Blue Ribbon Coalition Executive Director Ben Burr gives the low-down on what BRC needs right now and shows us how we can be successful in our land use fight. It’s a fascinating take on what is going on in the real world. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
4:16 – my ancestors settled the Moab area; the Burr Trail is named for them
8:01 – I was always an advisor on these issues, I had pretty deep life experience working on public lands
17:13 – If you would have said I’m going to go from restaurants to politics, I would have been like, how am I going to get there?
25:16 – that’s the operating system running things now, it positioned lawyers to be the key players in this movement, especially on the environmental side
30:19 – and so, it is time to install an operating system that works to the benefit of outdoor recreation users
37:21 – you say exclusionist, I say elitist, it’s a very elitist movement
47:21 – SUWA wants concentrated recreation in just a few areas
53:20 – Call to Action – join BRC, a change in the public land system is going to happen because a bunch of people rise up and demand it
1:01:15 – if everybody who owned an off-road vehicle joined BRC, I’d be bigger than the Sierra club, it’s a $300 million organization – the math maths out on that
Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:39.870] – Big Rich Klein
My guest on this week’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich is Ben Burr. Ben is the Executive Director for the Blue Ribbon Coalition. We will talk about Ben’s history, what led him to BRC, and the many fights that they have going on to keep public lands open to all. Good morning Ben Burr. How are you doing today?
[00:02:02.510] – Ben Burr
I’m doing great. How are you Rich?
[00:02:04.260] – Big Rich Klein
Excellent. It’s, it’s good to get you on here. I don’t think we’ve actually had a discussion or talked previously. I know a lot of the people that are on your BRC Board of directors and I’ve heard a lot about you. So I’m looking forward to this interview and finding out more about you.
[00:02:23.300] – Ben Burr
Hopefully it’s the good things.
[00:02:25.120] – Big Rich Klein
Oh yeah, nothing but good so far. But we’ll get, we’ll get into all that. The first question I want to ask you is where were you born and raised?
[00:02:35.260] – Ben Burr
Yeah, so I was born in Provo, Utah, and I grew up around that Utah Valley area, up around Provo and Orem and went to high school, Mountain View, went to college at Brigham Young University. So kind of that’s that northern Utah area is where I was born and raised and grew up there through most of my young adult life. And then by the time I’d gotten married and started working, I went and worked in Washington D.C. for seven years. So I lived out there for a period of time and worked in the United States Senate. And then when we left D.C. i moved back to southern Utah and I currently live in New Harmony, which is about 30 miles north of Sand Hollow. That’s probably where most people that listen to your show know where something is in Utah, right?
[00:03:27.870] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah, I lived in Cedar City for a while. So New Harmony is very familiar because I had to work in St. George for a while. So. Yeah, that halfway point, basically.
[00:03:36.950] – Ben Burr
Yep. It’s a nice little area we get. I, I can find 70 degree weather any time of the year.
[00:03:44.190] – Big Rich Klein
Also the wind, there is some wind.
[00:03:47.320] – Ben Burr
Here during the, when the weather changes, we get wind, but it’s mostly pretty good.
[00:03:53.450] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah, no worries. So then those early years growing up in Provo, I know that most Utahns are outdoors orientated. Yeah, the family was really big into the outdoors.
[00:04:11.530] – Ben Burr
Yeah. So my family has been in the helicopter business.
[00:04:15.170] – Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:04:16.060] – Ben Burr
And so my grandpa was actually born and raised in Moab and was multiple generation Moab. Like my ancestors settled that Moab area, the Burr trail out in near the Lake Powell and Bullfrog area. That trail is named after my ancestors and they ended up in the Moab area. And I, my great great grandpa did cows up in the La Salle Mountains. And then my grandpa grew up there and as a kid in the 60s, I guess it would have been 50s and 60s, he kind of saw the need for a helicopter getting around that area and he started a helicopter business. My grandma that he married was actually a swimsuit, the daughter of a swimsuit designer out of LA. So it was kind of an interesting story because back in that time period it was still like you had the good old boy Moab, long term resident meeting the newcomer coming in from the Hollywood scene and they married. And it says it isn’t. It’s also the same forces that are in play in Moab right now. And so he started a helicopter business and my dad ended up working for his business and then eventually starting his own helicopter business. READ MORE
