state of the off road union

Off road is in trouble, no question. For decades the 'tree huger' groups have been doing their best to restrict access to just about any place. Vast sections of land are now off limits, unless you are on foot. Think about this for a second, if an area takes a day to drive across, a hiker will take a week, more or less. Now how many hikers will actually do this? The greenies claim they have to save the habitat of the cute furry animals, good idea on the surface, however an off road vehicle trail through the wilderness hardly threatens these same animals. Maybe they should focus their attention on the companies who clear cut the forests. But they can't do that, put too many people out of work. Ever see a logging operation, almost fully automated, one machine cuts, removes branches, cuts to length, and delivers the logs. That is one person. Once the logs reach the road, one more person loads the transports. At the mill, again almost fully automated, maybe five people. So how many, in this simplified example, do we have? Seven people, plus maybe three more for the transport delivery, that would be 10. OK I admit over simplified, I am just trying to make a point here, let's double that number for sake of argument, 20 people.
Keep this number in mind for a second
Land Closure combined with the current recession (read depression) as caused a great number of off road manufactures great fincial problems or to file a chapter 11. The list includes; Fabtech, Superlift, Poison Spyder, Solid Axle, Stak T-cases, Procomp, 4 Wheel Parts, just to name a few I have heard about. Some of these companies have been sold, most are still operating, but at reduced volume, and therefor staff. It is rather hard to convince someone to buy parts for their off road vehicle if they have to drive for hours to get to a place they can 'legally' drive it.
The 'legally' drive your truck is another issue, ever see a trail closed signed gate with an obvious drive around trail? No Motorized vehicle sign with tire tracks leading off to the horizon? Guess what, it's the yahoo factor, the plan doesn't work.
Sorry, back on topic, so a large number of off road manufactures reduce staff, or file for Chapter 11. What does that mean? massive loss of wealth, read money flushed. People without jobs don't spend, companies who can't pay debt cause ripples down the supply chain.
Last year the largest off road show, the spring off road show in San Diego was canceled. Basically no one could afford to display their goods. Last years SEMA Show, the off road section was at the point of being irrelevant, less than half of the smallest hall. Spring Off Road SEMA Show is no longer happening, again, due to lack of affordability.
Seems rather silly to bow to the Tree Huger groups and allow their influence to wipe out hundreds of millions in annual sales, and all the local benefits that go with those sales.
Remember to 20 above who clear cut? That is a tree to a 2x4, ok a bunch of 2x4s. Most of the land that is being cleared is off limits to orr road vehicles as well. Now that makes sense.

So what to do? Send a letter to your local official, yes one of those paper things, yes you have to use a stamp. One letter carries a lot of weight. Why? Because it is old school and it takes time and effort. A letter carries far more weight than an e-mail, however do that too.

We the Off Road community have to get organized, one voice, not a couple dozen. There are far too many voices, it's akin to kicking a hornets nest, an annoying buzz that makes you run away as fast as you can.
SEMA also has work to do, off road suppliers are lumped into the light truck market group. Granted there are overlap areas, however go to a show and all you see is Tonneau Covers, just screams off road doesn't it! A dedicated committee needs to be created for the Off Road and Four Wheel Drive manufactures. For no other reason than to actually offer them a voice and the feeling of being included and a worthwhile part of the community that is the aftermarket.
Tuners have a group, why not the Off Road?
Another letter may be in order, at least an e-mail. Question the lack of representation.

Global warming, saving wilderness and any other silly reason are killing our life style, time to step up and demand attention, we need one voice.

We are independent types by nature. What other personality type would get so much joy of driving off into the woods essential by themselves. You should be with others, just in case, but you are more or less alone in your vehicle, you are alone behind the wheel.
Put aside a tiny bit of that independence and raise your voice, because soon it will be far too late.