IN THIS ISSUE

BLM CA DESERT DISTRICT ADVISORY COUNCIL MTG
BLM reports given at a recent Desert District Advisory Council meeting made it perfectly clear that the BLM will always side with the enviro-extremist position when making land use decisions.

ORBA's only hopes to stop the "Management by Closure" policy of the California BLM are to 1) Put pressure at the top in Washington, DC, and 2) Institute extensive litigation - which works for the enviros.

Examples of the BLM's "Manage-ment by Closure" demonstrated at the DAC meeting include:

THE CA DESERT TORTOISE
A BLM desert tortoise biologist gave a report at the DAC meeting regarding recent studies of the tortoise. He indicated that the old methods of counting tortoise populations are not effective. A new method has been developed and some new studies have been made. Further studies are not possible since there is no funding.

Denner has written a letter to Mike Pool, BLM State Director, sug-gesting that he challenge the enviro-extremist organizations to take some money out of their legal funds and put it into a serious scientific study of the desert tortoise and its real problems. Denner will then go to the user groups and collect matching funds. The presumed impact on the desert tortoise is the driving factor behind most of the desert closures. Many tortoise biologists believe that, compared to the tortoise's upper respiratory dis-ease problem and the attacks by the raven, vehicle use has a negligible impact.

AN EX-BLM MANAGER REPORT-ED THAT IN CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA, THE DESERT TORTOISE IS BEING UTHANIZED! THE SAME CRITTER THAT IS CAUSING MILLIONS OF ACRES IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT TO BE CLOSED TO VEHICLE ACCESS TO ASSURE ITS SURVIVAL!

MEETING WITH KATHLEEN CLARKE NATIONAL BLM DIRECTOR
On July 19th, ORBA's President, and other California Off-Road Leaders, met in Sacramento with Kathleen Clarke, National Director of the BLM, and Mike Pool, State BLM Director. Ms. Clarke told at-tendees that she supports use of public lands for OHV recreation. OHV speakers described the land-management problems in the CA desert and BLM's "Management by Closure" approach. Ms. Clarke promised to look into specific is-sues and invited ORBA's President and others to visit her in Wash-ington, DC. ORBA is organizing a trip to Washington in September and she agreed to set up a meeting to listen to concerns on other issues. OHV leaders are con-vinced that the BLM people in Washington do not know what's happening in CA on the ground.

MEETING WITH BLM DESERT DISTRICT MANAGER
On June 12th, ORBA President, Roy Denner; CORVA President, Ed Waldheim; and CA4WD represen-tative, Jeri Ferguson met with Linda Hansen, the acting BLM CA Desert District Manager.

The closure of more of the Rands Mountain area to OHV use was discussed. The BLM has a prob-lem with illegal OHV use in the Rands (after thousands of acres have been closed to OHV use with no new areas made available) and has decided to solve the law enforcement problem by closing more area. More closure is sure to solve the illegal trespassing prob-lem!?

The rejection of the Desert Advisory Council recommenda-tions were discussed to no avail.

Other impacts to OHV use were discussed and it was clear that Ms. Hansen will be continuing the practice of "Management by Clos-ure" as normal procedure! This can only lead to increased expen-ditures by ORBA on litigation.

ISDRA MEETINGS
An historic event occurred recently when CA OHV leaders met during two weekends to develop a consolidated input document for the Imperial Sand Dunes Recrea-tion Area Management Plan.

This document, signed by the leaders of 6 major CA OHV organ-izations, including ORBA, should carry a lot of weight when the final plan goes to print on July 23.

THE FLAT-TAILED HORNED LIZARD (FTHL)
A Federal Judge in San Francisco has directed the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Dept. to reconsider listing the FTHL as an endangered species. It is believed that this lizard occupies a large part of the Southern California desert. If listed it could cause a huge impact on vehicle access in many areas - including the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. A meeting of California off-road leaders was held in attorney David Hubbard's office on June 3rd to discuss this issue.

It was decided that ORBA would take the lead and contract with a qualified herpetologist to compile the data from various studies on the FTHL to show that there is not supportable scientific evidence to warrant the listing of this species. CORVA, SDORC, & CAL 4WD will participate with ORBA in paying the cost of this effort.

LITIGATION OVER CLOSURES
During November, 2001, over 800,000 acres of the California desert had been closed to vehicle use by the BLM through the posting of 11 records of decision to the Federal Registry. Attorney David Hubbard filed appeals to all of those closures. The appeals were submitted to the Department of the Interior's IBLA (Interior Board for Land Use Appeals). The IBLA, with no supporting reasons, rejected all of those appeals. California off-road leaders discus-sed this action and decided that litigation is necessary.

The appeal dealing with the closure of the Imperial Sand Dunes has been separated from the group of 11 appeals. ASA, SDORC, & ORBA will be funding the litigation for this issue. Hubbard has filed suit in Federal Court to have this appeal recognized and implemen-ted.

A lawsuit on the remaining 10 appeals has been filed in a different Federal Court. Ten or eleven OHV organizations, include-ing ORBA, will be providing the funds for this effort.

ORBA & SEMA (Specialty Equipment Marketing Association)
On June 6th ORBA's President met with two SEMA vice presidents and the Chairman of the Board. SEMA is a huge nation-wide business association that deals with after market products for the racing industry. Many of this industry's products overlap into the off-road world.

SEMA recognizes this overlap and is interested in having ORBA provide off-road land use input for its members. To that end, SEMA is providing booth space to ORBA at its 1 million square foot exhibitor show in Las Vegas during the weekend of November 6-8. In addition, ORBA President Denner will be conducting a seminar for SEMA members on current land use issues.

OCEANO DUNES
ORBA has contributed another $5,000 to the battle to keep Oceano Dunes open - the last 3 miles of the entire California coastline available to OHV use. An organ-ization called "Defenders of Wildlife" is suing to close this area down due to the presumed impact on a bird called the Snowy Plover.

BAKERSFIELD ORBA MTG.
An ORBA informational meeting was held in Bakersfield on June 7th. Russell Johnson, from Assemblyman Roy Ashburn's office, spoke to the group. He informed everyone that Assembly-man Ashburn is an ardent supporter of OHV recreation.

LEGISLATORS TO OFF-ROAD SHOWS
ORBA & ASA will be working with Pete Conaty, ORBA's lobbyist in Sacramento, to attract State and Federal legislators to the Sand Sports Supershow in Orange County, the Off-Road Expo in Pomona, and the San Diego Off-Road Coalition Expo in San Diego. Last year several legislators at-tended these shows and were amazed at the dollar impact off-road toys have on the California economy. The legislators also got a chance to see what kind of people attended these shows - families with kids of all ages.

PLANT SPECIES LISTING
U.S. Federal District Court Judge Irma Gonzalez has ordered the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to desig-nate critical habitat areas neces-sary for the survival of eight rare native California plants.

This decision could result in tougher land-use restrictions on hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands from San Diego County to Mono County. ORBA is an intervener in a lawsuit to turn around this ruling.

ORBA'S EXTREME RAFFLE
As a major fund raiser, ORBA is conducting a unique kind of a raffle. Many major prizes will be given away, including 5 KTM motorcycles, a Suzuki LTZ400 Quad, 3 turnkey VW Engines, a Honda TRX 250EX Quad, a custom built Mendeola Transaxle, sand tires, truck tires, a Chenowth buggy frame, and much much more! Prizes will be displayed at the Off Road Shows USA Sand and Watercraft show in Tucson, September 6-8; the Costa Mesa Sand Sports Supershow, Septem-ber 20-22; and the Off-Road Expo, Fairplex, Pomona, October 5 & 6. Winning tickets will be drawn on October 6th. Tickets are $5 each, 5 for $20, and 30 for $100. Each ticket has a $2 discount coupon for the Sand Sports Supershow in Costa Mesa and a $2 coupon for the Off-Road Expo in Pomona. (One coupon per person per show)

Call, fax, or email ORBA for tickets. Tickets will also be on sale at ORBA member retail stores.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS