National and Regional News
Oregon/California — The Bureau of Land Management has prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The protest period will remain open until Nov. 10. The Proposed RMP and Final EIS is available on the BLM ePlanning project website at eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023675/510 and at the BLM Medford District, 3040 Biddle Road, Medford, OR 97504; and the BLM Klamath Falls Field Office, 2795 Anderson Avenue, Bldg. #25, Klamath Falls, OR 97603.
The monument boundary, as identified by Presidential Proclamation No. 9564, constitutes the planning area for this RMP. The area is 170,407 acres and includes lands within Jackson and Klamath Counties in Oregon, and Siskiyou County in California. The CSNM’s decision area is the approximately 113,500 acres of BLM-administered lands within the planning area. While most of the BLM-administered lands are within the BLM Ashland and Klamath Falls Field Offices in Oregon, approximately 5,000 acres are located within the BLM Redding Field Office in California.
For further information, contact Program Manager Nikki Haskett, at (458)-246-8861 or blm_csnm_rmp@blm.gov.
San Francisco — A federal judge has partially ruled in favor of environmental groups in their lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of route networks for off-highway vehicles in the Western Mojave Desert. The groups claim the routes are harmful to the Mojave Desert Tortoise — which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act but recognized as endangered by the California Fish and Game Commission.
Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Illston wrote in a 107-page order that the bureau improperly relied on optional mitigation measures to satisfy its obligation to designate off-highway vehicle routes that complied with regulatory law. The judge also found the Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act in “several respects, including by relying on the BLM’s optional mitigation measures to avoid ‘jeopardy’ to the desert tortoise and ignoring the best available science when reaching its ‘no jeopardy’ findings.”
Fish and Wildlife argued that it did not need to consider these studies because the FWS’s 2011 Revised Recovery Plan is the most comprehensive review of all threats to the desert tortoise. That plan lists multiple reasons for the tortoise’s decline, including off-highway vehicle activity and grazing, but does not designate off-highway vehicle use as a “primary cause of decline” of the tortoises.
In the 2021 complaint, the plaintiff groups claimed that off-road vehicle routes in the West Mojave Desert were designed illegally and that regulations require the bureau to close areas to off-road vehicles where they are causing or will cause negative impacts to soil, vegetation, wildlife, wildlife habitat, cultural resources, wilderness suitability, or threatened and endangered species.
State News
Alsea, Ore. — The Bureau of Land Management Marys Peak Field Office is planning the Aloha Trout Forest Management Project and is requesting your consideration of the proposal. The purpose of the project is to implement management direction in the Northwestern and Coastal Oregon Record of Decision and Resource Management Plan for the Harvest Land Base and Riparian Reserve land use allocations.
The proposal includes variable retention harvest, commercial and non-commercial thinning, tree tipping, fuels treatments, snag creation, transportation management actions, and post-harvest planting on approximately 1,800 acres of BLM-administered land in Benton County, Ore.
Comments may be submitted by email to BLM_OR_NO_PublicComments_NEPA@blm.gov.
or you may submit comments on the ePlanning website: eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2034802/510. NEPA number: DOIBLM-ORWA-N020-2025-0001-EA. Comments are due before Nov. 12.
If you have questions regarding this proposal, you may contact Anthom Weaver, Project Lead, at (503) 315-5980 or at aweaver@blm.gov.
Alturas, Calif. — The Modoc Resource Advisory Committee has announced that it will hold a public meeting. The purpose of the committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding, as well as make recommendations on recreation fee proposals for sites on the Modoc National Forest within Modoc County.
An in-person and virtual meeting will be held on Nov. 13, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Anyone wishing to provide in-person or virtual oral comments must pre-register by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Nov. 8. This meeting will be held in-person at the Modoc National Forest Supervisor’s Office Conference Room, located at 225 West 8th St. Alturas, CA, 96101. The public may also join the meeting virtually via webcast, teleconference, videoconference or Homeland Security Information Network virtual meeting online at: fs.usda.gov/main/modoc/workingtogether/advisorycommittees.
For more information, you may contact Designated Federal Officer Ian Reid by phone at (530) 233-5811 or email at ian.reid2@usda.gov; or RAC Coordinator Samantha Jager by phone at (530) 708-7291 or email at samantha.jager@usda.gov.
International News
Galicia, Spain — After an outstanding week at the 2024 FIM International Six-Days Enduro, which ran Oct. 14-19, the American Motorcyclist Association congratulates the United States Women’s World Trophy Team, which secured its fifth ISDE title during the difficult racing event. In addition to the title-winning performance from the Women’s World Trophy Team, the U.S. added a pair of podium finishes from its World Trophy and Junior World Trophy Teams.
The trio of Brandy Richards, Rachel Gutish and Ava Silvestri — who filled in for the injured Korie Steede just a few weeks prior to the start of this year’s ISDE — outpaced the field to capture its second-consecutive Women’s World Trophy ISDE title. In addition to the team’s victory, Richards also brought home the individual crown during the event.
The World Trophy Team landed on the second rung of the podium, as Johnny Girroir, Dante Oliveira, Josh Toth and Cody Barnes — who replaced the injured Craig DeLong — fell just short of first-place France. Led by Mateo Oliveira, Grant Davis and Jason Tino, the Junior World Trophy Team battled to a third-place finish, while Sweden captured first-place honors and France clinched second.
On the Club front, Team Eric Cleveland Memorial — helmed by the trio of Jocelyn Barnes, Rachel Stout and Olivia Pugh — became the first winner of the inaugural Women’s Club Team competition. Barnes, Pugh and Stout finished as the top three women’s club riders individually during the event, helping the team win by nearly two hours over second-place Builth Wells MCC Ladies.
In the race for the Club Team Award, Team GTBN and XC Gear collected second and fourth place, respectively.
For more information regarding the 2024 ISDE, visit fim-isde.com/.
Industry News
Irvine, Calif. — The Motorcycle Safety Foundation won Ragan PR Daily’s 2024 Grand Prize award for Nonprofit Communications Campaign of the Year for its team’s comprehensive efforts significantly boosting MSF’s mission of promoting rider education, training and motorcyclist safety. The MSF bested seven other finalists in the Grand Prize category. The MSF’s Communications Team was also recognized as finalists in the Advocacy or Awareness Campaign category, and earlier in the year, were finalists in Ragan PR Daily’s Content Marketing Awards for Strategy of the Year.
MSF’s Communications Team worked to build national recognition of rider education, to increase visibility of motorcyclists, to reinforce safe riding practices and to encourage new riders to start with proper training. Leveraging the organization’s 50th anniversary, the team launched “50 Stories of Riding,” sharing 50 personal motorcycling stories from MSF-certified coaches and former students for 50 weeks. Some stories also featured influential figures who were also MSF-graduates, such as actor Ian Ziering, Vogue editor Corey Seymour, BuzzFeed producer Joyce Louise-Jean, and HGTV star Anthony Carrino.
MSF also organized RIDE Days across the nation, offering new riders their first experience with motorcycles and building awareness of the importance of formal rider education and training. This all-encompassing campaign enabled the passage of legislation in both the U.S. House and Senate, recognizing May 2023 as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and honoring MSF for 50 years of service.
Modena, Italy — Italian electric motorcycle company Energica has declared bankruptcy following a recent board of directors meeting and subsequent press release announcing the decision to liquidate the company’s assets.
Officially founded in 2014, the company was viewed as one of the three major players in the electric vehicle space within the U.S. and had also enjoyed recent success on the track as well, racing in the MotoAmerica Super Hooligan National Championship and achieving the first podium in a national road race against traditional internal combustion powered motorcycles at Circuit of The Americas in 2023.
AMA News
Pickerington, Ohio — Dozens of adventure motorcyclists converged on the AMA campus on a chilly Nov. 23 for the inaugural AMA Adventure X Time Trials, a new combination of the adventure discipline with the time trial format. Three classes tackled the muddy single-track trail, short grass track section and pitbike course. There was Lightweight for any single-cylinder motorcycle, Middleweight for multi-cylinder bikes less than 1,000cc and Heavyweight for multi-cylinder bikes 1,000cc and larger. Bikes had to be factory street legal machines.
One of the fastest riders at the event was Corey Parlin from Schoolcraft, Mich., who topped the Middleweight class with a fast time of 3:48.35. Parlin, who competed on a KTM 890 Adventure R, was expected to do well. While his day job is as a sales rep in the industry, he also is a USMCA-certified instructor and runs dirt bike and adventure training schools under Great Lakes Motorcycle Coach.
In addition to Parlin, class winners were Lane Teater from Coshocton, Ohio, in the Lightweight class with a fast time of 3:41.16 and Paul Patterson from Orient, Ohio, in the Heavyweight class with a fast time of 7:35.58. Patterson was the only finisher in the Heavyweight class.
Paul Patterson was the only Heavyweight rider to finish the event. Honda Grom rider found a relatively shallow line through the creek. Michael Gorman on a 2004 KTM 950 Adventure (with 174,500-plus miles on the odometer!) opted for a deeper line in the water crossing.
Tom Carson, from Hopedale, Ohio, was second in Lightweight with a 3:43.00, followed by Columbus, Ohio’s John Hall with a 4:17.91.
Second in Middleweight was Ted Atkinson from Canal Winchester, Ohio, with a 4:52.31, and third was Peter Alexeev from Amherst, Ohio, with a 4:56.22.
The AMA partnered with Rob Buydos, long time motocross and AMA Supercross announcer and promoter of the Bagger Racing League, for this event, the proceeds of which financially support the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit. Buydos began developing concepts for adventure bike racing several years ago. More recently, he started working with the AMA to develop an amateur format that would be fun and accessible for a wide range of adventure riders.
Riders started on the AMA’s pitbike track before going into the woods section.
Riders were released onto the course one at a time, completing approximately 60 percent of the AMA’s pitbike track before entering the woods section. When that rider cleared the midway point, a spotter radioed the starter who sent a second rider out. Each rider was assigned a timekeeper. Riders logged two separate loops, with the fastest time counting toward final standings.
Riders liked the format, agreeing that having a limited number of two riders on the course at a time, separated by a few minutes, eliminated the unknowns of side-by-side racing.
No doubt, a common trait among adventure riders, many who started out on dirt bikes decades earlier, is toughness. An unwritten rule of the adventure community is you don’t complain and smiles are mandatory. Even those who showed up to the Adventure X Time Trials and opted not to ride when they decided the conditions surpassed the functionality of their tires had good things to say. Most, if not all, stayed to watch the full event.
That positive attitude is one reason adventure riding continues to attract more riders. Established manufacturers have released several new models, with some new brands focusing exclusively on the segment.
Ted Atkinson finished second in the Middleweight class on his 1975 Honda CL360. While he said the weather could have been better, he “enjoyed the inaugural event and it was well organized. AMA did a great job and awards were passed out within minutes of the last rider finishing. Well done!”
Dan Cotter, from Utica, Ohio, volunteered to work this event. He agreed Adventure X has a future as a competitive sport.
In addition to Cotter, AMA members Amelia Ross, Steve Lycans, Jessica Daniels and Elisa Collins volunteered for the event. They were supported by AMA staff Makenzi Martin, Bob Davis, Michael Galiher, Tina Duong, Joy Burgess and Emily Doane.
For additional photos from the event, please see: https://gallery.americanmotorcyclist.com/AMA-Sanctioned-Events/2024-AMA-Adventure-X-Time-Trial.
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