Off-road vehicle buffs close trails at Holly Oaks park, band together for cleanup initiative
Environmentalists don't much like them.
The most zealous bunny huggers want to stop their hobby, or at least curtail it.
So these off-road enthusiasts say they need to showcase their good side, to defuse the stereotype of their kind: four-wheeling thrill seekers ripping up woodlands while pitching beer cans from their SUVs.
The wish to set a better example, to tidy up their off-road playground in Oakland County, brought more than two dozen volunteers on Saturday to Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park — in Jeeps, Ford Broncos, a Chevy pickup and a Land Rover.
The volunteers, recruited by a nationwide nonprofit called Tread Lightly!, temporarily closed the park's trails to others, then fanned out to pick up junked vehicle debris and litter. They used Weedwackers and hedge trimmers to tame weeds that obscured vision around corners. And they applied shovels to rain-washed gravel that made favorite hills risky.
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Elsewhere in Michigan, on the same day, Tread Lightly! volunteers were to converge at Mio, to erect fencing so that vehicles stay off wild areas; near Oscoda, for a day of trail restoration, and at two parks in the Upper Peninsula, also slated for cleanups.
One pair of regulars at Holly Oaks, Wesley and Dawn Smith, live 20 minutes north in Burton, showing that this facility of Oakland County Parks and Recreation fills a regional demand. Saturday's volunteer stint wasn't the Smiths' first with Tread Lightly! They joined previous cleanups at Holly Oaks and as far away as in western states, Wesley Smith said.
"Out west, they're taking trails away because they don't want people to damage them," said Smith, who owns a landscaping firm.
"We have to be good stewards of the land. If we're good stewards, we'll get to keep these playgrounds," he said.
At Holly Oaks, it seems that steady use by off-roaders has actually improved the park's natural appeal. Lush vegetation and wildlife have returned since the park's 235 acres ceased being a veritable moonscape of played-out gravel and sand pits. Those raw materials were the feedstock of tons of concrete, used to build roads.
It's no coincidence that traffic noise is audible in the park, though not obtrusive, from Interstate 75 just to the west. Looking north, and sharply skyward, the ski lifts of Mount Holly crown a peak.
On Saturday, Wesley Smith was driving his Chevy Silverado pickup, a backup to his favored off-road toy — a Jeep CJ. The Jeep was needing repairs after Smith recently did a back flip, hood over roof, while climbing a steep hill on loose sand.
Although the Jeep, shown to a reporter in cellphone photos, is looking poorly, Wesley suffered not a scratch, thanks to the roll bar built into his vehicle's roof, and to his seat belt, said his wife, Dawn Smith.
Of the mishap, she said: "I didn't see it. But I was coming around a corner and I heard it," she said with a laugh.
Dawn Smith, an accountant, said she's among a growing flock of women who like off-road driving. While taking a reporter on a tour of the Holly Oaks cleanup, in her Jeep Wrangler Sahara, Smith notes the task for Tread Lightly! volunteers. At one spot, she said:
"We're gonna come through here with hedge trimmers. We want to be able to see who's coming, for safety. We all look out for each other."
At another work site, Smith stopped to greet Tori and Brian Jenkinson, of Waterford, who were clearing weeds and gravel.
"We volunteer our time to keep it rough and rugged, the way it's supposed to be," Brian Jenkinson said.
Rolling on, Smith guided her Jeep up and down steep hills, and along gullies sodden with mud from the previous night's rain, exclaiming: "This is so empowering!" She kept up a steady patter as the SUV teetered from side to side, causing a reporter riding shotgun to think seriously about the law of gravity.
"This Jeep has changed my life," Smith said, as she somehow kept the vehicle upright.
"I've made lifelong friends doing this. It gets me outside, in nature. I've conquered my depression and anxiety," she said, adding: "My husband and I have been together for 22 years and we finally found an activity we can do together."
She's a member of Jeep Babes and other ORV groups, she said. Another way that volunteers contribute is by naming trails, making signs and adding to online maps such monikers as Gully Washer, Sloppy Joe, Skyline Drive and South Rim — all well-marked at Holly Oaks.
"See that hawk up there? Probably looking for mice," Smith said, as the big black bird floated far over the canyon formed by the park's former gravel mine.
After climbing out of the canyon, and returning to the parking area, we met the other volunteers returning from their tasks. Among them was Tom Zielinski, president of Z Performance. Zielinski is an ORV event promoter and, he said, a big fan of Tread Lightly!
He had the workday's tally: 80 bags of trash, much of it plastic debris from the park's mini-mountain of mulch, delivered free to the park by commercial tree services, and used to stabilize soggy trails. Also, one ruined vehicle bumper, 18 shredded tires, and the steel detritus of four exhaust systems.
Logging all that had Zielinski grinning.
"It's just great to get this park cleaned up," he said.
Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: At Holly Oaks ORV park, volunteers clean up off-road playground
