TOM CRIMMINS; NOHVCC HALL OF FAME

The first in a six-part-series; a closer look at the new Hall of Fame inductees

     At the recent NOHVCC Annual Conference in Birmingham, Alabama the first six inductees into the newly created NOHVCC Hall of Fame were honored during the Saturday night celebration dinner. The NOHVCC Hall of Fame was created to honor the folks who have made long-term commitments to the organization and all of the first round inductees can date their association with the NOHVCC all the way back its very beginnings in the early '90s!

     The 2006 recipients of the award were Bill Chapin (MI), Tom Crimmins (ID), Steve Gunderson (CO), Ron Morgenthaler (WA), Jim Pilon (CA), and Paul Slavik (CA). In the coming years, more members will be added to the Hall of Fame as the Board and staff see fit.

     In this first of a six-part series, we'll take a closer at each one of the new Hall of Famers, beginning with Idaho's Tom Crimmins who is currently serving as an NOHVCC advisor and contractor.

NOHVCC News: When did you first get involved with OHVs?

Tom: In 1979 when I was the U.S. Forest Service Resource Officer for the Cannell Meadow Ranger District in the Sequoia National Forest (California). My duties at the time included the management of the OHV trails and that is when I first became involved in the sport. I held that position until 1987 and I got to spend a lot of time riding four-wheelers, but I had to look like I wasn't having fun since I was on the job! My next position with the Forest Service was even more focused on OHVs as I worked as the Regional Office OHV Coordinator for the State of California U.S. Forest Service.

NN: How did you first get involved with the NOHVCC?

Tom: I was invited to the first formation meeting at Lake Arrowhead (CA) in 1990. The Honda people had been traveling around the country surveying the current state of riding area opportunities and they found that OHV enthusiasts weren't accomplishing what they needed to do to keep ride areas open. They (Honda) were concerned and wondered if they could get a national OHV enthusiast group together that could share information and resources in manner that would make them all more effective in keeping the sport alive and healthy. So they met with about 10-12 of us who were in the OHV trail management business or were land-use advocates and asked us how we thought we could get the nation's OHV activists to better communicate with each other on what works and what doesn't as far as land-access goes.

     So at our first break in the meeting Sylvio (Carerra, of Honda) us asked about our initial ideas and we suggested that a newsletter that should be regularly circulated amongst the most active OHV advocates throughout the country. He said, and I'll never forget this, that he "was very disappointed" in what we came up with and that he expected "more from this roomful of experts". So we met again in the afternoon and our group said 'OK if that's what you want, we'll tell you what we really need', and we came up with the idea of linking all fifty states together on a computer network. Then by using e-mail everyone is able to quickly and easily communicate with huge lists of other OHV advocates. Now keep in mind that at this time in the early '90s e-mail was still a relatively uncommon thing for most people to have, as well as home PCs, so this was asking a lot. Sylvio said 'now that's what I was looking for' and he said that Honda just happened to have recently re-done their computer systems and had a bunch of old units lying around that we could use. And that is how we got the whole NOHVCC communication network off the ground.

NOHVCC News: Did you have any initial concerns as a Forest Service person how this would take off?

Tom: Yes, I was worried that it could turn into the 800-pound gorilla whereas these OHV enthusiasts might begin making proposals that weren't compatible with agency requirements, but the NOHVCC group was already on board as far as having correct environmental and trail ethics from the very beginning.

NOHVCC News: How has your association with the NOHVCC evolved from there?

Tom: I stayed involved with the group every year to give them the agency perspective and then when I retired from the Forest Service in '97 I became a contractor for NOHVCC by facilitating the OHV Management Workshops and doing presentations on trail system planning and other similar topics. Basically, my main job now is to help agencies properly plan and implement quality trail opportunities for the enthusiasts, while at the same time protecting the environment and making the trails sustainable over the long run.

NOHVCC News: All right, the most important question. Where is your favorite ride area?

Tom: My favorite right now is the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. They're pretty good trails and close to home. In the future I would like to have more time on the Piaute Trail. We were there for a workshop but I didn't get near enough time to ride for fun.

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