State Park Director and CA OHMVR Commission Listen to Public Input on the Transformation Team Process

August 11, 2016, Ontario Double Tree Hotel

Transformation of the Transformation Process

The terms “honest” and “genuine” have not been adjectives normally associated with leadership at the California State Parks Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).  This is especially true when it comes to how DPR has treated the OHV community over the last 30 years.

It has been my experience that self-proclaimed experts (often with an anti-OHV bias) at DPR decided what was best for the OHV program and then crafted a public process that would support a preordained outcome.

Date: July 27, 2016

I want to commend the CA State Parks/Transformation Team about its ongoing effort to solicit input from the OHV community and related-stakeholders.

The announcement today about an August 11, 2016 “Open House” meeting in Ontario, CA, is a good sign that agency leadership is making a genuine attempt to ensure the long-term viability of the CA Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVRD).

I believe those letters you have been sending in and meetings you have been attending have given the Transformation Team some food-for-thought about its initial proposal to move OHMVRD back into the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).

It appears that hostile political forces in Sacramento are on the verge of functionally eliminating the CA Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVRD) which includes OHV-related grant funding to the Forest Service, BLM, counties, local sheriffs’ departments, non-profit trail and conservation groups, and other partners.

The State Parks Transformation Team is recommending that OHMVRD, which is a separate and highly specialized department, is moved back into the offices of the CA Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).

In the early 1990s when OHMVRD was located at/in DPR, the OHV program languished in obscurity and irrelevancy while trying to operate under the oppressive bureaucratic thumb of apathetic and/or anti-OHV Resource Agency and DPR leadership.

I felt inspired to write this poem after watching a Christmas musical.  Tis the season for hope, thankfulness, and reflection. Trails are indeed part of life’s journey. 

A Trail Advocate’s Prayer

Father, as I head out on the trail today,

Whether it is for work or play,

Dear Trail Voter,

Now that it is likely we will see a short-term budget deal signed into law later today, TPAC believes that it is incumbent upon OHV voters to communicate with their contacts in the land agencies about "going-back-to-work" guidelines from the Office of Personnel Management.

It appears the same outdated mandates from the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) that forbids federal staff from any non-emergency intra-agency staff communications or public outreach may hamper the expedited return to work by furloughed employees.