Leaderboard

I get it, and I'll probably get flack for posting this like I get it for having REI, Patagonia, and Keen gear. I'm an overland enthusiast, too, as well a hiker and angler, so it flows from all sides. I'm also a Utah resident. I ride and wheel all throughout the State's desert southwest and southeast, places where some BLM trails have been closed, including Moab, Canyonlands, the Parashant, and all along the Colorado Plateau. In doing so over the past forty years, the decay of these areas from irresponsible vehicular access has gone unfettered and unregulated for three of those decades and the destruction in some areas is unrecoverable. With the invasion of more OHVs, especially SXSs, some entity has had to step up to maintain their own mission to public lands. That conservation and restoration efforts are subsidized through donations by some of the brands that help us enjoy these lifestyles speaks to the importance of preservation. In the tens of thousands of miles I've traversed along the Wasatch Front and the Colorado Plateau, I've seldom been on a designated road, double or single track that did not have damage, peripheral land damage, shells, brass and destroyed targets, vandalized vault toilets and Forest Service facilities, along with discarded refuse and human waste. It's also been my experience that enthusiasts have a tendency to turn Chicken Little (the sky is falling) when BLM closures are enacted, but rarely during "open comment" periods of their conservation proposals. So, I'm interested in the definition of responsible vehicular access.