Well, spinning wheels is all I see. Maybe everyone as a group can vote on representatives for each area that would be the point of contact with the FS and be responsible for the area. Sure we would end up doing the jobs of the USFS, but at least we would be policing ourselves and showing that wheelers as a whole can be responsible with our resources.
Maybe some publicity would help. Maybe if said representatives could get with some of the local news channels to do some stories on why we need more land and show them that if it were not for us out there policing these lands as active users they would be overrun by illegal activities.
We know we need more trails, and we need more areas open year round without closures. How can we actively demonstrate this to the USFS without making ourselves or our sport look questionable to them?
I honestly think it will come down to us having to pool funds to keep these areas open to our sport. Funds do not necessarily have to mean money, but our resources as good hard working people willing to share our time. I remember back when we lived here before that Crash and a whole group of wheelers were working directly with the people 'over' Reiter to close off the Wall trail so the rest of the area could stay open, but this did nothing to stop the closure. How can we change these views and outcomes in the future?
These are the things that will help us as a group. We have to learn from past events and go at the issues with solutions instead of bickering amongst ourselves on an open forum that USFS and everyone else has access to. We need to organize like never before and have face to face meetings on these issues to come up with solutions.
I wheel an almost stock Jeep and do not have plans to build a wild wheeler out of it. I have no issues with others who choose to wheel very well built rigs. I enjoy seeing them use the trails just as much as I enjoy using them. Some of my reason for me going wheeling is the 'free' entertainment that they provide as they navigate trails. As long as everyone is using the resources legally then we should all be getting along no matter what type/size of wheeler we choose to use.
Heck, I was on upper 311 and saw a stock rig dig out a hole, well built rig went behind them and dug it out worse. I was not about to even try it. I knew it would be winch or strap. I got my shovel out, spent 5 minutes with it and patched the hole so I could get by without more IMPACT. Was up there the week after and the hole was still filled in and no more IMPACT was evident. These are the things that we, as wheelers, are going to have to do as a whole to keep our areas open.
It could come down to something as simple as- if you know you IMPACTED the trail, get out and fix it on the spot. If we as an entire group would make ever so slight changes as these then I think more external groups might look at us more positively.
I am just brain storming with the rest of you guys. No matter what resolution we choose, it will involve a lot of volunteer work and time to throw at the issues as a group.