OPINION
By Don Amador
November 23, 2020
*Permission to share, repost, or reprint is hereby granted
CA OHV PROGRAM HEADED FOR ICEBERG
There has been a bitter and constant fight to preserve
and protect the California OHV Program since its creation in 1971. For almost 50 years, public and private
sector opponents of motorized recreation have used overt and covert means to “redirect”
monies from the OHV Trust Fund to support non-motorized units of the State Park
System.
In the early 1990s, one of my first battles was to help stop
an effort by the California Natural Resources Agency to redirect almost 100% of
the monies from the OHV grant program that allocates funds to the Forest
Service, BLM, and counties that manage legal OHV recreation on public lands in
their jurisdictions.
Another fight that I joined was to stop California State
Parks from using OHV Trust Fund monies to purchase private property that
provided no benefit to the Program. Over
the last 25 years, OHV organizations have defended the Program against a myriad
of similar schemes to eviscerate or defund the Program.
In 2014, California State Parks launched the Park
Transformation Process. At that time,
the State Park Director said the California Department of Parks and Recreation was
going through a series of initiatives supporting strategic goals, such as
improving visitors’ experiences and making the system more relevant to a
broader and more diverse population. The effort, dubbed “Transformation”, would
alter policies, procedures, guidelines, and organizational structures to
support an entrepreneurial, service-oriented, creative and collaborative
culture within the Department.
On the surface, Transformation sounded like it might
offer some opportunities for highly-skilled OHV specialists and land managers
within the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVRD) to
cross-pollinate with their counterparts at non-motorized units.
State Park Director and CA OHV Commission Listen to Public Input on the Transformation Process August 11, 2016, Ontario Double Tree Hotel
Unfortunately after reading Transformation documents and
attending related public hearings in 2016, it was apparent it could devastate
OHMVRD’s ability to manage its highly acclaimed system of State Vehicular
Recreation Areas (SVRAs). And that it
might also negatively impact the grant program that supports managed OHV
recreation on local, county, and federal lands.
In fact, I echoed those concerns and similar warnings
voiced by former OHMVR Commissioner, Ed Waldheim, at the 2016 CA State Parks
Joint Commissions meeting about the OHV Program being absorbed into the CA
State Park System. And, reminded the
Transformation Team that back in 1982 the OHMVRD and OHMVR Commission were both
created to address California State Park’s failure to effectively implement the
1971 bipartisan bill that created the OHV Program.
The hallmark of that 1971 bill was the creation of the
OHV Trust Fund to provide an independent, sound, ongoing funding source. OHV
gas tax and Green & Red Sticker fees continue to fund the OHV Trust Fund
that is now threatened by Transformation.
I believe that active forms of recreation such as OHV and
boating are most effectively managed by line-staff at the local level where
they have on-the-ground knowledge and meaningful relationships with their customers. Historically, decisions to administer event
permits, designate routes, and manage other park operations have been made by
SVRA District Superintendents. The same on-site
decision-making holds true for units managed by county park departments, the
Forest Service, and BLM.
On page 5 of the 2017 Operational Transition Plan, it
states, "District boundaries and grouping of state parks were evaluated as
part of this process, and the number of districts will be reduced from 22 to
21. In addition, districts will now be structured to include multiple forms of
recreation, including off-highway motor vehicle recreation. As such, state
vehicular recreation areas (SVRAs) will be incorporated into districts with
different types of park units including state parks, state recreation areas,
and others to create equal footing with other state park activities. As
described in this Plan, the remapping of district boundaries will create more
effective management and unified operation of park districts, which will in
turn provide greater services to the public."
LINK TO TRANSFORMATION TRANSISTION PLAN
https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/29225/files/DPR%20Operational%20Transition%20Plan%20October%202017.pdf
I believe that statement highlights a strategy on how the
independence of the OHMVR Program that made for a successful world-wide
recognized program has been reduced to a dependent, fiscally combined neutered
transformation where OHV Trust Fund monies can easily be redirected to support
non-OHV operations at State Parks. That would be in direct conflict to the 1971
bill that created the program and the 1982 legislation that created the
Division and Commission.
The Transformation Process has now morphed into Path Forward
2026 and is scheduled for presentation at the upcoming OHV Commission meeting
on December 3, 2020.
PATH FORWARD 2026
http://www.ohv.parks.ca.gov/pages/1140/files/07-Staff%20Report-Path%20Forward%20120320.pdf
AGENDA AND ZOOM CALL IN INFO FOR OHV COMMISSION MEETING
ON DECEMBER 3, 2020
http://www.ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=27160
Again, it is important to remember the OHMVR Division has
a distinct mission that is carried out by a highly-skilled team of OHV-trained
trail specialists, environmental scientists, law enforcement personnel, and grant
administrators.
Those staff members at Division Headquarters are then led
by an on-site management team that consists of an appointed Deputy Director,
Division Chief, and Senior Environmental Specialist.
Since 1982, there has been a direct chain of
command/communications between the Division and SVRA District Superintendents
that is necessary for the Program to continue delivering sustainable world-
class OHV recreation to CA residents and tourists. Thanks to Transformation that effective chain
of command no longer exists because the SVRAs have been moved into mega park
districts.
The OHV districts and their District Superintendents had
separate but equal management and budgeting powers compared to “regular” state
park districts that were essential to the fast-paced recreation needs of the
OHV community. That local decision-making power has been diluted by routing many
decisions to a mega district with twenty or more park units competing for workload.
Based on my current observations of the Division and
Program, I fear those concerns expressed in 2016 and at subsequent meetings have
been realized as there appears to be a significant turnover of personnel at key
leadership positions with no visible signs of urgency by Parks to fill, and/or
if filled, the Division Chief position would not be sited at the Division
headquarters. This turmoil is not good
for Division employee morale nor does it do anything to address the
historically deep level of distrust that exists between the OHV community and
State Parks HQ.
On April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank after hitting an
iceberg while crossing the North Atlantic Ocean on its way from England to New
York. It was considered a state-of-the-art
ocean liner and was thought to be unsinkable.
Many think misguided agendas and ill-advised plans were to blame for
that disaster.
The greater OHV community must stand up to mount a
vigorous challenge to ill-advised proposals in the Transformation Process and
urge Parks to amend serious flaws in their plan so our Program will not meet a
similar fate.
# # #
Don Amador has been in the trail advocacy and recreation
management profession for 30 years. Don is President of Quiet Warrior
Racing/Consulting. Don served as a chairman and member 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.
