I'm all ears.
Everyone, this is Jon, the original author of the op-ed posted above.
Look, I am not here because I want a fight. I wrote the "Open Letter" as a way to distract Winter Wildlands, call out OEM people I knew indirectly, and get our community riled up and talking.
3 birds. 1 stone.
The work we are doing at Backcountry United is a purely grassroots effort. I am organizing people and the industry one conversation at a time, and hoping that through ALL of our love for snowmobiling, we can plant a seed and infect a popular sentiment that snowmobile access to public lands is not the terrible evil that Winter Wildlands Alliance has influenced into the Outdoor Industry and US Forest Service.
I am not going to stop because somebody else tried it before and they were unsuccessful. I have access to real influence over the conversation in our community and the sled and ski/snowboard industries, and I believe that my team and my relationships are already making a difference. AND we are just getting started.
So if you want to be the type that says "F YOU I'LL DO WHAT I WANT!", then go right ahead and be that asshole. Enjoy your life.
But if you want to open your mind and have a conversation about how to change the many negative perceptions of our sport, then let's have a conversation! I think you'd be surprised at how many people me and my supporters have softened with this approach.
Are we going to win them all? Definitely not.
But it's still worth trying, and we are gaining momentum.
You can email me with any feedback, or set up a call with me, at:
backcountryunited@gmail.com
Thanks.