Protect, Promote and Provide 4x4 oPPortunities worldwide

SEPTEMBER 2014 • Volume 41 • Issue 2

http://www.quadratec.com

Board of Directors

President(Role vacant) - president@ufwda.orgPast PresidentJim Mazzola III – pastpresident@ufwda.orgVice PresidentPat Brower - vpresident@ufwda.orgInternational Vice PresidentPeter Vahry – intlvp@ufwda.orgTreasurer (vacant)Bob DeVore – treasurer@ufwda.orgDirector of MembershipPat Brower - membership@ufwda.orgDirector of Public RelationsPreston Stevens - prdirector@ufwda.orgDirector of Environmental AffairsJerry Smith - landuse@ufwda.org

Extended Board of Directors4WD Awareness Coordinator 4wdawareness@ufwda.orgWebsite AdministratorMilt Webb Design – webmaster@ufwda.org

Legal and MarketingLegal CounselCarla Boucher – attorney@ufwda.org

Business Development ManagerMichelle Church - business@ufwda.org231-557-7189

Social Media ManagementJason Church- business@ufwda.org

Editorial and DesignEditor, Peter VahryConsulting Editor, Phil Hanson

UFWDA Office and ContactPO Box 316Swartz Creek, MI 48473Email: info@ufwda.orgPhone: 1-800-44-UFWDA Bridal Veil Falls photo Jerry Smith

Departments:

Editorials:

Catching up: Pat Brower, vice president International

Comment: How Many Years?Water Quality TurbulenceNovember ElectionsForest Service Unveils Giant New Wilderness GrabDo You Remember a Camp Jeep?Land Use News 2000The Great Wilderness Scam

News and Events:

12th Annual 4xKids Day The “Hearts” of Good JeepersCrawfords Camp

Drummond Island Once Again Features:

Kruger National Park Black Bear Pass Backwards Schofield Pass Great Northern Trail Ride Business members Member Organizations

Cover photo of Black Bear Pass: Jerry Smith

Stories and articles are submitted from various Association Members and other contributors. The views and opinions expressed in the stories and articles within are solely those of the individual, or individuals who submitted said stories or articles. United Four Wheel Drive Associations may not advocate, endorse, nor recommend any of the said views or opinions.

57

891114172342

12212830

3745 53596566

CatChIng Up

Pat Brower UFWDA Vice President

Greetings, salutations, and a warm welcome! While our fiscal year may run from January through December, the terms for our Board of Directors run from AGM to AGM. That’s our Annual General Meeting every June for the newer readership. This is our first Voice since our 2014 AGM and we’ve seated our new Board. This past election cycle has found United without any volunteers running for the position of President. That leaves me, our North American Vice President, as our ‘leader’ until we can find a suitable candidate willing to take the helm of the organization.

Most of you already know me. I’ve been with UFWDA for several years now, starting in early 2011. I’ve been wheeling for 30 years and a member of my local club’s and association’s Boards in one position or another for 20 years. I have a very deep love for back country roads. When restrictions and gates began appearing in my area, I felt obligated to reverse the closures. I continue to feel compelled to preserve our access.

My first duty is to give an extremely heartfelt thank you to all of our past and present Board members. The work of influencing our national public land managing offices and ensuring that UFWDA continues to run smoothly does not accomplish itself. The committed efforts of these generous and caring individuals are required to accomplish our goals.

I believe that for any entity to succeed, it must consider its strengths and weaknesses. United is no different. We need to accentuate the strengths and work to rectify or minimize our weaknesses. The following are a few of my initial thoughts about our organization.

We have a solid membership base from which to build. New proposals for trail closures will not stop until the direction from the top changes. Like my father has said for years, “Shit rolls downhill”. Focusing solely on local closure proposals will keep organizations both busy and broke in perpetuity. It is my opinion that the best way to remedy this situation is to have a strong, United organization working to benefit all 4x4 enthusiasts. There are organizations that believe they can accomplish this on their own, without ever stepping foot in their nation’s capital. They elect not to join us, believing it’s more important to fight the constant barrage of local battles. Winning local battles is certainly important. But, it is equally important to work to alter the directives from the top offices. The goal is to stop the constant flow of closure projects. It is no easy task, but an irrefutably admirable one. The UFWDA Board and I could really use your help. If you know of any 4x4 clubs or associations that are not members, please act as our ambassadors, contact them and explain the need for a United 4WD community.

A tremendous strength of UFWDA is our ability to access who I consider to be the world’s foremost land use attorney, Carla Boucher. Mrs. Boucher’s grasp of the legal issues defining our struggle for access is second to none. We’ve not had the ability to utilize Mrs. Boucher to the extent I’d prefer. Our objective is to increase our private, organizational and business support in order to employ her talents on a more consistent basis. We need to go on the offensive, rather than constantly playing a reactionary role. Currently, we only lobby when there is an important issue on the national or international stage. You can be a huge help here as well. If you, your club or association has business partners who believe in the land use cause, ask them to contact our Business Development Manager, Michelle Church, at Business@UFWDA.org. While it is impossible for our half-dozen-ish Board Members to be everywhere or to reach out to every organization and business, with each of us contributing toward the goal we can increase our reach exponentially.

I find communication is both a strength and a weakness for the UFWDA. Our Editor, Peter Vahry, does an amazing job ensuring our members

are informed about all the latest happenings through our monthly eNews. He produces our Quarterly “Voice” online magazine, which goes well beyond just the news. Jason Church does a fantastic job with our Facebook and Twitter feeds. While these are wonderful tools, I see this as preaching to the choir. These primarily reach our membership. We need to find additional ways to expand our distribution so we can reach those who don’t already belong. This will hopefully convince them of the benefits of joining. Our forums also go underutilized. I’m as guilty as anyone of not posting as often as I should. We’re looking to revamp our Forum area to help improve its ease of use.

Many enthusiasts with whom I speak do not understand the fine line separating local, state, and federal/international issues, nor how these issues fit the four wheel drive communities’ organizational structure. We need to do a better job of describing what I was taught as being the “Three Tiered System” of organized 4x4 Clubs, State and Regional Associations, and United. I was taught that issues arising in an area where a local club wheels would be handled by that local club. If they needed help, they would call upon their state or regional association for assistance. State legislation, closures affecting multiple areas within a state or any project within the jurisdictional boundaries of a state or regional association would be appropriate for that association to tackle. If that association needs help, they call us. That doesn’t mean we’ll take the project and run with it on their behalf. We’ll offer advice and guidance, but it’s still the local association’s responsibility to do the work.

Just because a project occurs on a government owned piece of land (BLM, NFS, etc.) doesn’t make it a nationally significant issue. Most land use plans only affect one district or forest, making those types of actions a local or state issue. Nationally significant issues are those that affect all states, or at least more than one. Issues like the Transportation Planning Rule and the Recreational Trails Program are of this level and fall under United’s responsibilities.

We’ve been approached many times by organizations who are seeking to have UFWDA handle issues like their local Forest Plan Revision. Finding out that they’ve misunderstood the separation of duties and how it relates to various projects can often lead to hard feelings. This doesn’t help either organization. We must be better at making sure all our members understand that we’re here to help with these kinds of issues, but we’re not in the business of taking over those

types of projects and handling them on behalf of that local association. Like I said, we’ll offer advice and guidance. We’ve been through the process for most project types, including Forest Plan Revision, many times ourselves before coming to United. Call us. We can help. But we won’t do it for you. We will, however, work our tails off trying to make sure the rules from the top make your efforts more likely to succeed.

There are a number of other improvements we’re working toward. Streamlining our Storefront and refining our shipping systems are already in the works. We’ve noticed an increase in calls about late arriving shipments. While we’re sending ordered items out in the same timeframe we’ve always used, the USPS no longer seems to be delivering bulk packages with anywhere near the efficiency they once had. Packages that used to take days to transport are now regularly taking weeks. We intend to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to verify our suspicions that moving to first class mail or even another carrier to expedite shipments would be cost effective.

These are all improvements we can make in the coming months. Our most immediate need is one that would help expedite everything we do; a complete Board of Directors so we can divide the workload among a greater number of volunteers. There are Board positions currently vacant. While these positions are being filled pro tem, we are in need of permanent replacements. Filling these roles is the most critical of all our needs. Many hands make light work. We will be able to implement change at a more rapid rate and be more responsive to our membership’s needs with more people doing the work of running the organization.

I implore you to please consider filling a role, or see if some of the more experienced members of your local organizations might be willing to step forward to assist us. I look forward to serving you. We’re all in this together!

Happy Wheeling,Pat Brower

Both are being headed by their respective vice presidents.

Raymond Shepherd is in that role for AAWDC-SA, but he still found the time to send some photos and a few words about a five day drive across the Kruger National Park.

It’s been interesting to observe the increasing interest on four wheeling through the Indo /Asian region, both as tourism ventures and for the adventure of 4x4 activities. We are seeing an increase in ‘4x4 Challenge’ types of events with the likes of the original Malaysian ‘Rainforest Challenge’ now being franchised to many different countries. There are many 4WD clubs now in Inda, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that might well enjoy some of the knowledge acrued within the UFWDA organizations to avert future potential bureaucratic restrictions.

It’s hard to know if sites like Facebook have influenced the spread of four wheeling, but it’s clear that a huge diversity of people are posting up on such social media sites a large quantity of video covering their 4x4 adventures (and disasters).

Of course for UFWDA, many of those videos do absolutely nothing to enhance the image of four wheeling as a sustainable or safe recreation! I can imagine our opponents are gleefully reviewing many of those videos and stockpiling them as ammunition to be used against our recreation. Fortunately, many of the places where there’s increased interest in 4x4 recreation, are in semi-tropical regions where vegetation quickly recovers. When I talk of vegetation control; on many of our 4x4 trails in northern New Zealand, it is an annual activity to simply keep the routes passable and without it, within a few years a trail can effectively vanish.

That’s not the case in alpine or arid regions and in those situations it is absolutely essential to stay on existing trails.

As editor, I hope that you enjoy the content of this edition and please remember that the only way that UFWDA can bring these to you, is if you help by sending us your news, photos and stories.

UFWDA is you and this organization needs practical and financial support from our recreation in order to continue advocating and informing about issues that impact on four wheeling.Do it now, make a donation thank you and please have a think about volunteering.

By Peter Vahry UFWDA International VP

I’m seeing pictures of the Fall season rolling out across North America, which means for many readers that you’ll be thinking less about backcountry adventures in your 4x4’s and more about the challenge of Winter. Will the suggested El Nino weather pattern make this year one with a lot of snow for many regions?

Of course down here in the Southern Hemisphere, we’re seeing the signs that summer is not far away and plans are underway to get people and machinery into many areas to address vegetation overgrowth and water management on trails.

There’s likely to be plenty of hot air being emitted by US politicians as November approaches and it will be important for four wheelers to get out and vote. Nothing will change unless you participate.

In New Zealand we have just completed our three yearly election process and this year it’s not been as well mannered as most over the past decade. We’ve got the existing government back again, so at least we have some idea of the direction that they’ll take in respect of 4x4 recreation for the next three years. There was a bit of a landslide victory and the ‘Green Party’ failed to grow its representation and will again have no part in the government.

It must be the lure of a parliamentry salary and associated perks, because there seemed to be plenty of people who’d made the effort here to put their names forward and had done the electioneering for a place in our parliament.

It’s a pity that four wheeling can’t generate the same sort of enthusiasm for standing for office!

Even in a country full of outdoor enthusiasts like Southern Africa, they have not been able to fill their role of president of the AAWDC-SA and of course our own organization has the same problem.

I had the opportunity last month to attend an event that has been over thirty years in the making. Yes you read that right; it has been over thirty years in the making. Here in Michigan we have had a provision in law which would allow a Scramble Area in Southeast Michigan; yet all these years later, we have yet to see its existence. There have been a multitude of Associations, Clubs and Individuals that have given of their time and monies throughout the years to bring this provision of law to fruition. If you have spent any time at all in an attempt to acquire, or defend our sport’s land use access, you learned that finding a friend in government who is willing to be an advocate, is essential. The ambiguity of the language of law allows for many interpretations and more times than not, is unfavorable to our sport. Well, that past weekend was a huge step in the right direction, but we still have a long ways to go. This slower than a snail’s pace is missed by so many of the wheelers today; we live in an instant gratification society and want to apply it to all aspects of our lives. United Four Wheel Drive Associations (UFWDA) has been at the center of many of these struggles for more than forty years. As the names and faces have changed throughout the years, the passion to defend our land use access has never waned. UFWDA is always in need of new people and fresh ideas to continue the fight.

Our Mission, as The Premier Full-Size Land Use Advocate, is dependent upon us making calculated and continuous comments at every level of government that would attempt and/or desire to restrict our ability to enjoy the

great outdoors from the comfort of our chosen vehicle.

Our success, your success, is based on the ability to build and foster relationships. I would ask each person that takes the time to read this, to seriously consider what they have, or can do, to help maintain and improve our ability to enjoy our sport. Whether time or money, our sport needs your assistance. Maybe you have the time to assume one of our unfilled positions; or maybe you are in a position to encourage your Organization to join UFWDA with your full-roster.

Whatever you can do to help UFWDA, whether in a big or small way, will ultimately pay you back dividends as you do your part to preserve our sport for your children, grandchildren and the like.

Bob DeVoreTreasurer-United Four Wheel Drive Associations

How many years?

“Everything Old is New Again”. How appropriate and true those decades-old song lyrics by Peter Allen are for one of the most current undertakings by the United States Forest Service (USFS). Those words are so appropriate on many levels.

First, arguments put forth by anti-access organizations trying out new shot-gun type arguments during environmental analyses years ago are coming to fruition now.

Second, the topic of the USFS recent amendments to its agency manual and handbook center around Best Management Practices (BMPs) used in monitoring and establishing water quality – BMPs by their very nature are old things that are continually made new as science and technology improve water quality measurements and management.

Third, our story here begins officially in 2012 (read below). Finally, UFWDA itself continues to change and adapt – we ourselves are old, but each passing year must become new again in the way we do business, in the way we work to protect legal access, and the way we serve our members. The work UFWDA did relating to Tellico and other OHV areas over the past five to ten years puts it in the unique position of being able to recognize the current anti-access undertakings as old campaigns used in new ways. Let’s start a few years back in order to understand.

In 2012, the USFS created the Land Management Planning Rule. One provision of the rule was a requirement that it (USFS) would establish requirements for itself for national water quality BMPs in the agency handbook and manual. In 2014, the USFS announced revisions to its agency handbook and manual implementing the national water quality BMPs pursuant to the 2012 Land Management Planning Rule.

UFWDA has submitted comments for the record to the US Forest Service regarding its proposed directives for BMPs for water quality protection on NFS lands. The USFS proposal creates a national system of BMPs and monitoring protocols on NFS lands to protect water quality from activities taking place in forests and grasslands. The agency is creating these national standards reportedly in compliance with the Clean Water Act (CWA). The agency believes these national standards will ensure consistent use of BMPs nationwide and create a method to evaluate their implementation and effectiveness on a regular basis. The proposed BMPs relate to nonpoint source water pollution control. The federal authority through which government controls nonpoint source pollution is the CWA. The CWA regulates water quality from pollutants from both point and nonpoint sources. A point source is something like a drain pipe from a factory, for example. Nonpoint source pollution is created by rainfall or snow that seeps into the ground or moves across the top of the soil creating runoff.

The USFS Manual requires a water quality evaluation for all environmental analyses to identify the impacts on water quality from proposed and alternative land management practices. This water quality evaluation must use national best management practices. This means they must use evaluation techniques that are better than any other. That’s what a best management practice is – using water quality evaluation techniques that have been shown to be the best techniques or the benchmarks. As science and technology improve our understanding and management of water quality issues so too best management practices emerge and replace outdated processes. Here’s the concern in a nutshell. At Tellico, for instance, water quality evaluations were done by both the agency and a third party. The agency

Water Quality Turbulence

By: Carla Boucher, Attorney for United Four Wheel Drive Associations

water quality evaluation, argued by the USFS as the best management practice, failed to evaluate nonpoint source pollution and water quality UPSTREAM from the trails at Tellico. The result was a complete closure of Tellico with no evaluation whether water quality would, or has, improved downstream to a level necessary to improve nonpoint source pollution. At the same time elsewhere in the US, anti-access organizations had begun submitting comments on various environmental analyses by the agency that any road stream crossings without a bridge would create nonpoint source pollution by OHVs. The court held in one earlier case that OHV tire spin was not a source of “dredge or fill” as prohibited without permit by the CWA. As a result of that case, the anti-access organizations shifted their argument slightly to move from the “dredge and fill” permit question to the question of nonpoint source pollution.

Another concern is whether creating a national BMP will accomplish anything on the ground. The way the CWA works, States are responsible for creating nonpoint source pollution management plans. The USFS is involved in only one of two ways – as the designated management agency (DMA) responsible for ensuring compliance with the State’s water quality implement plan OR via the CWA which states that federal agencies are responsible for complying with State nonpoint source pollution management plans for its units within the plan area. This section of the CWA mandates that federal agencies must comply with State nonpoint source pollution management plans. Note the CWA does not make State’s subservient to the federal agencies. Therefore, where there are national forests, they are responsible for complying with the State nonpoint source pollution management plan. Those plans already have listed BMPs created by the states. So what will the USFS land manger do

if its National BMP is in conflict or different from the State BMP – utilize its own National BMP or utilize the State’s nonpoint source pollution management plan BMPs. By definition, the State’s BMP, in order to be a BMP, will be periodically evaluated to make sure they are, in fact, the BEST management practice. If better processes exist or have been created since the implementation of the State’s BMP, the State will revise its BMPs to reflect the better processes. This begs the question why the USFS needs a National BMP across units where various terrains, soil types, sedimentation issues, and the like, exist. Valuable resources are being expended by the agency in time and money to develop national BMPs. I’m sure USFS managers already ensure its compliance with State nonpoint source pollution management plans, so for every environmental analyses undertaken by the USFS it will have to compare the State NPS plan BMPs with its own National BMPs. First, this adds a layer of analysis not currently required. The agency only needs to know the State BMP, not compare it with its own BMPs. Second, in cases where the BMPs are not identical the USFS creates an atmosphere of increased litigation. If it follows its own National BMP and not the State BMP litigation will ensue and if it follows the State BMPs and not its own National BMP litigation will ensue, particularly by those organizations opposed to any kind of use on our national forests.

It seems apparent the agency is determined to see to the end its self-fulfilling prophecy from 2012 when it required itself to amend the handbook and manual to implement this national system of BMPs for water quality. There is no question the agency is going to finalize these handbook and manual changes, despite our view that there is questionable legal authority to use them since the CWA is clear that nonpoint source pollution is regulated by the States!

With the November elections looming before us, it is time to take a moment to reflect on; “Whom do you support for the United States Senate?”

If you love what little access we currently have for Jeeping the Great American Back Country, you really need to weigh this question with a major look toward the future.

Our OHV access is being eroded EVERY DAY! The “Preservationists” are throwing everything they have at our Senators and Congressmen to close every single road and trail to motorized uses. We must stop this onslaught.

Electing leaders who have the “right” attitude toward keeping the public lands, roads, and trails accessible to motorized recreation, is vital to our future.

The Trail Political Action Committee (TPAC) works to elect federal candidates who will support legislation and policy that promotes and protects responsible off-highway vehicle recreation on public and private lands.

TPAC is proud to announce its official endorsement and support for Dan Sullivan who is running for the U.S. Senate in Alaska.

Dan Sullivan is TPAC’s 6th officially endorsed senate race, where he joins other TPAC endorsed senate races: AR - Tom Cotton,

CO - Cory Gardner, MI - Terry Lynn Land, MN -Mike McFadden, and MT - Steve Daines. TPAC’s “Senate Soon-to-Endorse or Watch List” includes: GA - David Perdue, IA - Joni Ernst, KY - Mitch McConnell, LA - Bill Cassidy, NC - Thom Tillis, NH - Scott Brown, and OR -Monica Wehby.

Even if you cannot monetarily support these candidates, your VOTE FOR THEM is crucial to maintaining the future of Jeeping, Four Wheeling, or whatever name you prefer.

President Obama is likely to begin using his pen to create millions of acres of new National Monuments. Only a strong conservative US Senate can stop this from happening.

And let us not forget that the entire US Congress is up for re-election. These representatives also have a major role in keeping our access safe. Don’t forget to put the right candidate into office in the House of Representatives!

Get out and VOTE for YOUR right to access the

Great American BackCountry!!!

November Elections

By Jerry SmithSeptember 17, 2014

12th Annual 4xKids Day

Written By: John Clarke, Ret., Longtime Driver and Supporter

“All for one and one for all!”

12th Annual 4xKids Day! 12th Annual 4xKids Day! I keep saying it and just can’t believe it has been 12 years, but it has and what a wonderful one it was this year. No rain showers this year for the 17 Jeeps and 28 helpers, but wouldn’t have made any difference to them or the campers. Everyone

was so excited, it could have been snowing. Hey, what about a winter 4xKids Day? Well, maybe not.

Shay Dawson, Director of Bradford Woods, and his staff had things buzzing and ready to go when we arrived. The course this year was our longest one to date (40 minutes)

and that made the Jeepers and campers happy for sure. Nice graphics on the asphalt directed the way to the fun.

Once the new course had been shown to the drivers, it was time for lunch. A big Hoosier thanks goes out to Jimmy Johnson and Doc for the outstanding buffet of pulled pork and all the goodies to go with it. Man was it good!

Line up started about 1:00 p.m. as normal, with introductions of the drivers and helpers by Max Soliday. Then came those historical words we had all been waiting on. “Gentleman, ladies, and others. Start your engines!” The anticipation and excitement of waiting for a whole year to put smiles on all the campers was here.

For the next four plus hours, it was nothing but pure fun had by one and all. The campers couldn’t wait. One of the counselors that had just arrived the previous Tuesday for his first time at helping at Camp Riley said he was asked almost immediately by one of the campers “Is it Jeep day today?” He replied, “No, it’s not until Saturday.” So this was as big of a day for the campers as it was for all the Jeepers and helpers.

Then as the day started coming to a close, came one of the more humbling times for the drivers and helpers, the presentation of the thank you notes the campers made especially for us. This always seems to get to us all and makes us realize, we did something good today.

BUT, this event is not over without us giving back to Camp Riley for their future with a check presentation, and it was a biggie. For the past several years Fat Boys Jeepers has been working towards a goal to enable Camp Riley to build a Universal Low Ropes Course for the campers. There have been too many hours to count put in by too many people to mention in order we could reach the check presentation today to top the day off. This year a check for $10,000.00 was presented getting us up to the $35,000 plus mark to date, which Shay Dawson says will build a great course. WOW!

Of course none of this over the 12 years would have been possible without a lot of outside support from our sponsors of all our events. The kids loved the event t-shirts this year. Several of the drivers even had the kids sign their t-shirt for a permanent souvenir of the day. The kids got a real kick out of someone asking for their autograph. But those shirts are all thanks to our great group of sponsors for 2014 (listed below). Hope to see all of you again next year!

Motorized Forest users got a nasty surprise when the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico unveiled a plan to consider at least 550,000 acres of land for new wilderness designation. This is a full third of the total acreage of the 1.63 million acres Forest. More importantly, this could be an early sign of what is to come for many other Forests across the US.

The Cibola National Forest is revising its 30-year old Forest Plan. The Cibola is one of eight Forests across the nation selected to be the first group to revise their Plan using the “new” 2012 Planning Rule. The 2012 Planning Rule requires the Forest to conduct an inventory and evaluation of lands that are potentially suitable for wilderness consideration as part of the Forest Plan revision. A very important point that the Forest Service often fails to mention when announcing this new “requirement” is that the Forest Service wrote those regulations for itself.

The new process is supposed to work like this: The Forest Service puts together an inventory of all lands that potentially meet the definition of Wilderness. These lands are then “evaluated” to see if they meet the criterion for consideration as potential Wilderness. If the lands pass this evaluation, they are included in the one or more of the alternatives considered under the Forest Plan Revision’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Forest Supervisor then selects an alternative. If that alternative includes any land for Wilderness recommendation, a letter is prepared notifying Congress that the Forest has identified additional lands that are suitable for Wilderness consideration. Of course, Congress is the only body that can designate Wilderness and can choose to consider the designation or ignore it.

As always, the devil is in the details. In the case of the Cibola National Forest, the Forest Service

threw a very wide net in their initial inventory. In addition to including cluded all Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) on the Forest, they also included many other areas. Lands suitable for Wilderness (per the 1964 Wilderness Act) are supposed to be:“an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which:

(1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man’s work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.”

The portion of the definition that states “with the imprint of man’s work substantially unnoticeable” is admittedly open to some interpretation. The radical greens, and now the federal agencies, are trying to take full advantage of this “opportunity”. The definition continues to be further s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to an increasingly illogical limit.

Of dire concern, is the Cibola’s stated intent to use a new set of planning directives. These planning directives were written to further define and clarify the 2012 Planning Rule, but have yet to be officially approved. These new planning directives (again, written by the Forest Service for itself) make an absolute mockery of the original intent of the 1964 Wilderness Act. Here are a few of the more egregious “jewels” in these new directives:

Forest Service Unveils Giant New Wilderness Grab

Words by Mark Werkmeister Resource Director NMOHVA

1. The agency is directed to include areas even if the lands include substantial amounts of Level 2 roads. What? Purposely include areas with roads in the Wilderness inventory? Yes. Level 2 roads (primitive roads) are evidently now to be considered “substantial unnoticeable.” (Proposed Directives Chapter 71.22a (3.)).

2. The agency is directed to include lands containing airstrips and helipads. (Proposed Directives Chapter 71.22b(1.)).

3. Here is a real beauty: “Areas of mining activity where impacts are not substantially noticeable, or if wilderness character can be maintained or restored through appropriate management actions.” (Proposed Directives Chapter 71.22b(6.)). All the Forest Service has to do is “remove” historic mining structures and shazzam! Instant wilderness!

4. Or the agency can just ignore the fact that there are man-made structures on the land. “Structures, dwellings, and other relics of past occupation when they are considered part of the historical and cultural landscape of the area.” The Forest Service wants us to believe that if a building is old it less man-made or noticeable. (Proposed Directives Chapter 71.22b(12.)).

These are but a few of the many, many more examples in the Proposed Directives. The bottom line is that the new Planning Directives make it VERY, VERY easy to manufacture more lands “suitable” for Wilderness Recommendation.

“So what?” you may say. “Let the Forest Service recommend whatever they want. Everyone knows that only Congress can designate lands as Wilderness.”

It is true that only Congress can designate lands as Wilderness. But the Forest Service, in their proposed Planning Directives has gotten that angle covered. They issued themselves another new

“regulation” that neatly bypasses the requirement for Congress to ever act on any recommendation.Chapter 74 of the proposed Planning Directives states: “Furthermore, the plan must include plan components to provide for the management of areas recommended for wilderness designation to protect and maintain the ecological and social characteristics that provide the basis for their suitability for wilderness designation…”

Yes, you read that correctly. The Forest Service brazenly wrote a regulation that requires them to manage any lands they recommend for Wilderness as if it were already Wilderness. That management will continue until Congress acts, even if hell freezes over first.So be afraid. Be very afraid. Then get angry and get busy! The best way to stop this potentially massive Wilderness land grab is to GET EDUCATED, GET INVOLVED, and STAY INVOLVED.

The new Planning Directives require ample opportunities for public participation. The best way to stop new Wilderness and the “wannabe wilderness” land management is to successfully fight the initial inventory and evaluation process. Once proposed acreage for Wilderness recommendation gets into a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a new Forest Plan, the chances of stopping it or changing it get really, really small.

If your Forest is one of the “early adopters” for these new planning rules ( Nez Perce, Clearwater, Chugach, Cibola, El Yunque, Inyo, Sequoia and Sierra), you need to take action immediately as the process of “creating” new Wilderness in your Forest is probably already under way. For the rest of us, if your Forest is undergoing or getting ready to do a Plan revision, they, too, will probably be using the same new Planning Rule.

In either case, the way to fight bogus Wilderness is the same: Show up at the public meetings, learn and understand the new process, and then provide a very clear and detailed comments letting the Forest Service know why the lands they are proposing are NOT suitable. The Forest Service and their radical green allies are counting on the motorized community to be clueless, lazy, or just plain apathetic. It is time to show them just how wrong they are!

Campground on the Cibola National Forest (New Mexico), 1924 (USDA Forest Service)

Read the New Planning Directives http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/planningrule/home/?cid=stelprdb5403924. Chapter 70 is the pertinent chapter for the Wilderness Inventory and Evaluation process.

http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com

Do You Remember a Camp Jeep?

Is it time to remind Jeep about the values of those Camp Jeep events to the brand and the ‘faithful’ who have kept the Jeep brand growing?

The Camp Jeep programs introduced new owners to the potential of their Jeeps, whatever model it might have been and provided a Jeep community event for families and enthusiasts planning enhancements to their Jeeps.

UFWDA were involved with Camp Jeep for many years.... Let’s talk about it and see what happens

http://www.trasharoo.com

In the several years of my involvement with organized Jeeping, I have noticed a thing or two about the people who participate in our preferred sport.

If you want to know the kind of people who are willing to jump in and help with a project or task, 4-wheelers (Jeepers) are some of the best you can ask for. Want some examples??

Today, June 8, 2014, on a great Sunday to lay in bed and sleep-in, approximately 40 individuals from the Grand Mesa Jeep Club, Colorado Canyon Crawlers, OutKast Off Road, and others gathered together in the desert north of Grand Junction, Colorado to spend their morning picking up other peoples’ trash.

Most of these people had just spent the last 4-days working to make a very enjoyable time for participants in “Rock Junction” and the “Off Road Show” sponsored by the Grand Mesa Jeep Club.

The first Saturday of June each year, the Grand Mesa Jeep Club conducts the “Off Road Show” at the Mesa County Fairgrounds in Grand Junction, Colorado. This event draws people and vendors from all around the United States for a great day of celebrating the sport of “Jeeping”, “4-Wheeling”,

“Wheeling”, or whatever names you wish to endear it with.

Vendors are given the opportunity to display their products and talk “shop” with the people who use those products.

The people are invited to learn what’s new and better so they may modify or upgrade their rigs. It’s a win for everyone!

Walking around a fairground in the hot sun can be very enjoyable… to a point. After a while, you begin to have some power failure… then it gets intense.

The dedicated folks out in the desert had just endured such a day. Hot desert sun can really take the energy from your body. But for this bunch, that was only the day before!

The three days prior, most were out on some of the premier easy, moderate, and/or extreme Jeep trails in America. Let me tell you, bouncing around in a 4x4 all day will definitely take some wear and tear on you.

The Grand Mesa Jeep Club conducts “Rock Junction” the three days prior to the “Off Road

The “Hearts” of Good Jeepers By Jerry Smith

Show”. During this event, Jeepers from all over the US come to enjoy some of the best Jeeping you’ll find anywhere! People from the east are treated to experiences they can hardly relate to the folks back home.

Occasionally, even though we pre-run many of the trails to make sure they are “Trail Ready”, Mother Nature conducts her “Automatic Reject Feature” to make an already difficult trail into a “Work Zone”.

One such trail this year was the Pace Lake Road.

The Pace Lake Road is difficult to begin with. Plenty of steep, rocky, off-camber trail is enhanced with scenery that makes your eyes ache. It is usually a very fun trail, with the occasional “new obstacle” thrown in.

This year, a very large Ponderosa Pine tree that had been mortally wounded by lightning years ago, was take by a gust of wind and had fallen perpendicular across the road. Not many street worthy 4x4s are capable of jumping over a 3-foot diameter tree.

With no chainsaw in the group, another method of removal was needed.

Discussion of winching the tree was discounted, so we built a “bridge” from the broken tree limbs to go around the end of the giant tree. Once on the other side, a strap hooked to a Jeep made short work of one big obstacle. No complaints were

issued about the delay, just teamwork to remedy the problem.

This kind of teamwork is common among those who love the Great American BackCountry. They enjoy a new challenge with not one complaint.

It is a joy to have friends who have that kind of attitude. Sharing an obstacle is just what they need to vent the anxieties of the workweek and life in general. Overcoming a “show stopping” obstacle gives one a real sense of accomplishment and pride.

We of the organized motorized recreational public, teach our membership and other members of our public the meaning of good stewardship of our sacred lands --- public lands in particular.

What we share in common should be treated with respect and reverence. We greatly appreciate what God has provided us, and demand that all others do the same. It is little to ask in return for the many opportunities the land provides us in the first place.

Take special care of what takes care of you. A little respect is a very small price for the multitude of benefits we derive in return.

One last thought; When you come to a fork in the road ---- Take It!!!

On September 19 and 20, I attended the 2nd Tread Lightly meeting of the Convergence Dialog Series. The dialog series, hosted by Tread Lightly!, is designed to bring representatives of recreational interests together, to open lines of communications, build common ground, discuss pertinent issues, and developing a strategic plan for the continuation of responsible recreation. The series focus was on responsible recreation issues in: snowmobiling, water related recreation management, hunting and off highway vehicle use and managementof motorized and mechanized use.

“Setting a Course of Action”, would bring together the workgroups formed at the 1st dialog meeting held in Durango Colorado on 03/21/2000, and continue the process of working through the issues affecting recreation. Participation from a variety of interests is one of the key elements to the success of the convergence dialog series by bringing together representation from state and federal agencies, industry, conservation organizations and enthusiasts group the full spectrum of recreational interests can be heard and discussed. As action items are then developed, understanding will be gained, and participants will get a sense of ownership for a working plan.

After introductions participants were briefed on the outcome of the 1st dialog series. Our charter was to set a course of action and establish-reasonable goals. Our efforts were directed towards creating a common vision for responsible recreation types, identifying critical factors to achieve those visions, specify actions to be accomplished, develop an action plan and continue communicating for

responsible recreation in each of the following areas: hunting and OHV use, management of motorized and mechanized use, snowmobiling, and water related recreation management.

The straw man ground rules for the conference were to establish an equal opportunity to hear and be heard, to develop dialog not monologue, limit sidebar conversations, seek to understand, agree to disagree without being disagreeable, and communicate not conflict with other interests.

During the course of dialogue we would have a number of breakout sessions. Participants grouped according to their interests: agencies, conservationist, industry and users. Everyone needed to recognize that these are merely titles and any individual could represent virtually any one of these areas. During the break-out process the group would select a group spokesperson who would develop the worksheet that would be developed during round-robin sharing, discussions clarification additional rounds of discussions, group priority voting, predicting others challenges, and the group would help prepare a summary of the dialogue that took place within their group.

Challenges

Agencies: the agencies indicated that the number one priority was to develop ways to improve voluntary compliance and enforcement of outdoor behaviour, e.g., education, engineering and enforcement. Equally important to the agency was getting the public to understand recreating responsibility. 2nd on the agency’s list, was trying to satisfy everyone by providing multiple activity

Land Use News 2000 By Scott Riebel

opportunities, given variety of actual and perceived user conflicts. Getting more resources and personnel to deal with the increasing demands/benefits for recreation and maintaining healthy air, land and water resources.

Conservationists: conservationists list their challenges as lack of communication or understanding, lack of courtesy and consistent education about outdoor ethics, conservation and ecosystem protection; agency has lost sight of ecosystem protection in turf battles; territoriality; increased participation in all types of recreation.

Enthusiasts: challenges include preservationists groups mission to eliminate certain activities on public land; federal agencies must make recreation a priority to manage public lands; all groups willingness to share acceptance, we must be willing to compromise.

Industry: top down management by land management agencies that too often reflect special interest politics; recognition by public land managers that public land is for public use; the process of educating all public land users in make them aware of their responsibilities; land use

decisions and public opinion is being influenced by incorrect data and junk science; and maintaining recreational opportunities in the face of increasing demand for and a diminishing supply of land available.

Common themes that developed were: more people are needing recreational areas and there’s a lack of land; there’s a growing conflict and recognition that conflicts needs to be dealt with up front; agencies appear to be caught in the middle with limited manpower and funding, compounding the challenges. There’s a lack of communication and education among recreational interest groups and recreation as a priority with agencies, when these agencies are being driven by initiatives of other groups. Additional challenges include identifying the need to be educated and the value of good communication;

Education - how do we get the message to those people who either don’t want to be educated, or get their education from advertisers who don’t promote responsible recreation? And finally, how do we get those who are against recreation, a key component to this dialogue, to the table for future work?

During the breakout of individual recreational user

A D V E N T U R E S

TMX-TREME MOBILEwww.xtrememobileadventures.com

We professionally demonstrate your products in person at events we attend, showing your customers why they need it and how it should be used!

Contact XMA to get your products noticed – become a sponsor Today!

Contact us at: 1-800-370-3308 • email: creidemeister@aol.com • www.xtrememobileadventures.com

XMAY

OU

R BUSIN

ES

S

SP

ONSOR-UP

2013-2014

There is still time to get involved...join our list of Top Quality Companies!

BECOME A SPONSOR

TODAY& SHOW OFFYOUR STUFF!

groups, additional challenges were identified. For snowmobiling those include: improve snowmobiling aesthetics, lowering emissions, smoke, noise and work with the EPA and industry to develop standards; improve access for winter motorized and the motorized groups, better utilization, more parking/trail heads; snowmobilers need better data to determine the real impact of snowmobiling on scientific, social and wildlife; they were also concerned with how they educate, enforce, and get buy-in for responsible recreation. Additional concerns listed under this challenge were respect for private property, proper use of machines, avalanche/ shared trail safety, and the recognition that other users need quiet and trackless experiences. An additional concern of snowmobiles was how to be more proactive in order to avoid top-down direction by land managers and how to improve communication between environmental groups, non-motorized groups, motorized groups, and land management agencies.

Hunting and off highway vehicle use;Stakeholders need to develop and deliver educational programs focusing on a consistent message of responsible use and the impacts of irresponsible use.In addition, off highway vehicle users need to enhance the capability of management agencies to support education and on the ground management. Agencies should have available clear and concise regulations. We need to develop new and creative ways to generate revenue for all OHV management to include user fees and vehicle registrations and finally, off highway vehicle users must be considered other users.

Water related recreation management;There needs to be resolution of user conflict to optimize user satisfaction and safety law protecting the environment. Education of public and private sectors on what industry is doing to be environmentally friendly and compatible particularly pertaining to water quality. Education of user groups on boating laws and affects a beating on ecosystems. Agencies need to consider management of water recreation in accordance with identified carrying capacities and avoid government regulation/legislation that restricts or bans the use before the facts justified theaction.

Management of motorized and mechanized use;Agencies must recognize there are differences in values and recreationists need to recognize

limitations of agency funding. Motorized recreation has recognized the need for additional education and communication, and is committed to taking actions to reduce user conflict, educate those within their user groups and communicate with other user groups.

Some of the overlaps and the similarities that resulted from these breakout sessions, were that there are more recreationists using or wanting to use the same lands. This produces conflict and education will be a key ingredient to solving these conflicts. There is a limited supply of land and increasing demand on the land. There is a lack of both education and funding and that education rose to the top for most user groups.

Day 2 - Each of our breakout groups were to generate a common vision forresponsible recreation, critical factors to achieve those visions, specify actions to be accomplished, develop an action plan, and to continue communicate for responsible recreation in each of the above listed areas of Six critical factors were identified as necessary components to achieve that vision of responsible recreation. I will list these in order of importance and provide some of the discussion for each these factors.

Critical factor number 1; Effective management. The group recognizes that the land management agencies lack adequate funding and resources to effectively manage public lands.Furthermore in order to effectively managed public lands land managers will by necessity have to make recreation management a priority. There has to be partnering between the land managers and responsible user groups, monitoring and evaluation of data, education, and proper on the ground planning of recreation. In addition, the heads of agencies need to provide direction rather than be directive in their approach to land management.

Critical factor number 2 ;Reasonable access. The agencies must ensure equal and open/balance access to public lands. Agency must resolve issues between agencies with respect to the management of public lands. Public land managers must work with private land holders to interface with those in holdings to provide reasonable access through public lands. And agencies must work to eliminate the checker board of private and holdings.

Critical factor number 3;Communication and education. All users groups must make an effort to out reach.Emphasis should be placed on teaching tolerance. We must establish trust and respect between user groups by using a variety of materials to include school curriculum. And there must be a willingness on both sides to compromise.

Critical factor number 4; Collaborative participation of all groups. There must be additional emphasis on including all user groups in the collaborative process, during the planning, implementation, and local input stages. There must be an effort to incorporate national priorities into local decisions. There must be a willingness of stakeholders to participate. And there must be a conscious effort on the part of the land management agencies not to reward conflict e.g. the environmental lawsuit.

Critical factor number 5Public land health. During the planning process capacity of the land, sustainability, population density, land, soil and water integrity must be maintained.

Critical factor number 6Land managers must base their decisions on a balance of science, social, economic, regulatory and public input. All science that is relied upon must be able to withstand. You, in decisions on capacity, will consider both social aspects and the resource.

With these elements now identified, each member of the group was asked to select an area/critical element in which they were willing to commit some time and energy to the development of an action plan had to take on specific action items related to those critical elements.

So what’s changed over the ensuing fourteen years? We still don’t fully work together as outdoor recreations, despite those endeavors of Tread Lightly! to encourage it.

The pressure on motorized recreation continues to increase, as noted in the commentary in this edition by Carla Boucher, the UFWDA attorney. The matters idenified in Scott’s report are still valid today, despite continued efforts by UFWDA. To be more effective, we’ll need to lift our presence in DC.That will require better funding of UFWDA.

Please tread lightly and travel only on routes and

in areas designated open for motorized vehicle

use. Remember, Respected Access is Open Access. This Public service AnnouncemenT is Powered by

The town of Murphy sits high in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southwestern corner of North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the Hiwassee and Valley rivers, both popular with anglers, Murphy serves as a gateway to a sprawling wilderness area that includes several national forests and state parks in North Carolina and nearby Georgia and Tennessee. A stroll through Murphy’s downtown shopping district is to revisit a bit of small-town Americana as envisioned by Norman Rockwell. Don’t miss the Cherokee County Courthouse, which was built in Classical Revival style of locally quarried blue marble. Just a short drive from town is the John C. Campbell Folk School, dedicated to preserving and teaching the unique crafts, music and dance of Southern Appalachia.

Nearly 12 miles north-northwest of Murphy, Crawford’s Campground www.crawfordscg.com is open nine months a year March through November. Roughly half of its three dozen RV sites have full hookups, and the rest have water and electricity. Also available are primitive campsites for tents and 3 bunk houses. Among its facilities are a camp store, water-splash park, playground, large 40x40 covered pavilion, restrooms and showers. An easy day trip from the campground, is a scenic drive along the Cherohala Skyway, which runs more than 40 miles from Tellico Plains, Tennessee, to Robbinsville, North Carolina. Particularly popular with motorcyclists, this stretch of roadway is officially designated as a National Scenic Byway.A partner and I have recently purchased and re-opened Crawford’s Campground in Murphy NC,

Durhamtown Tellico

the past home of a number of Jeep and motorcycle events. Built in 2001 by Steve Crawford, an avid Jeeper himself, Crawford’s Campground was born. Before long it became known “as the place to stay” when visiting Upper Tellico. At the time, owner Steve Crawford and his son offered an on-site shop that providing repair services to anyone that may have mechanical problems from the trails. The campground itsself has a pretty decent “ROCK Garden” where many events have been held.

In 2005 the park was sold and continued its operations until 2009 when the National Forest service began the closing down of Upper Tellico OHV park to motorized vehicles. This began a long and arduous fight where the Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, United Four Wheel Drive Associations and Blue Ribbon Coalition filed a law suit in 2010 and a final law suit in 2012, in which the federal courts up held the closure. Many events were held and sponsored at Crawford’s Campground and the owners were very active in Murphy, with the city council and local chamber of commerce supporting the efforts of the Four Wheel Drive communities, of course as known, to no avail.

A statement of the outcome and the law suit can be found at: https://www.sharetrails.org/news/2012/09/21/legal-efforts-save-tellico-fall-short .

Having been closed for almost 2 years, the park fell upon some hard times and came on the market. As of the summer of 2014, a new privately owned, 4000 acre off road Vehicle Park has opened about 8 miles from our campground and we are trying to re-establish this as the place to stay when you want to add something more than primitive camping to your new Durhamtown Tellico experience.

Excerpt from Durhamtown Tellico website: “Camping is part of the Full Adventure at Durhamtown Tellico. All campsites are located at least 2 miles into the heart of our park. Roads and trails to our campsites are steep, narrow and curvy and may be a challenge for certain types of vehicles and trailer combinations. Also, weather and trail conditions may affect the accessibility of our campsites. Though it may be possible to tow a small pop-up camper, it is NOT practical to bring a travel trailer or motor-home.”

Drummond Island Once Again

Words and Photos provided by; Bob DeVore

I don’t take the time to wheel my truck as often as I once did due to many, many changes of life that consume my available time. Drummond Island has become my one annual exception wherein I make the time to enjoy a small piece of what God created. After three weeks of rain, the weather could not have been anymore beautiful for this weekend in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Sunny and hot all weekend made for great days to be outside and enjoying what Drummond Island has to offer.

Getting to Drummond Island is part of the adventure. It is a picturesque sight driving across the Mackinac Bridge connecting the Lower and Upper Peninsula’s, the currents of the Great Lakes can be seen below as you drive across the bridge, making for a spectacular view; to taking the ferry from DeTour village where you may get to see some of the people that will be joining you on the trails during the weekend.

Drummond Island is a large island in Lake Huron off the eastern shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Island has many activities available for recreation of all types: hiking, boating, snowmobiles, ATV/ORV or even try freighter spotting. Densely wooded trails meander around more than 40 inland lakes and 150 miles of shoreline on the 87,000- acre paradise. The state

trails begin from the main east west road in the southeast part of the island and loop through the southeast part of the island to the beach area and return to the main east west road. The trails skirt Lake Huron, and are generally in heavily wooded areas and feature very little variation in elevation. The main obstacle is water, mud and rocks, and there is plenty of that!

My words would not do justice to express the beauty of the trails and points of interest along the way with names like Fossil Ledges, Marblehead, Shale Beach, Cornbeef Junction, Southeast Beach and the many fond memories my family and I have of our years on the trails. If you have been to Drummond Island you cannot help but have a smile on your face, if you haven’t, come visit if you are looking for a pleasurable trail ride. If you want to test your skills as a driver, Turtle Ridge ORV Park is a must see in order to find out exactly what your vehicle is capable of conquering.

Whether you have a passion for trails, fishing, kayaking, ice cream, great people, leaving the city life behind and a chance to see the northern lights or simply a campfire; put Drummond Island on your bucket list.

http://www.ufwda.org

Kruger National ParkPhotos by Shani CoetzeeWords by Raymond Shepherd

stopping and showing us things about the Rhino bung piles, the Lion spoor, bird life, grass, rocks, spiders etc.

It was at the first 'obstacle' that we saw the lion tracks (from the night before)

The camps have been 'upgraded' a little by the 'Honorary Rangers' to have wooden showers and toilets, but the camping is in un-fenced areas.

As you may know, Rhino poaching is a big problem for us, and we encountered many Military camps along our route.

The road sometimes runs along the fence and sometimes along twin track trails and on day three, we even followed a small river bed for most of the day.

The trip is one managed by South African National Parks Board (SANPARKS)

It started off in the early days as the 'border patrol' as it runs the whole length of the Kruger National Park, where it borders onto Mozambique.

We started in the most southerly point, Lebombo and drove for 5 days(4 nights wild camping) to the most northerly point of the KNP, 'Crooks Corner' where Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe meet.

Its not a 'game drive' but an 'Eco trail'

It is led by a qualified Game Ranger, who is permitted to stop and allow us out of our vehicles., which is not allowed elsewhere, unless in demarcated areas. Our guide was really great at

Re-Play

The Great Wilderness ScamThe US Congress Has Been Hoodwinked!

Jerry Smith 1/20/2012

Even though this headline statement is bold and can be said to be all too common and nothing new, does that make it the right? The correct answer is and should be NO!

The truth, especially the truth with physical evidence to back it up, should prevail in any argument. The case can be made with photographic proof that the U.S. Congress has been given false information regarding the true status of Public Lands designated by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management as “Roadless”, Wilderness Study Areas, and even Wilderness.

Following passage of the Wilderness Act of ’64, congress set the public land management agencies to work identifying every parcel of land 5000 acres or larger with “Wilderness Qualities”. That would seem a noble goal on the surface.

The Problem

Where the Congress went wrong is that they did not set the proper parameters and definitions for the land managers to follow… a practice still too often used even today.

This search for “Wilderness Quality” lands became primarily a quest to identify “Roadless” areas. The major problem with this process is that there was never any definition of what a “road” might be. For 47 years, land managers have had no idea what a “road” is.

What Is A Road?

You might think everyone would know what a road is. That it would be common knowledge. You would be wrong.

Without firm definitions, interpretations and prejudices come into play. When you turn people lose to do a job without proper direction, the end product will often not be what you had in mind. This is clearly what the Congress accomplished with these studies. They left the doors wide open to “interpretation and prejudices”.

The proponents of Wilderness were quite clear in the Wilderness Act. What they were looking to create and preserve were lands with the qualities spelled out in the act. The original Wilderness Areas had and still have those qualities. Sadly, many of the more recent additions to the Wilderness inventory do not come even close to those ideals. Public Lands of lesser qualities are being added by Congress nearly every year, thereby degrading the concept of designated Wilderness.

Proof Positive of Deception

Concrete proof of these accusations can be garnered by a physical inspection of the lands in question.

One solid piece of evidence relates to the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area in western

Colorado. The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 designated this area as Wilderness.

This area had gone through all the processes of being inventoried as “Roadless” and of Wilderness Character. Like any such area, that designation was given with the understanding that all those factors existed. The definition of “assume” applies.

When Does A Road Cease To Exist?

The most blatant proof that at least some of this area was undeserving of the designation is the road that goes into the northern end of the area in question.

This road begins at the Cactus Park Trailhead and travels through to Triangle Mesa where it circles the entire mesa. The road was developed by miners who mined Triangle Mesa and other areas between the trailhead and Triangle Mesa. This road was clearly created by means of a bulldozer as several deep cuts into hillsides were necessary to complete the route. In its early existence, heavy truck traffic would have been used to carry the mined materials to town.

That this route is clearly a “road” cannot be disputed by any honest individual, yet it exists within the boundaries of a congressionally designated Wilderness Area. In fact, just prior to the meeting in Ouray on September 30, 2011, photos like the ones in this article were shown to several people who are proponents of the Wilderness expansion. Every single person identified those photos as being roads.

If proponents of Wilderness can identify a road, why can’t Professional Land Management

personnel? The answer lies in that they have never been directed with definitions. What constitutes a “ROAD”?

Other evidence might come into question as you look at a vehicular gate across the “non-road” as the route enters the Wilderness. Why would a vehicular gate be necessary where there is no road? The BLM obviously recognized it as a vehicular route. Their own signage just a few yards inside the gate states the “Route Closed”. Why would you need closure of something that does not exist?

This entire area is honeycombed with other routes. In the middle 1980s I drove many of them in a Jeep. Admittedly, most were primitive, but in the desert environment, these routes will be evident for many, many years. Much of the road to Triangle Mesa will be evident for a thousand years or longer.

Evidence of this kind can be documented in many of the more recently designated Wilderness Areas. This evidence was gathered on the spur of the moment to be submitted at the Wilderness meeting in Ouray, Colorado on September 30th, 2011. There are other gates across “non-roads” and roads within “roadless areas”, Wilderness Study Areas, and Wilderness Areas.

It would seem that the current congress must present a firm definition of “road” and other terms to remove the “interpretive” element that can and is used to usurp the original intent of Wilderness.

Story and pictures courtesy of Jerry Smith July 20, 2014

Black Bear Pass

Backwards

Black Bear Pass… famous in reputation and song. Some of the reputation is deserved; some of it is more exaggeration than fact.

Yes, there have been some deaths along the Black Bear Pass trail. To most of us who have traversed this trail many times, you wonder - what happened to those who have “left the trail”? Was it just a lapse of concentration, or maybe a just a mechanical problem? My best guess is more like poor judgment on two levels.

First, someone was way over his or her head driving Black Bear Pass. Their off highway driving experience was not yet to the level necessary to be on a trail of this caliber.

Second, if you don’t KNOW where your tires are tracking on a narrow mountain road, learn BEFORE you tackle a trail with a reputation like Black Bear has.

You MUST KNOW where all four tires are at all times. Dodging rocks or crawling up over them requires precise tire placement… and not just for the steering tires.

Going around a corner, your rear tires do not track in the same arc that the front tires do. If you cut a corner too fine with the front, the back tires may leave the trail. If you don’t KNOW where all four

tires are at all times, either learn or stay on the paved highways.Black Bear Pass is not where you want to begin learning. Its reputation is bad enough without a novice driver adding more legend to the already legendary.

There is a somewhat misunderstanding about Black Bear Pass. You will hear it is a one-way only trail. That is not completely correct. The section from just above “The Steps” to the Powerhouse at Bridal Veil Falls is a one-way trail going down. Anywhere else along the trail, you may travel either direction.

7 AM. The trip over the Dallas Divide was mostly uneventful except for seeing some elk feeding on the lush grasses along the highway.

After the airing down ceremony at about 9650 ft. elevation, a quick installation of our new “Black Bear Backwards” flags on various antennae was done to be proudly flown during our voyage. At this point, we were just below the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls… the second highest falls in Colorado at 365 ft. It makes for some grand pictures.

Pretty much on schedule, we began following Perry Reed up the mountainside. Perry and his wife Leila of the Montrose Wild Bunch Jeep Club did most of the organizing for this adventure. They put on an excellent event and we very much appreciate all their hard work. Not far up the trail we began the warm-ups for the switchbacks to come. These first corners are on a fairly wide road until you come to the Bridal Veil Powerhouse at 10,300 ft. From there to the bottom of the pass is a two-way road.

Going up, as we were doing, from the Powerhouse

That is unless you have a special use permit from the US Forest Service… that brings us to “Black Bear Backwards” (BBB). Running Black Bear Pass backwards – from the bottom in Telluride up to the top -- has been done for years. But you must have a Forest Service special use permit to do it. Otherwise, you are breaking the law. The special use permits come with some stipulations. You MUST start and end your trip at certain times. Only 13-vehicles were allowed in our groups each of the two-days we ran it.

Having driven Black Bear many times the “normal way”, this trip was likely to be a real treat. We (my Jeep “Happy Trails” and I) had been looking forward to this since back in January. Imagine the dismay of having Happy Trails in the shop weeks before for some suspension refurbishment and not being trail-ready until 5:30 AM the day I had to leave for Ouray! I just had open-heart surgery in February! Another heart attack was not an option.

Arriving at about 5:30 AM at the appointed meeting place in Ridgeway, we departed early for Telluride. We needed to be aired-down and on the trail by

to just above “The Steps” is normally a one-way road – down hill only. This is because there are no pullouts and nowhere wide enough for passing vehicles. It’s just BARELY wide enough for ONE vehicle for much of the time. Along this stretch of the trail, the driver MUST stay verrrry alert. One false move, and it could be your last… literally. Just a few days after this trip, a Honda Pilot driver slipped over the side enough to leave a mark on the seat covers. Luckily, he got stopped before…

A couple of the switchbacks are so tight; your front tire can rub your rear tire as they pass. Many who encounter these for the first-time (some the 2nd and 3d times) are very intimidated about hanging their bumper out over the lower side of the road before backing. We’ve seen many passengers exit the vehicle and shake uncontrollably as the driver attempts a 5 or 6-point turn. This brings up an important point. If an obstacle like these switchbacks intimidates you, DO NOT let your ego drive. If you need to back up 10 or even 20 times, DO IT! Much better a bruised ego than a dead body.

Going UP Black Bear presents a whole new problem. You must back toward the downhill side. People uncomfortable with backing with mirrors sweat a bucketful during this operation. Others of us don’t even look… we’ve already driven there-- and it hasn’t moved, so just back up enough to make the corner and proceed.

BackCountry driving experience is the only cure for this fear, but that experience had better come with a full lesson in respect for things like gravity, traction coefficients, soft roadsides, and putting it in the correct gear. More than once we have seen guys pull out to the edge, shift into reverse – and go forward. Oooooppps!!On one particularly blind corner where the granite rocks on the uphill side reach out to gouge your body panels, there was a short piece of road that narrowed unseen over your hood. Perry, like a good leader should, had run back to spot the others as they approached this dangerous situation. Even I, a 40+ year veteran of these roads, was somewhat happy for the warning.

Jeep Action Magazine

7 0 Y E A R S O F J E E P 1 9 4 1 – 2 0 1 1JeepA C T I O N

CLASSIC NOT PLASTIC

AUS $8.50

AUGUST2011

MOAB JEEPS

WILLYS PICKUP

August 2011.indd 1

7/11/2011 2:00:55 PM

F O R J E E P E N T H U S I A S T S B Y J E E P E N T H U S I A S T S

JeepJeepA C T I O N

SRI LANKAN

AUS $8.50

• JEEP SCRAMBLER 1982

• THAILAND JEEPS

MAY 2011

4X4 ADVENTURE TROPHY 2010

May 2011.indd 1

3/14/2011 3:41:17 PM

Subscribe securely online at:• www.jeepaction.com.au • www.magazinemuseum.com (US subscribers)• Save time and money! • Never miss an issue • Enjoy free delivery every issue

Monthly magazine (11 issues) covering all things Jeep in Australia and around the world.

From the original WWII Jeep to the current range of Chrysler Jeeps including history, owner profiles, technical

articles and Jeep events.

F O R J E E P E N T H U S I A S T S B Y J E E P E N T H U S I A S T S

Subscription quarter page A4 ad.indd 1 9/26/2011 1:47:46 PM

A little way up the trail we crossed Ingram Creek. Above there, “The Steps” begin. Notorious for being somewhat off-camber to the creek side, I found the view from the high side not as interesting as when you are coming downhill. Going down, the scene with the creek churning down in the deep, rocky channel is much more appealing.

As you come into the bottom of Ingram Basin, the road becomes a two-way again and the wide valley opens up into a lush green with peppered splotches of wildflowers showing off their colors. From here, the trail is much more scenic than technical. Some remnants of snowdrifts were still present, but in the usual places where the vertical snow banks can reach 20 feet high or more, there was hardly any left this year.

At the crest of Black Bear Pass, we “posed” for a group photo before beginning the descent down the Ouray side. At Highway 550, we split up. Some headed north for home, and the majority to

Silverton for lunch and a continuation of the day. This was a great trip! For those of us who had never done Black Bear Backwards, it was a real treat and new experience on a well-known trail.

Last, you want to remember this; “When you come to a fork in the road… take it!” You never know what adventure may be that way.

Happy trails.

Copyright: Happy Trails 4wd – 2014. All rights reserved.

PS: If you want an idea of what your vehicle would look like going over the edge of the Black Bear trail, take a look at this video of a Jeep-size rock rolling off the road. Then imagine riding inside that for a few rolls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mvFhl5_HYw Showing pictures of wrecked vehicles that have gone over the edge on Black Bear Pass is too gruesome to pass along.

Join our community of Adventurers

expeditionportal.com

SCHOFIELD PASS By Jerry Smith

Day One / August 15, 2014

Friday morning Grand Mesa Jeep Club members met in Clifton, Colorado for the planned three-day trip to the Crested Butte area (or as it became known to us later: “Crusty Butt”).

Luke was leading this parade of 7-Jeeps and took us up the I-70 to the Plateau Valley turn-off where they had traffic detoured due to the roadwork being done on the exit.

Plateau Creek was running fairly low but as usual, not very clear. Any kind of weather seems to make many streams of western Colorado run a churning chocolate milk color. It always makes you wonder; “What year will Lake Powell fill-up with Colorado silt?”

Turning east at the highway to Collbran, we weren’t long in traipsing through town and began the long climb up the north side of the Grand Mesa.

Buzzard Divide

We headed for the Buzzard Divide road. Some of this country was planted with moose several years ago, but they were scarce this day. So were the divided buzzards. They taste just like chicken you know. I called for the left breast on the CB, but it went over everyone’s heads. Poor jokes usually do…

This is beautiful mountain meadows and wooded land with large ranches and USFS managed parcels intermingled. Green was the prevalent color of the day with the brownish county road ribboning before us.

After a while of this scenic road driving, we jumped on Hwy 133 and fled over 8756 ft. McClure Pass and down to the road to Marble, Colorado.

Marble

Marble is a very small town of just over 100 people. Founded in about 1899, it is known for the exceptional marble found in the Yule Marble quarry.

Marble from this quarry has been used in places like: the Tomb of the Unknowns and parts of the Lincoln Memorial as well as many grave markers.

The town of Marble is the only way into the even smaller town of Crystal during most of the year. Up the breathtaking Crystal River, Crystal has one of the most photographed attractions in Colorado – the Crystal Mill.

The “Mill” name is something of a misnomer as it housed a water turbine driven air compressor that furnished compressed air to area silver mines for their drills and other mining equipment needs.

Crystal

The town of Crystal is a sometimes-occupied Ghost Town. Not ghosts, just folks.

Founded in 1880, it housed prospectors who mined seven area silver mines. Crystal still has no electrical power, so the few residents live quite primitively.

In around 1886 there were about 400-people in Crystal with two newspapers, two hotels, saloons, a poolroom, barbershop, and believe it or not, a men’s-only “Crystal Club”. These were some lonely, tough, silver miners.

Some of the old buildings miraculously still stand though boarded up with No Trespassing being prevalent. The road from Marble to Crystal is one very rough piece of work, but the views of the Crystal River make it enjoyable.

Schofield Pass

Departing Crystal, the rough road continues toward Schofield Pass with one side road up Lead King Basin that will eventually take you back to Marble. That’s another trip worth your time.

After the Lead King Basin intersection, the road narrows and becomes a climbing shelf road along a talus slope prone to avalanches during the winter months. Because of one avalanche area, one portion of the road does not open to most traffic until late June or much later in certain years.

The scenery through the Elk Mountains and Crystal River valley would be second to none. Striking views of the steep mountains reaching from the deep blue sky down to the appropriately named river are enough to give you a headache. The water in the river is so clear; the center of the earth can be seen through it.

The road has one quite narrow bridge with no sides that you want to cross with extreme caution while the river underneath will magnetically pull your attention away from your driving duties. Now on the south and west side of the river, you begin to ascend toward the upper Schofield Pass elevation with the Devils Punch Bowl off to your left.

The Devils Punch Bowl

The Devils Punch Bowl is a series of magnificently dazzling waterfalls that end in a deep set of pools that draw swimmers and cliff jumpers by the dozens. Here again, you want to take advantage of the views, but you might want to stop while doing it. The quite narrow shelf road could be unforgiving to those who lose concentration.

This is a place where you want to remember that Uphill traffic has the right of way meaning that if you meet someone coming down in a place where passing is impossible, THEY must backup to where passing is possible.

There MAY be times when this is impractical – like when meeting several rigs coming down and you are alone… but be VERRRRY cautious about backing downhill. Trying to stop while backing downhill can be a very dangerous undertaking.

As you reach the top, you might think this is the top of Schofield Pass. It opens into a nice, wide and lush valley floor with willows and alder lining the creek bottom.

Here, the road crosses the Crystal River in a fairly deep “hole”. Even though the river going over and down the falls looks like just a small stream, this “hole” can be a lot deeper than you might expect.

Before entering, make sure you aren’t getting in too deep for your rig.

Going the opposite direction, (down hill) – it’s wise to “dry your brakes” after you exit the water. Going down a steep, narrow hill with wet brakes is not recommended.

After crossing the river, you will begin a gradual ascent as you go up stream where you will eventually come to the crest of Schofield Pass at 10,722 ft.

Schofield Pass has a bad reputation of being a “Killer Road”. Yes, there have been deaths along here. Most came in one accident which inflates the danger level several times. You will hear that they rolled 300 ft. and “plunged into 20 ft. of water. I personally would call a big Bull $h!+ on that!!

Nowhere along this road is there a 300 ft. place to drop from. Even in high water during spring run-off is there likely a twenty-foot deep pool. So, like a lot of reputations, this one is a giant myth. If you pay attention to your driving, it is no worse than 90% of any other Colorado pass roads. Respect ANY Colorado mountain road!!!

Paradise Divide

We turned off a short way from the top going southwest through Elko Park and up the Paradise Valley to the Paradise Divide. This is a pretty drive though fairly sparse for growth. We stopped for a short break at the top near the small pond.

Going down the south side, the road begins to steepen and there are some switchbacks. Here you are looking at some of the headwaters of the Slate River that runs down through Crested Butte and joins the Gunnison River.

Pittsburg

Not too far from where you finally get to the valley floor is what’s left of the town of Pittsburg… Colorado, not Pennsylvania – though they are both known for coal mining.

During the 1880s the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad had a spur running up the Slate River Valley to haul coal. Seems this is the only known area with anthracite coal west of Pennsylvania.

Anthracite coal has the highest carbon count (between 92% and 98%) and contains the fewest impurities of all coals. Anthracite ignites with difficulty and burns with a short, blue, and smokeless flame.

Coal mining was the area’s saving grace after most of the silver and gold mines began closing. The Smith Hill mines shipped 10 to 20 railcars of coal daily in the 1880s when weather permitted. Coal supported nearly 200 jobs during that period. Driving by Pittsburgh now, you would never know it was once that thriving.

Oh Be JoyfulA little while after, we began running into a substantial herd of cattle on and around the road. Little did we know at the time, this was a bummer in the making!

At the turnoff to the Oh-Be-Joyful campground, Luke led us down and across the river into the camping area. It looked full. With 7 Jeeps full of tired people and expecting an 8th to show up later, this did not look promising. This called for some Divine intervention.

Just past the river crossing, a space with some mountain bikers appeared to be loading their gear into a pickup. After some inquiring, we discovered that they were leaving and that we would be

welcome to their area. “Ask and ye shall receive.”

This space had just enough space to accommodate the whole troop. It would be cozy, but we are all friends in this club.

The bikers also informed us that trucks had unloaded many of the cattle that day. The cows and calves were still trying to sort things out with a cacophony of bellowing up and down the valley.

Soon they were coming down to the river to drink. Several began crossing and coming right through camp. The dogs found this entertaining and camp erupted into a melee as cows charged nearly

through some tents.

We all formed around the campfire for dinner and some good story telling. The Ehlers showed up about 9 PM and added to the party.

The night of “rest” under the stars was like sleeping in a stockyard. Cattle visitations and someone “sawing wood” (snoring) kept many between winks of blissful slumber and terror. “Oh-Be-Joyful” camp had some “Oh-Be-Woeful” attachments. It was a “Moooooving” experience.

This was another wonderful day of Jeeping in the Colorado high country in the history books.

One last thing you should always remember on Jeeping trips – “When you come to a fork in the road… take it!” You never know what adventure you might find.

Happy Trails!Copyright Happy Trails 4wd. All rights reserved 2014

Mole Lake, WI August 14-16, 2014

Wisconsin Off Highway Vehicle Association welcomed 61 riders in 35 vehicles to join a hearty group of trail guides and hosts for a great family weekend in the northwoods of Wisconsin. Four wheel drive enthusiasts came from Minnesota, Illinois and all over Wisconsin to accept the Spirit Mountain Challenge. Many of the participants have attended Jeep Jamboree USA events and other hosted trail rides all over the United States. They keep coming back to GNTR in Mole Lake year after year because of the diverse terrain, great family experience and the best trail guides on the planet. On Thursday night the 14th, GNTR Hosts, Dan and Laura Bergin, along with kids Kathryn and Caleb checked in riders as they arrived and got settled in. T-shirts were handed out to participants as well as goody bags full of information from our sponsors and information about Forest County thanks to the Forest County Chamber of Commerce. Newcomers to WOHVA events picked up their WOHVA Spill Kits from Trail Coordinator John Lewins. Participants met the Trail Guides and discussed options for the upcoming two days of guided trails.

Each trail on the Mole Lake Reservation has a rating from Green for first time or unmodified vehicles, blue and orange for slightly modified rides and red and black for more experienced and modified vehicles. The system is nationally recognized so riders can make intelligent decisions to make sure they are comfortable on their day in the woods. GNTR had an influx of children

in attendance this year as well as many multi-generational families. Fathers and sons or daughters wheeling together, kids wheeling with mom and dad, experiencing all the great outdoors and this great sport has to offer solidify the future of our chosen form of recreation.

Friday morning brought great excitement as final check-ins were completed for late arrivals. Participants lined up behind their Trail Guides, picked a CB channel and discussed the itinerary for the day. Citizens band radios aren’t required for the GNTR but communication between leaders and tail gunners and all the riders in the middle certainly adds to the trail ride experience. After a brief drivers meeting the Jeeps, Land Cruiser and Suzuki Samurai were off for a day of learning, sightseeing, challenging obstacles and confidence and most of all FUN!

Trail Guides brought participants to a rally area in the woods for a Trail Lunch. Participants were encouraged to bring a chair, relax for a bit and talk about the day while enjoying sub sandwiches, fruit, chips and dessert from a local Forest County business. After lunch groups saddled up for a few more hours of trail riding. Mole Lake Lodge and Casino hosted Friday’s fish and chicken dinner in the ballroom. After dinner the group split up to enjoy the pool, head back to camp or go to bed to be ready for Saturday and the traditional Saturday evening raffle. Saturday morning we were joined by a couple who missed out on Friday due to a silly obligation

GREAT NORTHERN TRAIL RIDE

SPIRIT MOUNTAIN CHALLENGE

called work that keeps us off the trail most days. Participants lined up with their new Trail Guides for the day. Host Dan Bergin held a quick drivers meeting with Trail Coordinators Cotty Barrett and John Lewins chiming in for more tips to have a good time and be safe on the trail. Rides were delayed by a short monsoon like rain that soaked more than a few riders and topless vehicles. Not a single spirit was dashed even for a moment. It is easy to identify a group dedicated to the Off Highway Lifestyle by the huge smile on their face as they jump in to their top less vehicle with two inches of water on the seats and floor- heading to the trail and not thinking twice about it.

WOHVA Trail Guides are trained, experienced builders of sustainable trails. Combine this fact with the thick canopy of needles and leaves on the Mole Lake Property, the trails were not affected by the rain and the Saturday rides went off without a hitch. Saturday lunch on the trail came from Schaefer’s Food Mart in nearby Crandon. Participants were treated to the areas best broasted chicken, potato wedges, fruit and a huge variety of cookies. Hosts then lined up the entire group for a group photo.Saturday night GNTR attendees feasted on another excellent meal in the Mole Lake Lodge Conference Center. Following dinner WOHVA volunteers raffled off thousands of dollars in product and gift certificates donated by our generous sponsors.

Tradition also dictates that the annual WOHVA year long raffle winners are selected at the GNTR closing banquet. Our big winners this year were Brittney Roffers of Streator, Il who won a WARN Pro Vantage Powersports winch donated by WARN Inc. Tim Prieve of Schofield won 18 holes of golf for a foresome with a cart and a sandwich each

at Crosswinds Sports Pub and Grille donated by Royal St. Patrick’s Golf Links in Wrightstown, WI. Our grand prize went to Kat Stephens of Greendale, WI. Kat won a $500 gift certificate for her choice of products from BDS Suspension, Zone Offroad or JKS Suspension. This prize was donated by parent company Sport Truck USA in Coldwater, MI.

This year’s t-shirt design was done by Kat Stephens of Greendale, daughter of WOHVA Chief Communications Officer Jerry Stephens. Her time and talent was 100% donated for these awesome shirts. GNTR veteran Jay Paulsen of Tee Time LLC took care of the printing for WOHVA and did a stellar job keeping the outcome true to the design. These shirts are a limited edition and the best looking GNTR shirt yet. Thanks to great volunteers.

Volunteers and Sponsors make the Great Northern Trail Ride possible. They dedicate their entire summer to making and maintaining trails, learning the lay of the land and keeping these events and trails sustainable. They hone their trail guiding skills, train new guides and trail builders and keep up with the never ending vehicle maintenance and fuel bills. All this and they still manage time to work a job in the real world. Special Thanks go out to our Trail Coordinators John and Toni Lewins and Cotty Barrett and their band of TRAIL GUIDES! Mike and Carol Diermeier, Jeff Lohry, Joel & Janice Kasper, Dave and Debbie Groshek, Tom DeSombre, Rick Felbab, Jerry and Paula Stephens, all gave their time during this event to assist participants. Many more WOHVA volunteers worked this summer on the trails and other events. All are valued and appreciated greatly.

Wisconsin Off Highway Vehicle Association is proud to list our sponsors as partners in our

Trail Guides: This group of 9 individuals represent some of the best Trail Guides in the country. They build, maintain and guide our trails all summer; in addition to keeping up on training for First Aid, Improving Trail Guide Skills and continuing education for developing sustainable trails.

http://www.ufwda.org/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13&zenid=dcbfa80a51ba7ab742d6222b0502b036

http://www.xzipit.com/united-four-wheel-drive-associations

quest to proactively assure that public and private off-highway motorized vehicular recreational opportunities are expanded in Wisconsin for safe use by this and future generations. WOHVA could not do this without Lenz Truck Center in Fond du Lac, WI, BDS Suspension, JKS Suspension, ZONE Offroad, Steinjager, Tee Time LLC, Royal St. Patrick’s Golf Links, Extreme Offroaders 4x4 Club Ltd, Damage Inc. 4x4 Club, Warrior Products, Warn Winch, Team Winnebagoland of Oshkosh,

WI, Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Tom Woods Custom Driveshaft, Borgeson, Teraflex, K&N, and more.

Thank you to all our participants, tell your friends and bring them next year. August 2015 GNTR VIII- Put it on your calendars and watch www.wohva.com and www.facebook.com/WOHVAGNTR

Chris Walker and his daughter Emma Walker represent just one of the multigenerational families that joined us for the 7th annual GNTR. They are holding WOHVA spill kits which are required for all responsible wheelers at WOHVA events. Chris and his wife wheel a 2010 JK Unlimited and Emma followed along with her TJ.

http://www.terratough.com

Business Members4 Wheel Drive Hardware (330) 482-4733 www.4WD.com

4x4 Wire(619) 390-8747www.4x4Wire.com

BF Goodrich (877) 788-8899 www.BFGoodrichTires.com

Badlands 4x4 Adventures, Inc. (310) 347-8047 www.4x4Training.com

Big Dogs Offroad (410) 440-3670 www.BigDogsOffRoad.com

Bill Burke’s 4 Wheeling America, LLC 970-858-3468 www.BB4WA.com

Blue Springs Ford Parts (800) 248-7760 www.BlueSpringsFordParts.com

Bushwacker (503) 283-4335 www.Bushwacker.com

California Assn of 4WD Clubs, Inc. (800) 4x4-FUNN www.Cal4Wheel.com

DreamSeat (702) 338-2511 www.dreamseat.com

Expeditions West (928) 777-8567 www.ExpeditionsWest.com

ExtremeTerrain (800) 988-4605 www.ExtremeTerrain.com

Hi-Lift Jack Company (812) 384-4441 www.Hi-Lift.com

Jeep Action Magazine +61 02 6656 1046 www.jeepaction.com.au

Moses Ludell’s 4WD Mechanix Magazine www.4WDMechanix.com

Muirnet.net (619) 390-8747 www.4x4Wire.com

Olathe Toyota Parts Centerwww.parts.olathetoyota.com

Poison Spyder Customs (951) 849-5911 www.PoisonSpyder.com

Quadratec (800) 745-2348 www.Quadratec.com

Survive Off Road LLC(602) 321-0833www.surviveoffroad.com

Susquehanna Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram (717) 252-2412 www.Susqauto.com

Tom Wood’s Custom Drive Shafts (877) 497-4238 www.4xShaft.com

Trasharoo (714) 854-7292 www.Trasharoo.com

WinchBinwww.WinchBin.com

X-Treme Mobile Adventures (800) 370-3308 www.XTremeMobileAdventures.com

United Four Wheel Drive Associations would like to thank our Direct Members, Clubs and Associations for their support.

4 Lakes 4 Wheelers, Inc. (Wisconsin) http://www.4l4w.org/ACES 4X4 Club (Michigan) www.aces4x4.comArizona State Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs www.asa4wdc.orgAssociation of All-Wheel Drive Clubs-Southern Africa http://www.aawdc.org.za/Badgerland 4×4 TNT Clubhttp://www.badgerland4x4.org/

Baltimore Four Wheelers http://www.baltimore4wheelers.org/

Between the Hills Trailheaders 4×4 Club http://www.trailheaders.netCalifornia Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs, Inc. http://www.cal4wheel.com/Central North Carolina 4×4 http://www.cnc4x4.org/Central Ontario 4×4 Club http://www.co4x4.com/Colorado Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, Inc. http://www.hightrails.org/Creeper Jeepers Gang 4WD Club http://www.creeperjeepers.org/Demon 4×4Demon4x4.comFour Wheel Drive Australia http://www.anfwdc.asn.au/Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association http://www.glfwda.org/Hall of Fame 4×4 Trail Riders http://www.hof4x4.com/Havasu 4-Wheelers, Inc. http://havasu4wheelers.org/Indiana 4 Wheel Drive Association http://www.ifwda.com/Mesa 4 Wheelers http://www.mesa4wheelers.com/

Middle Atlantic Four Wheel Drive Association http://www.mafwda.org/

• Capital Off Road Enthusiasts www.core4x4.org

• PA Jeeps www.pajeeps.org

Midwest 4 Wheel Drive Association http://www.mw4wda.org/MN Trailriders http://www.mntrailriders.org/Montana 4×4 Association, Inc. http://www.m4x4a.org/New Mexico 4-Wheelers http://www.nm4w.org/New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association, Inc. http://www.nzfwda.org.nz/Rim Country 4 Wheelers, Inc. http://www.rimcountry4wheelers.com/River City 4X4, Inc. http://www.rivercity4x4.org/Rock Crawlers for the Preservation of Future Access (RCPFA) http://rcpfa.com/Rough Country 4 Wheelers http://www.rc4w.com/Scrambler Owners Association http://www.cj-8.org/Seven Hills Jeep Club http://sevenhillsjeepclub.org/Southern Four Wheel Drive Association http://www.sfwda.org/

• Carolina Off Road Extremists (CORE) http://www.core4x4club.com/

• Carolina Trailblazers 4WD Club http://www.carolina-trailblazers.org/

• Cumberland Off-Road http://www.cumberlandoffroad.com/

• Damn Locals 4×4 Club http://www.damnlocals4x4.com/

• East Tennessee 4WD Club http://www.et4wd.org/

• Extreme Ridge Runners http://www.myspace.com/extreme_ridge_runners

• Georgia Bounty Runners 4WD Club http://www.gbr4wd.com/

• Middle Tennessee Trailrunners 4WD Club http://www.mttr4x4.net/

• Ohio River Four Wheelers http://www.orfw.org/

• Rattlerock 4-Wheel Drive Club http://www.rattlerock.org/

• Rocket City Rock Crawlers 4WD Club http://www.rocketcityrockcrawlers.com

• Rock Solid Jeep Club (No web site)

• Rocky Top Trail Riders http://rockytoptrailriders.org

• Scenic City 4WD Club http://www.sceniccity4wd.com/

• Smoky Mountain Trail Runners http://www.smokymtntrailrunners.org/

• Southeast Toyota Land Cruiser Association http://www.stlca.org/

• Southern Jeeps http://www.southernjeeps.org/

• Trick ‘n’ Traction 4WD Club http://www.tnt4wd.org/

Southern High Rollers 4×4 Club http://www.southernhighrollers.com/Southern Illinois Jeep Association http://www.sija.org/Southside Jeepers http://southsidejeepers.com/Sundowners 4×4 Clubhttp://www.sundowners4x4.comTwo Trackers http://www.twotrackers.org/Virginia Four Wheel Drive Association http://www.va4wda.org/

• Bay to Blue Ridge Cruisers www.bbrcva.org

• Blue Ridge Rock Mafia richard.wiggs@nolenfrisa.co

•

• Capital City Fourwheelers www.capitalcityfourwheelerssva.com

• Hard Rock Crawlers www.hardrockcrawlers.org

• KMA Off Road Jeep Club www.kmaoffroad.org

• Lost Jeepers www.lostjeepers.com

• Mechanicsville Mudders varokcrwlr@juno.com

• Mid-Atlantic Jeepers www.midatlanticjeepers.com

• Middle Peninsula Jeep Association www.mpjai.com

• Off Chamber Crawlers www.offchambercrawlers.org

• Poor Boys Four Wheel Drive Club www.poorboys4wd.com

• River City Trail Runners www.rivercitytrailrunners.org

• Seven Hills Jeep Club www.sevenhillsjeepclub.org

• Shenandoah Valley 4 Wheelers www.sv4w.org

• Southern Mini 4×4 www.myspace.com/443172858

• Southwestern Virginia 4 Wheelers www.swva4w.org

• Tidewater Fourwheelers www.tidewaterfourwheelers.org

Western Maine Mountain Jeepers http://www.jeepmaine.com/What Lies Beyond Jeep Club of Michigan http://whatliesbeyond.org/White Pine 4-Wheelers jeeptrailcat5440 (at) yahoo.comWisconsin 4 Wheel Drive Association http://www.w4wda.org/Wisconsin Off Highway Vehicle Association www.wohva.comWolverine 4-Wheelers http://wolverine4wd.org/

Get Your FREE JEEP® CJ/WRANGLER& JEEP® JK WRANGLER CATALOGS

800-883-2057 4WD.comJeep® Wrangler and the Jeep® Grill Design are registered trademarks of Chrysler LLC.

Smar

tpho

ne U

sers

Scan

for M

ore

2014BrandNew Gear2014BrandNew Gear

Pro Comp HID Lighting100% Transferrable Lifetime Warranty• High strength ABS for durability• 90º adjustable mounting system • Extra-long 4’ harness• Clear and amber lens

Available at $84.99

Rugged Ridge Floor LinersExact fit to the shape, contour of your vehicle’s floor• Durable injection molded material• Tread pattern channels dirt, mud, and snow• High perimiter wall retains the mess• Easy to remove and clean

Available at $59.99 ea.

TrekArmor Paracord Grab HandlesMade in the U.S.A. – 10 color options• Fits padded & non-padded roll bars• Made with high strength steel hardware• Rubber backing for better grip

Starting at $44.99 ea.

ExclusiveExclusive

7” Lights $105.99, 4” Lights 84.99

Cargo area liners: $69.99

2007-11 JK #0710JKGEN2-SDS-STG2

RIPP Intercooled Supercharger –50 State Legal!Complete with Custom-Tuned Diablo Tuner!• Gain additional mpg• 240whp and 260ft/lbs of torque• Easy install and less hassle• Most powerfiul on the market

Available at $5199.99

5 Regional Warehouses Means FAST SHIPPING! HUGE Selection In Stock • Expert Sales Staff

Brand Names • Great Prices

5 Regional Warehouses Means FAST SHIPPING! HUGE Selection In Stock • Expert Sales Staff

Brand Names • Great Prices

LOOKfor your Spring 14 Catalog

coming soon!