ARRA Partner, NOHVCC, Conducts Public Land Advocacy Webinar Sessions

ARRA’s partner, the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC), conducted interactive web based workshops, or webinars, for OHV riders and anyone interested in OHV land use during 2009 and 2010.  The workshops were designed to give riders the skills they would need to keep trails open in their areas.  Pdf files of the presentations can be downloaded here.  Also information on obtaining the DVD of the webinar series can be found here.  A description of the four separate webinar modules that were presented are as follows:

• Module 1 Route Designation: How Did We Get Here? – This module will help people understand the process required for land planning, it focuses on the US Forest Service Process, but the basics can be applied to any government agency. The course also discusses the US Forest Service Travel Management Rule, its implementation so far, and how to apply it going forward; as well as the US Forest Service structure.
• Module 2 Trail System Planning Part 1 – This module will help riders’ and land managers understand how to plan, design, manage, and maintain trail systems that meet the riders’ needs by providing high quality and adequate quantities of trails. The module will start with an introduction to OHV recreationists as it is hard to plan a trail to fit their needs if you don’t know what their needs are. It will then talk about the basic principles of OHV trail system planning before going into details on what is required to plan a sustainable trail system.
• Module 3 Trail System Planning Part 2 – This module starts with an overview of what was learned in module 2. It then goes into detail regarding trail maintenance, monitoring, and signing requirements. The details will instruct the land manager in various techniques to meet their needs and give the recreationists information regarding how they can assist the land managers with these trail requirements.
• Module 4 Making It Work: Where Do We Go From Here? – This module will help riders understand how to be effective in their efforts to influence the decisions that will determine where they can ride. It will give concrete examples of how to work effectively with land managers and make comments during the agency process. This module will also spend time looking at 4 areas where the design, planning, and implementation of the principles conveyed in earlier modules have worked to create successful trail systems. This module closes with ideas for both the enthusiasts and the land managers to move forward to creating the sustainable OHV trail systems.