How to Be a Trail Access Advocate

By Nena Barlow

This article originally appeared on fourwheeler.com.

At some point while out exploring in your Jeep, you will come to a “Road Closed” sign on a trail. Maybe you just got into four-wheeling, and you decide you need to learn more about where to go. Or maybe this was a trail you have wheeled on since you were a kid, and suddenly there is a locked gate on it. Either way, it dawns on you that somewhere, someone is making decisions about the places where you get to recreate. How do you get a say in that?

Though most four-wheeling east of the Rocky Mountains is relegated to private land, in the west we are endowed with a vast amount of public land on which to venture. Without going too deeply into federal mandates and the way our government works, suffice to say that much of public land use policy boils down to this: those who show up make the rules.

To make a difference, you must get involved. Following are three things you can do, distilled down from a conglomeration of my personal experiences, input from public land officials, and an entertaining telephone interview with Del Albright, Ambassador for the Blue Ribbon Coalition, one of the most respected public land access organizations in the U.S.

First, set the example. Learn the rules. All Forests and Bureau of Land Management districts have useful websites for gleaning current rules and conditions. But, you can pretty much follow these guidelines anywhere:

1. Stay on the trail.
2. Don’t leave trash. If anything, pick up trash.
3. Don’t drink and drive.
4. Obey all posted signs and conditions, road closed signs, camp?re bans, etc.

Taking the good example a step further, act as an ambassador for the trail—if you see someone doing something that gets trails closed, either intentionally or unintentionally, speak up. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt that they really just don’t know, not that they are deliberately doing something that will get trails closed. It can be challenging to do so without the situation becoming confrontational. I usually try a soft approach, like “I have a lot of extra trash bags with me—happy to give you one if you need it for all that stuff.” Or “Hey buddy, I just saw the ranger headed this way; driving outside the established trail gets you a big, fat ticket, and it might get the trail closed, too.”

The next thing you can do, according to Del Albright of Blue Ribbon Coalition, is join the organizations that make sense to you. There are many different clubs and organizations with different focus and flavor. Start at your local club level—join at least one that you like and pay attention. Join a state and or national-level organization for land use education and advocacy such as Tread Lightly!, Blue Ribbon Coalition, or the United Four Wheel Drive Association, just to name a few I see out there doing good work on a regular basis.

Finally, speak up. Show up. Write letters. Attend meetings. Get on the email list for your local clubs, forests, county and state parks, etc. Educate yourself on the areas that interest you, and reach out to others to ask questions about roads and trails and the laws that govern them. Develop working relationships with other people and interested parties to understand their viewpoints, so that cooperative progress can be made to effectively create solutions that represent a reasonable balance of all interests.

All of this may not sound as fun as working on our rigs or wheeling all weekend, but as Stuart Bourdon said when discussing this column, “It’s the inglorious reality of being an off-road enthusiast.” And every little bit helps.