Jean Turner | January 24, 2017
What Will A Trump Presidency Mean For Land Use Issues? There’s some significant change underway in Washington D.C. You heard it here first. With Donald Trump now at the helm, an all-new cabinet is coming together, and Trump has tapped Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke as secretary of the Department of the Interior. What will this new leadership mean for land-use issues facing motorcyclists? We did some research on Zinke, and also sat down with iconic OHV land-use advocate Don Amador to find out more about the forthcoming administration and what it could bring to the off-road motorcycle industry.
What Will A Trump Presidency Mean For Land Use Issues?
Land-use advocate Don Amador believes off-roaders could get a “fair shake” with the new administration.
Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-Montana), President Trump’s pick for interior secretary, has a degree in geology from the University of Oregon and is a former commander in the Navy’s Seal Team Six special-forces branch. From there he went into politics, campaigning on the platform of achieving North American energy independence. He is currently on the House Natural Resources Committee as well as the Armed Services Committee.
He’s been accused of “developing and exploiting resources on public lands,” which has earned him a lifetime score of 3/100 from the League of Conservation Voters. And he is also called “an unshakeable foe” of selling federal lands to the states. The 55-year-old was even at odds with his own party recently, and resigned from his position on the GOP platform writing committee over the disagreement of transferring federal land ownership to the states. Zinke remains in staunch opposition to public land transfers (Trump is reportedly opposed to it as well, although the provision did make it into the GOP platform). This may seem counter-intuitive, but Amador explained why this is actually a good thing for OHV use.
“The federal government—Forest Service and BLM in our case—have a congressional mandate to manage for multiple use, which includes OHV,” Amador explained. “The states and counties have no such mandate.
“The states and counties are a lot more susceptible to political sway. On the surface, that might sound like a good idea, but what about that county that has a real popular OHV area in it, and an election occurs and you now have three out of five county board supervisors and they take a vote one Tuesday afternoon and they go, ‘You know what, we just ordered the Forest Service to close their OHV area?’ We’re much more susceptible to the whims of elections that sway back and forth [at the state and/or county level] whereas the federal government is national and it’s much harder to change things. Sort of like turning a huge tanker around in the ocean, if you think of the Forest Service and BLM as a huge ocean tanker, it might takes years to turn that around. Whereas if you’re in a 20-foot fishing boat, you can whip it around in five minutes.
What Will A Trump Presidency Mean For Land Use Issues?
“Sometimes the bureaucracy of the federal government is our friend, believe it or not!” Amador said with a laugh. “It takes a long time to enact change.”
As for President Trump, what are his exact viewpoints on land use?
“From what I understand, both of Donald Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr., both ride off-road,” Amador said. “And they’re also big outdoorsmen, hunters and fishermen. So even though Donald Trump doesn’t do a lot of outdoor recreation, his boys do and from what I heard he does have an understanding and appreciation of the role that federal lands play in providing recreation to the public. So I think he understands it and appreciates it and I think that under his administration that we’ll get a fair shake.”
That said, Amador also pointed out that we might have more work on our hands under a Republican congress—another somewhat counter-intuitive point.
“There’s a number of reasons,” Amador said. “First of all, sometimes people make the assumption that when you have a Republican congress that somehow they will understand and appreciate our access issues better. I found it almost just the opposite that we need to spend extra time communicating with their legislatures on important access issues. It’s really a time when we need to be engaged.
“Secondly, there are a lot of planning efforts going on with the Forest Service and BLM. A few years ago they started to do more up-front planning where they spend more time meeting with the public and getting ideas and suggestions before they start crafting their planning document. It’s really important to clubs and individuals to make that time to go to those early planning meetings and offer suggestions and get engaged. I’ve actually seen a growing trend where those types of comments and input are being integrated to a much greater extent today than they have been in the past.”
The good news is that land-use organizations are listening to us, and seeking our input. The bad news is that we aren’t very good at being proactive in providing that input.
“We’re sort of a crisis-oriented user group, historically,” Amador said. “But the Blue Ribbon Coalition, myself and others have been trying to shift motorcyclists toward being more proactive rather than reactive. You’re much better served and your time is better spent getting engaged in the planning process in the early stage. That early involvement oftentimes will mean that we won’t have to file appeals or lawsuits at the end of the planning process. Just spend that little bit of quality time up front rather than trying to spit in the wind at the end of the process.
“I always tell people, if you’re not engaged, I can tell you for a fact, you’re not going to like the product you get. But if you take the time to be engaged, you might actually be surprised at what the agency is willing to designate for your use.”
It was reportedly Trump’s son Donald Jr. who personally vetted Zinke for the position. Like Don Jr., Zinke is a lifelong hunter and fisherman, and fancies himself a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican,” and has proudly stated “This land is your land.”
A Trump tweet several months ago likewise declared, “Honoring the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, we will conserve and protect our beautiful natural resources for the next generation—including protecting lands for anglers, hunters and all who enjoy the outdoors.”
What Will A Trump Presidency Mean For Land Use Issues?
Off-road motorcyclists certainly fall under the umbrella of “all who enjoy the outdoors,” and we have every reason to hope the new administration will be friendly to OHV activities. However, Amador stresses that no matter who is in charge, the cause is still in our own hands.
“At the end of the day, off-roaders are in charge of their own destiny, to an extent,” Amador said. “If there’s one thing I can stress, it’s the importance of being engaged at the early portion of the planning process. It’s very effective and much more productive to be engaged early than to be reactive and stand on a hilltop and spit in the wind. I’ve tried it, it doesn’t work!”
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