08/07/2026
LENGHTY POST PLEASE READ! WE NEED HELP FIGHTING!
My name is David Gunter. I am the President for Save the Riders Dunes in Oregon. BlueRibbon Coalition has generously let me take over their email audience for a send. We're the little guy in the fight for the Oregon Dunes. And below is why that should worry you, and what you can do about it…
Save the Riders Dunes has been fighting for years to keep the Oregon Dunes open. We are a volunteer organization. Our board members have day jobs. Our "legal department" is a hired attorney we have to fundraise to pay.
Help us fund the fight »
On the other side of the table is the Center for Biological Diversity — a national litigation operation with a full-time legal staff, a nationwide donor base, millions of dollars in the bank, and a track record of using the Endangered Species Act to shut down our public land to the people who use it. In June 2024 they sued the U.S. Forest Service over the Oregon Dunes. Their claim: that OHV activity and permitting large riding events violated federal environmental law because the agency didn't adequately weigh the effect on the coastal marten and its critical habitat. In 2024 the Fish and Wildlife Service designated nearly the entire recreation area as that habitat.
On Monday, August 10 at 11:00 a.m., the District Court in Oregon will hear arguments — by telephone — on the Center's motion for a preliminary injunction. That motion would restrict OHV use across the dunes while the larger case proceeds. Read their own filing closely and the scope comes into focus: they've told the court that pulling the Forest Service's event permits alone won't be enough, because most of the dunes is open to the public regardless. They've asked the court to let the parties negotiate the specific restrictions, or to take further argument if no agreement is reached. This isn’t just about one event permit. It’s about your right to ride.
If you want to know how this could end, look at the Mojave.
Same plaintiff. Same statute. Different desert.
In Center for Biological Diversity v. Culver, the CBD challenged the BLM's route network in California's Western Mojave — the WEMO plan — on behalf of the desert tortoise and its critical habitat. On January 23, 2026, Judge Susan Illston vacated the BLM's 2019 plan and imposed closures across tortoise habitat. The numbers are worth reviewing:
The original WEMO network ran 15,235 miles.
The BLM's adopted plan kept 6,247 miles open.
After the court order, roughly 4,047 miles remain.
The court closed more than 2,200 miles beyond even the BLM's most restrictive analyzed alternative. No version of the agency's own environmental review ever proposed closures that deep.
Over 1 million acres are completely closed.
Those closures stand until at least October 14, 2029, while remand grinds on.
A federal judge closed more ground than the agency itself, on its most conservation-minded day, ever put on the table. That is the mechanism now pointed at the Oregon Dunes by the same litigator, and the coastal marten is playing the role the tortoise played in the Mojave.
This is why we're in the case, and why we can't do it for free.
Save the Riders Dunes is an intervenor-defendant, standing with Douglas County, Coos County, and the Forest Service. The Mojave is the reason that seat matters: when the government is the only defendant, riders can end up with closures no agency ever proposed and no one at the table who answers to them. We’re the only ones standing up in this court room for the every day Americans who want to enjoy our public lands.
That seat costs money. Attorneys, filings, expert review — the same machinery the other side runs on a national budget, we run on what we can raise from riders like you. We are outmatched on paper. We are not outmatched in the sand, and we don't intend to be outmatched in the courtroom.
Here's the ask, and it comes with a payoff.
Our partners at the BlueRibbon Coalition are running a fundraising sweepstakes to give away a custom Polaris RZR, trailer and $10,000 cash! The proceeds from OREGONDUNES are shared directly with Save the Riders Dunes to cover our legal costs in this case. Every entry is a dollar toward Save the Riders Dunes lawyer's invoice. Enter for a shot at the RZR; whether or not your name gets drawn, your entry funds the defense of the ground you ride. BRC has already raised thousands of dollars for our fight, but it’s not over yet.
BTW… BRC is giving you 50% BONUS ENTRIES with the code OREGONDUNES.
We need to pay our legal fees before our call with the judge on August 10th! Thus, we’re seeing if we can raise $5,000 in the next 5 days! Will you help us get there?
Enter Now »
One straight fact before you go: as of today, no injunction has been issued, no court has cancelled anything, and the Wi******er Bay UTV Takeover is still on for August 11–16! We're not raising the alarm because the dunes are lost. We're raising it because the Mojave shows exactly how they get lost — and because the cheapest this fight will ever be is right now, before a phone call on a Monday morning could show how much sand is left.
Enter the sweepstakes. Fund our defense. We'll see you at Wi******er Bay.
— David Gunter, President, Save the Riders Dunes
Enter the Sweepstakes Here »https://blueribboncoalition.org/sxs-sweepstakes/save-the-oregon-dunes/?promo=OREGONDUNES
