Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

WAShiNGTON, DisCLOSEd "Government, local and federal, has turned its eyes toward every aspect of motorcycling and clasped its hands around our Local media interview the Phantom Duck of the Desert. Louis McKey. BlM releases final proposed desert plan By Dale Brown LOS ANGELES. CA, SEPT. 30 The Bureau of Land Management released the final Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Plan for the California Delen Conservation Area in a Los Angeles press conference presided over by BLM Director Frank Gregg and California State Director James Ruch. Off·road vehicle users did not fare well in the plan. with 498.000 acres. or 4.1 % of the COCA included in Class "I," the intensive·use classification. Twenty-seven percent of the COCA's Ill. 1 million acres were placed in Class M, where vehicle use is allowed on existing routes, unless they are posted as closed. Nearly half of the COCA, 49%. has been placed in Class L, where vehicle use is permitted only on existing routes marked as open to use. Wilderness areas, or Class C, where no vehicle use is allowed. accounts for 17.1% of the desen. Of the 498,000 acres in Class I, 485,000 are listed as open to motorized vehicle use according to the plan's table ll-D-2. The plan amounts to 23.000 acres less than under current management. On hand to picket the press conference, held at the Greater Los Angeles Press Club. were Phantom Duck of the Desen, Louis McKey, and Pat Gochnaur, wife of Rick "Thumper Freak" Gochnaur. In a position paper handed to members of the press, the Duck charged that "Now the Bureau of Land Management is going to cram a desen plan down the public's throat. The proposed plan is not representative of the input given to the BLM by the public. The plan is designed to protect the land in a fashion drafted by the BLM. The BLM feels it has an obligation to the land, DOt to the people of the United States." As far as competitive events are concerned, they "will be allowed in Multiple.Use Class M and I areas and may be permitted to cross some Class L areas on 'approved routes of travel. ..' Conditions for the latter may include controlled situations such as DO passing. speed limits and maintained roads, and the length of such routes "will be a key factor in determining use." As far as dry lake and sand dune systems are concerned, the proposed plan leaves Silurian Dry Lake. EI Mirage Dry Lake, Soggy Dry Lake. Melville Dry Lake and Means Dry Lake open, as well as Dumont Dunes. Imperial (Algodones) Sand Dunes is listed as "openl closed. " The budget for implementing the plan goes from $6.5 million for fISCal year 1981, to $115 million for fISCal years 1986-90. As part of the implementation, the BLM's Riverside District will be expanded to cover all of the COCA lands, where before some lands were under the jurisdiction of the Bakersfield district. The new district. called the California Desen District, begins operation Oct. 5 and will be headed by current Riverside District Manager Gerald E. Hillier. The public has 30 days to review the plan from Sept. 30. Following the public comment. a final version of the plan will be presented to Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus for his signature on Dec. 8. It seems liltely at this point in time, that one or more groups may go to coun as early as Dec. 9 to get an injunction halting the plan. For a copy of the plan, call or write the Desert District office at Box 5555, Riverside. CA 92517, 7141787·1462. During the press conference accompanying release of the plan, both Gregg and Ruch commented that they expected that neither the environ· menta1Jsts or the off·road·vehicle users would be completely happy with the plan. But in commenting on a question regarding the Duck's charges, COCA Advisory Council member Bill Lane mapped, "The off·roaden ought to be damned pappy they got as much as they did." • freedom. It has meddled with the way a dealer conducts business, influenced the insurance we can buy. and regulated the noise we make. the speeds we go and the clothes we wear." The above words are those of Ed Youngblood, director of AMA's Government Relations Department, and come at the beginning of a speech Ed likes to give on why motorcylists should get invovled to ensure a bright future for their sport. While many of us may not even consider that the future may indeed be bleak as we ride serenely into the sunset on calm Sunday afternoon, no doubt, many of us also have a rather benign attitude toward the process of government. Let me enlighten those who do with a few reflections on motorcycle regulations that threaten to blow a few black clouds across that serene sunset. Despite widespread criticism in not only the motorcycling press. but general consumer publications, Pennsylvania Congressman Robert Walker in· tends to push his bill to establish a federal strike force to track·down and prosecute "outlaw" motorcyclists next session. After checIr.ing with other congressional staffs, both Democrat and Republican, I've found that most think Walker is, to quote, "a jerk." His resolution has compounded that sentiment in Congress. and may have led to California Congressman Barry Goldwater, Jr.·s withdrawal of support of H.Con.Res. 220 - which seems like a pertinent thing to do before the Nov. 4 election. EPA's noise regulations will be forth· coming shortly. Regardless of the fact that most motorcycle manufacturers are already in compliance with the prescribed decibel levels in the regs, the agency will issue them because it wants bike makers to label their products accordingly - at a cost of millions of dollars to the consumer. The California Wilderness bill, which passed the House a shon time ago. has not been considered by the Senate committee yet. In all probability. it won't be this session. However. speaking to a number of staffers in the California delegation, I've learned that what Phil Burton wants, Phil Burton gets. Which means that whatever form the bill is passed by the Senate next year. come time for a joint Senatel House conference committee, Burton will be ready to pull his usual "steam roller" routine. In addition. the BLM seems to have every intention of continuing to keep the public's land from the public. The final form of the California Desert Plan should be out by the time you read this column. Last. but not least, Joan Claybrook still heads the NHSTA and may continue to do so if Jimmy Carter is reelected. These are but a few of the initiatives now under way that will effect your right to ride. Now consider that last year state legislatures dealt with over 900 bills dealing with motorcycles. Shouldn't you have something to say about all this? During the 19605 and 19705 many consumer and industry groups formed organizations to serve as watch dogs for their interests. "Our problem was that we were not one of those special interest groups," says AMA's Youngblood. "So while we were involved in our own little world other special interests were giving Congress a facelift." Youngblood adds. "Our voice was absent." Our voice. fellow cyclists, should be a bsent no longer. First. realize that growing government intervention in motorcycling must be seen in a larger context. It is indic",tive of the paternalistic attitude evolv· ing within our government. Bureaucrats who came into power during the first wave of Nadarism do not have faith in those they regulate - instead they subscribe to a school of tho.ught used in more extreme ways by Benito Mussolini and other fascist dictatorships. It is, quite simply, that the people are not smart enough to handle their own affairs. Thus, big brother will do so for them (so. in our case, we can continue to ride serenely into various sunsets as long as we follow certain pre-mapped routes and conduct ourselves within the regulatory framework metted out by the government). With this in mind, blows against the empire ensuing from the motorcycling community no longer seem as meaningless as some would think. Power comes and goes. but the people are always a constant factor to be taken into account by those in government. And when a group of people are able to consolidate their demands and goals they can no longer be ignored. This point has been proven time and rime again, even within our own field. Witness AMA's and ABATE's success in repealing mandatory helmet laws. Nonetheless, these organizations are powerless without widespread sup' port from motorcyclists. Let's begin to excercise some of our power. Go out and vote this November. If you don't like the California Wilderness bill. vote out those legislators who crafted that legislation. If you live in Congressman Walker's district, vote him out. too. The key is to be aware of the issues, organize and vote. The industry is beginning to realize that without a political voice, it will be swallowed by the bureaucracy. This year AMA's Government Relations Depart. ment was budgeted with $350.000. And. motorcyclists have finally formed a political action committee to con· tribute to those candidates who will represent our views. Yet, we cannot sit back and let AMA do all the work for us. We cannot let a few helmet law repeals allow us to feel that the job is done. If Congress and the administering bureaucracy determine that a certain sector of society is apathetic about government's dealings with it, government leaders then assume they have a free hand in passing legislation and promuJgating regulations affecting that sector. Motorcyclists are already feeling the devastating effects of a government unresponsive to their needs. It is time to pull in the reigns. However, Ed Youngblood can put it better than I considering the great scholar he is (the man studied Milton in collegel). so here's his feelings on the subject: "While we are battling the short-term problems during the coming decade, we must devise long-· term solutions. We must battle with bureaucrats while we improve our visibility within Congress, the body which creates bureaucrats. We must change the face of Congress. We must devote ourselves in the 1980s to using the very techniques that our opponents of the 1960s executed so effectively." • JimZoia o 00 ~ 3

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