So, what's bad PR in the wilderness battle?

[Brett]

After reading over some of the recent SL Tribune articles about how we off road enthusiast's are bad for the land and what not, I began to think about what makes us look bad. I came up with a few things that I'll probably get flamed about. Honestly, the extreme rock crawling stuff is lots of fun for those who have the rigs to do it....but when someone that's not into that sort of thing reads a paper and sees a rig rolling down a hill or driving up something with tires spinning and dirt flying, what are they supposed to think? We ourselves promote this look with the sport, and I know that's the point. The problem I see is that the person with no knowledge of the sport sees that and just automatically thinks "destruction" and things along those lines. And I can see exactly why they would think that and see why environmental groups would latch onto things like that. It shows the extreme end of getting out with nature. People are never told about how the extreme majority of us are out to just see places we haven't been. To travel down that road that leads to some ghost town, or lost mine. Even some of our own publications, magazine's and the like feature articles with all sorts of Jeeps upside down, rolling down a hill or something like that. The group's looking to shut down our access to public lands don't notice that there might be other pictures or stories in those mag's that are about a historic site, or new product that might help with camping. They see that picture and they snatch it up, ready to use that in their fight against us. We provide them with it too!

So, yeah, I don't know what I am doing other than rambling on. If we want to promote a better image as outdoor enthusiast's, I think that we need to promote a better image, not just in our own travels, but also in our coverage of what we do for fun.

Flame away, if any of that made any sense.

 

[Herzog]

There's a time and place for spinning wheels and kicking up dirt / rocks and go wild. Right in front of other people and families is not the place.

I was camping up AF a year ago w/ the buggy. Some a-holes came screaming down the dirt road sideways right by campgrounds that had other families (including my own) which had children playing near by. Not to mention the amount of dust they kicked up. They were driving rockcrawlers as well... It took everything I had to not chase them down and put some bullets in their engine blocks.

I'm pretty sure I got profiled as one of them that weekend. Most people we drove by were very weary about being around the buggy, and I definitely wasn't speeding at all. I rarely do in areas like that. I try to respect everybody's right to be there just as I would expect the same.

 

[Skylinerider]

One thing I have a smallproblem with is the term "offroading". We are all on a designated trail or dirt road. We should never actually be "offroading". When people here that it invokes images of folks tearing up the mountainside. I don't know what else to call what we do, maybe we start to use the terms "rockcrawling" and "trail riding" or whatever. Just something I've noticed when talking to folks who have never been "offroading".

One term that I've heard GRE use lately is "destination 4wheeling". I kinda like that.

 

[Herzog]

Whoa. I really went off in my post didn't I?

Now that I'm cooled down and not so hungry...

 

[wally]

Since we are on the PR part of it. I have been on many fence building and trash clean ups. Well on everyone I have been I have not seen and media covering it nor have I seen anything in the paper. I know out of all the times up AF we always had the FS so that is great and at least they notice that we are not all bad apples. I am not in SLC but I am lucky to have a neighbor that works for the Tooele paper. I did have them write something in our small paper out here and I hope it might have made a good impresion for our sport. I know there is going to be a clean up later this month out at 5 mile pass and if anyone has any conections with the Trib could maybe get someone to come out and cover it. I know I do not have the most extreme rig but they are more then welcome to ride with me.

 

[scoutabout]

My thoughts, and I won't elaborate cause I'm tired, but I'd love to talk about this sometime.

First, stop calling recreational 4-wheeling a sport. It's not. Rockcrawling for competition might be a motorsport, but enjoying a day in the mountains with your family and friends is not a sport and shouldn't be portrayed as such. That's a big problem. I would recommend everyone make a conscience distinction between competition rockcrawling (sport) and 4-wheeling (recreation).

Second, PR is a big problem for us. I actually don't think the REPORTING is biased. The editorials are HORRIBLY biased against motorized recreation, but the reporters are just trying to do a job. The reason you see so many pieces that might appear to be anti-OHV has to do with organized, professional PR. PEER, SUWA, and Sierra Club have it. We do not. Ms. Henetz printed a correction (and made it immediately on the website) after I pointed out an inaccuracy in the "rowdy OHV" story, and she has contacted me to ask more questions about the data that was presented by PEER.

Pretend you are a reporter. Everyday you get 10 well crafted, well pointed, and well supported (with data) press releases from anti-OHV people. Once a year (NPLD) you get a press release from the OHV crowd about their efforts. How do you respond? Reporters are like everyone: lazy. When a pre-written story falls in their lap, they run with it. They get a comment from USA-ALL, and call it good.

If we could do the same thing that the anti-access crowd does with PR, we'd have a lot more rosy stories. Don't believe it if you don't want to, but it doesn't change the fact that it's true.

I floated a solution on the USALL (not affiliated with USA-ALL) email list, and was met with the sound of crickets. I suggested that the clubs and associations pool their money and hire a professional PR firm. It would cost at least 3500-5000 per month to execute an effective campaign. USA-ALL could manage the relationship, and the PR firm would represent the interests of the complete motorized community, not just individual groups. I pledged $500/month from U4WDA and $500/month from USA-ALL, and said I could get $1000/month from businesses. That's almost half way there from one guy. No one else stepped up or even commented on the idea. No wonder we're losing so much access. I guess some groups don't want to put their money where their mouth is.

Along with that, we need to do more that we can point to for positive PR. More clean-ups, more organized events for FAMILY WHEELING (not extreme competitions as that's not what interests most of the public), and MUCH MORE education projects.

I agree on the term "off-roading." There is a guy named Roger Metzger who brings this up all the time. He has a lengthy spiel about the true definition of the word "road" going back to Roman times. While ATV's and dirt bikes sometimes ride on trails, we drive our 4x4 vehicles on roads whether they are paved, dirt, or boulders.

We have ideas and we have a strategy.

We do not have enough dedicated volunteers and we definitely don't have enough money.

http://www.u4wda.org/donate

 

[bobmed]

It looks like they're already working on anything that goes off a paved road is bad. They've started more using OHV (off highway vehicle) as bad instead of ATV (all terrain vehicle) kind of like anything off a paved road is bad

 

[Brett]

Roger huh? I've known him for....hmm.....15 years now? His son Ross is a good friend of mine and Cody's. When I was working for Mepco and even before, he would give me information like you mentioned concerning "roads." Good guy and definately into the outdoor scene.



Getting back to my original topic, I was meaning more along the lines of what the outdoor/trail running/rock crawling groups print. 4Wheel Drive and Sport Utility, Four Wheeler, whatever you read. It's easy for any enviromental group to take a pic from any magazine like that and flaunt it about. It's taken out of context when they do that, but that's their point. I'm more looking for what you all think along those lines. Are we fueling the issue by having pictures like those printed?

 

[Tacoma]

Just a side note, off the bat, to put things in perspective:

Around 13% of the people on this site support U4WDA with a puny 10% donation. Actually, some of those people may NOT be on this site. Something to think about, slackers.




PR is a big deal, and one that I'm hoping we can address. I have free access to my friend's print shop, as an employee, and he's interested in finding some way to flood the mailboxes and bulletin boards with THE MESSAGE. I think a lot of people just don't get it because it's never been explained to them: a closed trail, road, doubletrack, STAYS CLOSED, and the people closing it lose nothing of their own.

Tell everyone you know. Do what you can. Fight! It's come to that. Support U4WDA, USA-ALL, UFWDA, BRC, everyone you can. It's not much money. Flood KSL, the Trib, Desert News, etc with pro-access letters.

One thing I'm keenly interested in is reaching the guys who don't exist online... the suburbanite who enjoys AF, the guy in the van that wants to hang out down Hole-in-the-Rock. The trails are theirs too, and they have just as much to lose.

I'm tired too.

 

[Skylinerider]

Getting back to my original topic, I was meaning more along the lines of what the outdoor/trail running/rock crawling groups print. 4Wheel Drive and Sport Utility, Four Wheeler, whatever you read. It's easy for any enviromental group to take a pic from any magazine like that and flaunt it about. It's taken out of context when they do that, but that's their point. I'm more looking for what you all think along those lines. Are we fueling the issue by having pictures like those printed?

To answer that question, I think to a degree, yes those types of magazine pics do hurt. I feel like those same magazines could be our best ally, IF they would devote one article each month to a different organization, like UFWDA, or USA-ALL etc. etc.

 

[Tacoma]

Hey Skyline, need a ride to the U4 meeting on the 26th? I'll be driving right past your house.

Appeals will be made to the mags, again, and more forcefully.

 

[Skylinerider]

Hey Skyline, need a ride to the U4 meeting on the 26th? I'll be driving right past your house.

Appeals will be made to the mags, again, and more forcefully.

I fully plan on being there. I work in Sugarhouse, so I am just gonna work late and drive down.

 

[Tacoma]

Good man. See ya there.

 

[StrobeNGH]

I think that people here on RME are generally very good for the image of 4-wheelers.

Some of the more vocal ones on Pirate, on the other hand, are not so good.

The old adage "one rotten apple will ruin the whole bunch" is unfortunately very true.

The best thing that can be done to correct a bad reputation is to prove the reputation false.


What I do find ironic is all the land that is being permanently destroyed by these new developments, and no one bats an eye.

We're only too happy to permit developers to plow under hills and fields to build one more development or another shopping center, but when someone drives over a rock with a gas powered vehicle, you're destroying the world.

:-\

4-wheelers are simply an easier target b/c we don't generate that much tax revenue, and don't have a strong lobby.

 

[scoutabout]

Getting back to my original topic, I was meaning more along the lines of what the outdoor/trail running/rock crawling groups print. 4Wheel Drive and Sport Utility, Four Wheeler, whatever you read. It's easy for any enviromental group to take a pic from any magazine like that and flaunt it about. It's taken out of context when they do that, but that's their point. I'm more looking for what you all think along those lines. Are we fueling the issue by having pictures like those printed?

Yeah, I get what you're saying, and wanted to respond to that earlier, but too tired (somehow I'm not tired now at 12:00?).

I would say we don't change who we are, but rather how the media portrays us. The rollovers, the extreme stuff, and crazy trails are part of the fun of what we do. We show that in print to attract new supporters and entertain our current base. Since it'd be nearly impossible to get the big mags to change that, it wouldn't do much good to cut it out of our smaller publications. Thus, the PR idea. If we can control our own PR, then printing images like in your examples becomes less of an issue. It's something to discuss, but I think PR is the answer to the question you bring up.

 

[scoutabout]

I think that people here on RME are generally very good for the image of 4-wheelers.

I agree.

...although it wouldn't hurt to get a 1000 RME'ers to join U4WDA.

The old adage "one rotten apple will ruin the whole bunch" is unfortunately very true.

So true.

The best thing that can be done to correct a bad reputation is to prove the reputation false.

So very true.

What I do find ironic is all the land that is being permanently destroyed by these new developments, and no one bats an eye.

We're only too happy to permit developers to plow under hills and fields to build one more development or another shopping center, but when someone drives over a rock with a gas powered vehicle, you're destroying the world.

This is so true and points out the hypocrisy. They say an environmentalist is someone who's already built their house.

4-wheelers are simply an easier target b/c we don't ... have a strong lobby.

We could if we had the money. Seems like a lot of wheelers have $50K to invest in a built rig, trailer, and tow rig, but few have more than $50/year to support land use causes.

 

[scoutabout]

Tell everyone you know. Do what you can. Fight! It's come to that. Support U4WDA, USA-ALL, UFWDA, BRC, everyone you can. It's not much money. Flood KSL, the Trib, Desert News, etc with pro-access letters.

Why we want to get an education program going. People need to know how to write letters (apparently), what to say, how to word things, etc.

One thing I'm keenly interested in is reaching the guys who don't exist online... the suburbanite who enjoys AF, the guy in the van that wants to hang out down Hole-in-the-Rock. The trails are theirs too, and they have just as much to lose.

Why we need more volunteers to sit out at RS/CON every Saturday and talk to users.

As I say in the U4 board meetings, the work doesn't happen in the meeting or on the Internet, it happens in the field. We need to have more people out working in the field.

 

[StrobeNGH]

That article in the Trib is laughable.

They cite that there are around 200,000 registered OHV, and nearly 600,000 OHV's when you consider motorcycles, SUV's, etc . . .

Yet, in the past 3 years there have only been 1,336 violations for OHV's . . .

Are we REALLY freaking out about a statistic that shows that 0.002 - 0.006% of the OHV are causing problems?

WOW.

In the 30 years we have owned our property, we had one guy with a FJ-40 ram our gate and tear up our roads, and 3 incidents with ATV's running over fences.

BUT, in those 30 years, EVERY FRIGGIN YEAR we have hikers and mountain-bikers jump fences (if we are lucky, usually they just knock them down) and go all over our property. We have had about a dozen instances of hikers/bikers stealing items from us.

I'm not going to say that the OHV crowd is perfect, but come on, hikers surely aren't the poor, oppressed, salt of the earth people that they portray them to be.

And, those people who were out camping when the OHV people raised a rucus . . . how, pray tell, did they get there?

 

[Tacoma]

Write that letter and send it to the papers!