YOLO OHV UPDATE - Packed House at Yolo County OHV Park Public Meeting

County Park Staff Present OHV Park Info 

***ACTION REQUIRED – Take Surveys***

Because of the many alerts and flyers posted by OHV organizations and local government, over 40 people from the OHV and conservation communities attended the Yolo County OHV Park Informational Session on February 21, 2019 in Woodland, CA.

Besides the large number of attendees from local and state OHV organizations, it was impressive to see the high level of commitment by Yolo County Parks and Recreation staff to locate a new OHV recreation facility (or facilities) in their jurisdiction.

Several important factors were cited by local government staff or noted by the audience as the reason for this renewed effort to site a new OHV recreation area in Yolo County and those tenets include:

• Direction from Yolo County Board of Supervisors to find new OHV recreation opportunities
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• Permanent reauthorization of the CA OHV Program in 2017 via SB249
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• Support from the Yolo County Sheriff
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• Stable CA OHV Grant Program
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• 2018 County OHV Survey has most participation of any public survey in county history
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• Support from local/regional conservation organizations
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• Support from diverse OHV recreation interests
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• OHV Recreation is important to rural economies

Again, Yolo County is applying to the CA OHV grant program to fund a market analysis to ascertain if there is enough community and stakeholder support for new OHV opportunities. 

Yolo County OHV Park as Gateway to Federal OHV Recreation

Pic: BLM's Knoxville OHV Area

Two options for new county OHV facilities surfaced at the meeting and those are:

One - Locate a large “destination-type” OHV area in the western rural part of the county that could serve as a gateway park to federal riding opportunities such as the BLM's Knoxville OHV Area.   The county park amenities could include camping for small and large RVs, water, restrooms, youth track, MX track, 4x4 obstacle course, and trail opportunities for both small and large OHVs.  The site could also host a sheriff or 1^st responder substation.

Two - Locate a small (less than 150 acres) OHV park nearer to town for day-use riding.  The site could also be used by the county sheriff to hold OHV training classes for the public.

There are two surveys that OHVers should take (if you have not done so already) to provide more input into the decision-making process and those are the Yolo County OHV Planning Survey and the Yolo County Strategic Plan Survey.

YOLO COUNTY OHV SURVEY – This is where you can provide OHV specific comments about the new park - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ohvyolo

YOLO COUNTY STRATEGIC PLAN SURVEY – This will guide county planning for the next 3-5 years - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/yolostrategicplan

Both of these surveys are important and they only take a few minutes each to fill out online.  I took them and they are easy to navigate. 

Take these surveys now as they will help the county in the decision-making process. 

Also, watch for additional opportunities to comment after the Yolo County OHV grant application is submitted on March 4, 2019.

OPINION - CA STREET SOUND LAW IS HOT TOPIC

QWR believes that “Quiet is Cool” when it comes to the use of sound compliant exhaust systems for both street and off-road vehicles. 

Passage of AB 1824 in 2018 basically amended California’s existing 2003 sound law by replacing the “fix-it” ticket aspect of the old law with the option of getting a certificate of compliance from the CA Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR).

AB 1824 retained the existing sound level of 95dBA using the SAE J1492 sound test format.  SAE J1492 is similar to the SAE J1287 sound test for OHVs which has a 96dBA limit.

LINK TO BAR SOUND CERTIFICATION

https://bar.ca.gov/Consumer/Referee_Program/Vehicle_Exhaust_Noise_Level_Certification.html

QWR will be reviewing this issue with SEMA and other stakeholders over the next few weeks.  In the meantime, if you wonder if your automobile or light truck (under 6K lb. GVW) is too loud then ask yourself these simple questions?

One- Does my motor vehicle sound too loud?

Two- Has a neighbor or friend told me that my motor vehicle is too loud?

Three – When I start my motor vehicle early in the morning do the neighbor’s dogs start barking or do I set off the car alarms of nearby motor vehicles?

If the answer to any of those questions is YES – then your motor vehicle IS too loud and will most likely test above the 95dBA limit.

For more information on this subject, please visit the SEMA fact sheet in the link below.  SEMA has done an excellent job in getting good, useful, and correct information out to the public.

SEMA INFO ON AB 1834

https://www.semasan.com/legislative-alerts/california/fact-vs-fiction-californias-new-exhaust-noise-law

This is a HOT topic based on the phone calls I have received and the number of forums where this issue is discussed.  

QWR would like to get feedback from readers on this subject.  Feel free to post a comment if you are an automotive enthusiast, mechanic, or member of law enforcement.     

Quiet Warrior Racing promotes a responsible trail and road ethic for both non-street legal and street legal motorized vehicles by offering quality recreation-oriented consulting services to its clients for the benefit of their customers, stakeholders, and the public good.

FEB. 21 - YOLO COUNTY OHV PARK IN OUR FUTURE?

Over the last 5-6 years, Yolo County has been holding meetings and soliciting input on the concept of establishing a new County OHV Park.  Many of you attended those public meetings and because of your support, the county has continued its efforts to site a new OHV facility that could provide motorized recreation for SxS, 4WDs, dirt-bikes, and ATVs.

OHVers at 2013 Yolo County OHV Park Meeting

According to Yolo County, they seek grant funding to prepare a market analysis to ascertain if there is enough community and stakeholder support for OHV opportunities in Yolo County. Second, assuming there is demand and support for OHV opportunities, we will prepare a feasibility study to examine two different scenarios: (1) improving access to existing OHV trail riding opportunities within the unincorporated County; and (2) creating a small-medium sized OHV park in the unincorporated County.

In 2018, the County had OHVers participate in an online survey and the results are linked below:

LINK TO YOLO COUNTY OHV SURVEY

https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-C2FRSL5G8/

QWR encourages OHV recreation interests in Yolo County or riders who might like to have a county OHV park in that area to attend a public meeting on February 21.  (see meeting info below)

County staff will provide an overview of our proposed OHV planning grant application and let the public know how they can stay involved in the process moving forward.

Public Meeting- OHV Planning Grant Information Session

Thursday, February 21, 2019 @ 6:00pm

County Administration Building

Atrium Training Room (Basement)

625 Court Street

Woodland, CA 95695

If you have questions about this effort or would like more information, please contact the Yolo County Parks Division at (530) 406-5038 or email yoloOHV@yolocounty.org

Climate Change Favors Single-Track Motorcycle Trail Revival

The "Climate" is Right for Single Track Motorcycle Trail Revival

It’s been 14 years since the Forest Service launched the 2005 Travel Management Rule that directed all National Forests to designate roads, trails, and areas for motorized vehicle use.  Unfortunately, thousands of miles of historic recreation roads and single-track motorcycle trails were eliminated from consideration and subsequently closed once those initial planning processes were completed.

Single Track Trail

Tahoe National Forest

QWR believes a number of relatively new factors are in play that may help bolster a National Single-Track Revival in both the agency and user community.  Those 4 significant developments include the Forest Service National Trails Strategy, agency commitment to collaboration/partnerships, creative trail design/construction concepts, and an empowered local user community.

ONE - The agency must continue to use its National Trails Strategy as a motivational tool to encourage a “can-do” culture on units that are (or should be) in the process of creating and managing a sustainable high-quality trail network. 

NATIONAL TRAILS STRATEGY

https://www.fs.fed.us/managing-land/trails/national-strategy

In recent years, some units are building new, or reconstructing old, single-track motorcycle trails as part of their promise to the OHV community to review those early travel management decisions.  Again, support for trails is coming from Washington D.C. and should be cited by OHV recreation groups as an onus for local units to enhance trail opportunities.

Single Track Trail

BLM Pocatello Field Office

TWO- The collaborative process can bring land agency staff, conservation groups, local government, other diverse stakeholders, and the trail-based recreation community together with a common goal of both protecting resources and providing a high-quality outdoor experience.  This stakeholder process is centered on attending meetings and field trips where information is shared, values are appreciated, and relationships are formed.

Single Track Trail

Carnegie SVRA

Federal land agencies have made a long-term commitment to a substantive stakeholder process on the front-end of the NEPA process.   This is a welcome and significant change from historic NEPA planning efforts where the agency had already made the decision and was simply going through the required public process as more or less of a formality.

THREE - Concepts such as the construction of new “companion-trails” along existing road-based ATV, SxS, and 4WD routes to separate vehicle types for safety and an enhanced trail experience should be embraced by the agency and trail groups. 

As appropriate, the agency’s vegetation management and forest-health NEPA planning efforts could or should address important trail-based recreation needs as part of a holistic and cost-effective approach to forest planning. 

FOUR - The agency’s shift to investing more time up front in collaborative efforts also requires the recreation community to make a similar commitment to getting some skin-in-the-game by attending meetings, hosting a field trip, and substantively engaging with agency recreation staff and decision-makers.

Club’s should appoint a designated representative(s) to attend local land use planning meetings and make that long-term commitment to help ensure that new single-track motorcycle trails will be included in future planning efforts.

At the end-of-the-day, QWR believes you will find that the quality of your local FS/BLM trail recreation program is, or will be, directly proportional to the quality of your engagement with agency staff and other users.

JOIN the Single-Track Revival today!