A good site to watch is http://www.nysorva.org/ They have some good political info. Trailpass has me excited. I live just west of Albany (probably halfway between albany and Johnstown) and can't wait to see some legal trails opened up. I don't have a trailer, but there are trails near me that I can ALMOST get to [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] If trailpass were to open trails close to me, I'm get a trailer if I couldn't ride to them. I still wish that NYS would do something with the more than $8,000,000 we have given them in registration fees. They promised us trails with that money, then they reneged but kept the fee!

 

You are right,NYSORVA site is a good one to check as much as possible.It also wouldn't hurt to join it.The more members that they have,means they have more money to lobby in Albany with.We just need everyone who owns an ATV to speak up at the same time and wake our law makers up.Trail pass is just a start.With any luck we will have legal trails on state land before long.As Chris said we need to join a local club if there isnt one close by you start one.There are people at NYSORVA that will help you if you don't know how.Check out their site.

 

Supporting our clubs is very important. I have talked to several club presidents and affiliates even up north where it is legal and let me tell you these people are die hard ATVers. They work there butts off to try to bring people to the area. Heck the $15.00 I pay to each club is cheap compared to all the work these people do to give us places to ride. THey are constantly going to meetings and land owners and this is pretty much a full time job for them. We need to support these groups, From conversation I can tell that the clubs are gettign tired of supporting trails and ATVers who want ot rider there trails but do not want to pay the $15.00 dues each year

For Example I am a member of a ATv club up in upstate NY. THe club owns a large chunk of land where they have a drag strip and a motocross track. The club property is about .5 miles down a seasonal raod and there happens to be a couple of houses on it. Well one family who hates ATV, got there way and the road is closed to ATVs even though the road has been opened for years for ATV use. This is a pain because to travel south on trail system you have to go about 10 miles north first. Well The presidnet of the club offerd to draw me a map and I stopped by his house which is kitty corner to the road that is closed down. He wasn't there but I talked to his wife who was happy that people are coming to ride there trails. Well needless to say they are pissed and are suing the dink who got his way. They are in the process of hiring a lawyer from Syracuse to alter the decision. I am not saying to join all 200 clubs in NY but that to realize that there are people who are putting in alot of effort for us to enjoy our great sport of ATVIng. This is where the trial pass will kick in and what you will find out is that after a couple of years the politiicains will realize how dumb they have been in the past buy not doing this sooner and at that point trails will open up all across state land in this state.

Chris

 

Well said Chris.

 

i dont know how i missed this thread. i joined trailpass and it seems to be a really good thing for our sport as you guys have mentioned. now all i have to do is find time to ride, lol. i urge everyone to join and keep trailpass in operation. this might end up being our only way of getting access to more trails.

LISTEN UP ALBANY !!!!

 

Thanks for posting Jason we need to get the word out to all NYers about Trail Pass.Let them know it is a very good thing.Also if we could only get every atver in NY to stand up and shout HEY ALBANY WE ARE HERE WAKE UP AND HEAR US we would get something from them.

 

bump

 

I HEAR YOU! Oh... wait... you mean the state legislature. Organization and action is the key. The eco-***** are very active. That's why they get their way. The nature of their organizations are based on people who want to be politically active. We're just people who want to ride and play. I think it's inherently more difficult for us to get organized in that way.

TrailPass is a VERY good thing. It is our light at the end of the tunnel. It should be wildly popular when they get enough trail systems for "critical mass". At the worst, we will have the trailpass system to ride for $50 a year or whatever it is. At best, the State will see that we are willing to readily pay 5 times the registration fee just to have someplace to ride. With that, maybe they will see that they can have a trail system for us AND make money for their General Fund.

 

I have to believe the Trailpass is the best thing to happen for NY off-road use in some time. I picked mine up the first week they were available and convinced several of my buddies to the same thing. As of today, we've only used it once (lake george area) and was happy to go someplace that was 100% legal.

As Memento said, organization and participation is key in getting NYS to open up any type of state land for off-road use, but it seems the deck is stacked against us. The liberal media has portrayed anyone that rides any type of off-road vehicle as villians and criminals, and the only time you hear any story about the sport there's a negative spin on it. If you live around Albany, you probably read several articles from Fred LeBrun (Times Union) regarding ATV's in the adirondacks. This liberal fink as gone as far as calling ATV's.."instruments from hell".

The eco-freaks are very well organized and seem to protest any time a twig is snapped. Of course they have the time, most un-employed people do have the time to protest. Every person that I know that rides, has a job, and people with jobs don't have time to protest and lobby every five minutes.

Sorry to rant, but this topic just bothers me to no end. Why do we pay a state registration when we get nothing in return? Does a dirt trail somewhere in the middle of nowhere really bother the tree-huggers that much?

OK, I'll get off my soapbox for now.

 

One of their arguments against trails is that they disturb nature (deer, etc). Funny, since I've made my own trail, I'vee seen just as many deer as ever and now I have a couple of foxes that romp and play every morning in my front lawn. Just yesterday I saw a hawk flying over my house. None of these seem to have been "chased away" by my riding. In fact, the deer seem to LOVE my trail! There's always tracks on it. I could REALLY go off on the greenpeace-like people, but the subjects are not applicable here (nuclear power and "superfund" waste sites). I have always had the intellectual upper hand over the door-to-door petitioners and they ALWAYS leave humbled (and one time almost in tears). [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Back to the topic, I may just join Trailpass for support. I don't have a trailer yet and don't quite have the money for a trailer hitch and trailer (my plow set be back a bit).