2012-2013 Officers: President: Terry, VP: Brian B, Treasurer: Don, Secretary: Paul E.
Meeting Time & Location: Every 2nd Tuesday at 7, Antonella’s Ristorante (patio area), 1701 Park Avenue, San Jose , CA 95126 (408) 279-4922.
Website http://www.gettinoff4x4.com/

7:00 pm. Buffet Dinner is $10 for Salad, Pasta, Pizza, Bread & Soft drinks, or order from the menu directly. To help Antonella’s cover the cost of hosting our meeting, members are encouraged to enjoy a dinner here.

7:30 pm. Meeting Start

WELCOME and Board Reports

President – Terry: Welcomed members & guests.
Vice President – Brian:
Treasurer – Don: Stated account has ~$500.
Secretary – Paul: Noted that Matt & I wrote our local congressmen stating the unilateral action of Obama using the Antiquities Act to declare new massive National Monunents in Utah are unfair and elitist (whoa!).
Members Attending (1 point): Aaron, Brad, Chris, Don, Eric, Joe, Lyle, Matt, Paul E, Randy, Roger, Ron, Terry.
Guests Visiting – Marco (again, welcome!)

GENERAL NEWS, ACTIONS & IDEAS

a) Brad got quote for cards to handout on the trail & whenrever we want to promo the club. 500 card ~$50; 1000 for ~$70 or thereabouts. The vendor he contacted has our best quality digital artwork & newest logo.
overthe next severl weeks we’llde cie what into to place on the card. To start, our website, at least. Suggestions needed.
b) In case you missed the email we have a few (blurry) shots of our Christmas dinner at http://4door4x4.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=36823966&AlbumKey=hGsH2C

VEHICLE PAINS & PROJECTS

Don – Cab filling with water with new rainfall. Asked for suggestions. I (ed.) had this problem too until my windshield was replaced a few years ago (was cracked). Check windshield seal.
Matt – Master cylinder issues.
Marco – New springs & shocks, adding about 2-3 (?) inches of lift. Excellent !
(Eric – though previously noted, we all look forward to seeing your new 35’s, flat fenders, etc.)

RECENT RUNS & ‘Chances to Lock Axles’

Any one go out in last few weeks & lock axles? You bet:

Jan 18: Hollister HIlls ! Great weather, not dusty or crowded. Attendees were Don, Terry, Marco, Rahul, Chris, Matt & Ron. Sound like all had a good time. No attempts at Truck Hill this time.

Feb ~1 to Feb 7: The King of the Hammers, Johnson Valley – Lyle and friends went to witness some awesome 4×4 racing (top speed: 130mph) & radical 4×4 crawling in the desert. They ran some of the less intense trails in the area before and after the main race on Friday. Plenty of U-tube video. Lyle reports there were fully crowds but well organized. 55K showed up to wheel, see the race, and check the vendor’s stands.

UPCOMING RUNS (2 points)

February 22 – Abit early for a Snow Run, at leat int he 5000-7000 ft elevation range, so proposed is the CB Tune-Up and Swap Meet. We all have a few new and used items to sell or swap, some have CB issues. Possible location is Calabasas RV, in the morning, about 9-Noon. Members with CB issues or stuff to sell or trade, email the club a few days before if possible.

March 11 – Club Meeting.

March 14,15,16. Panamint Valley / Barstow. Since Terry trot PV/DV is on-hold for a few years, an idea is try a mid-March desert run, with a chance of slightly better weather and wildflowers. There’s lots of trails south of PV to try for the first time and explore. Itinerary: Head for Ridgecrest Friday afternoon/evening & check in. For Saturday, run trails to the south such as Calico Hills & whatever we can find. Sunday wheel closer to Ridgecrest, wheel to Fish Canyon for lunch. Return to Ridgecrest & head home. Daylight savings starts March 9 so we’ll have a bit more light to work with.

March 22 -Snow Run, anyone? Statistically, this year anyway, there should be good snow to drive on. Wentworth Springs / Ice House Rd suggested.

April 26 Adopt-A-Trail – Sourgrass, Hwy 4.

May
June
July
August – BBQ Run: Aragain Rim, up Hwy 108 (proposed).

Future Run suggestions were places we’ve not been for a long time, and are not closed (as in Eldorado NF). Summer candidates are: Swamp Lake, Rubicon, Fordyce, Lassen Applegate, Barney Riley.

8:30 pm. Meeting end.

SAVING OUR TRAILS
(new this month in bold text)

Paraphrased from sharetrails.org, a.k.a. BRC. Good news that could have significant positive implications for Stanislaus NF Lawsuit:

1) “BILLINGS, MT (January 8, 2014) — Recreation groups are thrilled by a just-released Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the validity of the Custer National Forest’s Beartooth Ranger District Travel Management Plan….Despite the Plan’s numerous restrictions on long-existing motorized access, it was challenged in federal court by the Pryors Coalition…individuals…Wildlands CPR…Montana Wilderness Association, Audubon Society and Backcountry Horsemen. The Coalition’s suit was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull. The Coalition appealed, and heard in December 2013 before…the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals..includ[ing] retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Decision released January 7, 2014, affirming the district court and leaving the Travel Plan in place. http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/54-1-Memorandum_decision_01.07.14.pdf

“This decision has some strong and intriguing language, particularly on the hot topic of ‘minimizing’ impacts of vehicle use and the 40 year old Executive Orders from which that duty supposedly emanates,” noted Paul Turcke, an attorney for the recreation groups. “In candor, we have suffered a number of frustrating decisions at the district court level on the minimization issue. We hope that a circuit court decision, reflecting the intellect and wisdom of a retired Supreme Court Justice, might foreshadow a positive turn as our overburdened and under-budgeted Forest Service addresses the challenge of managing recreation on our public lands,”

2) Abbreviated from email sent Feb 7 “Utah access under attack”. See email for more detail.
Obama at his State of the Union Address, said he would use the Antiquities Act (like Clinton in 2000) to declare new, large National Monuments. In some respects this is not always a really bad, but when this happens, left-wing enviros & anti’s will then push for National PARK status, which often results the closure of decades open-to-the-public road & routes. Obama, Sally Jewel (our new Interior secretary) and many democrats want Obama to make new massive National Monuments in Utah, since the Republican-controlled house will not (good for them!).

I sent my congressman Mike Honda, an email about this, specific to abuse of the Antiquities Act, and the result of loss of public recreation lands and the rightful access them. Utah could be hit very hard by Obama’s Ant. Act. declarations this year or next. This means eventually Moab and many of the Red Rock lands around it. The immediate threat is the thousands of acres around Canyonlands National Park. Much could potentially closed to 4-wheeling, biking, hunting, camping, etc.

BRC has excellent background on this. Check out: http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/dispatch-from-hawthorne_Feb_2014_FINAL.pdf and,
http://www.sharetrails.org/public-lands/utah-land-use-legislation-threats-and-opportunities.

Excerpt from BRC: “…In their latest lawsuit, SUWA has teamed up with wealthy environmental heavy hitters including The Wilderness Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council. With characteristic bravado, SUWA predicts OHV travel plans in Utah will topple “like dominos in a line”…”. Those are fightin’ words!

Many congressmen have written Intr. Sec. Sally Jewel in support of new monument declarations: http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/Dem_letter_to_Jewell_on_more_Monuments.pdf. and Mike Honda is on the list. No surprise as he is a democrat and claims to be “pro-environment”. If you live in the Bay area your congressman is probably in the same boat. But if we do nothing, we’ll just get run over by the enviro-nannies.

Write a letter to your congressman in opposition to use of the Antiquities Act by Obama. Who is your congressman? Go to: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/CA, zoom into the Bay Area or wherever you are in California, and find your district #. Your congressman is listed on the left side of the page. The link will usually be http://(last name).house.gov/ .Once you locate your congressman, go to his/her web page and find a “Contact Me” link. Many congressman will only receive letters from their direct constituents, who live in their district.

SAMPLE LETTER: (please edit into your own words)

I am very concerned about Mr Obama’s threat to to take unilateral action to designate Federal lands into National Monuments using the Antiquities Act.

Though I am in favor of saving very special, unique public lands from massive urban or industrial development, the naming of new and large National Monuments by the president is wrong. Once designated, this action seems to compel the Interior Department to close-off public recreation access to the land by closing trails, roads, parking and other public facilities that have been available for responsible recreation for decades. It results in very little, if any, additional “protection” often unjustly sought by far-left environmentalists, who also often threaten the “sue & settle” tactic against our public land management agencies.

Once long-standing primitive trails & roads are closed due to a inappropriate Monument designation, it has the effect of only allowing an ‘elitist’-class of far-left environmentalists to access to these formerly open areas. For example, trail & road closures result in a de-facto KEPT OUT barrier to families with small children, seniors, elderly, and physically challenged, who now have no way to access back-country and remote areas. In addition to these special groups listed, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of average recreationists who love to visit the remote back-country are also denied their long-lived heritage of responsible enjoyment of these public lands. Rural businesses are unfairly affected, as local & visiting recreational users now ‘keep out’.

I urge you to re-consider and tell Mr Obama, to NOT designate any new, large National Monuments in the western States, and let local residents and stake-holders who actually live or visit there, including business, industry, recreationists, local & federal land managers and environmentalists, to decide by public consensus if any specific actions should be taken on these public lands.

Thank you & respectfully,
(your name)

3) A Calif judge in Sacramento upheld the “demurer” placed by attorneys from the state of CA (Kamela Harris’s office), which says that PEER/DPC do not have legal standing, as argued, to enforce the land management policies within Calif State Parks, OHV Division, Ocotillo Wells SVRA. CORVA was influential as an intervener in this ruling. PEER/DPC will probably appeal (I think they did already; ed.), so it’s not a 100% done deal yet. Update: As expected, PEER and DPC appealed the demurrer affirmed by District judge for Calif State PArks, OHV Div., that claimants have no legal jurisdiction in managing land decisions within Ocotillo Wells SVRA. See article at Cal4wheel.org.

4) In not so great news, federal judge said that Tahoe National Forest’s newly restrictive Travel Management Plan was legal, which closes 800 miles of existing routes there. This will be appealed by recreation groups, probably by CORVA and/or Cal4 and/or BRC.

Although these rulings may not seem to directly affect our favorite wheeling locations, they set legal precedence for potential future attacks on our favorite areas, such as Stanislaus & Eldorado NFs, Panamint and Hollister.