Did BLM eevr ride ride with you Don?

[azrubyman]

Moderators..not sure if this is the right place for this message. It came up at a land use meeting so I figured I would pose the question here.

Don,
Maybe I missed it, but I recall you invited the BLM head honcho to come along with you and some others on a trail ride. Did he ever do it or get back with you on this? He seemd all for it at the meeting when you invited him.
Again sorry if it was posted already and I missed it.

Ken

[SavageSun4x4]

Moderators..not sure if this is the right place for this message. It came up at a land use meeting so I figured I would pose the question here.

Don,
Maybe I missed it, but I recall you invited the BLM head honcho to come along with you and some others on a trail ride. Did he ever do it or get back with you on this? He seemd all for it at the meeting when you invited him.
Again sorry if it was posted already and I missed it.

Ken
Ken, no, in fact it never happened and I never heard back from him even after sending several e mails.:confused:

In defense: He was brand new at the job, I am sure busy as hell, receives a ton of e mails every day and I may have ended up being filtered out into the junk folder or filtered at a secretary's desk. Then wife and I headed out to Italy for a month and suddenly it was June and I haven't sent anything in the past couple of months.

[tyota]

I think it would be a good idea for to come along for a ride

[azrubyman]

Ken, no, in fact it never happened and I never heard back from him even after sending several e mails.:confused:

In defense: He was brand new at the job, I am sure busy as hell, receives a ton of e mails every day and I may have ended up being filtered out into the junk folder or filtered at a secretary's desk. Then wife and I headed out to Italy for a month and suddenly it was June and I haven't sent anything in the past couple of months.

Don,
Thanks. I had a hunch things would turn out this way.
Gut feeling I had about him...
Ken

[Hackle]

I would think we and him would get more out of it to do a run when it cools off more.
It would be more fun for everyone.
Jim F.

[SavageSun4x4]

I would think we and him would get more out of it to do a run when it cools off more.
It would be more fun for everyone.
Jim F.
Maybe I will try it again in the fall...

[xFallen]

Jim,

Is there a way to create a public/legal record of our trips that can be used/filed/forwarded in such a manner that it has a positive impact on our cause?

I've begun to read some stuff here and there that seems to indicate there is a need to show use. It's not enough just to say we want it open to wheel, but we need to actively show that the current trail system is in use by responsible wheelers.

Almost every trip this club takes ends up with pictures. If there was a way to file each trip (or even a majority of them) with a couple of snapshots it would begin to build a record of use. I don't even know if there is an official channel for that type of data in the BLM (I'm guessing an email won't due as it can just be deleted), but if there was we may be able to use it to our advantage.

By building a legally recognized use database we may be able to help structure official opinion about public areas, how they are used and who is really using them, etc. It seems to me that showing up for a meeting once talks have started to close an area is almost a defensive position. It would be nice if we could also take an offensive stand as well and begin to create an impact and voice before area's come up on the chopping block.

With so many of us already taking picitures and creating a log here, it would seem a lot of the work is already accomplished. If there was a way to file the uasage in a recognizable way, I'd be more than willing to spend the time doing it.

Any thoughts or ideas?

John


We have sections for trail descriptions, trail runs and trip reports. People can and often do post there usually with attendees and a detailed description. There are also many other sites with similar information. I am not sure how it could be made a "legally recognized" database or what that means in your mind exactly. The fact that people are already documenting these runs publicly makes them a matter of public record. Maybe you mean something somewhat more formal and I am not sure what you envision that to look like.

Please be aware that what people on this board do in terms of trail use represents a minority of actual trail use. In other words, such a database of use would not be comprehensive and would have to be presented in that light. Also, some well used trails will simply never show up in that database for reasons that have been discussed in the past.

Certainly it is a segment and perhaps every little bit helps, but there are numerous sites out there that are also AZ specific and quite active, plus a bunch that are not AZ specific and have regularly posted AZ trip reports.

Summing up, we already do have a trip report section so it is not clear what more is envisioned. No matter the format, any data gathered here needs to assessed as a sample of what goes on and may not be a total picture.


Barry