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Opposing the Potential Designation of a Greater Canyonland National Monument

allterrain

allterrain

AllTerrain
Location
Cedar Hills
Well done Stephen and thank you. I agree with Tacoman99 that making your letters personal and brief makes a point. Often some Admin screener skims the letters and sends a few on to the actual recipient. Personal stories about your family and friends experiencing these areas responsibly and how that would be negatively affected carry weight. Angry, poorly written rants get skipped. I consider 2 things: History with other monuments and the source of the initiative.
If you want to know how you might be affected, check out the Grand Staircase-Escalante rules. Sure there are roads open in there, but they are county roads and "designated" routes. The vast majority of the trails we love would be erased. They keep a few general roads open to say that they have considered 4x4 interests and always count it in miles so it looks like plenty- if you like driving out to Chicken Corners or Gemini Bridges you may be unaffected, but the 4+ stuff will be gone.
We need all hands on deck with this one. Get a pizza, all your Jeeping buddies and your laptops and get together this week.
Thanks again Stephen for the work.
 
Stephen

Stephen

Who Dares Wins
Moderator
Location
Never Far From Nowhere
Kevin B. said:
Does anybody know who Ashley Korenblat is? I've been poking around and found this posted at Fourwheeler.com:



http://blogs.fourwheeler.com/6817161/editorials/who-hates-4x4s-in-utah/#ixzz2CIZRsL3N

edit - found her. She owns Western Spirit Cycling in Moab, and is quoted a couple times in a Trib article on the OIA proposal but I don't see anything tying her directly to SUWA. Is the SUWA pdf that toyotacrawlin linked above the same thing as what the Outdoor Industry Association is pushing for?
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Basically, yes. The OIA specifically said that they are concerned with "off-road vehicle use that is damaging riparian areas, cultural sites, soils and solitude" and the OIA is full of people who are closely linked with SUWA and their ilk. Make no mistake, that the designation of a national monument in this area would lead to a reduction in oportunities for our chosen form of recreation. It won't close it all down like a Wilderness Area, but it will add more controls.
 
Jonathan

Jonathan

Western Colorado
Location
Western Colorado
Here is the full proposal. http://action.suwa.org/site/DocServe...df?docID=11127

Hi all, long time lurker here and active in other forums. Thanks OP for putting this detailed message together. After reading the letter and the complete proposal document I have come to the conclusion that this is a blatant attack on the OHV/ORV user group. I am not opposed to a national monument designation but the current proposal is not a balanced approach to land management. Recent history has shown us that the best way for a consumer to drive change is to be vocal on a companies Facebook page. It won't be filed away like a physical letter and if the voice is strong enough it will drive change. I'd encourage you to interact with the pages for products that you use and love.

Here is my example on New Belgium's FB page:
Hello. I love your products! I have your beer in my fridge right now! I have a huge Mothership Wit banner in my garage right now. I love that you have chosen to support renewable energy and support ride to work programs. I consider myself a reasonable outdoors enthusiast. I access the outdoors responsibly in many ways. I have spent weeks backpacking in our nation's true wilderness areas, put on hundreds of miles on a motorcycle, mountain biked incredible singletrack and enjoyed exploring our nations backroads with my 2 year old twins in my Land Cruiser. I want them to enjoy the same freedoms that I have enjoyed growing up in a responsible and sustainable manner and I implore you to revisit your one sided stance on the issue of the proposed, Greater Canyonlands National Monument. The published letter to the president is not only factually questionable. It omits a huge portion of your customer base. Thanks for your attention to this matter.
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Stephen

Stephen

Who Dares Wins
Moderator
Location
Never Far From Nowhere
allterrain said:
Well done Stephen and thank you. I agree with Tacoman99 that making your letters personal and brief makes a point. Often some Admin screener skims the letters and sends a few on to the actual recipient. Personal stories about your family and friends experiencing these areas responsibly and how that would be negatively affected carry weight. Angry, poorly written rants get skipped. I consider 2 things: History with other monuments and the source of the initiative.
If you want to know how you might be affected, check out the Grand Staircase-Escalante rules. Sure there are roads open in there, but they are county roads and "designated" routes. The vast majority of the trails we love would be erased. They keep a few general roads open to say that they have considered 4x4 interests and always count it in miles so it looks like plenty- if you like driving out to Chicken Corners or Gemini Bridges you may be unaffected, but the 4+ stuff will be gone.
We need all hands on deck with this one. Get a pizza, all your Jeeping buddies and your laptops and get together this week.
Thanks again Stephen for the work.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Personal letters are whats going to get this our opposition noticed. Try and do that, the form letters are just a suggestion, something to go off of.

GSNM is the baseline we have to go off of. Many of the routes in there are highly disputed RS2477 routes that the counties are doing battle with the feds over. We don't need another one of these.
 
Jonathan

Jonathan

Western Colorado
Location
Western Colorado
Hello-
It looks like my first post disappeared. I may have inadvertently deleted. Longtime lurker here and active on Mud and Expo. Thanks OP for posting this. Here is the entire plan. http://action.suwa.org/site/DocServer/PetitionWithPhotos_FINAL.pdf?docID=11127. After reading the letter and subsequently the petition I feel that this is indeed a blatant attack on the OHV/ORV community. I am not opposed to national monument designations, just ones that are not balanced.

Recent history has shown that one of the best ways for a consumer to drive change within a company is to voice that opinion on the companies social media outlets such as Facebook/Twitter. While a letter is a good approach, it does not capture the eye of the public and more often than not will be filed away somewhere. I would encourage you to voice your opinions in a well worded post on the company pages that you do buisness with. Below is my example of my post on New Belbium Beer's site. Voice your opinion and continue to do so until it is heard. Look at any of the pages today and you will see that they are being inundated with statements against their support. I would wager that many of these companies will release statements retracting their support. Camp Chef for one already has. Thanks!

Hello. I love your products! I have your beer in my fridge right now! I have a huge Mothership Wit banner in my garage right now. I love that you have chosen to support renewable energy and support ride to work programs. I consider myself a reasonable outdoors enthusiast. I access the outdoors responsibly in many ways. I have spent weeks backpacking in our nation's true wilderness areas, put on hundreds of miles on a motorcycle, mountain biked incredible singletrack and enjoyed exploring our nations backroads with my 2 year old twins in my Land Cruiser. I want them to enjoy the same freedoms that I have enjoyed growing up in a responsible and sustainable manner and I implore you to revisit your one sided stance on the issue of the proposed, Greater Canyonlands National Monument. The published letter to the president is not only factually questionable. It omits a huge portion of your customer base. Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Click to expand...
 
JL Rockies

JL Rockies

Binders Fulla Expo
Location
Draper
When I was deep under cover documenting militant animal rights groups for a school project, we took on GM. While I don't recommend the property destruction, there was a letter writting campaign that was very effective. People were encouraged to write to GM and tell them that they were displeased with their stance on animal testing. The most effective letters came from people who owned a GM vehicle, they sent in a picture of themselves next to their car and the letter vowed that this would be the last GM vehicle they would ever own. The dollars in potential lost revenue added up very quickly and within the year, GM discontinued animal testing.

My point is, letters from actual customers work. If you own a Black Diamond lantern or a Petzl headlamp, take a picture with you and the product in action. You think highly of the product and you purchased it, but you're concerned about the stance the company has taken and it's potential impact on your lifestyle. "This will be the last Petzl headlamp I will buy" is a very powerful statement.
 
Herzog

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
Sorry about that Jonathan, our spam filters catch first posts with any links and puts them into moderation. You are good now. Thank you for joining up!
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
We need to remember that these companies did not sign SUWA's petition. They signed a separate petition.

The only anti-motiorized vehicle use wording in their petition that they signed is:

" We also turn to you for action because unfortunately, Greater Canyonlands is endangered. Federal land use plans... fail to address exploding off-road vehicle use that is damaging riparian areas, cultural sites, soils and solitude."


If I signed one document as a businessowner, I wouldn't want people assuming I also signed a larger, more restrictive document. Now, we all know that they're essentially the same thing, but if we're going to call them out, let's make sure we don't get confused between the two petitions.

I love the energy this is generating.
 
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Stephen

Stephen

Who Dares Wins
Moderator
Location
Never Far From Nowhere
JL Rockies said:
When I was deep under cover documenting militant animal rights groups for a school project, we took on GM. While I don't recommend the property destruction, there was a letter writting campaign that was very effective. People were encouraged to write to GM and tell them that they were displeased with their stance on animal testing. The most effective letters came from people who owned a GM vehicle, they sent in a picture of themselves next to their car and the letter vowed that this would be the last GM vehicle they would ever own. The dollars in potential lost revenue added up very quickly and within the year, GM discontinued animal testing.

My point is, letters from actual customers work. If you own a Black Diamond lantern or a Petzl headlamp, take a picture with you and the product in action. You think highly of the product and you purchased it, but you're concerned about the stance the company has taken and it's potential impact on your lifestyle. "This will be the last Petzl headlamp I will buy" is a very powerful statement.
Click to expand...

This is a great idea!

sixstringsteve said:
We need to remember that these companies did not sign SUWA's petition. They signed a separate petition.

The only anti-motiorized vehicle use wording in their petition that they signed is:

" We also turn to you for action because unfortunately, Greater Canyonlands is endangered. Federal land use plans... fail to address exploding off-road vehicle use that is damaging riparian areas, cultural sites, soils and solitude."


If I signed one document as a businessowner, I wouldn't want people assuming I also signed a larger, more restrictive document. Now, we all know that they're essentially the same thing, but if we're going to call them out, let's make sure we don't get confused between the two petitions.

I love the energy this is generating.
Click to expand...

This is a key point. Remember what you are saying. Keep it polited, but pointed.
 
Herzog

Herzog

somewhat damaged
Admin
Location
Wydaho
Positive response from Camp Chef
M5QxI.png


It's working guys, keep up the good work.
 
Jonathan

Jonathan

Western Colorado
Location
Western Colorado
sixstringsteve said:
We need to remember that these companies did not sign SUWA's petition. They signed a separate petition.

The only anti-motiorized vehicle use wording in their petition that they signed is:

" We also turn to you for action because unfortunately, Greater Canyonlands is endangered. Federal land use plans... fail to address exploding off-road vehicle use that is damaging riparian areas, cultural sites, soils and solitude."
Click to expand...

Far enough, although I consider them one in the same, written and marketed by the same people. As a business owner I wouldn't want to sign something that had as little substance as this one page letter.
 
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