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/125986
OUTDOOR
This is th e first colu mn of a planned
week ly series that will deal with
ou tdoo r recreat io n and the people that
organize and gov ern suc h activity.
Com ments and op inio ns regarding this
colu m n and its subjects are welcome
and should be addressed to Ms. Leslie
R ichards care of Cycle Ne ws West, P.O.
Box 4 98, Lo ng Beach, California 90801.
Ron Burpo's
BLM (plan
Three years ago bikers were saying
"Leave us alo ne. All we want to
do is ride." Farsighted " alarmists "
who wanted to coun te ract efforts
to cl ose down o ur desert were gre ete d
with cat calls, or worse, yawn s.
Last year , bi ke rs were shruggin g,
" wh a t's t he u se? We 're go ing to lose it
anyway !" Bu t , in the last th ree mon ths
ride rs have been aro used from th eir
a pa t h e t i c s l ee p. " Wh y d o es n ' t
s o m e b o d y do so me thing?" Bu t
so m ebody is doing something. In fact, a
whole lot of someb odi es are d oing a
grea t man y some things.
Take Ro n Burp o , for ex am p le. Ron
has been racing in the desert sin ce th e
early '60s, way b ack before BLM re d
tape began choking us . Four y ears ago
Ron s t a rt e d t h e D e s er t R acing
Associatio n. Th is is his livelihood every wee k he's in the des ert laying out
courses, watchin g the condit io n of areas
recently raced. He sees a lot more of th e
d es ert an d th e impact of off-ro ad
veh icles th an th e most avid weekend
racer.
So wh at 's he doin g abo ut it ? Well, for
on e th in g, it j us t might cost you an
extra doll ar t o ride his races on June I ,
15 an d 29. Ron is compili ng a list of
pub lic "servan ts" wh o really 'sho uld
know how we feel ab o ut lan d closu res.
He11 supply nam es and ad d resses, alo ng
with paper, pencils and envelop es. All
you ha ve to do is write a few sh ort
sentence s o r pay an ex tra dollar. " I
don 't want the mon ey ," he says. HI
want th em to writ e le tt ers. We've got to
let t hese people kn ow ho w we fee l."
Is th at all? No . The BLM is knee-dee p
in r ele a s es fr om en v iro nmen talist
gro u ps , all ex plaini n g how b ikers
pe r ma ne nt ly r u in every th ing they
touch... It 's n o t true, " w e say . " Wh ere's
yo ur eviden ce ?" say s th e BLM. There
are no fu nds fo r a com ple te study of
desert reco very speed , so it 's st iII our
w ord against theirs.
" Well, " sai d Ron, " if t he funds aren't
availab le fo r a comp lete stu d y , would
y ou lik e to come along next month an d
ri de throu gh some of these areas which
haven 't been used fo r a few ye ars? "
"Okay ," said a co uple o f ra ngers.
Next month two rangers will come
ou t fro m behind the mo untain of
pap erwor k and see th e Dove Sp rings ,
nort h Red Roc k Can yon an d Olanc ha
areas. The first tw o were heavily \ sed
fo r years , th en cl osed. Olancha was
ace d o n e tim e o nly , last Nove mber.
Ron himself is astounded at th e exte nt
of re covery - perhaps th e ran gers wiII
e also.
Not the sort o f st u ff o f wh ich
eadlines are made. J ust " so me b ody "
oing "so me th ing."
.
Leslie Richa rds
.
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Riders: See Your Beck/Am ley Dealer Soon.
Dealers: See Your Beck/Arnley Distributor listed below:
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548 Broo d Hollow Rd.
Meolville. Ll., NY. 117
46
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Inquiriesinvited : 213-353-873 7
Mark Char les Co .• PO Box 205 . Sunland. CA 91040
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Ilo