El Dorado County has a new tool to try to train the off-roaders who – at least in times past – have trashed the area along the fabled Rubicon Trail.
"It's in your hands" is the message of a new 15-minute video produced by Todd Stanley, the Cool filmmaker of "Deadliest Catch" fame.
The video – which had its first showing at the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday – shows both the bad old days and the good, new ways for preserving the trail.
The county, and off-road organizations increasingly – especially after a state water quality abatement order in 2009 – have tried to educate those who take to the Rubicon in four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Last year, the county kicked off a color-coded bandana program that has been so popular, it's being copied for off-highway vehicle areas across the state.
The bad old days in the film are represented in monochromatic fake vintage clips of a four-wheel driver "Tom" violating almost every guideline.
He drinks and drives, relieves himself next to a stream and tosses in the toilet paper and drives through water in an undesignated location.
When he spills engine oil on the rocks, the voiceover representing bygone attitudes says, "That oil came from the ground. You're just putting it back."
Each time the film shows him doing the wrong thing, it comes back with information on how to do it right – with portable toilets, spill kits for proper oil safety equipment.
The video will be shown to off-road organizations and will air on local cable television, said Vickie Sanders, who coordinates Rubicon programs for the county.
Sanders also hopes to bring the video to schools, county fairs and the Sportsman's Expo. It will debut on the county's website, www.edcgov.us, on Earth Day, April 22.
The Rubicon Trail is actually a county road, established in the 1800s, now accessible in parts only by off-road vehicles – and hikers, bikers and equestrians.
The film cost nearly $100,000. About two-thirds of the funding came from a California grant funded by off-highway vehicle fees, and the rest was provided through volunteer work on the film.
VIEW THE VIDEO
The video will debut on the county's website, www.edcgov.us, on Earth Day, April 22. Program officials plan to show it to off-road organizations and on local cable television. They also hope to take it to schools, county fairs and the Sportsman's Expo.
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