Roy
Spuhler’s involvement with off-roading began in 1959 with
the purchase of his first beach buggy. Thus began a period
of almost weekly trips out to the Oso Flaco Dunes with his
family. In 1964 he bought a Blue Jeep CJ-6, which would
become his signature vehicle for many years. In that same
year he became one of the founding members of the Santa
Maria 4-Wheelers.
In March of 64, there was a head-on dune buggy crash
resulting in the death of three people, one a young neighbor
of Roy’s. Shortly thereafter, there was a meeting of
enthusiasts to discuss safety out in the dunes. The number
of people enjoying the dunes was increasing and many of
these people gave little thought to dune safety. This ad hoc
committee developed the first set of “Ten Rules of Dune
Safety” and insisted that a flag be installed on every
vehicle. The first major safety campaign took place over
Memorial day weekend and that summer saw the formation of
the Sand Dunes Safety Committee and Roy’s first handouts.
Starting with the fourth of July weekend, Roy began camp to
camp visits handing out information on dunes safety.
The following year, as use of the dunes continued to
increase, litter became a problem. This led to the “Haul It
In, Haul It Out” campaign. Roy gathered used potato sacks
from people he knew in the area and he began handing them
out and asking dune users to carry them on their vehicle as
litter bags. As events got larger on holiday weekends, Roy,
as a member or the Santa Maria 4-Wheelers arranged for the
use of carrot trailers to haul away the litter bags.
By the late 60’s, the number of people camping and using the
dunes continued to grow. The Santa Maria 4 Wheelers held
their competition events on the July fourth weekend and the
California Association of 4WD Clubs (CA4WDC) had their
events on Labor day weekend. This meant large numbers of
people and created the need for portable toilets. For
several years, Roy would haul the port-a-potties in to the
dunes for the events and haul them out afterwards. In
between, Roy and his old CJ-6 could be seen hauling around
the pumper and tank to keep the potties clean.
Around this time Pacific Gas & Electric bought a portion of
the dunes from the Union Oil Company as a location for a
power plant. The Sierra Club began a political campaign to
stop the plant from being built, resulting in a compromise
that would allow PG&E to build it’s power plant in an out of
the way and little known place called Diablo Canyon.
In 1971 the State of California bought the PG&E property for
a state park. At this time state parks required that all
vehicles drive only on paved roads. In an area like Oceano/Pismo
Dunes there would be no possible way to have paved roads.
This led to a meeting in the dunes with the then
Commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation,
Walter Mott. The user groups showed Mr. Mott around the
dunes and convinced him that a different kind of state park
would be necessary. This began the process of the state
developing it’s first Off Highway Vehicle Park (OHV). Roy
spent many days and nights attending meetings to help
develop guidelines for the proper usage of the dunes and
determining just how the local Pismo State Park was going to
manage the resource. As this plan was beginning to take
shape, the voters of California created the California
Coastal Commission which, in turn, tried to step in and
change the park plan that was developing. The Department of
Parks and Recreation was reluctant to fight another state
agency so in 1974, Roy Spuhler and the Sand Dune Safety
Committee filed suit against Parks and Recreation seeking
implementation of the operation and use plan that had been
worked out. This forced Parks and Recreation to put pressure
on the Coastal Commission, eventually resulting in the 1975
“Master Plan”.
There is little doubt that anyone who has ever enjoyed the
facilities of the Oceano/Pismo dunes, owes Roy Spuhler a
measure of gratitude for helping to make that possible.
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