Welcome to Community ORV Watch

WELCOME to Community ORV Watch (COW). We are Morongo Basin residents, homeowners, and businesses who have organized to protect our private and public lands from ORV abuse.

MILLIONS OF ORVs are sold each year and the number is rising. Whether through willful lawlessness or through ignorance, the destruction of private property and lands held in trust for future generations is increasing at an alarming rate, placing the burden on businesses, residents and taxpayers.

OUR COMMUNITIES ARE UNDER SIEGE and we are fighting back. COW promotes solutions by supporting more law enforcement, stiffer penalties, changes in law and ordinances, public education, and rider responsibility. 

DON’T DESPAIR -- many people have experienced harassment and intimidation by aggressive ORV riders and have been met with unsympathetic law enforcement. We are an action-oriented organization, watching out for each other and giving voice to our demands. Find out how you can act.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT, your skills, your abilities, your attendance at important meetings, your ideas, and your financial support to continue to fight back against the growing threat of illegal ORVs.

AND WE CAN SUPPORT YOU in forming your own local organization based on a community organizing model including popular participation, and decision-making and meeting facilitation skills workshops.

YOU WILL FIND MANY RESOURCES on this site that can help you. Learn about current issues and campaigns. We have developed a ORV Abuse Reporting Form, petitions, and a list of the relevant laws.

Find out how the fight is progressing here in the Basin and in other communities in our archive of news articles.  Check out our Important Links to connect with more groups and resources.

We are a member group of the Alliance For Responsible Recreation a coalition of groups throughout the Southern California Desert region, and are associated with the Morongo Basin Conservation Association.

Our Mission Statement

We are local residents and property owners who are responding to the crisis of unlawful Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) use in the Morongo Basin.

ORV lawlessness is causing widespread and frequently permanent damage to private property and our public lands. It is menacing our communities, endangering the health and safety of rider and non-rider alike, degrading our property values, and increasing resident and community costs. This vandalism is in violation of the law, and our public agencies have been ineffective in addressing this problem by failing to uphold existing law.

We intend to stop it! How?

• Community organizing and neighborhood vigilance.
• Demanding effective law enforcement.
• Holding our elected officials accountable.
• Public education about rights and responsibilities.
• Holding riders and parents liable for the damage they do, through enforcement of the law and civil action.
• Pursuing every legal means available to us.

Problems and Solutions

Off-road vehicle damage to private property and roads results in the loss of millions of dollars each year, and their burden on law enforcement and other services is taxing local residents. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of our public lands already sacrificed to ORVs in designated areas, but that is not enough for a hungry and well-funded industry. ORVs cause permanent damage of soils, destroy habitat for wildlife, denude vegetation, scar the landscape, and drive down property values. The dust from ORVs contributes to respiratory disease, and thousands of child riders are injured each year. The lack of enforcement of the law, soft penalties, and inadequate signage and public education all contribute to the problem.

WE ARE PROMOTING SOLUTIONS such as strong local ordinances against ORV trespass and large scale staging; enforcement grants; tougher penalities and bigger fines; visible license plates; parent liability for the actions of their children; civil suits; large format signage and informational kiosks in problem areas; and public education and outreach. We are also challenging the culture within federal and local law enforcement that is sympathetic to riders at a cost to residents. We welcome the assistance of responsible riders who are in a position to educate others.

WE HAVE HAD MANY SUCCESSES organizing in communities, getting media exposure, increasing law enforcement, taking officials to task, making allies within government and law enforcement, and protecting our land through a net of concerned and active residents. Education is key to changing attitudes, especially among the youth. And we are putting organizing and empowerment tools in the hands of residents.