Public Land Use: Closure Isn’t The Answer

Dave

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Sadly, as covered in my previous article, Locked Gates Ahead, we continue to lose access to our public lands across America. This is in part because of an ongoing drum beat by well funded special interest groups who seek to control access to public lands. Our ancestors fought for these lands and our rights, and today those rights are in jeopardy. Once public access is denied it seldom returns.
Real Talk
Clearly, our rights come with responsibilities. If we’re truly honest here, one of the biggest reasons we’re seeing closures is because of people. Hordes of people descending on places and trashing them with no regard for the rights of others, or their long term impacts. Some of our best places are being loved to death, and we need to do a better job as human beings to respect the resource and each other.
And while it’s easy to lay all the blame at the feet of agencies like State Parks, BLM, NPS, etc it’s not all...

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Dave, some use politics behind these closures, IMO it the publics fault by vandalism, litter, the total disregard of the lands itself. Sally & I see this through out the Ozarks, signs with bullet holes, live trees cut, walking trails driven on by ATV's UTV's, horse trails & camps misused. These are the same reasons IMO why laws & rules are set in place.
 
Just watched the APCD hearing - skipping a few of the public comments once I got the gist of each side's complaints. The scientific advisory group, local government, and state park all seem to be taking a measured approach from what I saw. I especially liked that the air pollution control officer was a 'duner' himself. If they can make the air quality better, preserve the dunes for future generations, and ensure at least some access for current riders/campers, more power to them.
 
Dave, some use politics behind these closures, IMO it the publics fault by vandalism, litter, the total disregard of the lands itself. Sally & I see this through out the Ozarks, signs with bullet holes, live trees cut, walking trails driven on by ATV's UTV's, horse trails & camps misused. These are the same reasons IMO why laws & rules are set in place.
We see this in the Eastern Sierra, Big Bear and the Mojave. Damage done for a shot to put " on the gram", graffiti, litter, smashed beer bottles around remote campgrounds, etc.

Sadly just a few inconsiderate buffoons are screwing the rest of us
 
It used to be you could buy a Scout, a Bronco or a Jeep CJ and with some serious modifications/hours in the garage make them a go-anywhere vehicle...even then, you'd have a couple of hundred horsepower, 31" skinny tires and maybe a locker. These days the masses can buy an overpowered locked/loaded off highway vehicle off the show room floor, with a warranty, and go replicate what they see advertised in the commercial/trade rags and interweb forums, break it and take it back to the dealer for "warranty repairs".

IMO, there is less respect for the land because you don't have to work as hard to get out there and experience it.
 
Probably some truth to that, though it used to be to get on the Internet, you had to know what you were doing. You'd build your own computer, connect a modem, find some BBS numbers, and stay up late getting to know the sysops of the local BBSs. If you were cool, you could help pay for or borrow a SLIP account, and gopher your way around the early net. Now, anyone can jump on the net with a phone and post garbage everywhere.

You might say that people respected the net more back then because they had to work hard and learn a lot to get on it - but I don't think that's entirely true. There was a lot of garbage online back then too.

My early exposure to off-roading wasn't all responsibility and tread lightly ambassadors. I remember seeing uncle daddy toss beer cans in the general direction of the truck bed while driving. He'd go where he wanted and didn't care too much about staying on a trail or what the land owner or even rangers might say. He'd build fires where he wanted, shoot where he wanted - he'd even drag his 2" cannon out on the 4th and New Years and fire into the side of mountains. He was a great guy and I miss him dearly, but won't be emulating much of his off-road antics.
 
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