The 10th anniversary celebration of the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival will need to wait until next year. Despite the Festival’s plan to postpone the event until October if the Coronavirus did not permit the Festival to be held in June, the Friends of the Bantam Jeep Association (FBJA) must put the brakes on the 10th anniversary event. Unfortunately, Cooper’s Lake Campground, where the event is held, must close for the remainder of the year due to the repercussions of COVID-19.

The good news is that some of this week’s updates are places opening back up and not being closed due to the coronavirus. Although USFS Region 5 has announced that most developed recreation sites will remain closed through May 15, the individual forests are slowly opening motorized roads and trails as seasonal road and trail closures are lifted.

It is five years since UFWDA last surveyed four-wheelers and we invite you to again take part.

Here we go again with more legislation to stop the Alameda/Tesla Expansion at the Carnegie SVRA. Similar legislation was shot down by both Gov. Brown and Gov. Newsom in the past few years. But they are back again, this time even more aggressively trying to keep the expansion and the SVRA tied up in the Legislature and the courts.

The BLM recognizes the importance of working with others, through partnerships, to enhance public lands, help carry out the agency’s mission, and meet shared conservation stewardship goals. Check out the new BLM/friends group partnership toolkit.

The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comments on the California State Parks, Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division, off-highway vehicle recreation proposals, which are available for review from March 3 to May 4 at www.ohv.parks.ca.gov. 

Reprinted from Whichcar.com.au, March 16, 2020

FCA announced Friday that its Jeep brand will not be attending the Easter Jeep Safari (EJS) this year due to coronavirus fears. However, as of Monday, the Red Rock 4-Wheelers who is the promoter of the event held on the red rock of Moab Utah, says EJS is still going ahead.

The EJS is an annual mass gathering of Jeep owners and fans in Moab, Utah that includes a week of trail drive, vendor displays and parties, and the reveal of Jeep’s EJS special builds.

We are happy to announce the launch of our new online member portal! The new system allows you to join and donate to United completely online.

By creating an account, you will be able to manage your contact information, see when your dues expire, set your dues to auto-renew and more! Eventually we will add features like members-only content.

The Coalition for Recreational Trails (CRT) calls on all trail organizations and trail enthusiasts to take action immediately to continue and to expand the Recreational Trails Program (RTP), the national trails assistance program that aids all trail activities nationwide through use of federal non-highway recreational fuel taxes. A huge step occurred late last year when the Congress instructed the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a timely estimate of the fuel tax generated through non-highway recreational activities in its FY2020 budget and included RTP reauthorization in key Senate legislation creating the next-gen surface transportation program. Now, action in the House of Representatives is underway and underscores the bipartisan and coast-to-coast support RTP enjoys in the Congress.

Washington, D.C. (January 26, 2020) –The Coalition for Recreational Trails (CRT) expressed appreciation for bipartisan Congressional efforts which moved the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) forward recently and offer real hope that additional federal non-highway recreational fuel taxes will soon provide better and safer trails. Led by U.S. Senators Shaheen, Risch, Klobuchar, Burr, Daines and Van Hollen, Hill champions of RTP succeeded in including preparation of an estimate of non-highway recreational fuel usage to facilitate Congressional determination of future RTP funding levels in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FY2020 budget.