CHARTING A PATH FORWARD ON PUBLIC LAND POLICY - MY WISE USE JOURNEY

 

Clark Collins (L) Wise Use Lead and Don Amador (R) Fellow Dirt-Biker

A “Wise Use” Journey – Charting a Path Forward in Public Land Policy

By Don Amador

April 14, 2026

 

 PROLOGUE - For those who care about the future of outdoor recreation, natural resource management, and access to public lands, the history of how we got here matters and why working to ensure that future decisions are built upon those hard-earned lessons rather than repeat the same mistakes matters.

 

 CHARTING A PATH FORWARD IN PUBLIC LAND POLICY 

 

There was a time—not that long ago—when those of us representing off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation didn’t have a seat at the table. We had a place in the room, sure. But it was often along the back wall.

 

More than three decades ago, when I first began attending policy meetings in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., OHV advocates were rarely viewed as credible stakeholders. Decisions about public lands were being shaped under laws like the Endangered Species Act and planning frameworks driven by agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management—but without meaningful input from the very people who used those lands for recreation.

 

The Wise Use Movement of the late 1980s and 1990s emerged as a forceful response to what many of us saw as an imbalance in public land policy. Rural communities, resource industries, and recreationists—including the growing OHV community—pushed back against increasingly restrictive regulations and land-use decisions.

 

For me, that period was defined by advocacy rooted in necessity. OHV recreation wasn’t yet recognized as a legitimate stakeholder. We had to fight for recognition, for access, and for inclusion. And fight we did.

 

Public meetings were often contentious and legal battles were common. The tone was often sharp, and the lines clearly drawn. At the time, it felt like the only way forward.

 

But over time, something became clear—something that many of us, on all sides of the debate, began to quietly acknowledge that constant conflict wasn’t working.

 

Despite the energy and determination poured into those battles, the results were often disappointing.

Trail projects continued to be stalled by appeals or litigation. Decisions were overturned or delayed. Even when one side “won,” the broader outcome rarely felt like progress.

 

In conversations I had over the years—with fellow advocates, agency staff, and even long-time opponents—I found a shared sentiment: the process had become as much the problem as the policies themselves. The battles were not only unproductive. They were, more often than not, deeply unpleasant.

 

And perhaps most importantly, they weren’t delivering durable solutions for the land, the users, or the resources we all cared about. That realization became a turning point.

 

A principle that has guided much of my work since those early days comes from Ronald Reagan, who once said: “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally—not a 20 percent traitor.” That idea—the “80 percent rule”—became more than a quote. It became a strategy.

 

Instead of focusing solely on where we disagreed, I began looking for that “zone of agreement”—the space where diverse stakeholders could find common ground. Whether working with conservation groups, land managers, or other recreation interests, the goal shifted from winning arguments to building outcomes. And I wasn’t alone.

 

Across the West, others were reaching similar conclusions. The intensity of the Wise Use era had revealed the limits of conflict. In its place, a new approach began to take hold.

 

Today, OHV recreation is no longer an afterthought in public land policy. It is a recognized and respected stakeholder in planning processes at both the state and national levels. Agencies actively seek input from the recreation community and incorporate that input into project design and implementation.

 

That didn’t happen overnight—and it didn’t happen by accident. It was earned through persistence in advocacy, commitment to responsible recreation, and willingness to engage constructively, even with former adversaries

 

The “seat at the table” that exists today was built on decades of effort, credibility, and, yes, a fair share of hard-fought battles.

 

Perhaps the most important evolution has been the shift from pure advocacy to “active stewardship”.

 

Modern OHV engagement goes beyond defending access. Its proactive strategy includes trail maintenance and restoration, collaboration on travel management planning, participation in post-wildfire recovery efforts, and partnerships with conservation groups, Tribes, and agencies.

 

Programs that bring together diverse partners—whether through collaborative forest projects, recreation strategies, or local initiatives—are now common. They reflect a broader understanding that sustainable recreation depends on shared responsibility.

 

Looking back, the Wise Use Movement did more than challenge policy. It changed people. It changed how we engage. It changed how we listen. And, ultimately, it changed how we solve problems.

 

The movement’s legacy is not just found in the debates it influenced, but in the evolution it helped inspire—from confrontation to collaboration, from exclusion to inclusion.

 

Today’s public land management landscape—with its emphasis on stakeholder engagement, shared stewardship, and collaborative planning—owes something to that journey.

 

None of this means the challenges are gone. OHV recreation and other public land uses continue to face pressure from regulatory constraints, competing interests, litigation, and changing environmental conditions. Conflict hasn’t disappeared.

 

But we are better equipped to handle those challenges than we were 30 years ago. And perhaps most importantly, we have a clearer understanding that lasting success comes not from standing alone—but from working together where we can.

 

From the back wall to the decision-making table, the journey of OHV advocacy mirrors a broader evolution in public land policy.

 

The Wise Use era taught us how to fight and what followed taught us how to build. And for the future of outdoor recreation and natural resource management, that may be the most important lesson of all.

 

# # #

 

Don Amador has been in the trail advocacy and recreation management profession for over 33 years.   Don is President of Quiet Warrior Racing LLC. Don serves as the Western States Representative for the Motorcycle Industry Council. Don is Past President/CEO and current board member 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 served as the government affairs lead for AMA District 36 in Northern California from 2019 – 2023. Don is a Core-Team member on FireScape Mendocino.  Don served as an AD Driver at the FS North Zone Fire Cache for the 22, 23, and 24 wildfire seasons. Don is a contributor to Dealernews Magazine. Don writes from his home in Cottonwood, CA.