VOLUME 62 ISSUE 11 MARCH 18, 2025 P125
ground product-oriented instead of
the "planning being the product."
Just as with the Planning Rule
meeting in 2014, the current NWFP
amendment process had robust
participation by national and
regional motorized and non-motor
-
ized recreation groups—but it failed
to
follow the example of recog-
nizing that developed recreation
and transportation
are important
factors in programmatic land-man
-
agement-planning efforts.
I
believe the NWFP amendment
process continues to face some
serious hurdles or challenges due
to loss of institutional knowledge
and operational capacity because
of the ever-growing number of
retirements, endless litigation,
unfilled staff positions, and im
-
pacts to relationships because of
the agency's
"move to promote"
human resources' plan, conflicting
regulations that prevent substan
-
tive fire/fuel treatments, and most
recently the mass layoffs of its
boots-on-the-ground
workforce.
Despite the hard work of the
NWFP Amendment team, the trail
community would be naive to
overlook the fact that good words,
and even good intentions, have too
often failed to penetrate the bureau
-
cracy and reach the ground, particu-
larly for the recreation enthusiast.
O
f the four proposed action Alter-
natives laid out in the DEIS docu-
ment, I think at this time the options
are t
o either recommend the agency
create a hybrid Alternative that
incorporates best-management
practices from each, including the
recreation tenets in Alternative B.
Or pursue a supplement to the DEIS
that includes recreation/transporta
-
tion as a significant issue.
As
a last resort, the final option
would be to pull the plug on the
entire effort that, in my opinion,
would be wasting a lot of taxpayer
dollars and discounting the hard
work put in by the agency, RAC
members, and the public.
The one thing I am sure of is
that recreation partners must
remain engaged and continue to
occupy a seat at the table for the
foreseeable future. Sitting on the
sideline is not an option.
CN
Don Amador has been in the
trail advocacy and recreation
management profession for
over 34 years. Don is President
of Quiet Warrior Racing LLC.
Don serves as the Western
States Representative for the
Motorcycle Industry Council.
Don is Past President/CEO
and current board member of
the Post Wildfire OHV Recov-
ery Alliance. Don served as
a contractor to the BlueRib-
bon Coalition from 1996 until
June 2018. Don served on the
California Off-Highway Motor
Vehicle Recreation Commission
from 1994-2000. He has won
numerous awards including
being a 2016 Inductee into the
Off-Road Motorsports Hall of
Fame and the 2018 Friend of
the AMA Award. Don served as
the government affairs lead for
AMA District 36 in Northern
California from 2019-2023.
Don is a Co-Founder and
current Core-Team member
on FireScape Mendocino. Don
served as an AD Driver for the
FS North Zone Fire Cache dur-
ing the 2022, 2023, and 2024
wildfire seasons. Don is a con-
tributor to Dealernews Maga-
zine. Don writes from his home
in Cottonwood, California.
