Post by medfordpiney on Aug 17, 2011 8:00:35 GMT -5
Skunks at the party
- by Dave Skinner
About mid-July, long-time BlueRibbon consultant and all-round swami Don Amador alerted riders to a new organization called "Sportsmen Ride Right" or SRR. Complete with a nifty new logo, a fresh new webpage, even a Facebook page to "like," SRR claims to be "Working to protect access and habitat through responsible OHV use."
So does BRC have a new ally that spontaneously combusted into being? Um, no.
Amador calls SRR a "Trojan Horse" strategy - as in "any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or space" - thanks for that, Wikipedia - and, as we'll show, Don nails it.
The Trojan Horse worked for the Greeks against the Trojans. The Greeks were lying their fannies off about their "gift." Trouble was, the town of Troy had enough useful idiots for the sham to work. The Trojans learned the hard-and-sharp way that beauty fades, and dumb is forever. The Greeks, and all their heirs, learned that idiots can be useful - and, if you're not an idiot, idiots can be useful to you!
Needless to say, after thousands of years, Trojan Horse stunts (and the useful idiots necessary for such schemes to work) are still with us. That's why we keep seeing, for example, Gunowners Against Guns, Ranchers who Really Love Wolves, and - right behind the Responsible Trails America sham, Sportsmen Ride Right.
The top post on SRR's Facebook page (set up July 15th) is "Don't let Congress ruin our priceless roadless backcountry. Roadless areas do not prohibit motorized travel [at least not yet!] and provide the best habitat for game and fish [except of course when it burns flat due to lack of management access]."
Therefore, you should: "Call your legislators today and tell them [not ask] to oppose HB 1581 and S 1087," - referring to two bills in Congress that would finally release Wilderness Study Areas not agency-recommended for wilderness back to multiple-use. The bills would affect 43 million acres that have been held in limbo, at least in part by, surprise surprise, Clinton's Roadless initiative.
The second Facebook post (actually the first by date) on the page declares: "Finally, the motorized sportsman has a voice in the debate over access and wild country." Um, I thought BRC had that covered? If you're a Facebooker -- take a look. You'll have to "like" the page to make comments. At one point, comments such as Chris Fewell's "This Page is a Scam!" dominated, but now - no comments are available.
Who else likes SRR's lame Facebook try? One of 30 who "like" SRR is Rob Mrowka - Ecologist/Conservation Advocate for the sue-crazy Center for Biological Diversity. Mrowka spent 28 years with the Forest Service, ending up as Supervisor of the Fishlake NF, and now works for CBD on "travel management."
What about the "real" Sportsmen Ride Right website? SRR claims to be "Working to protect access and habitat through responsible OHV use" - kinda like BRC "is dedicated to protecting responsible recreational access," right?
So, who is SRR? Well, according to http://lookup.ws; Sportsmen Ride Right (http://sportsmenrideright.org) was registered on June 15, 2011, through "New Dream Network LLC" in Brea, California. But the bottom of each SRR web page features Trout Unlimited's (TU) logo (linked to TU's home page), plus a series of links to various deceptively-worded SRR "positions."
One link is about funding - and here's a manipulative classic: "We believe strongly that money collected from OHV users in the form of registration fees should go right back to OHV programs. This includes safety and education, law enforcement, trail maintenance, restoration, and building." Registration fees....what about gas tax allocations? Not a word. Pretty good spin, eh? Their "Preserving Access" link shamelessly tries to hijack BRC's core mission: "First, we will work with public land management agencies to keep legal routes open." And that's just the first sentence.
Who "owns" this drivel? SRR presents only three names, two unusual, making Google-Fu almost too easy: Up first is Jim Jeffress, a retired Nevada Division of Wildlife biologist. His SRR article (The Birth of an ATV Convert) claims he "used to hate ATV's" and now "owns one and loves it." Jeffress volunteers for Friends of Nevada Wilderness and is a member of Nevada Wilderness Project (two partners: Campaign for America's Wilderness, the Wilderness Society; plus "supporters" like Pew, Wyss, Hewlett, and Tides foundations). He also signed up for "Sportsmen for Harry Reid."
Sure enough, Jeffress "works for Trout Unlimited's Sportsmen's Conservation Project," and as TU's employee, headed a Pine Forest WSA wilderness working group seeking new wilderness designations in Humboldt County, Nevada. A Field and Stream November 1, 2010, "Best Wild Places" blog posts notes that F&S deputy editor Jay Cassell and Greg Moore (Trout Unlimited's "communications specialist") spent "three days with Jeffress (TU's Nevada backcountry coordinator) examining the wilderness proposal."
Up next is Garrett VeneKlasen of "Sportsmen Ride Right New Mexico." SRR features VeneKlasen's "Confessions of an Off Road Outlaw," a 2009 column originally published by the environmentalist High Country News syndicate.
VeneKlasen has parlayed his column into at least one guest-lecture gig (at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies): "Topics covered include a close look into the mind set of off road users (both responsible riders and the outlaws) [...] quiet recreation vs OHV use [...] a nationwide support group of travel management advocates, forming alliances between the sporting community and environmentalists and a host of off-road related issues." He's eminently qualified on this topic, thanks to his Grizzly 700. VeneKlasen owns InterAngler LLC, a booking agency "specializing in exotic international angling adventures" that probably require jet planes, power boats and all sorts of other mechanized stuff to happen.
He's also President of New Mexico Backcountry Hunters and Anglers as of last December. He has attended New Mexico OHV Advisory board meetings, for example asking in February 2010 if overtime money was available for OHV enforcement programs. In his spare time, VeneKlasen managed to contribute "resource damage" photographs to Responsible Trails America's photo library.
Finally, in a June 3, 2011, Taos News opinion letter, writing as "an avid angler and hunter" (those code words again), VeneKlasen's tag line reads, "public lands coordinator for New Mexico Trout Unlimited." Imagine that!
These gentlemen are undoubtedly both paid poseurs for Trout Unlimited. But you don't have to be on TU's payroll to ride the Trojan horse - which brings us to the third "name" on SRR's site, Denver Post outdoors columnist Scott Willoughby. SRR featured his complete March 27, 2011, column about "controversial" HB-1264, failed Colorado legislation that would have street-legalized registered-and-insured quads under certain conditions. Willoughby happily "reported" Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers' Dave Lien's view that street-legalization would lead to, as Willoughby wrote, "uncontrolled access of surrounding public lands" -- but no rider advocates, say Jerry Abboud of COHVCO. A mere journalistic oversight? Nope. In 2007 he wrote a Post column entitled "Taking the high road vs. ATVs" in which he declares "I'm handing out the award for the worst invention of my lifetime to the all-terrain vehicle."
Feeling the love? Keep in mind that Willoughby succeeded the late Charlie Meyers as the Post's outdoors reporter - as Colorado TU so poignantly noted, "one of Charlie's last wishes was for mourners to make donations in his name to Colorado Trout Unlimited."
Now, Willoughby's entire copyrighted column was posted instead of a "fair use" link, and the Denver Post guards its copyrights fiercely. A reasonable presumption is that either Willoughby or the Post permitted its use by SRR. However, on August 8, we checked back and SRR's site no longer features Willoughby's column (Google still caches it). Inquiring minds wanted to know...we E-mailed Willoughby, the Post's copyright office, and Mr. VeneKlasen, asking for the record if permission was granted to SRR. Only Mr. Willoughby timely responded. First, he wrote: "Never heard from them," clarifying a minute later with "On second thought, maybe. If it's TU, they may have asked a while ago. I can't recall."
Um....our query did not mention TU, but thanks for clearing things up.
Now, even though the First Amendment duty of a reporter is to inform readers, do you think there's any chance in heck Willoughby (or for that matter, most any other "journalist") will ever "report" that SRR is Trout Unlimited's Trojan horse?
Neeeeeeigh....that's gonna be your job.
One final note: As we finished this article, we checked back on SRR's site, and Willoughby's feature was replaced by an item from "hunter and angler" Tom Reed, who is "Trout Unlimited's off-road vehicle coordinator and a backcountry coordinator in Montana," or "Director of Off-Road Vehicle Policy" depending on which TU page comes up. Another honest broker?
Neeeeeigh....plop.
MORE ON THE WEB
FROM DON'S BLOG
New Green Skunk at OHV Party - Old Trick from Tired Playbook
http://thegeneralsre...-old-trick.html
2009 Blog on OHV Skunk at the Party (a good history lesson)
http://thegeneralsre...k-at-party.html
TU's Sportsmen Ride Right Website
sportsmenrideright.org/
TL's Hunting Ethics
http://www.treadligh...ation-Tips.html
BRC's Policy on Hunting with OHVs
http://www.sharetrai...access/#hunting
BRC's Land Use Ethics
www.sharetrails.org/ethics/
TU on the Tellico OHV Area
http://www.wildsouth...closing-tellico
TU on the Nantahala NF
www.tu.org/pr...highway-vehicle
TU on the Tahoe NF
http://www.tucalifor...ke-sample-lette r
TU assault on access in Colorado
http://www.savethesa...ns%20011611.htm
- by Dave Skinner
About mid-July, long-time BlueRibbon consultant and all-round swami Don Amador alerted riders to a new organization called "Sportsmen Ride Right" or SRR. Complete with a nifty new logo, a fresh new webpage, even a Facebook page to "like," SRR claims to be "Working to protect access and habitat through responsible OHV use."
So does BRC have a new ally that spontaneously combusted into being? Um, no.
Amador calls SRR a "Trojan Horse" strategy - as in "any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or space" - thanks for that, Wikipedia - and, as we'll show, Don nails it.
The Trojan Horse worked for the Greeks against the Trojans. The Greeks were lying their fannies off about their "gift." Trouble was, the town of Troy had enough useful idiots for the sham to work. The Trojans learned the hard-and-sharp way that beauty fades, and dumb is forever. The Greeks, and all their heirs, learned that idiots can be useful - and, if you're not an idiot, idiots can be useful to you!
Needless to say, after thousands of years, Trojan Horse stunts (and the useful idiots necessary for such schemes to work) are still with us. That's why we keep seeing, for example, Gunowners Against Guns, Ranchers who Really Love Wolves, and - right behind the Responsible Trails America sham, Sportsmen Ride Right.
The top post on SRR's Facebook page (set up July 15th) is "Don't let Congress ruin our priceless roadless backcountry. Roadless areas do not prohibit motorized travel [at least not yet!] and provide the best habitat for game and fish [except of course when it burns flat due to lack of management access]."
Therefore, you should: "Call your legislators today and tell them [not ask] to oppose HB 1581 and S 1087," - referring to two bills in Congress that would finally release Wilderness Study Areas not agency-recommended for wilderness back to multiple-use. The bills would affect 43 million acres that have been held in limbo, at least in part by, surprise surprise, Clinton's Roadless initiative.
The second Facebook post (actually the first by date) on the page declares: "Finally, the motorized sportsman has a voice in the debate over access and wild country." Um, I thought BRC had that covered? If you're a Facebooker -- take a look. You'll have to "like" the page to make comments. At one point, comments such as Chris Fewell's "This Page is a Scam!" dominated, but now - no comments are available.
Who else likes SRR's lame Facebook try? One of 30 who "like" SRR is Rob Mrowka - Ecologist/Conservation Advocate for the sue-crazy Center for Biological Diversity. Mrowka spent 28 years with the Forest Service, ending up as Supervisor of the Fishlake NF, and now works for CBD on "travel management."
What about the "real" Sportsmen Ride Right website? SRR claims to be "Working to protect access and habitat through responsible OHV use" - kinda like BRC "is dedicated to protecting responsible recreational access," right?
So, who is SRR? Well, according to http://lookup.ws; Sportsmen Ride Right (http://sportsmenrideright.org) was registered on June 15, 2011, through "New Dream Network LLC" in Brea, California. But the bottom of each SRR web page features Trout Unlimited's (TU) logo (linked to TU's home page), plus a series of links to various deceptively-worded SRR "positions."
One link is about funding - and here's a manipulative classic: "We believe strongly that money collected from OHV users in the form of registration fees should go right back to OHV programs. This includes safety and education, law enforcement, trail maintenance, restoration, and building." Registration fees....what about gas tax allocations? Not a word. Pretty good spin, eh? Their "Preserving Access" link shamelessly tries to hijack BRC's core mission: "First, we will work with public land management agencies to keep legal routes open." And that's just the first sentence.
Who "owns" this drivel? SRR presents only three names, two unusual, making Google-Fu almost too easy: Up first is Jim Jeffress, a retired Nevada Division of Wildlife biologist. His SRR article (The Birth of an ATV Convert) claims he "used to hate ATV's" and now "owns one and loves it." Jeffress volunteers for Friends of Nevada Wilderness and is a member of Nevada Wilderness Project (two partners: Campaign for America's Wilderness, the Wilderness Society; plus "supporters" like Pew, Wyss, Hewlett, and Tides foundations). He also signed up for "Sportsmen for Harry Reid."
Sure enough, Jeffress "works for Trout Unlimited's Sportsmen's Conservation Project," and as TU's employee, headed a Pine Forest WSA wilderness working group seeking new wilderness designations in Humboldt County, Nevada. A Field and Stream November 1, 2010, "Best Wild Places" blog posts notes that F&S deputy editor Jay Cassell and Greg Moore (Trout Unlimited's "communications specialist") spent "three days with Jeffress (TU's Nevada backcountry coordinator) examining the wilderness proposal."
Up next is Garrett VeneKlasen of "Sportsmen Ride Right New Mexico." SRR features VeneKlasen's "Confessions of an Off Road Outlaw," a 2009 column originally published by the environmentalist High Country News syndicate.
VeneKlasen has parlayed his column into at least one guest-lecture gig (at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies): "Topics covered include a close look into the mind set of off road users (both responsible riders and the outlaws) [...] quiet recreation vs OHV use [...] a nationwide support group of travel management advocates, forming alliances between the sporting community and environmentalists and a host of off-road related issues." He's eminently qualified on this topic, thanks to his Grizzly 700. VeneKlasen owns InterAngler LLC, a booking agency "specializing in exotic international angling adventures" that probably require jet planes, power boats and all sorts of other mechanized stuff to happen.
He's also President of New Mexico Backcountry Hunters and Anglers as of last December. He has attended New Mexico OHV Advisory board meetings, for example asking in February 2010 if overtime money was available for OHV enforcement programs. In his spare time, VeneKlasen managed to contribute "resource damage" photographs to Responsible Trails America's photo library.
Finally, in a June 3, 2011, Taos News opinion letter, writing as "an avid angler and hunter" (those code words again), VeneKlasen's tag line reads, "public lands coordinator for New Mexico Trout Unlimited." Imagine that!
These gentlemen are undoubtedly both paid poseurs for Trout Unlimited. But you don't have to be on TU's payroll to ride the Trojan horse - which brings us to the third "name" on SRR's site, Denver Post outdoors columnist Scott Willoughby. SRR featured his complete March 27, 2011, column about "controversial" HB-1264, failed Colorado legislation that would have street-legalized registered-and-insured quads under certain conditions. Willoughby happily "reported" Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers' Dave Lien's view that street-legalization would lead to, as Willoughby wrote, "uncontrolled access of surrounding public lands" -- but no rider advocates, say Jerry Abboud of COHVCO. A mere journalistic oversight? Nope. In 2007 he wrote a Post column entitled "Taking the high road vs. ATVs" in which he declares "I'm handing out the award for the worst invention of my lifetime to the all-terrain vehicle."
Feeling the love? Keep in mind that Willoughby succeeded the late Charlie Meyers as the Post's outdoors reporter - as Colorado TU so poignantly noted, "one of Charlie's last wishes was for mourners to make donations in his name to Colorado Trout Unlimited."
Now, Willoughby's entire copyrighted column was posted instead of a "fair use" link, and the Denver Post guards its copyrights fiercely. A reasonable presumption is that either Willoughby or the Post permitted its use by SRR. However, on August 8, we checked back and SRR's site no longer features Willoughby's column (Google still caches it). Inquiring minds wanted to know...we E-mailed Willoughby, the Post's copyright office, and Mr. VeneKlasen, asking for the record if permission was granted to SRR. Only Mr. Willoughby timely responded. First, he wrote: "Never heard from them," clarifying a minute later with "On second thought, maybe. If it's TU, they may have asked a while ago. I can't recall."
Um....our query did not mention TU, but thanks for clearing things up.
Now, even though the First Amendment duty of a reporter is to inform readers, do you think there's any chance in heck Willoughby (or for that matter, most any other "journalist") will ever "report" that SRR is Trout Unlimited's Trojan horse?
Neeeeeeigh....that's gonna be your job.
One final note: As we finished this article, we checked back on SRR's site, and Willoughby's feature was replaced by an item from "hunter and angler" Tom Reed, who is "Trout Unlimited's off-road vehicle coordinator and a backcountry coordinator in Montana," or "Director of Off-Road Vehicle Policy" depending on which TU page comes up. Another honest broker?
Neeeeeigh....plop.
MORE ON THE WEB
FROM DON'S BLOG
New Green Skunk at OHV Party - Old Trick from Tired Playbook
http://thegeneralsre...-old-trick.html
2009 Blog on OHV Skunk at the Party (a good history lesson)
http://thegeneralsre...k-at-party.html
TU's Sportsmen Ride Right Website
sportsmenrideright.org/
TL's Hunting Ethics
http://www.treadligh...ation-Tips.html
BRC's Policy on Hunting with OHVs
http://www.sharetrai...access/#hunting
BRC's Land Use Ethics
www.sharetrails.org/ethics/
TU on the Tellico OHV Area
http://www.wildsouth...closing-tellico
TU on the Nantahala NF
www.tu.org/pr...highway-vehicle
TU on the Tahoe NF
http://www.tucalifor...ke-sample-lette r
TU assault on access in Colorado
http://www.savethesa...ns%20011611.htm