Well the Forest reserves planning board sat this monday…. I have to say I felt a bit like a rabbit walking into a wolves den to say the least.. no idea what to really expect and really no idea who might share my view. But I was pretty happy I was even considered so I figured if I was the sacrificial lamb for the OHV community, so be it… other organizations with representatives in attendance were the AMC, TNC, Sierra club, MFA, and several land-trusts, …. I gotta say that most of the discussion was “over my head” with debate and banter over management plans, incentives, legislation, and implementation.. I was definitely out of my league on most of this stuff.. I sat and listened as the “round table” hashed out their ideas… looking to pick and choose my time… and it honestly didn’t present itself till the end when I pretty much made my move and gave a quick and firm statement about our concerns.
A few of my points conveyed were…
the number of organized clubs in the northeast region that come to Massachusetts because it has a lot to offer in the way of tourism and that in itself should be addressed..
the economic impact that our presence offers to the communities…
the sheer number of light trucks and SUVs on the road currently and the percentage of them that are purchased with some “initention” of off-highway use..
our regular donations of man-hours toward clean-up efforts on private AND public lands…
the basic rules we, as organized clubs, hold ourselves, and others, to in terms of legal use of public and private lands..
I included basic information on the numbers of ATV and motorcycle sales and use in recent years…
I tried to dispel some “stereo types” about what we do and HOW we do it…
There wasn’t much in the way of comments after I said my peace…. my comments pretty much closed the meeting so it was fresh in their minds when they left..
I had a few interesting conversations afterward… bob O’Connor was very interested in everything I had to say.. (facade or not I cant tell but I’ll give him the benefit of the doudt) I spoke with him about our economic impact studies.. as well as our main concern being NO LOSS OF EXISTING LEGAL ROADS AND TRAILS.. and as it sits, for now at least, their initial proposals for reserves do not impact the roads we commonly use… but this does not mean that they will not propose new ones, they WILL…. And they will try to build onto the initial reserves a little at a time with private lands that surround them…
Some of the criteria for choosing 8 out of the 22 proposed sites included the amount of trails and usage the area receives.. THAT IN ITSELF saved one of our “UnDisclosed” locations from being included in this…… for now…..
A few points posed to me by a few key players in the game were:
What have we done in the way of land acquisition for our private use? In the way that hunters and fisherman join sportsman’s clubs that acquire land for their own use..
Our point that “I have a vehicle and you have to let me use it on public land just because I have it” (as it has been interpreted by many) holds little weight with a lot of the groups involved in this initiative…
One VERY interesting question was regarding the privately onwed and operated OHV parks around the US, what kind of interest would there be on a LOCAL LEVEL for something of that sort, how large do these parks need to be to be viable..
As it stands now the reserves they will move forward with, 5 are in Berkshire county, 1 in Hampshire county (and as near as I could tell from the maps, contains THE BEACON)_ , 1 in north central Ma , and 1 in Plymouth…
the first maps they showed us early in the process showed HUGE colored areas that were “target areas” for reserves… VERY SCARY stuff… but that was more like a “wish list” as I see it…. They were drawn regardless of town, state, public, and private boundaries.. that is what they would like the “future” to look like.. and the comparatively “small” locations they have chosen to start with have a less threatening appearance.. but as I said.. they intend to “build” on them and attain their proposed 20% of all state forest land to be designated as “reserves” that’s A LOT of acres!!!!
This particular planning forum is NOT the place for me to approach the 1000# weight limit on state owned land…. Not the place to try to bargain for “new” roads to replace what we stand to lose… Not the place to try to re-open previously closed roads…
All we can really expect is to achieve an understanding that their proposal of “no net loss” of workable forestland should ALSO pertain to the recreational uses of these forestlands as well….
We still need our members to show up at the public forums and out-reach meetings whenever the opportunity shows itself…. Even if you aren’t a public speaker.. show up and make sure you put pertinent info on the sheets when you sign-in…
Expect a press release soon regarding these proposed reserves… and public outreach meetings to follow….
One big point I want to make in closing is that this IS NOT A PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE BILL….. This WILL NOT be sent through the state law-makers hands’. this is an initiative that will be worked-out and essentially “signed” into existence thru a “fast track” to whom-ever’s desk it needs to go to..…. This will slip under a lot of people’s radar….
(and this is the “edited shorter” version)
mike chapline
official in a position like that.
atriot:
