Northeast Association of 4WD Clubs

[Eric]

Most land use discussion revolves around preserving access to public land out West. The purpose of this thread is to introduce the Northeast Association of 4WD Clubs (NEA) and discuss land use topics that are relevant in the Northeast corner of the country where access to public land is virtually nonexistent. I've been President of the NEA for quite a few years, first started wheeling in the late 70's, and have been active in land use topics for much of the past 20 years.

The NEA consists of 36 independent clubs working together to expand access to land. Our member clubs span all six New England states and Eastern New York thus for purposes of this discussion "Northeast" means New England and Eastern New York. We have a three-pronged land use strategy that can be described as follows:

1. Secure access to private property. Through our member clubs we develop relationships with private property owners who will let us develop trails and host events on their property. In exchange for access we help owners maintain their property and provide other forms of compensation. In many cases, access is limited to the club that developed the relationship however we have a number of private properties where the owner has agreed to allow all member clubs to access the property through a reservation system that is maintained by the Association.
2. Open public land to four wheeling. As already mentioned, access to public land in the Northeast is very limited. Nevertheless, public land is owned by everybody and we deserve access to a fair share. There is no history of public access in the Northeast and its an uphill battle but there have been some successes.
3. Raise funds to acquire our own land. Fundraising activities started in 2010 and we acquired our first property located in central MA in April of 2018. Since that time this property has been available by reservation to all member clubs. More recently, in July of this year, we entered into a long term lease of a 500 acre parcel in NH. Development of this property is currently underway. Our land acquisition fund currently has a healthy balance and we expect to acquire another property in the coming months.

That's about it for now. Subsequent posts will explore the above topics in more detail. If anybody has questions then feel free to ask!

 

[white-rhino]

Kudos to you.
I am a lifetime member of Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Assn's and United Four Wheel Drive Associations, with similar history to you here in Michigan, primarily with the DNR and two of our local county governments. Also a UFWDA Chief Awareness Instructor. First joined GLFWDA in 1979.

I wish more people would take this stuff seriously. It would certainly help our lobbying power.

 

[vetteboy79]

Aww man

Anyone involved with the NEA, please point them here so we can keep things moving in the right direction...whoever picks up the torch moving forward, we'd like to be a part of it