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Getting
involved in land use planning and access to public lands
is critical to keeping our trails open. It's not that
difficult or time consuming. Bureaucracy is not hard
to deal with once you understand the basics of their
role in land use and access.
The
payback will be more open trails for you and your children.
Without our involvement in public lands and access issues,
the special interest anti-access folks will shut us
out of public lands.
The
simplest things you can do is:
- Get
folks to join organized recreation
- Be
an advocate for your sport
- I
include others in what you do
- Write
hand written letters to your elected officials and
tell them what
- you
believe in and expect of them
- Work
on educating other users so they don't abuse our public
lands
- Donate
to causes you believe in.
Just
make sure you do something positive. Many organized
clubs register as "non-profit" agencies. This
allows them to gain access to some great benefits such
as reduced-cost or no-cost dumping at local landfills.
This is the perfect thing to have handy when you're
organizing a trail cleanup.
Being
a non-profit also allows you to raise money as a club.
This money, in turn, can then be donated to a local
charity in the name of the club - basically, the club
is buying a positive image through charitable contributions.
Others
have gone so far as to create severe
weather driving groups to help their communities
during bad weather. This kind of thing gets great publicity
through the media. If a blizzard moves in, a city shuts
down; yet 30 Jeeps are ferrying doctors and nurses around
- you can bet it'll make the news.
Turning
that "urge to play in the snow" into something
positive for your club and this sport is a great way
to gain some very positive support locally for your
club.
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