A vital element in maintaining the general public health and welfare is meeting society’s human need for nature based recreation. Our recreational programs must be robust, ready for immediate action, so that no potential outdoor recreationist may be refused access to soul restoring activity in nature.
Our recreational modes today bear little relation to that known by any of our predecessors in modern times, or indeed by the U.S. Forest Service, our state Department of Natural Resources or the world.
Until the several latest decades, the United States had no appreciable motorized forms of recreation. However, American makers of motorcycles and snowmobiles found they could, with time and as desired, make motorized recreational vehicles for other uses as well. Now we can no longer ignore the potential improvisation of the recreation industry; we have been propelled into a vast motorized recreation industry of vast proportions. Added to this the advocates and promoters of motorized recreation have made significant inroads into various levels of government. Thousands of men and women in elected and administrative office from local to national level are directly engaged in growing the “motorized recreation industrial establishment.” Government programs now annually spend more promoting motorized recreation than all other forms of outdoor activity in the United States.
This conjunction of an immense motorized recreation establishment in government and a large off-road manufacturing industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the government. We recognize the imperative need for economic development and outdoor recreation. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications for our natural resources and social well being. The integrity of our nation’s public lands, natural resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the motorized recreation industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our social well being, the integrity of our natural resources or our democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge motorized recreational industry with good government and with our nation’s conservation methods and goals, so that our natural resources and outdoor recreation may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our recreational posture, has been the technological revolution associated with recreation during recent decades.
In this revolution, political arms of the motorized recreation enthusiasts and manufactures have become central; and they have also become more formalized, complex, and influential. A steadily increasing focus of their efforts is conducted for, by, or in the direction of leaders in our local, state and federal government.
Today, the solitude seeker walking through our public forest has more frequently been confronted by those employing the technological products of scientists in recreation industry laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of conservation ideas and ecological discovery has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge corporate influence involved, a government contract for development and exploitation becomes virtually a substitute for the previous efforts at protection and preservation. For every old pair of snowshoes and hiking boots there are now hundreds of snowmobiles, off-road motorcycles, all terrain vehicles and mudder trucks.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s public lands as mechanized playgrounds justified by promise of employment and economic development is a real threat. The power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding our principles for conservation of our natural resources and societies need for outdoor recreation in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public recreation policy could itself become the captive of a technological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system — ever aiming toward the supreme conservation goals of our free society. — Willis Mattison, Detroit Lakes
OHV/industrial complex
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Desertroad
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Re: OHV/industrial complex
Mattison comes off as a total ideologue.
Not really a lot of work to merely cut and paste some else's writing. I've come to expect higher standards from you, Sal.
However, a cursory Google of Mattison reveals postings in Minnesota on a site called "CitiZing!". So...mea culpa...I'll cut and paste a response to one of Mattison's blog postings about a Minnesota Highway Trust Fund (I think). I find this to be a fitting rebuttal.
"There are those who voted for this amendment who expect some of the money to be used for expanded bike trails. Does paving more bike trails with asphalt protect the environment? What if we use the money to expand paved parking lots at the nature centers and hiking trail heads so we can park more hybrid's with their trunkloads of batteries. Are we protecting our legacy now?
You talk in this and other post of yours about how "perverse" OHV's users are. Evidently only people like you "get it" and the rest of us fat slobs riding OHV's don't. I compete in triathlons, I hike, I bicycle, I canoe, I own a hybrid, and I ride ATV's and off-highway motorcycles. From my perspective these are completely complimentary things. I grew up on a farm with a dad who was a hot-rodder so I have a love of mechanical things, especially engines. I love the smell of diesel fuel. Your life experience is obviously very different.
I have ridden some ATV trails for over 25 years. The fish are still in the lakes; I see deer, badgers, grouse; the brush still grows over the trail, the trail is still there.
Here is what it boils down to for me: When I look at our state and county forests and their networks of minimum maintenance roads and ohv trails...I see a treasure. A treasure that is as special to me as the lake our cabin is on, that is as special to me as the Boundary Waters, that is as special as the north shore or the city park next door.
Traveling our nation's backcountry areas and trails by jeep, ATV, and dirt bike are traditions that go back decades. The people who do this are not some fringe element of society. This is as "traditional" a use as it gets in my opinion.
When we go out on the trails with either our ATV's or off-highway motorcycles it is indeed one part mechanical, we love machines and believe it or not getting an off-highway motorcycle through a slippery rocky trail is very physical and requires great skill. And it is also one part exploration - traveling the unknown - if we go this way, how do we get here or there. What I want to instill in my kids is a desire to explore the world whether on foot, on bike, by vehicle, or by plane. I'm not sure I like a world where nature has been sanitized, that the way you get to nature is to take the highway to the "interpretive center" parking lot, follow the asphalt path, and there it is: "nature." Now we can all feel good about ourselves, we've packaged up nature and roped it off for future generations to enjoy.
Me? You'll find me exploring some minimum maintenance road or trail. I want to ride my Kawasaki KLR650 motorcycle (a stree legal off-highway motorcycle - a "dualsport") from Pillsbury to Foothills to Paul Bunyan state forests then find a way to Chippewa and back to the cabin and never touch asphalt if possible. Only travel on the squiggly lines on the map. To me that is as complimentary an activity to hiking or biking as there is.
When there are no longer those minimum maintenance roads and trails to do this in our "nature" areas, it will truly be a sad day. It will be a legacy lost.
Let's agree to disagree about how to spend the funds, but the holier-than-thou thing gets really tired."
Posted by Joe Axberg on Jul 12, 2010 @ 8:40pm
Not really a lot of work to merely cut and paste some else's writing. I've come to expect higher standards from you, Sal.
However, a cursory Google of Mattison reveals postings in Minnesota on a site called "CitiZing!". So...mea culpa...I'll cut and paste a response to one of Mattison's blog postings about a Minnesota Highway Trust Fund (I think). I find this to be a fitting rebuttal.
"There are those who voted for this amendment who expect some of the money to be used for expanded bike trails. Does paving more bike trails with asphalt protect the environment? What if we use the money to expand paved parking lots at the nature centers and hiking trail heads so we can park more hybrid's with their trunkloads of batteries. Are we protecting our legacy now?
You talk in this and other post of yours about how "perverse" OHV's users are. Evidently only people like you "get it" and the rest of us fat slobs riding OHV's don't. I compete in triathlons, I hike, I bicycle, I canoe, I own a hybrid, and I ride ATV's and off-highway motorcycles. From my perspective these are completely complimentary things. I grew up on a farm with a dad who was a hot-rodder so I have a love of mechanical things, especially engines. I love the smell of diesel fuel. Your life experience is obviously very different.
I have ridden some ATV trails for over 25 years. The fish are still in the lakes; I see deer, badgers, grouse; the brush still grows over the trail, the trail is still there.
Here is what it boils down to for me: When I look at our state and county forests and their networks of minimum maintenance roads and ohv trails...I see a treasure. A treasure that is as special to me as the lake our cabin is on, that is as special to me as the Boundary Waters, that is as special as the north shore or the city park next door.
Traveling our nation's backcountry areas and trails by jeep, ATV, and dirt bike are traditions that go back decades. The people who do this are not some fringe element of society. This is as "traditional" a use as it gets in my opinion.
When we go out on the trails with either our ATV's or off-highway motorcycles it is indeed one part mechanical, we love machines and believe it or not getting an off-highway motorcycle through a slippery rocky trail is very physical and requires great skill. And it is also one part exploration - traveling the unknown - if we go this way, how do we get here or there. What I want to instill in my kids is a desire to explore the world whether on foot, on bike, by vehicle, or by plane. I'm not sure I like a world where nature has been sanitized, that the way you get to nature is to take the highway to the "interpretive center" parking lot, follow the asphalt path, and there it is: "nature." Now we can all feel good about ourselves, we've packaged up nature and roped it off for future generations to enjoy.
Me? You'll find me exploring some minimum maintenance road or trail. I want to ride my Kawasaki KLR650 motorcycle (a stree legal off-highway motorcycle - a "dualsport") from Pillsbury to Foothills to Paul Bunyan state forests then find a way to Chippewa and back to the cabin and never touch asphalt if possible. Only travel on the squiggly lines on the map. To me that is as complimentary an activity to hiking or biking as there is.
When there are no longer those minimum maintenance roads and trails to do this in our "nature" areas, it will truly be a sad day. It will be a legacy lost.
Let's agree to disagree about how to spend the funds, but the holier-than-thou thing gets really tired."
Posted by Joe Axberg on Jul 12, 2010 @ 8:40pm
Re: OHV/industrial complex
That's quite the conspiracy theory you posted, Sal. I assume you mostly agree with it. Articulate, but a bit paranoid and very contrived. Seems like such a waste of otherwise perfectly good talent.
Re: OHV/industrial complex
Back in the days of my youth, I went on monthly hikes with scout troop 122. I was fortunate enough to hike the 9 peaks in the San Gregornio wilderness that are over 10,000'. I also went to the top and back down Mt. San Jacinto (in a day!) via the route from Idylwild and also bagged the peak known as "old Baldy". I remember hiking to the top of Mt Whitney, 14'495' and numerous camping adventures. Those activities set the stage for a 5 year carreer with the USFS and BLM, fighting wildfires on hotshot and helitack crews across this great country of ours. It also gave me a deep respect for the wildlands. Today, we seem to have a society that is dependent upon a noisy, motorized contraption for their outdoor experience. I am heading south today and I travel in a vehicle to get down to Anza Borrego State Park. And, while I am dependent upon a vehicle to get there, once I set up camp or go for a walk, I dont have to be bothered by the nuisance and scourge of todays rural society......
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MMM
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Re: OHV/industrial complex
There are a lot of people who enjoy ohvs. And "noisy, motorized contraption for their outdoor experience" is more a personal judement than a general statement. But as you so state sandman, in our youth we did a lot of stuff. But we are not young anymore. I used to run 10 miles a day with no problem. I also weighed 140 pounds and had a 38 inch waist line, Neither of which I am so lucky to have today. Now today I have a bad shoulder, bad knees and a bad attitude. For me, if I want to see the wonders of the wild I MUST drive ther, either in a jeep or on a OHV. And MANY people are in the same boat.
sandman writes "And, while I am dependent upon a vehicle to get there, once I set up camp or go for a walk, I dont have to be bothered by the nuisance and scourge of todays rural society......" In todays California desert the person who wants to hike in and enjoy solitude has over 12 MILLION ACRES OF WILDERNESS in which to do just that. And this is good. But the rest of the desert, except for specific places like the military reservs (which sadly seems to be ever expanding, much like wilderness) let the moterized OHV user enjoy it. Please, stop taking more lands. That is all we ask.
Mike
sandman writes "And, while I am dependent upon a vehicle to get there, once I set up camp or go for a walk, I dont have to be bothered by the nuisance and scourge of todays rural society......" In todays California desert the person who wants to hike in and enjoy solitude has over 12 MILLION ACRES OF WILDERNESS in which to do just that. And this is good. But the rest of the desert, except for specific places like the military reservs (which sadly seems to be ever expanding, much like wilderness) let the moterized OHV user enjoy it. Please, stop taking more lands. That is all we ask.
Mike