Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Guest editorial Green Stickie program progress The ' Califo rn ia ORV registration program has been o rr to '1 slow start and o nly a few vehid :s have been registered; there are abou t IV million vehicles whi ch may be 2 subject to registration, bu t only 150,000 have reg tered in th e is first tw o years o f j he program. Of this, abou t 12 8.000 renewals have been sent out by th e Department of Motor Veh icle s. T he rate o f re turns o n the rene wal s is a bou t wh at co uld normally be expected. exc ep t th at a number o f persons have resp onded to the re ne wals with a blast at the program a nd this Department fo r not providing land and facilities. All new r egistra tion p rogram s, suc h as the Bo at Regist ra t ion Program, whi ch started a few y ea rs ago , or even th e more re cent Environmental License Plat e Program . have started slowly. The typical user com plaint is th a t , (1) nothing has been pro vid ed. and (2) he is being closed o ff e ve rywhe re he turns. It is true th at th e Department h as found it very difficult t o do any thing m eaningful with suc h a limited amount o f money availab le, a nd there has b een a tendenc y for users not to dis criminate between the land m anagemen t agencies whi ch have be en responsible for the repressive policies. In our working :--:ith the other agencies, we have foun~ cin es , co un ties, state and federal agencIes and individuals who ha ve been negatively incl inded towards ORVs. On the other hand. we have also found so m e who are willing and ab le to do their best on behalf of th e ORV users. There are some persons who are simply opposed to al l ORV usage. The C ali f orni a En vironmental Quality.. Act presents us with some problems in justifyi ng projects. We feel we ca n work with th e present law an d we have experience in e valuati n g the pr oje ct impacts o n the en vironment, The locatio n of an ORV use ar ea presents a problem somewhat similar to the location o f a prison o r a garbage dump. No one reall y d oubts the need fo r suc h a facili ty; h owever, the difficulty co m es wh en a specific re commendation is made. So far t he OHV Fund has re ceived so m e $ 1.5 mill ion. Up to o ne-half of this money is id entifi ed in the Law as being a vai la bl e as grants to local agencies. Th e hi gh co st o f land has been the single m os t important problem th a t we have faced in lo cating a sui ta b le loc ati o n fo r ac quisition . We d o not clai m t o be experts on kno wing o f al l areas that are desirable for ORV us age. We have lo ca t ed a few desirable areas , but we have not d eveloped a full lis tin g o f possible a reas tha t the Depa rtment mi ght want to consid er fo! ORV usage. Perhaps th e most likely sit e lo cated is so m e 2 ,500 acres o f land n ear Littler oc k. T h is land. between th e Cal ifornia Aqueduct an d the An geles National Forest (where the Forest is open for ORV usage). was once ve ry popul ar with th e motorc ycl ists. It was closed. a p par e n tly d ue to co m plain ts by lo cal peopl e. We are co nsi de ring th is as a ca nd ida te pr oject for use o f the S l.5 million alloca ted by Dir ector Mo tt to be used for ORV projec ts. u tilizing the St at e Beach . Park. Recr eat ional and IIis to rical Facili ties Fund of 19 i4 . Th e ac tual cost of acquisition . may be as much as 52 .5 million . Because o f the uniq u e terrain a nd the limited en viron me n tal val ues here and th e poten tial wh ich may ex ist f~>r riding o n to the adjacent Forest Service lands. th is ma y be th e best project ye t. S PECI A L N OTE : If o u r pri c e s look high er, you re right. W e d id not raise our M i kun i K it p rices l o r four years. bu t becau se the cost o f evervthing has gon e u p so m uc h . we 've had to adju st o u r price to y o u . We h ope y o u w ill und erst and We would sincerely b e interested if your read ership has some pet projects th ey would like to recommend. S ~ch reco mme nd a tions should b e areas which offer va riet y of t errain an d wh ich can ha ve at least some mi ni mal development at a r e a s on able expense. Land o wnership should be la rge enoug h to be useful. and sho uld be in a limited number of o w nershi ps so as to make ac q u i s itio n more re aso nable. Any suggest ions on this lin e would be most welcom e and should pref erabl y be accompanied by some ty pe of mapping an d othe r inform ation to clearly identify the land or site proposed . One o f the b righ t spots in our fu ndi ng picture has been t he little know n gasoline tax tra ns fers under th e Ch appie-Gregorio Ga s Tax Act. In 1973, th e Off-Highway Veh icl e ' Fund received $2 0 1,0 0 0, based on gas tax paid on fu el consu m ed in green st ic ker vehicl es. In 19 74 , t he Departm ent is hop ing to receiv e perh aps 55 0 0 .0 0 0 from this sa m e sourc e. In ad d it io n , in 19 75. we will be gin receiv ing gas tax .tra nsf'e rs , based upon stre et-lice nsed veh icles .used in the sa m e manner as gre e n sticker veh icles. There is a study p resently being d one b y the Depar tme n t of T ransporta tio n wher e they will a~ te m pt to d etermin e how much off-hi gh way rec rea t io n usage is o ccurring wi th street-licensed vehi cles. Th is was noted in you r Papa Weal ey colu m n several wee ks ago. Event ual ly these gas tax transfers m a y be t he major so u rce of m oney available t o th e OHV Fund. T he Le g is l a t ur e ha s clearly recogn ize d th e ORV as a m eans of rec rea tio n wh ich is d eserving of fair and eq ui tabl e consid eration. There have been a n u mber of bills passed whic h have laid th e ba ckground for th is pr ogr am. The sta te will be into th e firs t st at e-owned p roject funded b y the OHV Fund within the ne xt se veral m onths. Senator Grunsky put through a sp ec ial bill a u th o rizi ng the Department of Parks . an d Recreation to acquire the Hollister Hills Motor cycle Playground (Harris Ran ch ). This first p roject is in northern California. We would have preferred to go into southern Ca lifornia fir st . However, Howard Harris cam e to us, indicating that he, for reasons o f health. had t o sell the property and he preferred to see it continued as a n ORV area for the general public. We a~e delighted to have it a nd hope to have It in oper ation soon. The o th er bright spot has been the lo cal grant program . T o date. we have ap p ro priati o n for grants to the County o f Orange, th e City o f Marysville . and th e Cit y o f Davis. We also have an a p p r o p ria t io n of $ 3 0 , 0 00 fo r sn o wmob ile signs and mapping. We h ave received gra nt a p plica tio ns for o ver $750, 000 worth of gran ts to local agencies, to be sUb m itt: d to th e Legislature in the up commg budget. H op efu ll y . we will be able to recommend a ll of these projec ts a nd get this loc al portion of the Fund in to ac tion to start d o ing the users so me good . We are not prepared a t this moment to announce o ur south ern California proj ect. 1 th in k it wi ll b e at Littleroc k ; however, we have so m e bases to touch with the Forest Service and with the County , t o make sure th at this is a reasonable project. As soon as 1 can , 1 will let y o u know about this sit e. 1 read my Cycle News each week, and in add itio n to the Motocross Cat, I kn ow th at you have supported th is p rogram very so lidl y a nd that support is very much ap p reciat ed . 1 realize th at the Department must m ov e , an d quickl y , in so u th ern Cali fornia. in o rd er to j ustify the su p po r t we have already re ceived, and the future of this whole program rests on how well we can bring th is off. We sim ply have t o co me forward wit h an excelle nt project. . tf you ride a HUSky, CZ or Penton . .. ' there's a Valerian 's Mikuni Carburetor Conversion Kit for yo u. Our kits are tes ted . They wo rk .They fit. We have foun d they substanti ally Improve gas mil eage. hors epower and to rq ue . Valerians M ikun i kits redu ce loading up . Ease startups. An d g ive more coc ib intv, . They come with a complete range of Jets good fr om sea level to 8,000 fee t. They can be bolted on in less than an hour :' They look li ke they're fact ory-in stalled. Order a whol e kit and kabood le. Or just the parts you need . (I nc luding our ve ry own man ifo ld kits .) . . J ust fill ou t and mail the cou pon bel ow Or giv e us a ca ll at (2 13) 475-4541. 958 J1.) o ...... u o " S pectatmsta uanon In s t r uction s Will b e In clud ed f or Kit s 17 18 & 19 KIT .:; , 2 3 4 5 DE SCRIPTIO N 250CZ 32mm 250 CZ 34mm 360-400 CZ 34mm 360· 400 CZ 36mm PRICE $75 95 S8 1 9 5 SB1 9 5 $6695 577 95 $8095 5 77 95 5779!> S8095 $77 95 58095 $80 95 5 77 95 ~8095 250 H uSio.y 3 2 to rep tace 32 2So-Husky 3410 re nt ace 36 250 H usk y 32 to ropraco 36 360 H usk y 3210 re pl

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