Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125851
/ . ) J.C. Agajanian The Desert Symposium: presents ...... ...... IOO-lap TT Lotsacreosote, n bikers 'o By John Ulrich , LOS A NGELES, CAL. , MARCH 9 at The Third Annual Sierra Club Desert Symposiu m was held to day at USC with a noticeab le absence o f invited motorcyclists. There were, however, presentatio ns by represen tatives of both the Califo rnia Of f-Road Vehicle Assoc ia t io n (CO RVA) and the Sunday, March 24 2PM California Association of Fo ur Whee l Drive Clubs, Inc. (CA4 WD). The symposium was lo o ked fo rw ar d to as a fo ru m of dis cuss io n between preservatio nists and off-ro aders, but it di d n 't tu rn 'o u t quite that w ay . Attendance was kept down to abo u t 13 0 p eo ple by d ifficu lty in fin din g gaso lin e in urban areas ove r the weekend. On ly a very small h an dful of bikers sh ow ed up, m ostl y D-37 officia ls (tw o ) and Cycle News rep o rter (one). Hot shots fro m t he BLM tu rned out in force, and Sierra Club Ex ecutive Director Mike McClosky d elivered th e key no te ad dress. McClos ky spoke of th e gas crisis so mewha t favo rably because it " lessen ed the onslaught, " as h e refer red to recrea t io nal u se of th e d esert. He did ac k now led ge th at re creational hiker s ( a n d Sierra C l ubbers) cause environmental damage as we ll as ORV enth usiasts, w h ich is a step forward . He advoca ted a middle gro und and an end to "extre m ist" views. but the m ain trend of his talk was simp ly saying "come agr ee with us. " He care fully avoi ded any men ti o n o f th e Sierra Club's legal effo rts to h alt ORV use o f the op en d e s ert un til sp ecifi c enviro nm en ta l use impact state me n ts ar e finis h ed, a process w hi ch would sab o ta ge the BLM ORV Man agemen t Plan and tak e, acc o rd ing to BLM State Dire ctor J.R. Penny, " four t o t en y ears. n Ray Moon, Conserv a tion Direct o r o f th e California Asso ciation of Four Gary Scott defend ing champion AMA Regional Championship Race Expert only Here's part of the "onslaught" of people having fun in the desert. Sure looks crim inal, doesn 't it? $3000 purse 33 of the nation's best pro riders start on America's most exacting cou rse. 2 semi mains Pit gate opens: Prac: Front gate opens: . : Qualifying: 1st race: 10:30 a.m. 11 :30 12 noon 12:30 p.rn, 2 p.m. 100 laps featured Adults 13-17 9·12 8 & under 18300 Vermont, Gardena (213) 321 -1160 & 323·9610 12 $4.50 2.50 1.00 FREE This cou~se-ribboned Creosote (Greasewood) branch was displayed at the Symposium as an example of the disastrous effects of course marking on desert plants. Wonder which hurt more . . .the biker tying on the ribbon or the Sierra Clubber breaking off the branch to show at the Symposium? It all just blows us away . . . Whee l Drive Clu bs, l nc. , (which is n ow und e r progressive new lead ersh ip ) presen ted a slide show ex p lain ing the position of h is group, a co nglo merate of ove r 165 fo ur wheel drive clu bs . In that presentation , the club came off as being so aware of co nservat ion th at it was in credib le. Moon's reaso nab le a nsw ers to q ue stio ns we re as to undi ng considering his showing at la st year's Desert Sy mposi u m . He attributed his harder st ance at that meeting to "stra tegy: ' Bob Ha m of CORYA had a fine show relati ng t o d u ;' e buggy u se. Although CORVA represents all phases of ORV interest, Ham lim ited his remarks to buggies beca use others were to cover other aspects. His slide show promoted q uestio ns ab ou t lo ng-t erm impact research fro m George Barnes, Sierra Club O RV impact specialist. Ham replied th a t if th e Sierra Clu b would give h im a grant, h e w ould be happ y to find th e answers fo r Barn es. T he Sie rr a Club pre sentat io ns were inf orm ative , if pred ictable. So me fascin atin g th ings ab o ut t he d esert co m p lex ity w er e being p resen t ed for abso rp tio n , along with a few sta rtli n g bits o f · hearsay and snak e-oi l h o me rem ed y recipes co nco ct ed fro m desert plants. Sierr a Club re acti on was largelv alo ng the lin es of a d esire to "educat e" ORY pe ople t o the corr ect nes s of Sierra Club view s. Moon w as invited out to t he deser t by Miri am Ro mero to learn all about the te rrito rial imperative an d other ceo -t h ings. In the mean time. twenty-year desert foll o w er Bob Hayes (M.O. R. E.) no d ded a nd quietly spoke in the back of the room about w ha t th e cu rr en t crop of yo ung ecologists d idn't know ab o ut d esert use. T he greatest detraction fro m the meeting was t he fail ure of Ro n Sloan of t h e AMA to sho w u p for t he presentation o n m o torcy cles a nd th e envi ro nme nt th at he was sched uled to give . T he officia l re aso n was t ha t Sloan ha d t he flu . ORV insid ers presen t t o ld a differ ent st o ry, claimi ng that Sloan backed o ut at- th e last m oment be cause h e d ecid ed not to "help his enemies," since he fel t the Sierra Club is his " en em y ." T he result? No spokesman fo r b ikes , wh ich generally got th e short en d of t he sti ck in discussions with Sierra Clubbers . A ll in a ll , n oth in g d ram atic hap p ened . But may be it was a start. If eve rybody ca n d ro p th e jiv ing ne x t year, it mi ght w ork. •