AZ laws & regs for off road (trail) travel???

[Sven]

Minnesota legislators are trying to come up with some new rules and regs governing all off highway vehicles. There's some real antis out there. Anyway, one of the officers of the Minnesota 4wd Association asked if anyone knew what kind of regs other states have. As far as out of state trails go, I'm most familiar with CO, UT, and AZ, but I'm not real familiar with many of the actual laws. I mainly just pay attention to signs as to where not to go, and stay on the trails. I've used a couple of trail guide books and have been out with AZVJC before.

Some of the key points they're trying to pass is an increass of fines for damage (which I'm not totally against), forfiture of vehicles, going to trails being closed unless specifically posted as open, and actually closing quite a few trails in the state forest system. Most of the trails that are being left open, are open onlly to ATVs and closed to Jeeps and trucks. (Example: What was proposed in Paul Bunyon State Forest was 150 miles of ATV trails and 9 miles of "truck" trails, and 3 of those miles are shared with ATVs.) Mostly what's being left open to Jeeps are graded forest service roads.

I know AZ has come up with a $20 annual permit for travelling on "state trust lands". What else is out there?

Thanks for the help!

Sven

[jeepsonly]

That stinks man. Listen, you have to try and get them to go open unless posted closed. It's too easy for the extremists to steal the signs and effectively close the whole place down. I'd watch the forfeiture thing, too. So you go down an open trail, someone sees that, steals the sign and now you're illegal. And the state gets to keep your Jeep? Wow, what a nice deal for them.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

<rant>
The entire freaking offroad industry will be destroyed unless we all fight this crap. The aftermarket industry had better pony up some more $$$$$$ for legal fights or that industry will disappear and we'll all be starting a shuffleboard club.
</rant>

[Sedona Jeep School]

Sven,

Within each state are a variety of land management entities with whom we deal. In AZ, we have AZ State Trust Land, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA National Forest), Department of Interior National Parks, National Monuments, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). There are fights on all fronts.

Get involved with your local clubs, and national clubs like UFWDA.org .

Watchdog the land management agencies, and partner with the local land managers--they are human beings. Help educate your fellow wheelers as to responsible land use and give land managers a reason to see things our way.

Write letters. Email. Informed communication is the key.

Happy trails!

[Dave@desertfab.com]

See post for ASA BOARD OF DIRECTORS OPEN MEETING

All this information can be obtained at this meeting...

[zman]

Sven, with that username you are definately a Minnesotian.

Ufda,

zman

[nodnar]

I've spoken to a couple of MN wheelers. The battle has long since been over, and the greenies won. Most (read all) if not all of the wheeling is done on private land.

[jeepsonly]

This is probably gonna piss some people off but if we can't get people off of their rumps to go to a 1 hour land use meeting or to write a stinking letter then maybe we deserve to have our land taken away :mad: :mad: :mad:. Out of 5,000 or so that have registered on AZVJC, it's the same 5 people going to these things. I hope 10 years from now we can all look back and realize how stupid it was that we didn't participate. But then again I guess some will just sink money into another hobby.

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE!!!!!! :confused:

[My1stJeep]

I get the feeling far too often it comes down to a feeling that someone else will do it or that our voice is not heard why bother or just a time factor. Just like we all set aside time to wheel as often as we can, many I would bet at least once a month, we should also set aside 30 minutes a month, just 7.5 minutes a week to write letters or make calls to be sure our voice is heard. Then also set aside the time to attend meetings, just like we set aside to do trail runs or we won't have trails to run.

I have to admit I am guilty of not making it to some meetings to, I go when I can, but I am sure there are a few I could have made a better attempt to get to and I am going to have to do that.

I am also willing to bet if each month senators and state representatives and the governors office begin receiving a couple thousand letters and emails would start to bring out the opinion that they need to watch our (off roaders) vote and might get them thinking twice about making blanket/bad decisions about land closures. Right now we are not even on their radar and it is about time we get on it.

JMO

[Sedona Jeep School]

I agree, Chris--set aside 7.5-minutes per week--doesn't sound hard does it?

Even as active as I have been in the process, the fight seems so overwhelming when you consider all of the different land management entities, different issues, and different areas. If we have only a limited amount of time, as most of us do, we need to pick our fights, and stay dedicated.

I have my hands full just keeping up with Sedona-area issues, and especially with the whole commercial permit process mess we are in up here. When someone posts a need for letters, I write most of the time, but I attend land management meetings in my area. I believe that, although letter writing is important, attending meetings and looking at the eyeballs of the people making decisions is the most important, long-term action for swaying decisions.

Maybe, as a group/forum/board, we could work out a regional and/or topical land use action program. That way, rather than people throwing up their hands in frustration, they can focus on the area/topic which is important to them, and get SOMETHING done, with the limited time they have available. This sounds more like an organized club task, though.

?