By Karen Bailey-Chapman
(Left) Representatives from Unofficial Use Only, Tyri Lights and NPD Logistics, all SEMA member businesses, came together to support motorized off-road trails and protect environmentally sensitive restoration areas. (Right) SEMA Sales Director Alan Josse, right, helps construct wood fencing for the Easter Jeep Safari with industry members.
What can 40 off-roaders with a "can-do" attitude accomplish in 30 minutes? Construct roughly 100 feet of wood fencing at about 2,000 feet in elevation is what! SEMA members, SEMA staff and SEMA board member Kim Pendergast joined the annual TreadLightly! trail management project during this year's Easter Jeep Safari, Saturday, April 12 through Sunday, April 20, in Moab, Utah. Nearly double the number of volunteers initially expected joined the effort this year, making quick work of the fence project and leaving more time for the workers to hit the trails! It helps that many of those in attendance have done this before on similar projects to help the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) maintain motorized off-road trails and protect environmentally sensitive restoration areas.
SEMA Senior Vice President for Public and Government Affairs Karen Bailey-Chapman and SEMA member and TreadLightly! Board member Tom Zielinski of Z Performance during the 2025 Easter Jeep Safari trail management effort.
TreadLightly!, a non-profit organization that promotes the responsible use of motorized vehicles when recreating outdoors, leads many of these kinds of projects throughout the year and throughout the country, not just in Moab. The organization partners with federal agencies like BLM, the U.S. Forest Service and state governments for maintenance and clean-up projects on federal and state lands. Public-private partnerships like this show, first-hand, how private industry can provide government agencies with the necessary tools--whether it is manpower, financial support, or both--to accomplish what we all want: keeping our public trails open for motorized recreation. All too often, government agencies choose to take what they believe to be the easy route and simply close these areas down. We don't agree with that approach.
SEMA Senior Vice President for Public and Government Affairs Karen Bailey-Chapman and Tread Lightly! Program Manager Kabe Wolf.
Organizations like SEMA continually face challenges when the easy answer for government agencies and others who oppose motorized recreation (and yes, there are many of them) is to shut our public trails down. We believe the most workable solution is to allow private industry to do its part and play an essential role in preserving our access to our public lands. This is why we will continue to support Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and his team in helping unleash the power of the private sector to solve land preservation goals. We're not just manufacturers, retailers and distributors of off-road products; we're enthusiasts, too.
To learn more about the critical work TreadLightly! does and how to get involved, visit treadlightly.org.
Karen Bailey-Chapman is SEMA's senior vice president for public and government affairs. Learn more about SEMA's advocacy efforts at sema.org/advocacy.
SEMA members, SEMA staff, and a SEMA board member were among the dozens of enthusiasts who showed their support for the annual TreadLightly! trail management project ahead of the 2025 Easter Jeep Safari, Saturday, April 12 through Sunday, April 20, in Moab, Utah.