do we need to do that when we've got these other areas, we'll just take them instead of setting others aside?'We think that is the unreasonable position on the part of the vehicle users. Why won't they pay the fcc and get their lands in return?" "The Sierra Club is defmitely in - favor of setting aside these areas. That way we won't conflict, there won't be any conflict in the usc of these lands." Edmiston went on to say that the Club favors the Fort Irwin military areas be turned over to unrestricted ORV usc as part of Nixon's military base phase-out program. When you get right down to it, working with the Sierra Club is not "worse than death", as some misguided ORV spokesmen would tell you. It can be done. I t must be done. I next spoke with Larry Moss, Sierra Club Southern California Representative and a prominen t Sierra Club spokesman published numerous times in papers including The Los Angeles Times. I spoke to him because of the hate mail I have been receiving from representatives of the California Outdoor Recreation League and The California Association of 4WD Club, Inc. These people favor their method of dealing with ~e Sierra Club to mine. Where I favor diplomacy and a reasonable approach with respect for the Sierra Club viewpoin t, they favor yelling and screaming. A t least that was my opinion. I decided to ask Moss what kind of effective dialog these people had set up with the Sierra Club to work towards a solu tion to the land usc conflict. "There really isn't much dialog," said Moss. ''They don't know much about general land laws." I then became more specific, asking him what his experiences with HiJdamae Voght and the California Ou tdoor Recreation League were like. On her stationery, Mrs. Voght has printed, "Responsible people working for multiple usc of public land". My own experience was that Mrs. Voght's idea of "multiple usc" is unrestricted ORV use everywhere, anytime. Funny thing, the men who write "multiple usc" bills, like Senator Alan Cranston and Congressman Barry Goldwater Jr., seem to think that multiple use includes hikers,' and Goldwater is a biker! But back to Moss and the Sierra Club. "They don't have much understanding of public land laws. They are not particularly sane, said Moss. There it is. These people, just as I have said ovex and over, do not know the meaning of diplomacy. They just wan t to yell and shou t and tum off everybody but their cohorts. They accomplish nothing, and reach no middle ground with the Sierra Club. They wish to remain at the end of a long hallway, yelling "We wantit all" at the other people who have an in terest in the desert, not wanting a fali share, but the whole pic instead. What about Ray Moon of the California Association of 4WD Clubs, Inc.? Said Moss, "He's pretty rabid." It Again, the very man who is supposed to be working with the Club is just an tagonizing them. Some public relations! Kind of like President Johnson bombing North Viemam. It didn't end American involvemen t. Now look at the average Sierra Clubber. He is united with his fellow Clubbers when he signs his application that "I have informed myself about the purposes of the Sierra Club and wish to support them". He plunks down $20 and joins the multitudes dedicated "to explore, enjoy, and preserve" on an intellectual and physical level. He has a coherent picture of what the Sierra Club and he arc working for. Strong leadership, healthy fmances, excellent legal staff, great political power based from a struggle started in 1892 by John Muir. The Average Joe Sierra Clubber has organization in a big way. Now check out the average biker. What has be in common with his fellows? He bought a motorcycle. It;s almost like trying to fmd a common thread through all the VW owners. There isn't any. No common goals, none of the committrnent of hard cash to uthe struggle", no common dedication, no coherent common picture of what it is all abou t. Ask Joe Average Biker about the land usc conflict. Chances arc he'll yeIJ and holler and call names in an uneducated fj t, because he is not dedicated on an intellectual level to fmd out what is happening. No strong common leadership, factional disputes, no fmances, no common legal staff, little political punch accumulated since 1965, the big boom year for bikes. The Average Joe Biker has organization in no way. Now look at this: Walt Disney Productions. Money by the millions, great legal staff, established as "good" since the birth of Mickey Mouse, strong central leadership. Now ask yourself, what is now in Mineral King? Not what the Disney Millions wanted, not a plastic Ski Resort and freeway approach. Who stopped the Disney dudes? The Sierra Club did. Why? Disney wouldn't deal, Disney wouldn't listen. The Sierra Cluh, as evident in this series, will deal. The rabid ORV reps arc wrong in every way, and will be snuffed out if they continue on their course. We must acknowledge Sierra Club concerns and live with them if they will ever acknowledge our concerns and live with us. They are open to reason, and will listen. If you talk to them without yeJJing and screaming, you will sec for yourself. The time for reason is NOW! This is the last article in the formal "Inside the Sierra Club" series. There will be a postscript article soon, however, as a Honda TL-125 and I visi t Sierra Clubbers in a demostration that Sierra Clubbers and motorcycles can be mixed without explosions. Any ORV representative with a sane viewpoint is invited to attend, and should contact me through Cycle News for dates and places. For responses to this article. see p. 41.

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