Help save a new track from closing

Man, give these guys some support. Legal, permitted riding spots in New England are few and far between. 

Do not panic! All is well! We have an organization that most of us pay yearly dues to that will provide council and intervention to resolve this! Just you wait! They’ll be along any minute now………… 

Tell them they are trying to make Harley riders wear helmets and they will be there stat!

Signed

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How does this happen?

Was a study not done before opening the track? It's probably all bullshit no doubt, but have they had any council meetings about it? I would like to read the minutes if so. 

If they have been open this long with no local complaints I feel lIke the track did what they were supposed to before opening. 

Ahhh yes, the AMA. The Americam Motorcycle Asshats. A more useless fkng organization has never existed

It would be helpful to clarify that "DEM"  means Department of Environmental Management.   

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I definitely signed and will contribute to their GoFundMe. I rode there for the 1st time a few months ago and loved it - nice dirt, excellent location, and a fun track layout.

Sure, but to be fair, it's Rhode Island, so it's probably Democrats.

Ill be honest, that video doesnt really answer any questions

Also, is it the township or the state that is fining them?

Once again, im not saying them being fine isn't garbage and yea the video shows the hypocrisy. But I just hope the guy got an environmental impact study done before putting his life savings into a business that is ripe for public complaints and being shut down. MX as a community has to get better at this. Trying to go off emotions doesnt work with local and state governments. 

And trying to piss off townships and local governments doesnt work either.

DEM is a state agency.  Only one comment. Once upon time we in RI did have an mx track. It was Pine Top in Escoheag. It hosted our only AMA National.  1978 125/500 Mr Pibb National.   

Instead of chasing this the state should focus on (usually stolen) dirt bikes terrorizing public roads.  

Signed and donated.

Signed 

The problem he'll likely have (and I know this from personal experience, as I was once sued by both FEMA and the EPA for this exact reason) is that the term "wetlands" carries no official definition. It's up to whoever they put on the case and how they utilize their "soil sample" color chart booklet, and often, a finding of violation that leads to a seizure of someone's land is seen as a pathway to promotion for the person doing the investigation. You almost have to give up caring what happens, as there's nothing they like better than a nasty brawl with a passionate, angry, land owner. I no longer have that track, as I was eventually told the highest mound of dirt I could "legally" create was 12 inches tall, and that they might come at any time to inspect the track and see if I was in violation. As completely crazy as I'm sure this will sound, the Feds actually scrambled one of those big, ominous, flat-black jets with the giant radar dish mounted to it and "pinged" my jumps to see how tall they were. I knew I was beat at that point, so I just spent a few thousand bucks to bulldoze the track flat, they went away victorious, and I sold the land at a loss. I've heard so many stories like mine since then I've lost count, and I eventually learned I was very fortunate to end up I like I did. The government, be it local, State, or Fed, has the unique ability to monetize its own incompetence, and that makes them an almost impossible opponent to win against. I've yet to hear of anyone who won their battle once the word "wetland" was employed, so there's that. It's their magic bullet.

I wish him and the track all the best, but that fella needs to buckle his seat belt and pull it tight - this could get bumpy.

I've signed and donated. Not affiliated with the track in any way but wanted to share my experiences there. Sorry for the long post.

 I grew up in RI and moved away in early adulthood. Growing up there were no legal places to ride, and so we found places to ride anyways. In high school I actually did a project outlining the importance of a legal riding area in RI. I found out in 2021 that I would be moving back to RI (work and family reasons) in 2022 and was bummed. As an adult with a family and job you can't really risk "finding" places to ride and I would never put my kids in that situation, so i mentally prepared to be driving to MA, NH, or ME whenever I wanted to ride. 

Buttonwoods MX opened around this same time, and by the time I moved they were operating. I lived back in RI briefly 22'-24' and I rode at Buttonwoods fairly often. The owner and operators are awesome. They make everybody feel welcome, are constantly improving, and really have something special there in a place that has nothing for the MX community. When I rode there, they had a small kids track (think 50's and 65's) that was free when an adult paid to ride the main track. The track came a long way in the two years I lived there, and following their social media accounts, it appears to have continued to improve.

I don't know the ins and outs of the fines they have gotten, but I would love to see DEM drop/reduce the fines, and help them get into compliance/give them a grace period to correct issues if there is something wrong. Rhode Island needs this place. I no longer live there, but I would hate to see the RI mx community left with nothing in the state. 

I would encourage anyone able to do so to look into it and donate/sign the petition if you are able.

^^^ I agree wholeheartedly. Try to deal with them (the D.E.M.) as if you have common interests and common concerns, and things will almost certainly go better. 

Well said.  Once upon a time we had trails, a dunes are called  the “desert”, “Beadies” or however it was spelled.  Most places are now houses or commercial property.  The desert is still owned by the state. Basically a barren area of sand and surrounding trails where it’s illegal to ride.  A shame they can’t somehow do something with that land for off road use.  Of course now a days beaches can hardly be fully staffed with lifeguards so I don’t see it happening at the desert as it would take some coordination to keep everyone going in the same direction or separating bikes from 4X4s.  Used to be some close calls in the 70s and 80s. Here you have a guy who has put this place together and even after getting his permit(s) is in for another fight.  

Kansas. Private.

I had the track for several years with no issues whatsoever. It was a great track, built by a now-legendary track builder, and was completely private and utterly remote. Not only that, it was bordered by a river and was in a flood plain, so there were zero neighbors and thus no noise complaints. The dirt was this amazing, pure, dark, loamy, river silt. You couldn't find a pebble if you dug down 50 feet. The river's flow had been f-ed up by the Army Corps of Engineers years before and thus flooding was a recurring issue, and during some floods the track could end up over ten feet under water. Nevertheless, my "dirt mounds" (their term) created a "crisis that has threatened the local area, and by extension the nearby town, and by further extension the entirety of the State of Kansas, and by further extension the entirety of The United States Of America." Yup, that's what they told me. My dirt mounds were a threat to our entire nation. They brought a lawsuit against me every single day for a thousand dollars a day for a ridiculously false, easily disproven, non-existent, violation; but with each lawsuit being a separate and distinct offense that had to be fought in court individually, it was an impossible fight to win. By design.

The whole story seems so absurd, even now it seems almost unbelievable - but it happened - and here's how it began: Barack Obama was President and was planning to fly to a nearby town to give a speech on how both he (a Democrat) and Teddy Roosevelt (a Republican) were in complete agreement about how wonderful big government was. Well, the Feds scout every inch of the ground Air Force One travels over, and that's how they found me and two other guys' tracks. Those two got pissed because they knew the whole thing was bullshit and so they rolled up their sleeves and fought (and lost, brutally), whereas I did not. I just sold the land and moved away, and I've never once looked back.

You gotta know when you're in a fight you just cannot win. To this day, the irony of it all just makes me laugh out loud. Obama's speech was about how Big Government is good? Uh, yeah, sure it is, Barack, sure it is. 

The truly good news for me is that I then moved to the place I believe I was always destined to live. I had some hard lessons to to learn, and learn them I did. My track now is so far beyond my wildest dreams I cannot even see them in my rear-view mirror, so I've no regrets whatsoever. My moto-life is pure bliss, as is the rest of my existence. I am the luckiest man I've ever met - and man, do I have some good stories. Cheers.

The town dump actually borders the track. The EPA and DEM, and whatever other alphabet agencies, should go take some soil samples over there and make sure they're up to snuff. This shit is every year for Buttonwoods. He fighting them non-stop. I can't imagine what he's spending on lawyers. The track isn't some big money maker either so he's doing it for the love of the game

Yeah. I watched the video, and I get his righteous indignation totally. There was a rail line owned by Warren Buffet's railroad company (B.N.S.F.) alongside the land my track was on (it crossed the river there), and those greedy, soulless, number-crunching M-Fers broke every goddam environmental rule there was without Uncle Sam even flinching. They were above the law. I was not. They made enormous political donations. I've never given a politician a dime and i never will. So there's that.

This fella knows where his heart is, and that will give him a sense of purpose - which he'll need. The problem is, the goal of establishing fairness isn't necessarily how these people roll. Some are good-hearted public servants, yes, but some are power-worshipping devil-horned monsters. He might get lucky, he might not. I got lucky, as the E.P.A. could easily have bankrupted me the way they've bankrupted so many others, but they didn't. They let me go with my life mostly intact. If any of you are interested, look up and read the Supreme Court case brought against the E.P.A. by an Idaho couple they sued over their land being a wetland. It is chilling. Thank God for Lee Zeldon, as he's filed down the E.P.A.s fangs considerably. 

That alone might be good news here. Hopefully, this all works out well. I've said enough - all my best to this man and his beautiful intention to bring moto to people who dearly love it and have no other options. Long may he run, and his track as well.