Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.• • . • 101 E o IIdllorla. _ _ _....... 11. 1... 111 . . 1_ I11III CZ owners: haw we "., " Milnad earlJuretor By John D. Ulrich "The Sierra Club is a bunch of old men who stay inside all day and read books. They never even use the desert, and just want to keep Valerian's. The original Mikuni carburetor conversion kit for Huskys and CZs. And the only one that really works! The kit that improves efficiency. torQue characteristics and fuel consumption. Stops loading up. Eases startups. And gives more docibility. l-o V .0 S V The1kitthat comes with a complete range of jets good from sea level to 8,OOO~ :> o Z everyone else from using it." "Anyone who gets his kicks ripping up the land and running over plants is a barbarian." The kit you can boll on in less than an hour. The custom-designed kit that looks like iI's "factory installed:' 1::3L ....".'-_._'.·.... Order a whole kit and kaboodle. or just . the parts you need. (Including our very own manifold kits.) Call (213) 475-4541 today. Or mail the coupon. These two quotes, the first from a member of the California Off-Road Vehicle Association, the second from a Sierra Club member, and the misunderstandings behind them are representative of the conflict over use of Bureau of Land Management California Desert lands that has exploded into what bas been called a "recreational ----------------------------Pnce $54.95 .. . •.. 58.95 ,.. •• SO.95 72,50 5 250 Husl(y - 32mm 10 replK'l 32mm . , 61.95 6250 Husky - 34mm 10 replace J6mm ......• 65.95 7 250 Huskv - 32mm 10 repllCe 36mm. . 61.85 8 Huskv - 32mm to replKe 32mm 61.95 KIT DftCl"iplion - Type tsize 1 2'50 CZ - 32mm . .., 2 2SO CZ - 34mm ..... ..• 3 360-400 CZ - 34mm .360-400 CZ - 36mm , Kit OesClIp1ion - Typt/Slze Pnce 65.95 g J60 Hulky - 34mm 10 replKe 36mm .. . 10 J60 Hulky - 32mm 10 rePIKe 36mm 65.95 11 400 Hulky - 34mm to r&p6Ke 32mm ....•.• 65.£15 12400 Husky - 34mm 10 reptac:e 36mm 65.95 13250 Hu.y MJ - 32mm 63.95 14250 Hulky MJ - 34mm ...•..•..•.••.••. 66.95 15400 Hulky MJ - 34mm .•.•.•..•....•. 65.95 16450 Hultty MJ - 34mm ..•..••.••....... 65.95 17 125 Penton - 32mm 54.95 range war." The conflict started over opposing policy stands taken by the 80,000 California member Sierra Club, and organized groups representing 31,000 of the estimated two million off·road vehicle enthusiaits in California. The Sierra Club ORV policy, adopted in February 1972, states "The operation of ORVs should be presumed to be detrimen tal to .... areas and should be prohibited on aU public lands unle.. proven otherwise..." Robert E. Ham, Vice President of the 6,000 member California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA) and Southern California Land Use Director for the 11,000 member Motorcycle Owners, Riders, and Enthusiasts (M.O.R.E.), expressed the basic ORV enthusiast group policy at his Pasadena home August 27. Pointing to a BLM map of the California Desert, he said, "Let's paint the entire desert red (symbolizing areas open to ORV use), and then have the Sierra Club come in and prove which areas should not be •All prICeS plus shIppinG and handl,I'G CalIfornia reSIdents adO 5" sales lall Please stolP ChargelP COO = NAME _ ADDRESS BanMmefICard:: Mastercharge- _ .,-;~'~ Ii\\ VU~l • ~":'""---Z1P-'use atea COde) ~w~~c~!~v!:!!~~!"· Los Angeles. Califomis 90064 - Telephone: (213) 475..541 open." CMC SANCTION WITH THE BEST P.O. BOX 1402 14 T M __ 'RANGE WAR! .itfor~! C\I ._ _ . .'........'"'.......11"....................... --., ~:~~::~~ 445 S. Victory Blvd. Iurbonlt, Co. 91502 ~ = ~:£l:llAA.Ii!tltQllllj~~~i.il!i:.J:C~ The adoption of either of those policies would cause at least a two year "set back" for the opposing viewpoint. According to BLM solicitor Burton Stanley, two years js the time it would take to conduct the "true environmental impact statement" needed to make determination of land use along the "closed until studied and opened in pieces" or "open until studied and closed in pieces" line of thought. BLM Associate Director George Turcott discounted both positions in a Washington interview on August 30. "If we were to take the ex treme polarized side that all lands are closed until (studied and) opened, there is no way that this Bureau could poWbly police such a thing, or carry out such a policy. On the other hand we have the other extreme, open until (studied and) closed. If that means open to all kinds of use that is not proper or managed, we can't buy that extreme either. We're (the BLM) right in the middle. We're trying to come down with some procedures and some policies that make common sense. As for the extremism on both lides - no way!" The conflicts only start with what Turcott callcd "cxtrcmc" policies. Sierra Club member Mabel Bames related to the Sierra Club Desert Symposium held at the University of California's Riverside campus last June 9 that she felt "indignant" when she discovered motorcycle tire tread imprints on her favorite hiking trail. This is a case of a conservationist refusing to acknowledge and respect the recreational activities and values of OR V enthusiasts. ORV enthusiasts James and Mary Millen, in a letter to Motorcycle WulUy prin ted in the November 12 issue, scoff at the concerns of conservationists. Writing about a fossil oyster reef in the desert, they ask "Who'd want It?" and "Why protect it?" Just like Ms. Bames, the Millens are refusing to acknowledge and respect the concerns and values of another viewpoint...in this case, that of the conservationist. It gets worse from there. In a letter to Cycle News printed in the July 10 issue, Hildamae Voght, Executive Secretary of the 9,000 member California Outdoor Recreation League (CORL), wrote "motorcyclists should get to know their enemies, and we can assure you...the first among their enemies is the Sierra Club." Quoted in Cycle News of July 17, Sierra Club Southern California Representative Larry Moss responds by saying Mrs. Voght doesn't "have much understanding of public land laws," and her group is "not particularly sane." In the same issue of Cycle News, the 5,000 member California Association of F our Wheel Drive Club representative Ray Moon writes "L.have talked with the Sierra Club, and have received a sore throat for my efforts." Moss counters by saying Moon is "pretty rabid." An estimated three thousand off-road vehicle enthusiasts demonstrated in front of the &verside Bureau of Land Management office Oc.tober 13 to protest "closure" of the desert. The Volkswagen one participan t arrived in bore large signs announcing a positive correlation between Communism and the Sierra CI'lb. At a Sierra Club Desert Conse,rvation Subcommittee meeting September 18, many members cheered when a motorcycle brought to the meeting for a demonstration of an effective muffler would not start. "That's the kind I recommend," jeered Coastal Coordinator Joe Edmiston. Bob Ham's motorhome sported a giant banner at the Riverside demons tra ti on men tioned above. "Sierra Club Go Take A Hike" it screamed in two foot high letters. A young Sierra Club member attending the Desert Symposium turns to one of her peers and asks, "lsn't there any way we can keep those terrible motorcycles and jeeps out of the desert?" Other signs on Ham's motorhome ridicule the idea that the desert is anything other than a barren wasteland, which is in essence ridiculing the particular concerns of conservationists in this area. Parts of the Sierra Club official policy supporting "f"mdings" are heavy with the implication that somehow ORV enthusiasts are more prone to acts of vandalism, littering, and poUuting water and air than other recreational users of public lands. Attempts by the BLM to bring together the Sierra Club and ORV groups to discuss differences and advise the Bureau were not successful. Ham, Moon, Voght, and other ORV group leaders accuse the Sierra Club of backing out on agreements made at Off-Road Vehicle Advisory Council (OR VAC) meetings. While. one of the two Sierra Club representatives on the committee agrees with thal viewpoint, Edmiston of the Sierra Club maintains that Sierra Club representatives were not authorized to "make deals" with OR V interests, and that the club never agreed to be bound by majority dccisions. The problems arise from people refusing to acknowledge and respect the concerns and values of others. The problems were not solved when the

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