Grenade has been launched.....We'll see if they respond.
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Dear Mr. Craig Hoffman and Editors of Car & Driver:
re: Mudpuppies article
I just finished reading the latest Car & Driver article and I was deeply disappointed by the actions exhibited by the writers under your guidance.
Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Assn has worked for many years with State and Local DNR Officials in an effort to change the public perception that 4 wheelers are nothing but mud-bogging environmentally irresponsible yahoos! That article has set the progress back a few years and gave environmentalist one more nail for the coffin.
Besides violating numerous state laws with regard to being in the water with the vehicles and driving on closed trails, the actions dipicted by yourself and C&D have given the general public the idea that they can just drive right out on to the rocky beach or down any forest road without legal ramifications. That simply is not true. Those actions alone would have cost your group thousands of dollars if the DNR would have caught you.
You of all people, with all your awards for environmental responsibility, should know better than to drive a vehicle out on sensitive piece of land like the edge of the lake or go thrashing through a forest road without regard to it's effect on the surrounding ecosystem.
That act is akin to driving a golf cart across a soggy fairway or over a green. You certainly wouldn't do that, would you?
While you weren't necessarily in the pictures, you were the guide and defacto ambassador of 4 wheeling for that outing. It was your responsibility to keep the the writers within the bounds of the Tread Lightly principals. These are the credo which GLFWDA, MSG 4WD Club, Jeep Jamboree, Drummond Island Offroad Club, and others that use Drumond Island for recreational activities adhere to.
On a final note, wouldn't Turtle Ridge ORV Park been a more applicable location to showcase 4WD vehicles as it is the one legal place to play on Drummond Island?
For future reference Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Assn or the Drummond Island Offroad Club members who are knowledgeable in the ORV laws of the State of Michigan would have served as outstanding guides and would have done so if we had been contacted.
GLFWDA can be reached via their website at
www.glfwda.org
Drummond Island Offroad Club can be reach via the Turtle Ridge Offroad Park
www.turtleridgeorv.com
Tread Lightly Information can be found at
www.treadlightly.org
Respectfully,
James Mazzola
UFWDA Ambassador Member
GLFWDA Lifetime Member
kb8ymf@juno.com
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