Moab trails closed.

MtnAddict

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2011
Messages
209
Location
Parker, CO
Yea when folks like SUWA have 10’s of millions at their disposal, a billionaire backer and have infiltrated San Juan, Moab City, and Grand County official positions, and who knows when it comes to the BLM, it’s almost like we let that one slip and gear up for a legal war for the next round. I donate pretty religiously to the BRC, but we won’t have the backing we need until we convince a major brand like Polaris, Toyota, Jeep…. Etc to get on board and start fighting with us. Hell ask anyone in Oil & Gas how tough it is to battle SUWA or the Sierra club.
Sucks… I think your use of “infiltration” is accurate: activists…
 

Inukshuk

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
Messages
7,312
Location
Denver, CO
grrr
1696167853119.png
 

BritKLR

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Messages
1,243
Location
ATC HQ - Nederland, Colo.
I can only imagine the congestion this will cause on the remaining trails.....resulting in overuse....resulting in justification for further closures. Slippery slope.
 

ScaldedDog

Hard Core 4+
Joined
Dec 18, 2005
Messages
1,162
Location
Sedalia, CO/NSB, FL
Is there a complete list of trails closed by this? The sites I thought would have it - RR4W, BRC, etc - don't seem to. I've seen reference to Metal Masher staying open, but what about nearby trails like GBR, Rusty Nail, etc?

This is really disappointing, but not at all surprising, and a relatively minor issue in the grand scheme of things. We can no longer access our own lands, choose our own stoves, and our cars are designed by unelected bureaucrats who've never held a real job in their lives, but who control how we move about with an iron fist, all in the name of their religion. It will get much, much worse.

We've been "educated" by government owned union operated schools for many decades, and our "4th estate" is simply an extraordinarily effective sales force for that same government. Both have taught us to despise our own freedom, and when we do that, we elect those who are only too happy to relieve us of it. Our grandchildren will long for the freedom we enthusiastically relinquished.

As I've mentioned before, I'm glad I'm old, and got to live when I did. Being young right now would suck.

Mark
 

Hulk

RS Webmaster
Staff member
Moderator
Cruise Moab Committee
Joined
Aug 22, 2005
Messages
16,538
Location
Centennial
 

MountainGoat

Club Treasurer
Staff member
Cruise Moab Committee
Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
3,081
Location
Evergreen, CO
The holes in your knowledge will be filled by reading and understanding @ScaldedDog Mark's post number 27 above.
 

Cruisertrash

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2020
Messages
2,035
Location
Denver
The holes in your knowledge will be filled by reading and understanding @ScaldedDog Mark's post number 27 above.
I read it. It’s an opinion and that’s fine - we’re on an online message board having a discussion. I’m looking for facts though.

Receipts of donors, studies of trail use on public land, SxS sales over time, etc. I haven’t dug up anything definitive yet so I was reaching out to see if perhaps somebody had already come across anything like that.
 

J1000

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,572
Location
Morrison, CO
I got a couple questions...

How and why do organizations like SUWA have greater funding and better resources (like legal staff) than organizations like BRC? 2021 is the most recent year available for BRC's 990 financial disclosure so I matched that with SUWA's 2021 990: BRC had roughly $750K of income and SUWA had just shy of $9M. Quite a difference. BRC received about $40k in "government grants" while SUWA received $600k. Disclosure of individual donations is not mandatory on a 990, so the granular data is obscured. I work for a non-profit that has to file a 990 and it's the same for us.

I can only find limited data, but it seems that OHV trail use (road-going vehicles and UTVS/SxS, etc) has risen dramatically in the past 10-15 years. From that assumption, how much of the activity by orgs like SUWA is simply a reaction to new and uneducated OHV users not using trails correctly? That can encompass everything from not following posted or non-posted speed limits on FS/BLM land, to going off-trail or creating new routes not on management plans or MVUMs, to leaving trash behind. The follow up question is what can "we" as OHV users/wheelers/people who use public lands in a motorized way do about it? Obviously orgs like Stay the Trail are engaged on this front, but they are small and can't be everywhere at once. As a single data point I will say that every time we go onto public lands, whether in a motorized way or not, we see somebody breaking the established rules or evidence thereof. Usually it's an active situation. In my opinion, most of the rules are basic and reasonable.

I'm trying to form and clarify my own 10000 foot view of this situation and these are questions I keep coming back to that feel like holes in my knowledge.
SUWA and the like (Greenpeace, Sierra Club, etc etc) have equated their goals with fighting "big oil" and climate change. So they are "the good guys" and if you are against what they stand for you are just a big meanie who hates the environment, don't ya know. They also have megadonors for all the same reasons. Don't know if you noticed, but climate change etc is a big talking point these days and cars are bad.

They have an army of useful idiots on the streets with clipboards getting signatures, walking around with signs, and otherwise active. 4x4 guys are busy enjoying the outdoors, doing their jobs, or just living life in general.


CD6FEKHM35E53K5KAT4DUGFUEU.jpg

suwa4.png

suwa3.png

suwa2.png

suwa.png

ScienceMarch-1440x1080.jpg
 

nuclearlemon

Hard Core 4+
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
8,331
Location
windy wyo
anti access orgs have donors with bucks. that's the biggest issue. and we spend money at places like rei and buy things like northface jackets and big agnes tents, and those profits go towards shutting us out. :(
 

J1000

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,572
Location
Morrison, CO
@J1000 @nuclearlemon

Ok, like I said above I’m asking who these big donors are and where there’s a record or evidence of that.
SUWA says 80% of their funds come from members, so people with clipboards on the street signing people up.






Also SUWA is celebrating their 40th anniversary so UTVs have little to nothing to do with it.
 
Last edited:

Hulk

RS Webmaster
Staff member
Moderator
Cruise Moab Committee
Joined
Aug 22, 2005
Messages
16,538
Location
Centennial
Here's the complete list that REI donates to. SUWA is not on the list.
 

Hulk

RS Webmaster
Staff member
Moderator
Cruise Moab Committee
Joined
Aug 22, 2005
Messages
16,538
Location
Centennial

Cruisertrash

Rising Sun Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2020
Messages
2,035
Location
Denver
SUWA says 90% of their funds come from members, so people with clipboards on the street signing people up.






Also SUWA is celebrating their 40th anniversary so UTVs have little to nothing to do with it.
I did find the finances page on SUWAs website and read through the 990, but missed that they’ve been around 40 years. That’s interesting. I could be barking up the wrong tree with exploring a possible uptick in SxS and road-legal vehicles trail use, but an org’s mission and action can morph over time as well.

To be clear I’m in no way condoning or supporting what the BLM chose on this. Karen and I were out in that area last year, near the start of 10 Mile Canyon, Cow Canyon, etc, and generally romping around on the plethora of [legal] trails west and northwest of Moab, between the highway and the Green River. We saw one other vehicle in 6 hours. We saw no evidence of illegal trails or tracks, we didn’t even see any trash! It was pretty refreshing versus what we typically see here in Colorado. It seemed like responsible users had come before us and that the area was well managed. To lose that is sad.
 

Hulk

RS Webmaster
Staff member
Moderator
Cruise Moab Committee
Joined
Aug 22, 2005
Messages
16,538
Location
Centennial
Doesn't look like Big Agnes is donating to SUWA either.
 
Top