ORBA Joins The Great American Expedition
ORBA Joins The Great American Expedition
Bringing the off-road community into America's 250th celebration
As America continues to celebrate its 250th anniversary, the Off-Road Business Association (ORBA), a subsidiary of SEMA, is proud to participate in The Great American Expedition, the U.S. Department of the Interior's flagship Freedom 250 journey celebrating America's public lands and waters and the people connected to them.
Across the country, The Great American Expedition is telling the stories of the places, people and partnerships that have shaped America's relationship with its lands and waters. For ORBA, it presents an opportunity to tell an important part of that story: how motorized recreation connects Americans to the outdoors and the businesses, communities, volunteers, organizations and land managers that make those experiences possible.
Bringing the Off-Road Community Into the Expedition
The story of motorized recreation does not begin and end at the boundary of a public-land parcel.
It includes the trails and open spaces where people recreate, the businesses that build and equip the vehicles that take them there, the communities that serve as gateways to those places, the events that bring people together, and the volunteers and organizations that invest their time in stewardship and responsible access.
Over the coming months, ORBA will continue working in partnership with the Department of the Interior to identify opportunities to bring those stories into The Great American Expedition through off-road events, industry gatherings and stewardship activities across the West.
Some of those opportunities will take place directly on federally managed lands. Others will provide a platform to reach the people, businesses and communities whose work, recreation and livelihoods are closely connected to them. Together, they tell a much bigger story about the role motorized recreation plays in America's outdoor heritage.
The Journey Begins in Northern Nevada
The first ORBA-supported opportunity took place during W.E. Rock Western Series Round 3 in Northern Nevada.
The competition was originally scheduled for the Moon Rocks OHV Area, one of Northern Nevada's best-known motorized recreation areas on Bureau of Land Management lands. When wildfire conditions forced a last-minute relocation, organizers moved the competition to Farmy's Off-Road Park in Yerington, a former BLM parcel that is now privately owned.
The venue changed, but the connection to the public-lands recreation community did not. Competitors, families, volunteers and members of the off-road community came together around a form of recreation rooted in exploration, challenge and a shared connection to the outdoors.
The Expedition continues August 20-23rd with the VORRA Stomping Grounds 300 in Yerington, Nevada, where desert racing, community involvement and public lands come together on a permitted Bureau of Land Management racecourse.
From the Trail to the Show Floor
As The Great American Expedition continues, ORBA is exploring additional opportunities throughout the fall to highlight different parts of the off-road community and its connection to America's public lands.
Potential opportunities span Nevada, Utah and Oregon and may include off-road competitions, stewardship projects, industry gatherings and public-land discussions. Examples include Trail Hero, the Nevada Off-Road Summit, King of the Kastle - Rage in the Sage, the SEMA Show, SNORE Rage at the River, and stewardship work involving the Nevada Offroad Association and BLM at the Shoshone OHV Trail System.
Each setting offers a different window into the off-road community. At a trail or racecourse, that may mean responsible recreation, permitted competition, stewardship and collaboration with land managers. In a rural community, it can mean demonstrating the economic activity and local partnerships generated by outdoor recreation. At an industry gathering such as the SEMA Show, it means telling another essential part of the story: the American businesses, manufacturers, innovators and organizations that build the products, technology and equipment that allow millions of people to experience the outdoors.
Telling the Complete Story of Motorized Recreation
The Great American Expedition celebrates the people, places and partnerships that help care for America's public lands, waters, wildlife and historic sites. ORBA's participation gives the off-road community an opportunity to contribute its own chapter.
Throughout the coming months, ORBA will share stories of the racers and recreationists who use public lands, the businesses that make those experiences possible, the volunteers who give their time to stewardship, the communities supported by outdoor recreation, and the land managers and partners working to keep recreation opportunities sustainable and accessible.
That broader story matters. Motorized recreation is not only about where people ride or race. It is also about the network of people and organizations that support access, stewardship, innovation, safety and local economies.
Celebrating 250 Years - and Looking Ahead
The Great American Expedition is not only about looking back. America has always been a nation of explorers, innovators and people willing to forge new paths. As we celebrate 250 years, there is also an opportunity to think about what we want the next 250 to look like.
For ORBA, that includes public lands where Americans can continue to explore responsibly, communities that benefit from outdoor recreation, a strong and innovative off-road industry, and partnerships that protect both recreation opportunities and the places where they happen.
America's public lands are more than lines on a map. They are places where people make memories, build communities, challenge themselves, care for the land and continue a tradition of exploration that has been part of this country from the beginning.
ORBA looks forward to helping bring the off-road community into The Great American Expedition and sharing those stories in the months ahead.
Department of Interior Freedom 250: The Great American Expedition
