Last Updated April 13, 1998
Booth Activities: On Sunday, March 22, we set-up the Coalition booth at the races at the Barona Oaks CMMC Motocross track. The event that day was Round 4 of the GFI Racing Winter Series and there were plenty of racers and spectators on hand. It was a beautiful sunny day with perfect conditions for racing. Many people stopped by the booth to talk with us, pick-up information, maps and bumper stickers and to sign our letters supporting the 2-stroke ban rollback bill. We collected approximately 125 signed letters and handed out many of our brochures. Many thanks go out to Jeremy Hansen who arranged for us to be there, to Jan McGarvie for hauling the booth there and to both of them for working the booth the whole day! We are currently looking for volunteers to help with upcoming booth activities. If you would like to help with this please contact one of the SDORC board members and let them know you want to be on the Booth Committee. We will provide training and help you get started. This is a great way to get involved in helping our sport. It is not hard work and does not require any special skills or knowledge other than having a love for our sport and the willingness to talk with people about it. AMA Western States OHV Summit On March 14 and 15 Julie Allen and I attended the American Motorcyclist Association's Western States OHV Summit in Phoenix Arizona that was being held in cooperation with the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC) spring conference. This was an excellent event where we attended a number of activist training sessions that will help us in our work on OHV causes. We felt this was such a worthwhile event that we want to try and set-up something like this here in San Diego so more of the local folks can attend. We learned about the grant processes from where to find grant money for our activities, how to write applications for it and how to review them. Other sessions included working with local officials, getting involved in the political process and preparing appeals to agency actions. All of the sessions were very informative and the presentation materials were great in spite of the fact they said all of it was being used for the first time. The presenters from AMA Government Relations were; Eric Lundquist, Legislative Affairs Specialist, Dana Bell, Western States Representative, and Terry Cook, State Program Development. Having the summit in conjunction with the NOHVCC conference was a great idea because we were able to network with many folks in OHV related jobs and volunteer activities from around the country. There is a lot of stuff going on all around the nation and it was very encouraging to talk to everyone and listen to what they are involved with. Many positive things are happening and it made us feel that we really do have a chance to influence the future of our sport in a good way. Aside from the summit and conference I have been reading a couple of manuals prepared by NOHVCC for establishing and organizing OHV organizations. They are titled "Organizing For Action" and "Volunteer Development" and are excellent reference guides. I think we can use a lot of the information in these to expand the effectiveness of the coalition and help us in our goal to get more OHV opportunities. I have ordered more copies and will be urging the board members to also read them. By following their suggestions we should be able to expand the number of volunteer positions we have and create some committees to help with our activities. We are beginning to have a stronger influence on local issues and are gaining more respect with government agencies both locally and state wide. Unfortunately right now most of the work is being done by the board members and only a small handful of the general members. We can be much more effective if more people get involved and volunteer to help. If you can help, please consider this request and join us. We will be defining a number of new positions and committees that will be available, some of which will only require a couple of hours a month to support. Plan on attending our general meetings, board meetings or contacting us to find out what you can do to help. Alan Klumph Director of Legislation and Natural Resources San Diego Off-Road Coalition (SDORC) P.O. Box 712214, Santee, CA. 92072-2214 http://www.off-road.com/~sdorc