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By: Robert Janis
A New Association for
State OHV Program Administrators Launched
The National OHV Association of Program
Managers (NOAPM), an informal group created to
provide assistance to state OHV program
administrators as they do their daily work
managing their individual state programs, has
been re-created into the International OHV
Program Administrators Association (INOHVAA), a
more formal group that will include OHV program
administrators from the provinces of Canada and
perhaps other countries. Ron Potter, policy and
program manager of Parks and Trails for the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and
Tom Metsa, state OHV/snowmobile program manager
for Colorado State Parks, are co-chairman of the
organization. The National Off-Highway Vehicle
Conservation Council (NOHVCC) is a contributor
in the creation of the group, providing
facilitation and other administrative
activities.
The preliminary work of starting the
organization began in September, 2010 and was
completed in March, 2011. The initial work
included selecting the new name, setting the
purpose and ratifying bylaws. In addition, a
membership and associate membership structure
has been created which provides for each state
to have one or more members who will cast a
single vote for their state, and a partner
membership for federal or local partners who
want to participate.
According to Potter, the purpose of INOHVAA is
to try to develop some consistent policies and
statutes concerning the administering of state
OHV programs at least across the United States
as well as in the provinces of Canada. “We are
trying to get consistency on how OHVs are
managed,” said Potter. He also noted that the
association will be used as a tool for states to
share information. “Some states like California
have been dealing with OHV for 35 years,” said
Potter. “The organization will hopefully save
some of the states from reinventing the wheel by
sharing information and sharing some of the
things the states who have been doing this
longer have done. They know best what works and
what don’t work.”
Potter noted that a lot of states are struggling
with proper definitions of what is an ATV, a
side-by-side, etc. “There are a lot of different
definitions out there. We believe that we can
learn from one another and come up with
consistency by working closely with the
industry. We can come up with definitions we
don’t have to keep changing every couple of
years,” said Potter.
Potter explained that the organization is
creating a website that should be online in the
next few months. It will include a summary of
all the state’s OHV laws, contact names
including phone numbers and addresses for every
state and federal information and publications.
Potter noted that several states have very good
education programs that can be accessed over the
Internet or in CDs, and the website will help in
the sharing of this material.
Chris McNeil, off-road vehicle safety and
education coordinator Wyoming State Trails
Program, is designing the website. He is
evolving the site from a template. “It is
similar to a shopping center with all kinds of
fact materials from different states,” explained
McNeil. “There is a page which shows a map of
the United States. You click on a state and
obtain information on the OHV program in that
state including rules and regulations pertaining
to OHVs. There will also be videos, links to
state’s OHV education programs, a shopping
center of pamphlets, PDF files, and things that
can be used to promote state programs including
materials that can be copied as well as posters
and Bureau of Land Management and United States
Forest Service information.”, said McNeil.
“There will be all sorts of stuff you can just
grab from the site and there will be a forum,
too. It will have whatever the group wants to
put on there.”
Potter explained that INOHVAA will hold annual
conferences. The next conference is in
September. McNeil said that he hopes to have the
website going after the conference.
So far more than 17 states have joined the
association, and Potter said that more are
joining every week. “The federal highway folks
and others have helped to promote us with
e-mails. We hope to get all 50 states involved
and the Canadian Provinces,” said Potter.
Potter added that INOHVAA is taking things
slowly right now. “We are trying not to move too
fast until we can get all the states on the
board who want to join. We don’t want to leave
states out,” he said. “Once it has a full
contingency of states, then we will kick it up a
notch.” said Potter. “We hope to have many more
states on board by our September meeting. We
will be putting the board in place at that
meeting and completing the structure, including
regional chapters if the group thinks that would
be beneficial. The more involvement we can have
at that meeting, the better the organization
will be.”
Currently, members are being kept informed by
quarterly conference calls.
“We are trying to make this as simple and
painless for the managers as we can,” Potter
concluded.
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