Last
year Ed Waldheim moved to California City from his home in
Glendale. For some time now, Ed has had a rental in town and
when the last tenant vacated the property, he decided it was
time to move in. Ed enjoys riding his bike off-road and Cal
City is one of the few places that caters to off-roaders of
every type. Ed is the President of the California Off-Road
Vehicle Association (CORVA) and wanted to live where he
could have direct access to the desert he loves.
Ed has been riding and racing motorcycles since the early
70’s. He formed the Clean Sweep Racing Team in 1976 and was
the 1977 Desert Open Senior Champion. He won over thirty
trophies racing with D.R.A., C.R.C. and AMA District 37. He
has raced the Check Chase, the California City Grand Prix
and at Adelanto among other events.
A member of the board of trustees for District 37, Waldheim
recently was awarded the prestigious AMA Motorcycling
Advocate award in recognition of his lifetime of work for
motorcyclists. The award is one of the organization’s
highest honors and was created by the AMA to recognize
individuals fighting for the rights of motorcyclists.
Ed has won many honors for his activism including the Golden
Helmet Award from the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Division of
California’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the Off-Roader
of the Year from the California Off-Road Vehicle
Association. Recently, he had the main building at the
Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area named in his
honor. Nationally, the Bureau of Land Management awarded him
their Volunteer of the Year award.
In May of 1984 he began serving on the Off-Highway Motor
Vehicle Recreation Commission and served until May 1988.
During this time he was Chairman of the commission and was
an effective leader and participant during the formative
years of this board. After an over 20 year absence, he was
reappointed to the commission in November of 2003. In this
recent difficult time he has forged working relationships
with all commissioners and is working to return the
commission to a position of advocacy.
Ed oversaw the building of the Jawbone Canyon Visitors
Center and through an arrangement with the Bureau of Land
Management is operating it seven days a week for less than
the BLM could for weekends alone.
He has been President of the California Off-Road Vehicle
Association (CORVA) since 1992, during which time membership
has tripled and the association has maintained a leading
position in the advocacy and education about the off-roading
sport.
Ed attends over two hundred meetings every year and has a
close working relationship with land management teams of the
BLM and national Forests in California. Virtually all of his
activist activities are funded out of his own pocket. He
often tours off-road areas with land managers, politicians,
OHMVR commissioners, journalists and scientists in his open
“dune buggy” type vehicle. Often this is the first off-roading
experience for many of these people.
Ed is the “go-to” person for information about off-roading
and has been quoted widely in numerous publications
including the Los Angeles and New York Times.
According to Rick Fisher, who has known Ed for many years,
“I have had a relationship with Ed since before I became
Treasurer of CORVA in 1996. In that time I have attended
dozens of CORVA Board meetings, land use meetings, rallies
and conventions. Nobody on this planet is more dedicated to
the sport of off-roading or has more energy and enthusiasm
than Ed. There is no doubt that he has changed the face of
the sport in California.”
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