The term Greenside comes directly from the United States Marine Corps and it is used to describe the type of operation in which direct contact with the enemy or opposing forces is not intended.  But how does this apply to the off-roading community?  It’s simple, really.  There is a fundamental reality that many must grasp, a reality that may be too absurd to comprehend at times but is there, lurking in the backdrop of the big picture.  We and the opposing forces are essentially fighting for the same thing: The preservation of our lands.

The off-roading community has strived off camera and in the underground layers of society since its conception when the first person decided that taking a four wheel drive vehicle into the forest or desert to escape the havoc of everyday life was a brilliant idea.  We must come to realize that we as the off road community are the underdog in every debate and argument, and we must change that, not by attacking the opposition head on, but by expanding the off road community and creating a defensive hold against misinformation.  In the past years, the off-roading community has exploded in popularity, but it mostly remains out of sight.  Terms like WEROCK, RCRocs, King of the Hammers and XRRA are not common terms that get thrown around at your local book store or coffee shop, on the television, or on any sort of news paper , and that is what we must change.  It isn’t politically correct in this day and age to go four wheeling.  We are seen by many as an enemy of the environment even though we try and preserve it just as much as our opponents do. Generalizations may be cliché, but most scoff at the vehicles we drive, take offense to our hobby and spew irrational lies about us to give us a bad name to the rest of the world.

So politically we must be active, but on the trail, we must be invisible.  We must tread lightly to the highest degree, respect the land on which we wheel, discard our trash in the proper way and leave nothing behind but the very footprints and tire tracks that follow us wherever we go.  This is how we can truly set the precedent of maintaining the land that we hold dear and dispel the ignorant falsehoods that are draped over the off-road community as a whole.  Be respectful of the environment around you and even more so to the people you may run into in your travels.

Greenside is not a direct assault, nor will it ever be.  This project will be used to show the off-roading community in a positive light, show the world that we are not out to destroy the environment, but preserve it for future generations that will take pleasure in getting lost in the vastness of some of America’s great wildernesses in the vehicles we build.  We must stand together on these issues, for together we stand, and divided we fall.  Failure cannot be an option for the off-roading community if we want this sport to be around for years to come.

-’Buffalo’ Phil Larocca