• Glamis Sand Dunes MAJOR Closure by November 22, 2000!
  Click here for details, info, links and maps of the closure area
  UN-Happy Thanksgiving from:
  The Washington DC - BLM Legal Team, Bill Clinton & Al Gore,
  the Sierra Club and the Center For Biological Diversity!
  These folks are not OHV friends!!
  Click here for an on-line petition to keep the dunes open. It's simple and easy.
  6000+ signatures. Let's go, the keep Xena on TV another season has 10000+
  If you vote for Gore - Get used to this, he has promised more land closures!!!

• I am an avid four wheeler...

• MSNBC Roadless Poll - Vote - NOW!

• Who's stealing your land?

• MSNBC SnowMobile Poll - Vote!

• Boycott all Bridgestone/Firestone Products!

• Roadless Plan Sierra Club Calls for Huge turn-out to help close your forest

• Who wants you out of your off-road vehicle?

• SnowMobiles Banned from nationa parks?

• Write to the Forest Sevice tell them what you think?

• Click here to learn more about the Roadless Plan

• Sierra Club's  Roadless Meeting Plan

I am an avid four wheeler...

I am an avid fourwheeler and I love the out of doors.  I don't mind voting in an online poll once in a while and getting an update every once in a while....   but...

Here is what the but means:

• "I am too lazy"

•  " I don't care"

• " It won't affect me"

•  "I don't... " - you fill in the blank 

We hear this all the time.  Most OHV users simply will not get involved in protecting their own sports.  WHY?  The folks at the local jeep club say  " Yeah right, we should fight it.  When's the next run?"  Oh boy! do they  whine after  their favorite area gets closed though!

Over and over, this is repeated across America.  We are falling victim to our own apathy and desire to only have fun.  We have become a country of lazy,  selfish and self-centered people interested only in the "easy" things in life.

Guess what folks?

Within the next 5 years, you are going to lose all ability to use your OHVs and  4x4s on both private and public lands and waterways. That is the goal of groups like the Sierra Club.  Simply, voting in a poll is not going to stop this!  Most of the  folks out there won't  read an short action alert let alone read any of the actual documents regarding these closures.

Last year personal watercraft were banned from our National parks.  This year snowmobiles were banned.  We fought against both of those closures and we don't even use jet skis or snowmobiles! Why did we do it?  Because, the Greens are after a total ban of all OHVs over the next few years.  Go look at the policy papers on their web sites.  This is a very active and aggressive plan to remove OHVs from all lands and waterways.  BTW: to a Green an OHV is anything not on the pavement.  That means dirt roads, streams rivers, lakes, etc.   Don't beleive us?  - visit their web sites.
Here are a few for you...

• The Wilderness Society OHV Policy

• The Sierra Club OHV Policy

• Sierra Club.Mountain Bike Policy

This isn't just about national parks, it's about national forests and all American lands and waterways;  where we all hunt, fish, hike, camp, use OHVs, etc..   If we don't get involved and put a stop to it - one third (1/3) of the national forests are going to be closed this year. 

Look folks:  the Greens think we are stupid, that we won't fight,  that we are unorganized, that we don't care and that we can be easily beaten.

Are they right?

 Prove them wrong - fight this wave of closures.

Apathy is our greatest enemy.  The greens are going to turn out by the hundreds for the meetings and a few from our side will turn out.  So we will lose and all OHV users will cry why did this happen to us?  It is going to happen for the same reason we lost the personal watercraft and snowmobile bans - because no one fought it.  (aka: we let it happen)   We all love the outdoors, but most offroaders simply won't put in the time to save their own sports.  Most of the members of the 4x4 and atv clubs we belong to say don't bother me with that, when is the next trip?  You are probably in the 90%, the - "Don't bother me - I only want to play category".  Maybe we should all just return to that category and spend the next few years running the trails while we still can instead of trying to preserve them for our kids and other OHVers.

Do you think we enjoy this?  WE DON'T ! .  It is thankless and demanding on both our personal time and money.  Do you think we enjoy spending our free time on this before and after work or at break time,  WE DON'T !.  We would rather be out working and playing just like you!  We want to just use our 4x4's or go camping or backpacking but we know this must be done. So we do it.

Please - Please - Please, we strongly urge you, your friends and your family to get involved at your local level - please help.

Look what the Professional Activists
at the Sierra Club are planning..

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PLEASE - VOTE NOW - MSNBC POLL
There is a poll at the MSNBC web site.
    Question:  Do you support the snowmobile ban?
    Answer:    NO !!!

    www.msnbc.com/news/400420.asp

Please pass this alert on.  The continued existence
of our outdoor sports depends on us!

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Boycott all Bridgestone/Firestone Products!!!

The following letter was written by C. Al Roof and sent to Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.  Use it as a model and let them hear us.  One of the previous Dirt First! editorials asked where the vendors were during our fight to save our sport.  Bridgestone/Firestone have answered that question...  Not only are they not supporting us, they are supporting the other side.  Our new moto:  Don't Tread On Me!  That means that Bridgestone / Firestone treads (aka: tires) will not be found on our vehicles until you support our cause Bridgestone / Firestone, Inc.  DirtFirst! is in full support of the Boycott of all Bridgestone / Firestone products.  4x4 users - no more Desert Duelers.  We have to hit these companies in the pocket book.

Subject: Insensitivity to Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Prompts Boycott of Bridgestone/Firestone Products

Public Affairs Department
Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.
50 Century Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37214
(615) 872-1416
(615) 872-1414 Fax
bfspr@bfusa.com

RE: Insensitivity to Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Prompts Boycott of Bridgestone/Firestone Products

Gentlemen and Ladies,

When I first opened the e-mail press release entitled...
"Bridgestone / Firestone Makes Sizable Land Donation to
State of Tennessee", my heart raced. For before I scrolled down the page, I first assumed that the producer of fine off-highway motorcycle, off-road truck, and all-terrain sport utility vehicle tires must surely be establishing a model off-highway vehicle (OHV) preserve for all others in the OHV industry to follow. Imagine my dismay when I realized that  this 10,000-acres of God's glorious land would not be offered for use to a multitude of the very consumers whose patronage made this purchase possible..... off-highway vehicle recreationists.

Yes, I'll be the first to admit that there are places in our beautiful country where OHV recreation is not appropriate. Fortunately, the great majority of those places are already protected as public lands with Wilderness or National Monument designations. Unfortunately, there are those, including the Clinton/Gore Administration and the many EXTREME environmental groups that support it, who would very much like to see off-highway vehicle recreation, as well as agricultural, mining, and timber industries, wiped off of the face of the Earth. Tell me folks, what percent of your gross sales, or better yet, net profits, are directly related to the off-highway vehicle, agriculture, mining and timber industries? Can you afford to lose those profits?

Well, until such time that Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. deems off-highway vehicle recreation a legitimate use on The Bridgestone / Firestone Centennial Wilderness, you will not receive another dime of my hard earned money.

Unless you can convince me otherwise, the ED77 and ED78 tires that are now mounted on my dual purpose motorcycle will immediately be replaced by tires from a manufacturer who is more sensitive to it's customer base. I will hang these tires in effigy at every OHV club meeting and event I attend. I will encourage the membership of each and every OHV club, enthusiast group and national organization I can to boycott Bridgestone/Firestone products, and I will ask the manufactures of my motorcycle, all-terrain-vehicle, sport utility vehicle, and truck to do the same.

I am deeply disappointed and eagerly await your reply.

C. Al Roof

Promoter - The Honda Hoot Carolina Dual Sport Adventure Ride
Founder & President - The Blue Ridge Pathfinders Motorcycle Club, Inc.
Office Manager / Special Events Coordinator - Suzuki Kawasaki of Gastonia
Public Relations Officer - The North Carolina Off-Highway Vehicle Association, Inc.
Alternate State Representative - The National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council, Inc.

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Please set aside some time to attend the upcoming Forest Service roadless area hearings.  This is urgent!!!

The greens think a small  minority of wise-users are attempting to thwart roadless area protections to continue resource exploitation.  They claim we are just loud, but not well represented, and can be squelched with a strong showing of environmentally minded people.  They are looking for "Roadless Area Spokespersons", people who are willing to speak up for roadless area protection and preservation.  SO ARE WE... WE NEED YOU NOW!!  We have modified their wish list for the ideal spokespersons to suit our needs.  We need to hit hard and in strong numbers at these meetings.  They think that the vast majority of Americans don't care if the federal government keeps them off public lands.  Let them hear from all all of us.

Our ideal spokespersons could include:

• Hunters, especially deer and elk hunters who are against the  roadless plan.
• Backpackers who are against the roadless plan.
• Off-road vehicle riders who are against the roadless plan.
• Scientists who are against the roadless plan.
• Environmentalists who are against the roadless plan.
• Loggers who are against the  roadless plan.
• Senior citizen and disabled Americans who support land access.
• Scout leaders who are against the  roadless plan.
• Anglers who fish want to continue in roadless areas.
• Mountain bikers who travel in roadless areas and are against the  roadless plan because they know it will be turned into wilderness and exclude them.
• Outfitters who pack into roadless areas and  are against the  roadless plan.
• Ecologists and Biologists  who are against the  roadless plan.
• Local politicians who are against the  roadless plan.
• Local officials who understand the economic damage that will be caused by  the roadless plan.
• Religious leaders and followers who are against the  roadless plan.
• Patriots who are against the  roadless plan.
• Ranchers and farmers who are against the  roadless plan.
• Snowmobile users who are against the  roadless plan.
• Mountain Bikers who are against the  roadless plan.
• SUV owners who are against the  roadless plan.
  
  Each of the Forest Service Supervisors will be hosting meetings in May and June.  The first set of meetings are timed just after the release of the Roadless Policy Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), and the
  second set of meetings will be held after the public has had a chance to review the entire DEIS.

Please attend your local meetings, and speak against the roadless areas at your national forests:

Klamath NF (Yreka): May 25th & June 29th
Shasta-Trinity NF (Redding): May 23rd & June 28th
Modoc NF (Alturas): May 23rd & June 22nd.

Click here to learn more about the Roadless Plan
Click here to go to our May 2000 Editorial
Check out our January 2000 editorial
Check out our December 1999 editorial
Please visit and use our Environmental BBS


Click here to make your own access stickers

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SnowMobiles Banned from nationa parks?

April 27, 2000 snowmobiles are now banned in our National Parks.  

Earlier this year personal watercraft were banned from our National parks.  

"The time has come for the National Park System to pull in its welcome mat for recreational snowmobiling," said Assistant Secretary Barry.

OHVs are next!!!!!!!

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Please continue writing to the forest service - don't let up! 

Tell the Forest Service not to listen to the Extreme Preservationists who are spreading lies About Responsible OHV Recreation!!!  Tell the FS that we are going to hold them accountable when a real president is elected!

Chief Mike Dombeck
Email: Mike.Dombeck/wo@fs.fed.us
FAX: (202)205-1765
Phone: (202)205-1661

Again, thanks for your time and effort to promote and protect responsible OHV recreation on our public lands. Don't let the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, the Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads, and other extreme preservationist groups cast aspersions on all the hard work that you have done to make OHV recreation the family-oriented sport it is today.

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Extracted from the Sierra Club:
They are pulling out all of the stops!!!

"Welcome to the second edition of the Wild Forest Alerts Bulletin. We use this space to provide you with updates on the Wild Forest Campaign and ways for you to convince the Forest Service to protect 60 million acres of Roadless areas in our National Forests.

Included in this update are:

1. Public Meetings on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement coming
to a city and town near you!
2. Materials we have available for you
3. Opposition Update

1. Public Meetings coming to a city and town near you. The Forest Service is planning to release a Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the roadless proposal in mid May. The DEIS will contain proposals for protecting millions of acres of roadless areas in national forests. Following the release of the DEIS, the forest service will hold 300 meetings in communities across the country.

The first round of meetings, held mostly in the final two weeks of may, will be informational meetings. The Forest Service will present information on the roadless proposal and will take written comment at these meetings.

The second round of meetings will take place mostly in the final two weeks of June. These meetings will provide the opportunity for people to comment on the roadless plan.

It is very important that we have large crowds of people at both rounds of hearings. We will provide postcards, buttons, hats, and placards to send a visible message to protect our wild forests. Some of the informational meetings are only *two weeks away* so now is the time to start spreading the word about the campaign and building a crowd for these events.

The locations, dates, and times for the public meetings are on the forest service website: http://roadless.fs.fed.us/meetings/index.shtml

2. We Have Materials For You 
Here are the materials we have available for you to help educate and mobilize your community to protect wild forests:

--A 17-minute video outlining the Wild Forest Protection Campaign
--Postcards to Mike Domback, head of the Forest Service --"Protect Our Wild Forest" stickers
--An Activist Tool Kit that contains a sample letter to the editor, sample letters to your members of congress, fact sheets and background articles on the campaign, and tips for getting letters published in your local paper.
--Placards and baseball caps with the "Protect Our Wild Forests" message.

Please email your requests for information to Julie.Hudson@sierraclub.org and we will send these materials to you.

3. Opposition Alert: Author Says Environmentalists have "Undue  Influence"

Attached is an article appearing in the Deseret News in Salt Lake City. The article profiles author Ron Arnold, whose book "Undue Influence" depicts the environmental movement as a set of groups that have unfair access to decision makers. Among a number of false statements made in the article is the following: "The environmental groups are funded by big corporations and are using that money to discredit grass-roots groups like wise users,"

It's time to show Ron Arnold what we already know: the great majority of Americans support protecting wild forest areas and other wilderness areas. What better way to send this message than to show up at public meetings by the hundreds to prove that we have legitimate and overwhelming grassroots support for protecting Wild Forests?"

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What is all this about?

The Greens want OUR backcountry for the exclusive use of the elite, hard-core backpackers.

We must stop these folks, they are slowly but methodically stealing our rights, freedom and country from us!

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--- Charlton Heston ---- Feb 16, 1999

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