Clark Collins (C) on Trail Ride in Tahoe National Forest
Photo: Rick Guidice
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Don Amador
Phone: (925) 783-1834
Date: December 6, 2019
CLARK COLLINS TRIBUTE – ICONIC VISIONARY, MENTOR, AND
FRIEND
OAKLEY, CA - Iconic visionaries are few and far between
in the land-use arena. John Muir, an
avid naturalist, was an early visionary and is considered the father of the
modern environmental movement. Aldo
Leopold, a U.S. Forest Supervisor and forester, was also a visionary who
promoted a strong land stewardship ethic and fought for creation of federal
Wilderness Areas.
I believe the history books will also recognize Clark
Collins as a similar visionary that founded a national grassroots movement to promote
access to, and responsible recreational use of, federal lands.
For me, Clark’s biggest contribution was securing a permanent
seat at the national “land-use table” for managed OHV recreation. In the B.C (before Clark) era, OHV was
largely ignored by other well established federal land stakeholders such as the
U.S. Forest Service, BLM, environmental groups, resource industry, and
Wilderness advocates. When those groups
met, OHV was often not at the table.
Today we are.
Clark also worked hard to inspire the recreation
community to become substantively engaged with land agencies, conservation organizations,
elected officials, and other user groups as a way for them to help secure recreational access to designated roads, trails,
and area for future generations.
Finally, Clark took it upon himself to mentor budding
recreation advocates such as myself and many others. That effort may be Clark’s most significant
contribution to land-use in that it helped father today’s volunteer and
professional OHV advocacy corps that is seeded in numerous local, state, and
national organizations.
* Clark’s funeral is December 10, 2019 at 1:30 p.m at the
Holy Spirit Catholic Church, St. Anthony Chapel, 524 North 7th Ave., Pocatello,
Idaho 83201
# # #
Don Amador has been in the trail advocacy
and recreation management profession for almost 30 years. Don is President of
Quiet Warrior Racing/Consulting. Don is President/CEO of the Post Wildfire OHV
Recovery Alliance. Don served as a contractor to the BlueRibbon Coalition from
1996 until June, 2018. Don served on the California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle
Recreation Commission from 1994-2000. He has won numerous awards including
being a 2016 Inductee into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame and the 2018
Friend of the AMA Award. Don currently serves as the government affairs lead
for AMA District 36 in Northern California and also serves as the OHV representative
on the BLM’s Central California Resource Advisory Committee. Don writes from his office in Oakley, CA and
can be reached via email at: damador@quietwarriorracing.com
