ORBA NEWSLETTER - JANUARY, 2002
OFF-ROAD BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

THIS ISSUE
· Milk Vetch Listing Appealed
· 800,000 acres closed to OHV
· El Centro DAC meeting
· ORBA action in Arizona
· San Diego Off-Road Expo
· State OHV Grants meeting
· ORBA Educational Seminar
· ORBA Annual Member Mtg.
· New Members

MILK VETCH LISTING APPEALED
ORBA has contributed financial support to assist the American Sand Association's attempt to remove the Pierson's Milk Vetch plant from the Federal Threatened and Endangered Species List. The Milk Vetch is the plant responsible for the closure of 50,000 acres to OHV use in the Imperial Sand Dunes. ORBA's well-known environ-mental attorney, David Hubbard has filed a petition to remove the plant from the Federal list. Hubbard's well-documented petition makes it clear that the plant should never have been listed in the first place. The Secretary of the Interior has until the end of January, 2002 to respond to this petition.

800,000 ACRES OF CA DESERT CLOSED TO OHV USE IN NOVEMBER
During the third week of No-vember the BLM's CA Desert District Office posted 10 clo-sure notices to the Federal Register. OHV attorney, David Hubbard had only 30 days to respond to all of these clos-ures. Hubbard successfully filed appeals on all closures within the time allowed.
One of the notices closed 25,600 acres to camping east of the Glamis Dunes area. Dune users who normally camped in the newly closed area were forced to crowd into the limited camping area at Glamis. This closure took place immediately before the very busy Thanks-giving weekend. Crowds were estimated at close to 200,000. To add to the problem, the Desert District BLM office pro-vided a total of 34 law enforce-ment officers for the entire Imperial Sand Dunes.
Is it any wonder that there were a few - but only a few - serious incidents? When 70,000 foot-ball fans attend a Chargers vs. Raiders game, the city of San Diego pulls in an extra 1,000 law enforcement officers.
Does anyone get the idea that the chaos was planned? Fort-unately, the incidents were minimal. Actually far less than what occurs in any city of 200,000 people on a holiday weekend.
ORBA President, Roy Denner, has been working with Imperial County Supervisor, Wally Leimgruber, Imperial County Sheriff Carter, and Deputy Director Dave Widell from the California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Division to solve the law enforcement problem in the dunes on holiday weekends. Sheriff Carter submitted a grant request to the OHMVR Com-mission for funds to provide additional law enforcement on holidays. (See "State OHV Grants meeting" in this news-letter).

EL CENTRO DESERT ADVISORY COUNCIL MTG
A major win for the OHV community occurred in Decem-ber at the El Centro meeting of the BLM CA Desert District Advisory Council. ORBA Pres-ident Roy Denner, who is Vice-Chair of the DAC, made a motion to include a mitigation provision for recreation in the 3 major land use plans currently being drafted by the BLM for the California Desert District. This means that, when any form of recreation is impacted by BLM actions, such as OHV area closures, the BLM would be required to provide comp-ensation for that impact just like impacts to the environment are currently mitigated. The Advisory Council passed this motion with a vote of 11 to 2.
Denner also made a motion to drop the proposal to close five existing OHV recreation areas from the plan being drafted for the Southeastern portion of the California Desert. This motion also passed 11 to 2.
The only opposition to these motions came from the repre-sentative from the Sierra Club and the representative from the California Native Plant Society.

When he grows into this, will he have a place to ride? It's up to you!

ORBA ATTORNEY OPPOSES EXPANSION OF SUNSET CRATER IN ARIZONA
ORBA has responded to a re-quest by users of the Cinders OHV Recreation Area near Flagstaff, Arizona. Plans being drafted for the expansion of the Sunset Crater National Monu-ment call for the elimination of the OHV area. There is no organized OHV group in the Flagstaff area so ORBA has picked up the tab for David Hubbard to write a legal opin-ion letter exposing the legal shortcomings of the plan.

CONTACT ORBA
P.O. Box 1339, Lakeside, CA 92040 www.orbanet.org Ph: (619) 449-0778 Fx: (619) 443-8157
ORBA PRESENCE AT S.D. OFF-ROAD EXPOSITION
ORBA member signs were everywhere! The San Diego Off-Road Coalition's 2nd very successful Off-Road Exposition at the Cajon Speedway was obviously well supported by ORBA member companies.
ORBA company owners and managers had an opportunity to meet several California Legislators who attended the Expo. Legislators included Assemblyman Jay LaSuer, Assemblywoman Charlene Zettel, Assemblyman Dennis Hollingsworth, and Senate Candidate Denise Ducheny. All were impressed with the OHV event and the OHV community. These Legislators are support-ers of OHV recreation.

La Suer, Ducheny, & Jim McGarvie, SDORC Chmn.
BE SURE TO GET OUT AND VOTE IN THE MARCH PRIMARY!
CA OFF-HIGHWAY MOTOR VEHICLE RECREATION DIVISION GRANTS
As a result of OHV leaders' in-put (including ORBA's Pres-ident) to the State of California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission at a recent hearing in Ontario, CA, the Commission recommended that $500,000 be granted to the Imperial County Sheriff to provide supplemental law en-forcement in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area on holiday weekends.
After the Thanksgiving week-end problems in the dunes, ORBA's President actively ne-gotiated with Imperial County Supervisor, Wally Leimgruber, and CA OHMVR Director, Dave Widell, to arrange for Imperial County Sheriff Carter to re-quest funding from the Com-mission. It is believed that pro-per, professional, law enforce-ment in the dunes on holiday weekends will solve the bulk of the problems there.
After a recommendation from Jim McGarvie, Chairman of the well-known San Diego Off-Road Coalition, Sheriff Carter was awarded $500,000 - almost twice the amount he requested!

ORBA OFF-ROAD EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR
Adhering to its charter to provide continuing education to its members, ORBA con-ducted a seminar in San Diego in January. Many land use de-cisions have been made re-cently by government agencies that have the potential of im-pacting off-road businesses significantly.
Speakers David Hubbard, en-vironmental attorney for ORBA, and Barry Jantz, Chief of Staff for Assemblyman Jay LaSuer, informed attendees about the legal and political side of OHV issues that ORBA is fighting.
If you missed this seminar, you may be totally in the dark regarding possible upcoming big-time impacts to your business!

ORBA ANNUAL MEMBER/SHAREHOLDER MEETING
On February 26, 2002 ORBA will be holding its first annual member/shareholder meeting, as is required by the corpor-ation's bylaws. At that meeting two additional members will be elected to ORBA's Board of Di-rectors. Members are encour-aged to attend and vote for Board members who represent their particular interests.
ORBA's Board of Directors decides how ORBA's funds are spent.

WELCOME
NEW MEMBERS!
· DID Chain/Kaido Kogyo, Ltd.
· AXO/ Helmet House
· Malcolm Smith Motorsports
· Baja Designs
· Berts Mega Mall
· Off Road Buggy Supply
· Kustom Desert Cycle
· Advantage Performance
· Mission Yamaha/Kawasaki
· West Coast Motorsports
· Mid-Cities Honda/Kawasaki
· Scribs
· John Burr Cycles
· Simi Valley Honda
· Tag Metals
· Premier Racing Products
· San Diego Powder Coatings
· Trick Products

IMPORTANT LATE BREAKING NEWS!
As this newsletter goes to press, word has been received that Tim Salt, Manager of the Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District, has been replaced.
It was during Salt's regime that the BLM agreed to settle a law-suit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The settlement impacted OHV recreation across the 10 million acre California Desert District. This is the lawsuit that closed 50,000 acres of the Glamis Sand Dunes to OHV use + 25,600 acres to camping east of Glamis.
The OHV community is count-ing on BLM State Director, Mike Pool, to appoint a new Desert District Manager who believes in balanced use of public lands while protecting species.