CLOSURE ISN'T THE ANSWER

Dave

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Many of you have heard the phrase by now or even seen our logo, Closure Isn't The Answer. What does it really mean?

If we’re honest, one of the biggest reasons we’re seeing closures is because of people. Hordes of people descending on places like Alabama Hills in California 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 about them, there’s millions of us using the land and we need to do our part. That’s a fact, and it’s a part of the bigger picture here that cannot be ignored moving forward.

As an American, we can all agree that access to our public lands is a basic right. Sadly, many do not realize that those rights come with responsibilities. We have a responsibility to Tread Lightly and Leave No Trace. We have a responsibility to stay on the trail and respect the resource. We have a responsibility to protect our shared natural resources and leave them intact for future generations.

What is the Answer? It's as simple as being a good and decent human being. Do the right thing even when no one else is there. If we don't do our part, it's highly likely that we'll see more Locked Gates Ahead and more Closures.

So be a good steward of the land, pack out what you pack in, and remember the TREAD principles:

Travel Responsibly on land by staying on designated roads, trails and area. Go over, not around, obstacles to avoid widening the trails. Cross streams only at designated fords. when possible, avoid wet, muddy trails. On water, stay on designated waterways and launch your watercraft in designated areas.

Respect the Rights of Others including private property owners, all recreational trail users, campers and others so they can enjoy their recreational activities undisturbed. Leave gates as you found them. Yield right of way to those passing you or going uphill. On water, respect anglers, swimmers, skiers, boaters, divers and those on or near shore.

Educate Yourself prior to your trip by obtaining travel maps and regulations from public agencies. Plan for your trip, take recreation skills classes and know how to operate your equipment safely.

Avoid Sensitive Areas on land such as meadows, lake shores, wetlands and streams. Stay on designated routes. This protects wildlife habitats and sensitive soils from damage. Don’t disturb historical, archaeological or pale-ontological sites. On water, avoid operating your watercraft in shallow waters or near shorelines at high speeds.

Do Your Part by modeling appropriate behavior, leaving the area better than you found it, properly disposing of waste, minimizing the use of fire, avoiding the spread of invasive species and repairing degraded areas.

Now let's share some examples of incidents that lead to Closure.

We'll start with Exhibit A here. A crappy cell phone pic.

People who go off trail and pose "for the 'Gram" should realize how bad this looks, and how it encourages others to emulate shots like this. Adventurists don't drive their vehicles off the trail and into a pristine lake for a photo op. It's just not a thing in this community.

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There was a time when Machelle and I were very active with land use issues, in the west specifically, but land use issues in general as it relates to off pavement travel.

I had a taste of what Dave Cole had to go through early on with the King of the Hammers events...I'm sure @Dave and Associates have had the same legal hula hoops to hold the Desert Rendezvous events. The planning, $$$, permits, restrictions that have to be jumped through make putting any event on BLM land a challenge. I think this group (AAV) has probably developed a trust with the BLM, but all it takes is a new BLM manager to make earning that trust all over again a priority

Legal off pavement riding groups can't get along with themselves long enough to see the big picture...the bike guys hate the 4 wheel guys who hate the quad and bike guys who hate the sand car guys (that no one understands;) )throw the rock crawlers into the mix and a dose of desert racing and there is a fine mess of special interests to work through rather than a consolidated group.

Meanwhile, the Steal-the Area-Club (aka Sierra Club), and the Center for Biological Diversity are standing in front of grocery store showing the sheeple pictures of trash, muddy ruts, etc...and getting them to sign petitions to further regulate/ban/restrict/close the areas that we have left.

I've been on several forums where I have called attention to a high speed water crossing being glamorized in a thread...I've not met with the greatest success in explaining my motives to have the pictures made "private", often with failure/negative response. I get it, the pics are cool, generally fun to be the driver (as long as it's someone else's rig that gets water contamination and hydro-locked), but they still promote the wrong image if we want to continue our lifestyle's.

There was a time that Tread Lightly had a note about water crossings, low speed, minimal disturbance, etc, I've not been able to find it the last few times I searched. Deep Creek trail in Big Bear (SoCal) is one of the few water crossings that one could easily experience in SoCal. Now it has a bridge...EXCITING!

Why are high speed crossings "bad", they disturb the silt in the stream bed and send it downstream where eventually it clogs up the whole system and BAM, global warming!o_O

My first run on the Mojave Trail there was a group behind us that was taking high speed water crossing shots going into the Afton Canyon campground...for a 4x4 magazine... ended up being a cover shot...guess who else was there that weekend...a class of college biology majors that were there counting frogs in the same body of water that the Jeeps were blasting through. When our group (from this forum) came through earlier that day, we were at an idle to create the least disturbance possible to get to the campground.

I've tried...I'm tired... which is a cop out...I still do what I can to make my surroundings a better place than I found them. I try to educate those around me, sometimes I win, sometimes I don't. Am I perfect, never make a wrong move off-pavement...absolutely NOT...but I do recognize right from wrong and do my best to live by that standard.
 
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I have first hand experienced the rangers closing off entrances to washes in the Anza Borrego SVRA because there were tire tracks out of the main wash into minor washes. No climbing up on the walls, no destruction of any plant life just driving into a wash off shoot. For that they put in closed signs. The part that gets my goat is after the monsoons those closure signs will be wiped out and a whole new layer of sand will be brought down through the valleys into the washes erasing those reprobate tire tracks in the wash sand.
 
Posting pictures online and editing/framing them to appear as if you are off trail.

Don't post crap like this on social. This encourages bad actors and normalizes destructive behaviors.

Some poor schmuck is going to see this and say "hey, saw it online so it must be OK. I want to drive through those trees (screw that big fern) for a picture now too"...

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Posting pictures online and editing/framing them to appear as if you are off trail.

Don't post crap like this on social. Some poor schmuck is going to see them and say "hey, saw it online so it must be OK, I want to drive through those trees for a picture now too"...

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But my jeep rides really rough off road...
 
What Sally & I experienced in "our" area in the Ozarks is, trash: it seems we haul out more of others trash than what is actually ours. I hate to say is hunters, then second is ATV & UTV riders are next to be the problem. I'm a hunter & own ATV & UTV's but we're responsible & respectful.

Our Rangers District's in the Ozarks have logging going on, control burns which makes for awesome land & wildlife management, dispersed camp sites, from the left over cut wood from loggers to be used & cut, the OK of rock fire rings to be made. What we: Sally & I found empty 1lb propane bottles, beer bottles & can, wadded up aluminum foil, just plain ol' irresponsibility of hauling out trash. I guess the saying "leave better then you found it" doesn't compute with these types of individuals.
What we have here in the Ozarks are main forest dirt road, secondary forest dirt roads, horse trails, ATV & UTV trails, & mountain bike trails that are designated with signage. The problem is the ATV & UTV's riders using the horse trails, mountain bike trails destroying these trails & or making their own trails ruining the landscape, natural vegetation that cause erosion problems.

The photo's I enclosed are areas logged off recently that would make a great camp site with left over cut wood, for single or group sites. I feel so blessed to live in the foothills of the Ozarks & have access to the public lands for what Sally & I enjoy as offroad adventurist, not "O" word to explore the Ozarks from North Arkansas into South Missouri or into South East Oklahoma.

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Here’s an example of human delivered trash that accumulates on our public lands. You may or may not agree with it, but the fact is that THIS stuff being tossed about leads to trail closures and locked gates.

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Human waste. The TP is unsightly, but the real issue is people failing at the simple task of digging a hole. At this spot on Thomas mountain, within a 200' circle, literally every tree or rock that put ones arse more or less "out of view" of the campsite looked like this - and ALL of them had waste that was either not at all or insufficiently buried. This was all hard-packed earth, especially right under the trees, etc. - so you weren't digging a cat-hole with a hand-trowel.

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A dispered camping area where my wife and I used to camp (we now have a permanent camp) is now closed to camping on most of the area. Went from 200+ acres to 2. This is due to overuse and abuse. I used to pick up too much of other peoples stuff so my dogs would not get into it. The area to camp in has a fence, vault toilet and reservation only.
 
A dispered camping area where my wife and I used to camp (we now have a permanent camp) is now closed to camping on most of the area. Went from 200+ acres to 2. This is due to overuse and abuse. I used to pick up too much of other peoples stuff so my dogs would not get into it. The area to camp in has a fence, vault toilet and reservation only.

That really stinks. That worst part of the “reservation system” is that it really rules out any spontaneity, and likely makes it near impossible unless you “play the game” online by logging on the day the window of opportunity opens up for reservations.

Months in advance... o_O
 
@Dave, I know this thread is a bit old but any chance of seeing more shirts with the “closer isn’t the answer” logo on then? I got one a long time ago and love to have a few more. Mine is stained with red clay mud but I still wear it.
 
@Dave, I know this thread is a bit old but any chance of seeing more shirts with the “closer isn’t the answer” logo on then? I got one a long time ago and love to have a few more. Mine is stained with red clay mud but I still wear it.

Yeah, I've had a storefront and bunch of designs on the backburner FOREVER.
 
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