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Post by devilstoy on Nov 30, 2011 15:10:00 GMT -5
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Post by devilstoy on Nov 30, 2011 20:01:39 GMT -5
heres some other article also , wich is very true
I’m on the East Coast! Why should I care?
IF YOU WHEEL ON THE EAST COAST,
you’re most likely driving on private land
or at a private 4x4 park because of the lack
of “public” lands. Why should you care
about route closures on public lands out
West? Why should you join our land-use
organizations, write letters or participate
in campaigns to save places that you may
never wheel? Does the loss of those areas
even affect you?
To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi and publicly
display my Start Wars nerdy-ness, “You
and the wheelers out West form a symbiotic
circle. What happens to one of you will affect
the other. You must understand this.”
About 55% of the property in the West
is managed by the federal government. In
Nevada, almost 85% of the state is federally
(publicly) owned. These lands are managed
either through the blm, the Forest
Service, the National Park system, or the
military. Statistically, there are many more
ohv enthusiasts on the West coast because
there are a lot more places to wheel out
West. Because of this, it translates to more
customers for companies to sell product.
Yet even with these vast areas of public
lands, our access to them is quickly
shrinking. In Eldorado National Forest,
home of the famous Rubicon trail, all dirt
routes are closed during the winter. If I
am not going to get stuck in snow or mud,
why do I need a Warn winch? If we lose
Johnson Valley in Southern California, do
people in that area really need to buy 40-
inch tall tires? Why do I need a 4:1 Atlas
transfer case if there are no “hardcore”
trails left in my area?
As we lose trails, especially in the West
where there are so many more potential
ohv customers, demand for 4x4 products
goes down. That brings down the supply
of those products, and raises the cost. It
lessens the amount of research and development
for new products. Companies will
begin to offer fewer products and some
of them will close shop forever. An entire
lifestyle will disappear. This will happen
on both coasts. All we’ll have left is “pavement
princesses” to drive and our hardcore
wheeling will be at the local mall.
When we see trends toward new delivery
methods in media (like streaming video
that has crushed companies like Blockbuster
and downloadable music that has made
tapes and cds a thing of the past) we have
to remember that some losses are signs of
progress. However, when we lose trails, we
lose a lot more. We lose our offroad heritage.
We lose our offroad future. If you want
offroading to avoid being another rotary
dial phone or vcr, get involved. If you don’t
it may become just as extinct.
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