Crossbar Ranch SAVED!!!!
Tonight a group of avid off-road enthusiasts from across Oklahoma attended the City of Davis council meeting to offer support for the Crossbar Ranch ORV park and riding area. Riders spoke about taking families and children there to camp, ride the trails and enjoy the outdoors. Most explained they were concerned with the loss of public riding areas across the country and encouraged city council members to invest in Crossbar Ranch and grow it to a major off-road destination rather than take the fast buck now for a short-term game.
The council members listened to the support offered by the multitude of Oklahoma motorcyclists and voted unanimously to retain ownership of this important riding area and to NOT sell it to Arcadia Farms, owned by Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy.
Just prior to the vote, and after the strong show of support by the riding community, a representative for Arcadia Farms said "Mr. McClendon is an avid ATV supporter" if he was able to purchased Crossbar Ranch, would look at the possibility of keeping it open to off-road riders "subject to liability limitations".
We at Ride Oklahoma feel that Mr. McClendon is an wonderful person and has done a LOT for the citizens of Oklahoma. But the proof is in the results. As a major landowner in Oklahoma, if Mr. McClendon is serious about supporting the off-road community, as his representative at the Davis City Council meeting stated, then open up some of those vast EXISTING landholdings to off-road riders and outdoorsmen. If that happens and we see more - not less - land available to off-road motorcycle and ATV riding, then our position might change. Until that time we will continue to encourage public ownership of riding areas such as Crossbar Ranch. And a very BIG thank you to the Davis City Council members - and the people who elected them, as well as the motorcycle riders who took time from their busy lives to attend this important meeting. It proves that by working together important policies can be influenced.
posted by James Pratt at 12:00 AM
3 Comments:
It was great to see a strong turnout and ecstatic about the support from the council in really no interest to sell the land.
It would be interesting to hear from Arcadia Farms in response to opening up the other land they've already purchased and closed off from riders.
Josh (guy in far right of picture wearing brown polo with blue stripes)
Thanks to all those that showed up at the meeting to represent all of us that couldn't make it!
Crossbar is a great place and we don't want to loose it.
Rod
I have had dealings with McClendon and I can tell you that there is no way in haites that he would ever open any of his land (currently 70,000+ acres) up to bikers or anyone else.
He has been buying every piece of land around my area that he can get his hands on. As soon as he buys a piece of land the first thing he does is fence it off and put Arcadian Farms signs and no trespassing signs everywhere. Yet I have found his employees on my land several times.
His new 'Pops' restaurant and convenience store recently opened in Arcadia. He then bought out the other two restaurants in town and shut them down. A couple weeks ago he and some of his people went to Pops to eat and he shut down the restaurant while he was there. One of the Pops employees told me that people were coming to eat from as far away as Tulsa and they were being turned away because Mr. McClendon was eating there.
You tell me if you think he would allow people to ride on his property. The joke around here is that he doesn't want to own everything, just the land next to his.
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