CORVA 2024 ANNUAL MEETING UPDATE
Dear CORVA Membership:
There are a few updates to the preliminary meeting notice:
( https://corva.org/CORVA-Action-Items/13328505 )
Registration is now active on the CORVA website EVENT section: https://corva.org/event-5645007
Rooms at the Marriott must be booked by Apr. 12th to get the discounted rate. That is the last date that the block of rooms that are being held for CORVA can be guaranteed.
The lunch options have been decided on. There is a choice of Box Lunches, California Turkey Wrap and Ham and Swiss Wrap, $25 each. They come with chips, whole fruit, cookie, and either soda or bottled water. Be sure to log into the website EVENT by Apr. 6 to pre-order any or all Fri. Meet & Greet Pizza, Sat. Lunch, Sat. Dinner.
The current list of Guest Speakers is:
Keynote Speaker: Armondo Quintero: director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
Ted Cabral: President of the PWORA: Post Wildfire Off Road Alliance
Roger Salazar: Chair of the OHMVR Commission and Katie Metraux, OHV Access Project.
Neil Hamada: BLM
Rich Klein: Board of Director for ORMHOF
Kevin Woods: Sierra National Forest OHV/OSV manager
Interview with Joe Chavez: FS
VOTING FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In person and online voting will be available. Sign into the Zoom meeting by 2:15pm, the agenda item for board positions will start.
The ZOOM invitation, meeting agenda, hospitality room and meeting room locations, and voting instructions will be sent out a few days before the annual meeting.
Dear CORVA Membership,
Here is some preliminary information about the CORVA Annual Meeting. More details will be available as we finalize the plans.
The meeting will be held most of the day, Saturday April. 20, 2024. It will be at the Visalia Marriott Convention Center in Visalia. There will be a Meet and Greet Friday evening, April. 19, 2024, 6:00-8:00pm, in a hospitality suite, also in the Marriott. If you plan on staying at the Marriott, we have secured a discount room rate of $159.00 plus tax. When you book a room, be sure to let them know that you want the CORVA discounted price. Phone # 559-636-1111.
On Friday night, April 19; Pizza will be ordered for those members who pre-paid. This is a BYOB Meet and Greet. Please prepay $15.00 per person when you register for the Annual Meeting on the CORVA website.
On Saturday, April 20; The meeting will be in-person and available via Zoom.
Saturday morning, there will be voter registration, announcements, and guest speakers. We will take a lunch break and a lunch will be provided for those that prepay. Please prepay $25.00 per person when you register for the Annual Meeting.
Saturday afternoon, there will be various award presentations, nominations and voting for the Board of Directors positions of VP Administration, VP Education, and Treasurer. There will be a discussion of Business / Budget / Income vs. Expenses.
Saturday's meeting will adjourn at 5:00pm.
A dinner buffet is being arranged at Sequoia Brewing, starting at 6:00pm, a short walk from the hotel. We have selected the following items for buffet dinner:
Pesto Chicken, Burgundy Beef Medallions, Roasted Red Potatoes, Fresh Vegetables, Sequoia Side Salad, and Dinner Rolls.
Please prepay $45.00 per person when you register for the Annual Meeting. Alcoholic drinks not included.
Hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Bruce Brazil, Northern Regional Director- Annual Meeting Chairman
CORVA Monthly Meeting, Feb. 26, 7:00PM
Natural Resources Agency
The 30x30 Initiative has a new Deputy Secretary of Biodiversity and Habitat who is tasked by the Secretary of Natural Resources with following through on the administration's goals for 30x30. Her name is Meghan Hertel, and previously she has held positions in different environmental groups including Audubon California. One of the first press releases as she starts her position is the announcement of conservation easements being obtained for a large cattle-ranching operation on the Central Coast: https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/california-central-coast-preserved-ranchland-18680819.php. This isn't an acquisition, nor will it change the operations of the ranch. Essentially, the owners of the ranch have sold their rights to develop or subdivide the land in perpetuity. There is a webinar to introduce Meghan Hertel on March 4th, from 2:00pm to 3:00pm. For registration for this Zoom meeting go to: https://www.californianature.ca.gov/. I've had a meeting with Devin O'Dea, policy director for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, after an introduction by the ORVLC lobbyist Mark Smith. Devin is now a member of the 30x30 Partnership Coordinating Committee, and also works with Mark Smith. He understands the nexus between access for hunters and anglers and the work CORVA does to keep access open "For the People, and not From the People". Devin will keep us informed about what is going on behind the scenes, and if any of the actions coming from the Natural Resources Agency may negatively affect off-road recreation.
The Natural Resources Agency is supporting the expansion of 3 National Monuments, and the creation of new National Monuments. I see these efforts as one of the biggest threats against off-road recreational and street legal access throughout the state. There are a number of proposals that have already been introduced through federal legislation in the House of Representatives. Considering the current political climate, these bills are unlikely to pass. This article in the LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-24/editorial-expand-californias-national-monuments-its-mountains-and-deserts-are-important-resources discusses the active proposals and suggests that President Biden use the 1906 Antiquities Act to proclaim all the new monument proposals and expansions. Earlier this month, Ed Stovin invited me to participate in a Zoom meeting with a number of proponents of the Chuckwalla National Monument proposal. Ed has asked for the proposed boundaries of the monument to be altered to allow for the expansion of the Chuckwalla - Meccacopia OHV Area, which has been proposed for an expansion by the BLM: https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/media-public-room-california-chuckwalla-meccacopia-main-ohv-routes.pdf. As I've reported previously, republicans in Congress have asked the Supreme Court to review the use of the 1906 Antiquities Act: https://www.eenews.net/articles/republicans-ask-supreme-court-to-review-antiquities-act/.
State Parks
A week after the last Board of Directors Zoom meeting, the OHMVR Division held the OHMVR Commission Tour at King of the Hammers and the following day the OHMVR Commission Meeting in Hesperia. Thanks to Mike Mc and board members who attended KOH and gave rides to Director Quintero, Chief Deputy McGuirk and a number of the members of commission. A number of people mentioned how much they enjoyed their rides! I participated in the OHMVR Commission meeting by Zoom. Roger Salazar was elected Chair of the Commission, and Ed Patrovsky, currently the longest serving commissioner, was elected vice-chair. As usual, Oceano Dunes issues dominated the public comments. The next OHMVR Commission tour/meeting will be held on May 15/16 at Carnegie SVRA, where the OHMVR Commission will be asked to vote on the General Plan, which is of the commission's primary purposes. The subsequent OHMVR Commission meeting and tour is scheduled for July 31/August 1 and is rumored to be planned for Oceano Dunes, although that is still highly speculative.
Mike McGarity, Vinnie and I participated in a meeting with State Parks personnel and engaged in a frank and honest conversation about the difficulties this year in obtaining the permit for the Truckhaven Challenge. Enrique Arroyo, the District Superintendent and Greg Martin, the new Desert District Chief and Acting Coastal District Chief, which means Greg is responsible for the operations of 4 SVRA's, including Heber Dunes, Onyx Ranch, Ocotillo Wells and Hungry Valley. It is good we made this introduction now, because management of these SVRA's is critical. What this points out is how much the management of the SVRA's has been taken away from the OHMVR Division and instead lies within State Parks. There will be follow up meetings.
Attached please find the comments I filed on behalf of CORVA for the Prairie City Road and Trails Management Plan. The Carnegie Draft General Plan comments are due later this week. and can be found: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=30807. I participated in a meeting with Carnegie personnel last week where we discussed various aspects of the plan. There's nothing controversial about this plan, and overall it expands access, moves Motormart, a CORVA Gold Level Business Sponsor, to a better location and adds additional camping areas.
Grants update: When the May Revise of the Governor's proposed budget is released, we hope to see $29 million restored to the OHV Grants Program. The grants are moving ahead with the understanding that those funds will be restored. Preliminary grant applications are due by March 4th, and public comment will start the following day. The OHV Grants will be open for public comment on March 5th, and be accepted until May 6th.
SVRA's: Carnegie: Tesla Road is closed to travel, and the only access to the park is through Corral Hollow Road. Hollister Hills: Clay Soil areas, including the Hudner Ranch and the Renz property are closed due to wet weather. HUngry Valley: Quail Canyon Special Event Area and Track continues to be closed due to the well failure, but money has been allocated through capital outlay for repairs, which will take a number of years to complete.
Forest Service
Please find attached the comments on the Northwest Forest Plan Revision Amendment Proposal that was filed earlier this month on behalf of CORVA. This includes 6 forests in Northern California. The next meeting for the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force is scheduled for April 4th and 5th in Southern California. I will monitor the meeting on April 4th by Zoom. Please find the latest Governor's update here: https://wildfiretaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/WFR_February2024_GovUpdateRev.pdf. The Forest Service has awarded millions of dollars to a few forest landscapes around California for wildfire prevention, including the Stanislaus National Forest and the Plumas National Forest. The Sustainable Outdoor Recreation Collaborative has resumed operations, and I am on the Steering Committee. This collaborative addresses issues facing all the forests in California, please let me know any critical issues that may be occuring in our forests, and I will bring the issues up during a meeting. Most of the Northern California forests are still within their seasonal closure periods. Please check the websites or call the district ranger's office to determine access to your favorite roads and trails. I attended the public grants meeting for the Tahoe National Forest last week, to hear about the proposed grant requests.
BLM
The Central District of the BLM is holding a Resource Advisory Council Meeting on February 29th: https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-central-california-district-host-resource-advisory-council-meeting-1. For those concerned about the reopening of the Clear Creek Management Area, that issue can be brought up during open public comment at 1:00pm. All the meetings for the different advisory councils in California can be found here: https://www.blm.gov/get-involved/rac/california/california-desert-district
Legislation
With the help of ORVLC lobbyist Mark Smith, we are monitoring new legislation that has been introduced to determine whether any bills that have been introduced by the due date of February 16th will affect OHV recreation. The BOD receives the update from the lobbyist every Monday. There are a number of e-bike bills that we are watching because there is still consideration in State Parks for redefining a number of e-bikes as motor vehicles.
SB 708: Competition M/C Bill is still alive. Brian Jones and MIC discuss their support for the bill: https://www.cyclenews.com/2024/01/article/senator-aims-to-fix-red-sticker-ohv-regs/
Important dates:
The next CORVA monthly meeting is Jan. 22, 2023, 7:00pm - 9:00pm.
Due to the holiday season, the CORVA Nov and Dec monthly meetings will be combined on Dec. 18, 2023.
Download PDF
California Natural Resources Agency
This past month I attended one of the 30x30 Virtual Expo Series meetings held to promote engagement and participation with the State 30x30 Initiative. The direction that the state is heading indicates that promoting voluntary conservation easements and enhanced conservation designations are the primary goals. They are also mentioning elevating existing management directions for both federal and state public land. This could be problematic for off-road opportunities, and we need to stay in close contact with our federal partners to see how this might manifest. It will certainly lead to more pressure from anti-access (quasi-environmental) groups to pressure federal agencies and state parks for more designated wilderness or natural preserves, in the case of the state.
While I had been previously informed that all state parks were included in the 30x30 Initiative as protected areas, besides natural preserves, the rest of the parks in California are not included in the calculation of 'conserved' land. Even though our SVRA's have soil conservation plans and habitat management plans, they are considered Tier 4, or the lowest tier for conservation calculations. That said, all state parks are not included as targets or lands open to additional conservation measures. But the percentage of protected land has not changed since the initial calculation, the state still measures conserved lands as 23.78%. In the FAQ section: https://www.californianature.ca.gov/pages/resources#publicengagement , it does state that the state has received a lot of areas that seem to comply with conservation criteria but may be included in the future percentage. With the amount of attention and the work the state has dedicated to 30x30, they may not update the percentage of protected land as they continue to engage with local land trusts.
The next meeting of the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force has been rescheduled to February 2 & 3, 2023, in Calabasas, CA. I plan to attend in person and encourage CORVA members of BOD and all members of the enthusiast community to attend: https://wildfiretaskforce.org/meetings/
The OHMVR Commission met for a workshop on Thursday, November 3rd in Ontario followed by the meeting on Friday, November 4th. I flew to attend the workshop, which was the first time the state has actually addressed the changes that SB 155 brought to the table. "When considering acquisition and development of properties to expand off-highway vehicle recreation opportunities, the department may prioritize properties that have potential to serve large urban areas such as the Bay Area and Central Valley, offer potential recreational opportunities for off highway vehicle recreation, and potential opportunities for motorized access to non-motorized recreation. Properties for consideration may include areas within existing State Parks and State Recreation Areas, including, but not limited to, Henry Coe State Park. The department shall not consider the Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area in this process."
The workshop was led by Alex Stehl in her role as Deputy Director of Strategic Planning for State Parks, and Katie Metraux, State Parks planner. While there were some positive ideas that were proposed in the workshop, the loss of the Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area of Carnegie SVRA which directly led to the development of SB 155, was largely ignored. My comments were geared towards reminding both State Parks planners and the OHMVR Commission, and the loss of opportunity the expansion area represented, have been largely ignored. In a subsequent meeting with Chief Deputy Director of State Parks, Liz McGuirk, Past President of CORVA Diana Mead and me, Liz acknowledged the loss to the local Carnegie community and promised that Parks would hold a meeting in the greater Bay Area so local enthusiasts could meet and discuss opportunities. This doesn't lessen the need that exists in the entire state for more OHV and 4WD recreation opportunities, but the need for the Central Valley and greater Bay Area for more SxS roads and trails must be considered seriously. All OHV and 4WD enthusiasts are encouraged to look at State Parks and State Recreation Areas in their local neighborhoods and propose new opportunities for the community. Discussions will be continuing with State Parks and planning will start for the Bay Area meeting after the first of the year.
Thanks to all who attended the Comments Project Workshop on December 1 held in conjunction with the California 4 Wheel Drive Association. A recording of the meeting along with the slides and the Q & A information were sent to the participants. If anyone else wants the information from the workshop, please email: info@corva.org. The comment period for the Red Rock Canyon State Parks Preliminary General Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report closes on December 16th: https://www.redrockcanyongp.com/resources. We had 25 participants attending the workshop, which is an excellent turnout considering the difficulty. I was very pleased to have participants also from the Nevada Offroad Association. The Comments Project Workshop is a unique opportunity to educate off-roaders. Thanks to all the presenters and the participants!
Side by Side education policy continues to be debated through State Parks. The state will hold another OHV Safety Summit in July of 2023 in a location TBA. In the meantime, Utah has created a comprehensive OHV and 4WD Safety course: Utah OHV Safety Requirements as has Arizona: https://www.azgfd.com/education/ohv/. California is looking to both these programs as inspiration. Additionally, SxS safety issues have become elevated throughout the country, which may prompt attention from the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Prairie City SVRA, Carnegie SVRA and Hollister Hills SVRA all have some type of weather closure policy during the winter months. Please go to the website for each SVRA before traveling. The intent of the closure is to protect the trails, but the state promises to close only those trails necessary and leave the rest of the parks areas open.
The California State Parks Grants and Cooperative Agreements program will be holding a workshop on January 9th and 10th, 2023. The flyer for the workshop is attached.
During the past couple of months, the facilitation efforts for the Inyo National Forest, Subpart C Over Snow Management analysis have ended. The meetings are always contentious, but there was great participation from local over-snow enthusiasts. But after the culmination of the 4 meetings, Advocates of the West held a Zoom workshop co-sponsored by Winter Wildlands Alliance, that clearly stated the intent of both organizations to eliminate motorized and mechanized recreation from public land. These organizations and others of the same ilk have no interest in compromise, making it impossible to work with them in collaborative efforts. The OHV and 4WD communities must be aware that these organizations hold uncompromising beliefs that motorized and mechanized efforts are not a legitimate use of public land.
I also attended the Sequoia and Sierra Forest Plan Revision Objection Meetings by Zoom, representing CORVA. CORVA had submitted substantive objections noting that since the vast majority of the information the proposed forest revisions are based on were gathered before the pandemic, in a post-pandemic world that has seen a phenomenal increase in motorized recreation, these conclusions are no longer valid.
Seasonal winter closures have begun for many of the Northern and Central California forests. Lake Tahoe Basin and Eldorado National Forests have started their winter native surface road closure early due to weather conditions. The Rock Creek system in the Eldorado has a different closure mechanism. The Tahoe National Forest has also instituted their winter weather closure. Go to the Forest Service website and click on your favorite forest to find out what rules are in force: https://www.fs.usda.gov/, go to the drop-down menu to choose your forest.
The US Marines are asking for comments on the Shared Use Area of Johnson Valley OHV Area: https://www.29palms.marines.mil/Staff-Offices/Government-and-External-Affairs/Johnson-Valley/. The Marines are requesting comments from OHV and 4WD Enthusiasts pertaining to the management of the Shared Use Area due on Friday, December 9th. Please go to the above website or email: SMBPLMSJOHNSONVALLEY@usmc.mil, Subject line: RMG Annual Comments and submit your assessment on how the Marines have done managing the shared use area. Also sign up for text alerts from the Marines for closure schedules and public meetings.
I attended the Central California Resource Advisory Council workshop. The RAC does not yet have a quorum, but presentations were given including updates on OHV areas. The BLM is looking to increase signage for OHV areas, to prevent trespass and give more information on local conditions. VP of Land Use Bruce Whithcer and I have plans to meet with the Central California District Manager Chris Heppe to look at maps to discover possible additions for OHV opportunities in the new year.
I also attended the BLM/NOHVCC listening session in Sacramento. Together the BLM and NOHVCC really want to hear back from enthusiasts around the state. The major topic of conversation for Northern California was the reopening of the Clear Creek Management Area. Enthusiasts all over the state are calling for the reopening of that world class riding area. The Southern California meetings will be held in Spring 2023 in locatations TBD. The BLM and NOHVCC really want OHV and 4WD enthusiasts to report back on areas that are important to them. The form is attached, please send it in to: Marc Hildesheim marc@nohvcc.org
Download: NOHVCC CA Action Plan Workshop
Upcoming events:
Date TBD: Ongoing meeting with State Parks re: SB 155
December 5: Eastern Sierra Recreation Partnership
December 9: Johnson Valley Shared Use Comments due
December 16: Red Rock Comments due
December 28: Sierra Nevada Sustainable Recreation Partnership meeting
January 9, 2023: Grants and Cooperative Agreements workshop
January 10, 2023: Grants and Cooperative Agreements workshop
Just a reminder that our Nov. and Dec. meetings will be combined and presented on Dec. 5th.
El Dorado County, Rubicon Trail Some may remember the extensive involvement CORVA had during the easement designation process for the Rubicon Trail many years ago. As opposed to most motorized trails in the state, the Rubicon Trail is designated as an unimproved El Dorado county road, as the county asserted their RS2477 rights to the road and can document travel on the Rubicon Trail to the 1840's https://www.edcgov.us/Government/Rubicon/Pages/rubicon_trail_history.aspx. The county has the sole authority to open and close the trail, which they do in response to weather conditions and public emergencies. However, a portion of the Rubicon does travel through Placer County, which has not asserted the same rights as El Dorado County. This is a problem I am working on as well. Rubicon Trail was closed by order of the Fire Marshal to El Dorado County in response to the Mosquito Fire that started September 6th. At one point, Georgetown was evacuated as well as neighboring communities https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2022/9/6/mosquito-fire/. As a result of rain and cooler weather this week, firefighters have been able to get a handle on the fire and containment stands at about 60% https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8398/. The Rubicon Trail was closed immediately, however hiking trails and other roads particularly in the east side of the trail were not closed! But guards were posted by the Tahoma Staging Area precluding travel into that area of the trail, as reported by Doug Barr, life member of CORVA. This entrance ,which is the eastern entrance to the Rubicon Trail, is located in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, relatively far away from the fire zone. I was able to speak extensively to the Forest Service about this example of how differently motorized recreation trails are treated than other non-motorized recreation trails. The reason I was given by Region 5, US Forest Service, was that people take many days to travel the Rubicon, and authorities didn't want people in danger. However no one in authority at Region 5 considered that people hiking Wilderness trails also may travel many days, but do not have the mobility that riders and drivers have to quickly vacate an area. We are hoping that the Fire Marshal will lift the closure order on Monday, but the problem of recreational bias has been laid bare. California Natural Resources Agency The California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force meeting is on Tuesday, September 27th in Grass Valley to discuss the draft 'Joint Strategy for Sustainable Outdoor REcreation in California' https://www.calrecvision.org/. I am looking forward to using the example above of 'Recreational Bias' to point out the hypocritical ways that the Forest Service is treating different forms of recreation. I have informal meetings set up for the evening before with agency-affiliated personnel, and I'm looking forward to networking. Registration is still open should others want to attend. On Wednesday, September 28th is the 30x30 Partnership Kick Off meeting in Sacramento at the California Natural Resources Agency https://www.californianature.ca.gov/. I am attending that meeting in person, but the in-person attendance registration has now been closed. It is possible to register for the online Zoom meeting virtual event at the link above. I do know a couple of the individuals on the current Partnership Committee, but there is no one representing active forms of recreation. We must as a community pay more attention to these issues and rise to the point where we can represent enthusiasts on partnership committees such as these. The amount of land considered 'conserved' has not changed since the start of this initiative, even with numerous entities, including CORVA, have submitted comments advocating for additional areas to be considered conserved. It still stands at roughly 24%, but I truly believe that if federal wilderness study areas were included California would easily top 30%. Anyone who has additional lands to report as conserved can do so at the following link: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/8397283d95a34a4fad138b752ca0f7ba State Parks This past month saw the OHMVR Commission meeting change from an in-person hybrid meeting to a strictly hybrid meeting. A number of CORVA board members also participated in the meeting which started at 9:00am and did not finish until after 6:00pm. But there were a number of important issues that were under discussion. Please look at the September 16th meeting on the following page: https://ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27160 to review the reports that were sent out, admittedly late, for the meeting. To address the concerns about the health of the OHV Trust Fund, there is a report entitled; "FIscal Year 2022/2023 Budget". This report highlights the instability of the OHV Trust Fund which is not currently bringing in enough money to sustain the OHV Trust Fund grants, maintenance of the SVRA's plus capital outlay projects for major upgrades and repairs for SVRA's. In a previous report for the OHMVR Commission, it is reported that compliance with the Stipulated Order of Abatement for the SLO County Air Pollution Control District at Oceano Dunes is costing around $2,000,000 a year. That cost doesn't help the OHV Trust Fund bottom line! In response to the problems with the OHV Trust Fund, the division will reduce the amount available for the OHV Trust Fund Grants next year by $5 million. This year, the OHV Trust Funds grants only funded just north of $29 million in projects out of $35 million available, so perhaps the reduced amount of grant money available won't be too harmful. But as the state moves towards increased electric vehicle integration, the money coming from the gas tax, which is the greatest contributor to the OHV Trust Fund, will see significant reductions. It is time to start thinking seriously about ways to increase monies coming into the funds. One of the ideas that has been considered in the past is a sort of 'OHV sticker' for 4WD vehicles. There is definitely room to review the Tacking, Accountability and Compliance procedures that have been put in place for mixed districts where equipment purchased with OHV Trust Fund money and manpower billed as part of the OHMVR Division are now part of mixed districts. CORVA had reported on the misuse of these procedures in February of 2020, right before the pandemic began. Unfortunately, there has been no resolution or response from CORVA's report. One of the important issues discussed at the OHMVR Commission meeting concerned a draft letter written by 2 commissioners and proposed to be sent to the APCD Hearing Board meeting to be held October 14th https://www.slocleanair.org/who/board/hearing-board.php. This will be a virtual meeting. At this meeting State Parks will request a change in the Stipulated Order of Abatement to reduce the dust reduction target for the SOA from 5-% to 40.7%, the amount that had been previously determined by the Science Advisory Group as being derived from ff-road recreation occurring in ODSVRA. It is unknown how the APCD Hearing Board will respond to this request. At a previous meeting the board reviewed the possibility of reducing the air pollution target unfavorably, and the State of California officially requested the APCD Hearing Board not consider any reduction to the target amount of the SOA. Right after the August CORVA Board of Directors Zoom meeting the state held the OHV Safety Summit outside of Sacramento. A number of CORVA Board of Directors participated in the summit and I served as one of the co-hosts with the state. The Priority List and Summit meeting notes are attached, and represent an excellent example of 'groupthink' , with the state actively soliciting solutions to issues with OHV recreation, largely with SxS vehicles. Please review both the notes from the summit, which are transferable to issues facing OHV recreation around the state. Personally, I was impressed with the depth of dedication shown from the participants, and the contributions from law enforcement personnel who attended. Almost every SVRA sent law enforcement personnel to report on the issues in their specific parks. Not all the parks have the same issues, so it was very helpful. Hollister Hills SVRA has been included as part of the 4th Grade Adventure Program: https://www.parks.ca.gov/adventurepass , the first time an SVRA has been chosen as one of the target parks. This year, there are a total of 19 parks participating. Part of the problem, is that no one told the OHMVR Division or Hollister Hills that they've been chosen! It is up to the community to make this program a success, so I will be meeting soon with State Parks Interpretation staff for more direction. I've attached 2 documents that have been distributed to law enforcement throughout California regarding red sticker use in California. This information was released to law enforcement a number of months ago, but it has not been widely distributed to the public. Since the provisions of SB 894 will not go into effect until January 2027, these regulations will be in force until that point, for a number of years to come. -please note attachements! Equally interesting was the California State Parks Rangers Association Rendezvous in Truckee. I was privileged to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the OHMVR DIvision with a number of retired ranges who served at SVRA's, and to see Paul Slavik be the first OHV Enthusiast to receive the Honorary Ranger Award and his own California State Parks Ranger hat! There was a great retrospective of Pauls's career, which included snippets of videos that he had done with Ed Waldheim and Bob Ham talking about the beginning of the OHMVR program in California. I also met Lisa Beutler at the event, who had worked alongside many of us as a facilitator for the old Stakeholders Group. Many of us remember Lisa's work fondly.
AB 2152 became law after it was signed by the Governor, and SB 894 was presented to the Governor on September 9th for his signature. The Governor VETOED SB 894 on September 25th. This is a link to his veto letter: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SB-894-VETO.pdf?emrc=ff7580
The Lassen National Forest has taken a stab at recognizing how Maintenance Level 3 roads are hindering greensticker travel in the forest and proposed a minor change in designation, including downgrading some roads to ML2 to allow legal greensticker travel, and are proposing to study other roads for official mixed use designation. This involves CHP analysis, and is limited to 3 miles.
I have been asked by the Regional Forester to provide feedback on what the Region is doing well, and perhaps less well, in California. I asked groups and individuals involved in different forests throughout California for feedback that I can include to the Regional Forester, so I will be presenting a broad range of experiences and opinions. I am honored to be included in this personal request by the Regional Forester, as far as I can ascertain, I do not know of other OHV advocates who received the same request.
The Inyo National Forest started the scoping for the Travel Management, Subpart C plan with in-person meetings in Mammoth. Thanks to board member Kevin Bazar for attending the meeting along with CORVA member Michael Lueders. Michael is the head of the volunteer based Search and Rescue organization for Inyo County, and has a lot of on-the-ground knowledge of the area.
Please review the attached report and request from Scott Stacy, CORVA member. Scott would like CORVA's help with maintenance for both the Husky Memorial and the Wagon Wheel Memorial in Ridgecrest. I've organized the photos into a brochure along with some of the ideas submitted by Scott. He is eagerly anticipating the board's response.
Download Files:
Upcoming Dates
September 26/27: California Wildfire and Forest Resiliency Task Force, Grass Valley
September 28: 30x30 Partnership Meeting, Sacramento
October 1/2: Off Road Expo, Pomona
October 4: Inyo National Forest OSV meeting
October 12-14: Nevada Offroad Association meeting, Reno
October 14: APCD Hearing Board meeting
October 15: Prairie City Visitor Appreciation Day
October 23: Northern Jamboree, Frank Raines OHV Park
Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy
