Website: http://www.gettinoff4x4.com . We meet monthly, every 2nd Tuesday in the patio area at Antonella’s Ristorante, 1701 Park Avenue, San Jose , CA 95126 (408) 279-4922. Park on Naglee Ave or in the parking lot across from the restaurant. Meeting minutes are distributed a few days after each club meeting.
7:00 PM – BUFFET DINNER: Salad, Pasta, Pizza, Bread & Soft drinks ($10). Attendees are encouraged to enjoy the buffet dinner or order from the menu to help Antonella’s recover the cost of using the patio area.
7:30 PM – Meeting start
WELCOME and BOARD REPORTS
President – Terry:
Vice President – Brian:
Treasurer – Don: Will be unable to attend. Contact Don directly, by group mail for club Patches/Stickers for next meeting.
Secretary – Paul:
Members Attending –
Brand New Members this month –
Guests Attending –
NEWS, ACTIONS & IDEAS
1) Stanislaus Nat’l Forest to have ranger to speak with all Adopt-A-Trail clubs. Terry said the FS will meet with board member(s) and/or attending members at a nearby FS office or at the trailhead. Our trail is in the Sourgrass Recreation Area (aka “Rattlesnake Creek Road” route, 5N02R).
2) We are updating the the members list. If you joined in the the last year or two, or need to update old data, Don our treasurer says: “Gang…the Board is working to create an updated listing of members’ phone numbers, cities of residence, and of course being sure your current email address is, uh, current. Feel free to email me the pertinent data (you may use my personal email of merman1983@hotmail.com, and I will update our records. Your info remains in strictest confidence; only the King of Nigeria shares my data….”
3) Board Nominations are Tonight and Elections are held in May. You may nominate yourself, and it may require a 2nd (I think). Great way to ‘step up to the plate’ and contribute to the club’s continued success.
VEHICLE PAINS & PROJECTS, STUFF FOR SALE
RECENT RUNS & ‘CHANCES TO LOCK AXLES’
1) March 12 – Snow Run II – Just when Terry was about to call off the upcoming snow run due to a lack of snow, we were saved with a series of storms coming through the area. The meeting place was the same as in Jan, 9:30 a.m. in Placerville. Exit # 44B to Forney Road, Meet at the ARCO station. And were invited to spend Sat night in Tahoe if you wished. Was Terry, Alberto, Eric, Jon, Stan, Alberto, and a few others possibly. Trip report tonight.
UPCOMING RUNS
1) April 23 – Hollister Hills II – 2nd chance for those who didn’t make it last time.
2) April 19 to 24 – MOAB! Grant is heading to Moab for Easter Jeep Safari with some folks from Currie Enterprises. All are welcome join in. Details to follow. Via US 50 in Nevada.
3) May 14 – Adopt-A-Trail. This time one of the Stanislaus rangers wants to meet the club (I won’t miss this, ed.). Hwy 4 protocol: Meet at Arco in Tracy off of Grant Line Road at 7:30am, Angels Camp Burger King at 9:30am, or the Sourgrass trailhead about 11am.
4) May 21 – Hollister Hills – Club members (& future members) are invited to attend CORVA’s Annual Meeting at HH. Starts at 9:30 am, ends Saturday afternoon. More info: http://www.corva.org/event-2195212. Corva normally meets in central or southern Calif so this is a unique opportunity.
5) May 27-30 Cal 4 Wheel Hi Desert Round-Up; SLASH X Resort, South of Barstow. Runs & signup: http://cal4wheel.com/hi-desert-run-descriptions
8:15 PM – Meeting adjourns
If there are any corrections, clarifications or updates, please chime-in. If you are an active member your name should be on this list:
Aaron, Alicia, Brad, Brian, Chris W, Chris S, Dimas, Don, Eric, Gary, Genna, Jon, Joe, Lyle, Marco, Mario, Matt, Michael, Paul E, Paul H, Rahul, Randy, Roger, Ron, Steve, Terry, Tom K, Tom W.
Campfire Permits are available at http://www.preventwildfireca.org/Campfire-Permit/ for fires at developed & undeveloped camping spots. You must also check with the current local forest rules-in-force also.
Paul
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SAVING OUR TRAILS
Updates and New info in BOLD type. If you have new information feel free to send out an update. Though some are several months old, they are still active projects waiting for an official decision or completion.
0) Amador High Country Routes Project – Eldorado National Forest. Details in the meeting minutes later this week.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=47470&exp=overview &
https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public/DownloadCommentFile?dmdId=FSPLT3_2998114
1) Even though Eldorado NF promised to repair and re-open these routes to the public, these SNC people never give up (or like to carry a big “chip on their shoulder”) http://www.sierranevadaconservation.org/action-alert-meadows-in-jeopardy-again/. Anyway, keep writing Eldorado NF in support of these trails:
1) 17E24 “Carson Emigrant Trail”
2) 16E26 “Hungaleti Ridge Trail”
3) 17E28 “Long Valley Trail”
4) 16E27 (10N21) “Long Canyon 4WD Trail”
5) 19E01 (09N83) “Clover Valley/Deer Valley Trail”
6) 17E73 (10N13) “Strawberry 4WD Trail”
7) 09N01 “Blue Lakes/Meadow Lake Road”
(among several others, see http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd492205.pdf)
Send an email to coswald@fs.fed.us to (nicely) tell them you want these long established forest routes re-opened to the public sometime this year. Or snail mail: Cindy Oswald, Eldorado National Forest, 100 Forni Road, Placerville, CA 95667.
2) Plumas National Forest lawsuit. (for details see previous editions of “Saving Our Trails” and go to Corva.org) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jN3Xdy0CKM&feature=youtu.be and http://www.corva.org/FS.Lawsuit Court hearing in San Francisco was to be Feb 8-12 but postponed. Maybe Pirate4x4 will have latest info (?)
4) Tahoe Nat’l Forest Lawsuit – Groups of OHVer’s sued Tahoe Nat’l Forest for not considering or evaluating 90% of user created routes (about 800 miles) for consideration into the official designated route system. Tahoe Nat’l Forest declined to include all but about 100 miles. The judges ruled in favor of the Tahoe Nat’l Forest. This was a big blow to the OHV community. More info at http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/land-use-issues/1773161-need-help-tahoe-group-lawsuit-3.html
5) California Desert: OBAMA & FEINSTEIN have indeed FULFILLED their THREAT and Made UNILATERAL EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATIONS and created new NATIONAL MONUMENTS. This could close several OHV routes. Info:
CORVA: http://www.corva.org
CAL4: http://cal4wheel.com/access-issues/southern-california-access-issues/647-feinstein-to-host-public-meeting-on-proposed-desert-monument-designations
Action Link: http://cqrcengage.com/cal4wheel/app/onestep-write-a-letter?11&engagementId=136354
BRC:(BRC is using ARRA’s action alert page for this) https://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/2015/10/08/urgent-letters-needed-oppose-going-forward-designation
6) Lake Tahoe Basin OHV. There are lots of OHV trails around and overlooking Lake Tahoe. The Forest Service is looking for public comments on future projects and management for the LTBMU, forested areas. You secretary has traveled many Lake Tahoe OHV trails with family, friends and the club. There are some real gems out there, with great views of the Lake, etc., besides the Rubicon.
Best to send comments before Jan 22, but later comments are just fine too. Check:
http://www.cal4wheel.com/access-issues/northern-california-access-issues/675-input-on-eldorado-due-january-22 , and
http://www.corva.org/news/3746425 , and https://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/2016/01/05/california-send-comment-letters-fs-improving-ohv-recreation-ltbmu
7) Jeb Bush – bowed out. Was potentially the best presidential candidate for public lands recreation & access — Only one who has formally stated any favorable federal public land & recreation policy.
8) Carnegie State Vehicle Recreation Area near Livermore: Calif Dept of Parks, OHV Division, was to Vote Feb 5 on expanding Carnegie, but delayed the vote, for some unpublished reason. I take this as a “political capital” move, and they will probably vote NOT to expand the park, to save what little political capital they have left for a future park somewhere else, with less community opposition, such as So. Cal. or possibly far northern Calif. Carnegie is too close to the “politically correct ” Bay Area, unfortunately. Hope I’m wrong.
There have been attempts in the past to close it, but the riding public, CORVA, local Carnegie groups, and the Calif Dept of Parks-OHV Div have persisted to keep it open. A few years ago a new 4×4 obstacle course was created. Now, they plan to open up a new area, adding about 3000 acres with dozens of miles of new trails for motorcycles and 4x4s added to the existing 900 acres. CORVA created an entire web page for the expansion, which is chalk full of great resources and information: http://www.corva.org/Carnegie-SVRA-Expansion . It’s hard to know if this will be litigated, but it is moving that direction. Negative votes by Livermore & Alameda County were promulgated by the East Bay Regional Park District who set up a false public expectation that this land could be acquired by them and converted to another regional (non-motorized) park. EPRPD has 120,000 park acres in Alameda & Contra Costa Counties, while Carnegie is the only motorized park in thse counties, at only 900 acres; (hopefully to be ~3900 acres). The Calif State Parks SVRA owns the land, purchased by money from the OHV Trust fund, which comes from a tiny fraction of gasoline taxes and from green sticker fees.
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Know your Anti-Access Organizations – a sampler:
CSNC is the group that sued Eldorado National Forest and successfully convinced a judge to force ENF to close and/or repair trails. One of CSNC’s primary goals is to limit OHV. Website http://www.sierranevadaconservation.org/achievements/. While we generally have no issue repairing or re-routing routes around what have recently been identified as ‘sensitive’ areas, there was no need to close the entire lengths of all 42 routes for 2, 3 years or more. Many have re-opened, but many of the best still remain closed to public access until only small sections are repaired.
CBD is one of the most notorious and powerful anti-access organizations. They often tend to lump motorized recreation access in with all forms of habitat interference, even though 99% of OHV use causes very little or virtually zero affect on animal habitat & popluation. Sample: “… cumulative threats from our changing climate, predation, drought, disease, and off-road recreation; and other threats all support an endangered listing….” re: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/birds/Gunnison_sage_grouse/pdfs/Gunnison_sage_grouse_NOI.pdf and http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/off-road_vehicles/index.html. It’s very interesting they almost never mention other causes of habitat interferences such as: hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, camping, hunting, wildfires, highways, fences, etc. But apparently off-road recreation is “equal” with climate change, predation, drought & disease ! CBD are also well known for launching a plethora of lawsuits, using the “Sue & Settle” tactic, thus taking millions of taxpayer dollars from the Forest Service & BLM to pay their attorneys: http://naturalresources.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=301242
PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) http://www.peer.org/campaigns/public-lands/off-road-wreckreation/news-releases.html and http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2013/01/07/court-orders-tighter-off-road-plan-for-stanislaus-forest/
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Let Amazon.com contribute a 0.5% of your purchase amounts to the Blue Ribbon Coalition. Costs virtually zero $. How do you sign up? 1) Sign-in to your Amazon account. 2) On another tab/window, go to http://www.sharetrails.org/content/support-brc-while-shopping-online to read how it works. 3) Click on http://smile.amazon.com/, and you will see short list of charities. For BRC, type in “BlueRibbon Coalition” exactly as shown here, in the search box. The result should be “Blueribbon Coalition Inc” and “Categories: Natural Resource Conservation and Protection” and “Location: Pocatello, ID”. (Be careful–there are dozens of other ‘Blue Ribbon xxxx’ charities out there, be sure you have the right one.) 4) Click OK to sign-up, and BRC will receive 0.5% of your purchase amounts at no cost to you. To automatically donate, shop only at the “Smile” web address: https://smile.amazon.com/ (if you use Amazon’s normal web address, no donations are made). You can change charities or cancel anytime.
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There are dozens of other, mostly irrational public land & road closures in the works by the enviro-left/elite, so we encourage everyone to check Blue Ribbon Coalition, Cal4wheel, Corva.org, and Pirate4x4 websites for the latest access news. Contact land managers and government officials and tell them public land is for everyone. The info above can help with the ‘why, who & how’ to contact.
Paul E