Would you rather have Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton deciding the fate of your favorite off-roading trail on public lands?

I think most people would agree that neither person is a good choice to be trusted to make the right decision to keep public lands open and accessible. Now I know that the decision on access to public lands will probably never make it all the way to Hillary or Trump, but nonetheless, our leadership options most definitely speak to the political climate that we are faced with in the United States.

Sure we have amazing groups with amazing people doing amazing work to influence politicians to make decisions that are in support of the off-roading community. Organizations like Tread Lightly and BlueRibbon Coalition do a fantastic job of keeping our interests in front of decision makers and we greatly appreciate their work, but we can’t forget that there are well funded organizations (mostly environmentalists) on the opposite side of the issue lobbying to close access for vehicles to public lands. And with decision makers and a political climate like we talked about above, the fate of public lands and many of our favorite trails are a huge uncertainty.

The lobbying of our sport’s interests within the political system are a must; however, is there not something more we can do to ensure that we are not left with our off-road vehicles and nowhere to use them? This question is one that Where2Wheel has set out to answer. We at W2W are taking it upon ourselves to build a network of ORV Parks across the nation to ensure a sustainable future for off-roading. We believe Where2Wheel can grow our sport through more accessible and convenient trail access all while also contributing towards the goal of keeping public lands open. This plan to create a network of ORV parks across the United States is definitely the long ball, but if successful it will grow the sport of off-roading to an entirely new level.

There are a few key strategic elements why this plan will work:

1. We don’t want to replace a weekend trip to the Rubicon or a week out in Moab. Where2Wheel wants to be the “fast food” of ORV parks – You don’t go to McDonald’s because they have the best hamburgers; you go to McDonald’s because they have a decent hamburger that is super convenient and accessible. That’s how W2W wants to position ourselves, and we can do this by forming ORV parks that are 30 to 100 acres in size within a half-hour or 45 minute drive to the closest major metropolitan area. Being only a short drive from the city will significantly encourage more people to come out and explore the sport of off-roading. Also the convenience will be greatly appreciated amongst longtime off-roaders that are used to the multi-hour drives required to get them out to major ORV parks and public lands.
2. Where2Wheel will start by placing these outside major cities where nearby off-road trail options are limited. This strategy will place even more of an emphasis on the convenience factor of our W2W ORV parks, creating a situation where success on a financial level is most likely, and then with success comes the ability to purchase, build, and operate even more ORV parks!
3. Once in place, this network will establish a more robust physical structure upon which our sport can grow, and with growth of our sport comes more funding and support for key organizations like Tread Lightly and BlueRibbon Coalition. This additional support will better equip the off-road community in our fight to keep public lands open!

At the current moment Where2Wheel is just a website, but the founding ideas behind Where2Wheel have always been to grow to something more. A website was simply the starting point that was financially feasible as I was only 25 years only when founding W2W. Where2Wheel will continue to grow as a website and when we reach a high enough level of support from the off-road community, then we will purchase our first ORV park and begin the long adventure of building a Where2Wheel ORV Park Network across the nation!