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Some thoughts on Uhuck as a jumper who has some prior investment in this effort and also out of respect for what has been done so far by the ABP, Vertical Visions, and the legacy of efforts and organizations before.

I applaud Uhucks passion and motivation and do think it is time for less talk and more action but the issue is to define what action. Is a protest jump appropriate, absolutely yes if all other avenues have been exhausted... but it is my understanding that nobody has actually reached out to the Yosemite NPS or Parks Superintendent in recent years and requested a formal meeting to review existing policy and present a case/proposal to allow BASE jumping fair access in Yosemite. And to my knowledge only a handful of Special Use Permits have ever been submitted over the last decade+. So once again we have a case of lots of talk in these forums over the past decade but limited action. Protest jumping, as the most aggressive and potentially detrimental action, should be a step of last resort… not an opening act.

A formal meeting with the NPS (or the request for one) is the first step. If the door is slammed shut, then more aggressive pursuits should be considered.

General Concerns about UHuck.com
Uhuck’s passion and motivation is outstanding but some observations from a professional who deals with government agencies on a daily basis: The U-huck image (not the people or the effort – your effort rocks!) but the image and message created by the website and its content is not the best choice. First off the name is kind of goofy and a pawn off U-haul. But more over the last thing we want is government agencies looking at this sight and finding this juvenile “rebel with a cause” MTV approach to a solution. Personally I would recommend a more environmentally conscious adventure oriented theme to the site, not a video that displays “bandit” jumping off of a rented U-haul or referencing the “parties” and “bail money” etc. This is not the image to try and sell to Parks officials. The ABP is definitely on the right track with an image but their involvement in any type of protest jump would definitely hurt any progress they have made (though I have not heard much from the ABP in the past year).

I would also question the date chosen for this protest jump. As much as the loss associated with this date has affected many in the sport, the basis for opening fair access should be one of change and starting a new positive relationship with the NPS. I feel that this date will only drum up all the negativity associated with BASE and NPS. There are other significant dates associated with BASE activity in the park, why not choose a more positive one like the date Mike and Brian (RIP) made the first jumps of El Cap.

How about approaching this with the same passion and motivation but curb the “skate punk” mentality because as much as “I” like the attitude and image, this will not gain any respect or consideration by crusty old government officials and will likely completely backfire and be used against us as example of the “type” of people BASE jumpers are and why we should not be allowed to “play” in National Parks.

I have recently submitted my bid for a Special Use Permit and will keep you updated on its progress. And others are requesting a meeting with the Yosemite NPS Management to discuss. If the NPS will not respond in a timely manner to a request for a formal meeting then by all means, let’s Uhuck-away! But I was under the false impression that significant effort had been put into jumping in Yosemite when it reality it seems very little has been done in recent years. Try the b-s bureaucratic process first and if there is not light at the end, then it will be time drop gloves and Uhuck away…only please think about changing the name and image of the website.

This is just IMHO and any action is better than no action!

Play safe,

Donk
Feel free to PM me - donk@kc.rr.com

Awesome Post!

wow! those are some really great thoughts and ideas. i agree with everything you said 100%!
the one thing that has made me concerned is the
"fuck you we're gonna jump it anyway" impression that a protest jump will give. im not saying its the wrong way but it certainly shouldnt be the first coarse of action.

i feel when you push the govt they get really pissed off!!!! pissing off a bunch of grumpy old white men is likley to make it much harder for open minded negotiations. theres no way to force our views down anyones throat. they must be volunteerly swallowed.

its like getting my old rottweiler to take her heartworm pill. i tried to force her to swallow it with no avail. then i wrapped it in cheese and butter tossed it in the air and she caught it and gobbled it up! lol

so lets get out the butter and cheese first, ok?

I totally agree w/ you. Well said.

The good thing I see about the U-huck logo is its public appeal. Hey its catchy and creative, and something people can relate to. Its easier to grab the attention of their targeted audience (a support group) versus something a little less striking.

I'm in no way a marketing expert, nor have I taken any courses on the subject- the above is my observed opinion.

Lets keep this on a positive track, some good ideas are flowing!

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Freedom Jump 08’ with the website, content, and correct message to back it is the right idea! Add a letter campaign, Special Use Permit campaign, petition, proposal, NPS meeting requests, attending NPS Park policy planning meetings, etc and you start looking legit.

I am all for the Protest Jump once some new effort has been put into at least communicating with the Park officials first. Without it you have little to fall back on and do come off as "rebellious" and "reckless"… especially to the non-BASE world.

You have to be able to talk to attempting many other courses of action first - requested meetings, submitted proposals, petitioned the NPS, etc. Just showing up and jumping is only going to piss off the people you need on our side to impart a real change… which may be inevitable (pissing the NPS off) but if you want to gain public support and some official compromise you absolutely have to demonstrate maturity, understanding, and intelligence as it relates to this issue. And I am not saying Uhuck does not have this but revamp what your message is and put as much effort into working with the Park as the “fund raising/tours” for bail.

But above and beyond anything else I do appreciate their in effort in reigniting this topic. I have had more conversation about this in the past weekw than in the past 2 years (baring the brief flame up after the NO NPS banner incident at BD05) and hope we can get the right players involved, keep aggressively working towards this, and support the effort of anyone willing to put in the time and energy into opening one of the most beautiful and spectacular parks in the world to fair access for all BASE enthusiasts.

Keep the dialoge flowing, and the ball rolling. I'll do my part and if it ultimately means getting arrested, I am willing to do so.

Donk

To help the NPS review existing policy show them a positive model for cliff jumping i.e. Kerag, Norway during the season.

How about raising money to take a couple Yosemite NPS rangers as guests to Kerag for a week during the jump season to see a positive example of cliff jumping and the workings of the Stavanger BASE club?

You never know but the NPS might even have a budget for 'research and development' which could include that type of trip and especially if matched with funds from the BASE community.

Make it easier for the NPS to see a way forward rather than just confrontation.

Nigel BASE 28

A great post and well thought out. The community needs to open doors, not close them. If a delagation can sit around the table with the NPS to reveiw their policy, if like Nigel has suggested, get some of them out to an established site to see a positive potential then new avenues would be opened up> If however, they refuse to talk, if they refuse to look, direct action and a protest jump, but only as a last resort, not an opening action.

just my thoughts

Andy

Base#229

spot on - well said!

First off, I should say that I'm impressed with the direction that UHuck is starting to take. While I'm still skeptical about the chances that a protest jump will do anything positive, my opinion was changed for the better when I took a look at the new site.

Regarding changes to the name and image... While I agree that staging "bail parties" starts this thing off on the wrong foot in that it's immediately confrontational, a change to "Freedom Jump '08", organized by Backcountry Parachutists for Reasonable Access to National Parks would be an excellent way to kill it before it begins.

First, this isn't fundamentally about freedom. If it were, I think it'd be easier to organize a "packing and kiting in the field" protest. That's not going to happen, because when all the cards are down, jumpers are in this because they love jumping. The NPS, whose mandate is the protection of certain national parks, doesn't see BASE in their vision for those parks. They're not anti-freedom.

Second, while I support the ABP and their approach to access issues, it was only with the appearance of UHuck that I (apparently like most jumpers) even gave the ABP enough thought to realize that i hadn't heard from them in more than a year. Do we have any reason to believe that the NPS notices them any more than we do? Exciting doesn't guarantee success, but all the same I think it's a good thing.

Hey Nigel, good to see you and Andy post. Wish we could convince some NPS folks to go over to Europe, but they could just go talk to Jimmy and Marta to see how well jumpers police themselves at Moab, Utah which is under a different sub agency of the same Dept. of Interior. Anyway, good to see a couple of the first BASE jumpers in the UK still checking out the site.
Rick H.

You sure are posting alot. Don't you have some diapers to change??

lol...nah the kid is 14 months old now and can stand flatfooted and pee in the back of a dumb truck.

this is good stuff !!! uhuck have anything to say about it?

Ummm, they took delivery of another son about a week ago.

Hi Rick - good to catch up with you on here. I hear what you're saying. I wasn't trying to say that you don't have any positive models for cliff jumping in USA. The NPS should be encouraged to do both those things.

I guess what I was trying to say is that you cannot under estimate the positive effect of getting out of your own country and having a fresh look at something you think you know about. The phrase 'travel broadens the mind' might be a cliche but that's because it is a fact.

Going abroad could be very liberating for any NPS staff. It would be a real opportunity to leave at home the negative baggage from the history at Yosemite.

Imagine the NPS folk - guests of the International BASE community, leaning back against a rock on the grass landing area at Kerag. It's their last day of a two week trip around Europe, and they are soaking up the relaxed late afternoon vibes of the LZ. A jumper lands and one of the NPS guys springs up to give a 'high five' and a cold bottle saying:

"Wow man, this place is so cool, shame we're still at war with you guys back home."

I really hope you guys find a way to end that war and get access to your park.

Good luck.


Nigel

p.s. How about a 'history and stories' forum section with NickDG as moderator?

Hey Nigel, I couldn't agree more. At kjerag, you can sit around a picnic table and watch families with their little kids along with other European tourists like the high tech biker groups camping, and sit there and watch jumpers off Smellvegan or the boat coming back with jumpers off cliffs 5 thru 7,even at midnight in the summer when it's still light. It is a nice vibe. Randy and I jumped with Thor Alex in 99 and others the mornig he died. The next day the New York Post heard there were a couple "yanks" in the place so they interviewd us. We said it was a real shame that jumpers from the "land of the free" had to travel to Norway to get big walls since we had some beautiful cliffs in our own land. I agree Nigel, get the party arranged and we'll see if we can get some NPS officials overthere. Take Care UK 1.
Rick

f%*k the rangers nothing is going to change there mindes. We have tried every approach for 20 years. Giving a couple of rangers a free trip to europe is a slap in the face of the memory of people like Frank and Jean.

That's a good question. I get an update from the Poker Players Alliance every couple of weeks letting me and the other members know their progress, set backs, and how we can contribute. I haven't heard from the ABP, outside of direct emails from Robin regarding something I said or didn't say, in quite some time.

I respect Robin's motives, but I have no idea what he's done or hasn't done in the way of actions.

 

 

Hi Tree,
I made a mistake and did not speak accurately. From what John said, the plan is much more complicated. I misunderstood what John said with regards to donations.

"Unfortunately, this is a complete misrepresentation of UHUCK's plan. Such little information could never encompass the full extent of a valid and complex campaign. UHUCK will reveal all information to the public in a timely manner according to the goals and mission of the organization. ONLY authorized representatives of UHUCK are privy to such information, and all official statements will be made on the UHUCK website first and foremost. Any questions and concerns should be sent to a UHUCK rep directly. Thank you."

Best,
JOHN
Uhuck.com
For further questions or comments please contact our publicist at publicist@uhuck.com

 

Five years ago I met with the Chief Ranger and the Superintendent of Yosemite. I was armed with letters of support from Sens. Byrd, Helmes and Dole. I carried response letters from the Washington NPS and from a minion in the Interior Dept. After a two hour meeting the answer to me was, " No you may not have permission to jump from El Cap". It was a "stacked deck". Since I had established the meeting a month before they had much time to rehearse their dialogue. The Chief Ranger even showed me how he checks the BASE sites.
BASE 719

Is this not the ultimate goal? To legally jump El cap and more? Does it matter who or what organization reaches this goal as long as it is reached?


Then again maybe this is a big campaign to drive Tree Crazy?

So, how?

The same as we do. He has the web sites in his favorites. I don't know what name he uses however.

Oh. BASE web-site. Doh! I thought you would share with us some counterintelligence on how NPS checks BASE jump-sites. Doh! Doh! Doh!

I don't suppose the basejumper.com admins are willing to cross-check the access logs against a list of known government/NPS IP address ranges? If it is possible, it would be interesting to see what kind of things they look at.

Edit:
A quick search reveals some possible IP ranges here:
http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/...nal%20Park%20Service

There is probably a better list out there in a more computer-friendly format though.

can you advise the argument they used to reject the application? was it structured and logical? is there anything we can revisit to compile reasonable counterarguments against?

They merely quoted the NPS rules against our activity.
I informed them that I was a former paratrooper and a twice wounded Infantry Combat Vet but they did not care.
They had their rules and they stuck by them.
They were friendly and cordial but intractable.

I wonder how the NPS is reacting to this... Probably shitting their pants... It is interesting how there is nothing being posted on their public or otherwise site about this future event... Interesting Chess move..

They are probably preparing for a bust. I am going to guess that they view this jump less as a protest and more as a criminal act. It will be interesting to see what happens, though I am (naturally) a bit nervous about what they will do to the jumpers.

I apologize if this has been said before, but again I have the thought- is this maybe happening too soon? Should we antagonize NPS while other efforts (such as what ABP is doing) are going on? Though such campaigns interact not with just NPS but with congresspeople as well, it is ultimately NPS that needs to be convinced to change its policies (correct me if I am wrong). We need to be seriously sure that going ahead with a protest jump is absolutely the best choice right now.

Excellent post Donk.
I just have a few things to say to anyone who cares to read...

The idea of donating any donated money to the park for conservation (furthering the mission of the NPS) and general park rescue efforts is a good one (perhaps a 50/50 split). Thats the direction I would choose.

I read the goals listed on uhuck's website and I feel they're a little off. The goals are a little too "grand" in my opinion for now. I think uhuck (or anyone wanting to jump in NPS lands) needs to set goals more in the short term. NPS is not going to simply rescind their regulations without an act of Congress. Thats NOT happening.

There is already a vehicle in place to jump in national parks: a permit. I believe that should be the goal; that would be a victory (for now). One person getting a permit for ONE jump. Its a start. And maybe not off El Cap. Maybe HD or some other cliff thats out of the way and off the beaten path. I've never been to the park so someone familiar with it would have to come up with the where, when, and why (see next paragraph on these details). Someone very familiar with the park and its conditions should do the jump (IMO). (Side note - this person should NEVER guarantee that they or any other jumper won't die. NEVER.)

This person is going to have to have multiple meetings with Yosemite rangers hammering out details of the jumpers plan to jump with minimal impact to the area. They are going to have to convince (prove to) NPS WHY that object, time of day, delay, PC size, clothing they're using, etc, etc (EVERY detail) is the way it is (preferably with a team of industry experts and experienced jumpers; have a safety officer and a reason why the chosen jumper is the one making the jump). They need to educate FULLY the rangers. (As a side note I realize this could be bad for bandit jumpers so if someone does this they must be willing to take the heat.) Not just for a successful jump but also in terms of impact to the area, and the area not just in terms of wildlife but also in terms of a rescue effort if any unfortunate accident should occur. Anything the NPS wants an answer for you're going to have to appease them. They're job is the NPS mission and the park. Period. When you don't have an answer, thats what the next meeting is for, more hammering out.

Permits are not going to be granted without the NPS knowing every logistical aspect and detail about how a technical jump happens, what risks there are, whats being done to diminish those risks as much as possible, etc and how the gear works (IMO), and especially how rescue and cleanup (when someone goes in) efforts will be handled. Legal jumps aren't going to happen without a permit and the process to get one. This whole process is going to take a LONG time and many hoops are going to have to be jumped through. There will be a team of NPS lawyers to scrutinize every aspect. Sorry, thats just the way it is with the govt.

I know its frustrating and its tough to be patient. The person who will get this permit will likely not be you (the avg jumper). You're going to have to be patient (for a long time). BUT after one person gets a permit to jump in Yosemite, the door is open. After that, maybe that jumper or another can get another permit for one jump. And so on. Short term goals. Its going to be a ssslllllllloooooooowwwwww, LOOOOOOONG process of establishing a record of following some procedure (so that certain safety and other precautions (in line with the park mission) are met) before permits are issued more regularly. If you can come up with why jumping furthers the park mission then that will be great.

This is all of course predicated on getting a meeting with Yosemite rangers to discuss obtaining a permit to jump. I really don't know how open they are to that. I think Jason has the best chance of getting a meeting at this point since he gets a permit in another park. I don't really follow efforts of the ABP (they seem to have dropped off the map) so maybe they could too.

One last thing, the (jumping) team I mentioned above needs to be people that are really in this for everyone and very carefully picked. No egos, no utube glory hounds. Professionals. People you rarely hear about with tons of knowledge all there for one purpose. Donk is definitely one who's got my vote.

Anyway, this is all just my opinion on the best way to procede, take what you want from it.
Holy crap I wrote a book. Sorry. Long posts suck...

-Will

IMO we should be focusing on a more realistic short-term goal. Everyone's dream is to legally huck the Captain, but in all honesty, aren't there better cliffs in the national park system to go after first? Let's face it, legal daytime jumps every day will be noticed by other park users, and some might see it as an annoyance. I'm sure that's one of the NPS' concerns. Now I don't know the park very well myself but from what I've heard, it could be jumped in a manner in which other visitors wouldn't notice (certain times of day etc). But as far as "getting the door open", why don't we concentrate on a more remote cliff, possibly in a different park?

Another thing.. I've seen articles in the past year or so that have indicated that the NPS is becoming increasingly financially strained.. if that's the case (or even if they have plenty of money but they just 'percieve' that to be the case) how do we expect their accountants to approve this:


or this:


I'm no expert, but it doesn't seem like they are likely to go for that. As people have brought up previously, maybe we should look at the processes in which other user groups gained access, and look for trends. I doubt that any group of sportsment gained access to the parks by requiring the NPS to pay for a panel of lawyers and spend their people's time learning about pilot chute sizes and bridle length.

Just my $.02...

 

Great POST mr. Donk!

Everybody who obsesses with El Cap and/or Yosemite is truly showing us their amature status in BASE.


Yosemite is one of the busiest parks in North America. And El Cap is like grand central at the park.


There are cliffs in just about every western states like Colorado. That place there has at the most 20% of the visitor rate as Yosemite at it's busiest! So why not start there?

And if your really exited about getting an a big Earth jump? Look around there are nice ones comparible to El Cap, maybe not exactly the same but LEGAL or not as populated as YOsemite with lower bust factors and in western states. All you need to do is you homework.


Bottom line is, should Yosemite be legal, duh YEA! bUT IT'S not a place to start the Battle. Washington, UTAH, cOLorado and other states have smaller populated places to start, with baby steps and show the MAN how we are mature MeN AND not immature children who litter and party and do drugs and are luid etc.

And when we prove we're not YOU TUBE influenced "look at me i'm rad" types but we are Mature sportsmen who are non intrusive low-key and hardly noticed then and only then we'll get what we want.

Stop posting and distributing Jackass style stuff in public. Because everytime someone type's in BASE On any search engine whatever is out there will come up. I cant tell how many times somebody say's "hey did you see that one BASE jump video on YouTube where the guy"......... So think before you do , before you do anything.

Just my two cents.

good day and good luck to all and think before you do anything , because it will always reflect on all of us.

you seem closed minded. Sometimes having this sort of thing in the public eye does work better, you should look into history and be able to see that.

Like I said...

But to compliment your statements, Tom... just like Bill Wendt (Chief Ranger) said in Sunshine Superman, (without quoting his full statement, ending with): "You don't have to dislike someone to, take away their freedom."

We do however have an interesting situation currently. Because the Deputy Director, and acting Director until recently, is now the Yosemite Superintendent; who grew up in the park according to the article I posted above.

So ... What does Mr. Reynolds think?

Because if you can't convince him, you're not going to convince anyone (of means), and I don't have time to wait another 20 years; or wait for "slow, thorough and responsible progression" with individuals who I don't believe have any desire to see our dreams come to fruition.

Happy to be wrong... and we've got plenty of time.

.

"I carried response letters from the Washington NPS"

Saying, what...?

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http://www.basejumper.com/...post=2881895#2881895