Tracking Gov’t Promises of Traditional Access to Public Lands 2009
- Login to post comments
Editor's Note: I had a long-running thread tracking government/enviro promises of traditional access to public lands in the previous AMG. That thread, I regret, was lost in the storm of transition. This thread is a rebirth of the old thread.
"cross-country travel banned."
There goes hunting. Hunters and game don't stick to travelled trails and it often takes a pack horse or ATV to pack out elk.
www.mlive.com
Officials target big trucks in national forests
Posted by Howard Meyerson | The Grand Rapids Press June 27, 2009 00:20AM
Big truck enthusiasts might find fewer places to play this summer in Huron Manistee National Forest, according to federal officials who say wetland/other habitat damage is on the rise
"It's fair to say we’re cracking down on big truck gatherings," said Ken Arbogast, public affairs officer for the national forest.
Pat Brower of Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association: "We would like to see a dedicated four-by-four route through the forest. There isn't one now."
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2009/06/officials_target_big_tru...
www.redding.com
Draft off-highway vehicle maps show possible routes through forest
By Dylan Darling
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Shasta-Trinity National Forest has draft maps of where off-highway vehicles may roll through the woods.
Critics say Shasta-Trinity isn't adding enough of "unauthorized" roads chartered in an inventory process that started 2005.
Currently, people may drive most anywhere unless told not to.
Four meetings are set for next month.
The new map will help protect the 2.1M-acre forest, said Bruce Waggoner, chairman Shasta Group of the Sierra Club.
Road comments close Aug. 10
http://www.redding.com/news/2009/jun/28/draftoff-highway-vehicle-maps-sh...
Forest lifts some Manzano Mountain restrictions
Associated Press - July 3, 2009 1:45 PM ET
MOUNTAINAIR, N.M. (AP) - The Cibola National Forest has opened most areas that were closed more than a year ago for rehabilitation work after fires in the Manzano Mountains.
No off-road vehicles are allowed within the Ojo Peak Fire, Trigo Fire and Big Spring Fire rehabilitation area, although those areas are open to travel by foot, horseback or bicycles.
www.kdvr.com (Colorado)
Lawsuit challenges livestock grazing on Pike, San Isabel national forests
By Associated Press
8:02 PM MDT, July 8, 2009
DENVER (AP) — An Idaho-based environmental group is suing to overturn a decision reauthorizing livestock grazing on about a quarter million acres on the Pike and San Isabel national forests in south-central Colorado.
The Western Watersheds Project says in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that the grazing will further degrade already damaged wildlife habitat, streams and wetlands.
Forest officials said in the decision...the management plan was based on the best science and information available.
http://www.kdvr.com/news/sns-ap-co--forestlawsuit,0,6173159.story
Oregon's national forests and those in other states will see limits to where ATVs can ride
by Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian
Sunday July 12, 2009, 8:09 PM
LA GRANDE -- Forest by forest across the country, land managers are drawing up maps to show where off-road vehicles should be allowed and where they should not.
Now, ATV riders and other off-roaders can't go anywhere except where the new maps tell them they can.
That change is the result of a 2005 U.S. Forest Service rule meant to manage increasingly popular motorized recreation that can harm sensitive habitat and annoy forest users seeking solitude.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/oregons_national_forest...
www.idahostatesman.com
Officials deciding fate of national forest roads
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN - Associated Press Writer
Published: 08/02/09
August 02, 2009
Officials deciding fate of national forest roads
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN - Associated Press Writer
Hundreds of miles of dirt roads/trails cut through northern New Mexico's mountains. The hard part: deciding which ones to keep open/close.
It's a scenario playing itself out across the country as the USFS tries to designate by 2010 a system of motorized routes that will provide recreational opportunities while protecting natural resources.
In northern New Mexico, off-road enthusiasts/environmentalists fear Carson National Forest will leave the public without a chance to comment on potential [environmental] impacts.
www.citizen-times.com
Forest Service to allow boating on Chattooga
Nanci Bompi • August 27, 2009 12:15 AM
CASHIERS — The Upper Chattooga River will be open to boaters for the first time in more than three decades starting Dec. 1.
Advertisement
The U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday lifted a 33-year-old ban on boating on the upper Chattooga River, allowing limited paddling for the first time since 1976.
The Forest Service estimates there will be an average of six boatable days a year on the section of river...
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090827/OUTDOOR...
Mt. Hood National Forest on path to limit off-road vehicles
by Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian
Friday August 28, 2009, 5:41 PM
The Mt. Hood National Forest is moving toward limiting off-road vehicles such as ATVs and dirt bikes to just a few select areas in the 1 million-acre forest east of Portland, dramatically curtailing their presence on the mountain.
Forest officials Thursday released a draft plan that would ban any cross-country travel by such machines, confining them to designated roads and trails to limit their environmental impact.
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/08/mt_hood_takes_fi...
I don't agree that "ATV's" and "dirtbikes" should be considered traditional access.
www.wkbt.com
Cabin owners in Minn. forests balk at higher fees
Associated Press - September 26, 2009 4:54 PM ET
BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) - About 500 cabin owners have taken advantage of a century-old initiative that encouraged people to spend time in American forests. A federal decision to increase the cabins' annual fees is sparking talk of legal action.
The cabin owners typically paid fees of 3% of ppraised value of the property. Starting next year, that goes up to 5%.
57-year-old Jean Kelley will see her fees go from less than $2,000 per year to $6,300.
www.rapidcityjournal.com
9/27/09
Nebraska forest travel management plan released
By Chadron Record staff
A draft environmental impact statement for the motorized travel access system plan for the Nebraska National Forest and Grasslands is available for review online...
It is part of a national effort by the Forest Service to manage motorized traffic on public lands and implement a 2005 rule that allows wheeled, motorized vehicle travel only on designated roads, trails and areas.
The document/maps are at www.fs.fed.us/r2/nebraska .
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/09/27/news/local/doc4abfb7...
www.nytimes.com
Growth in Mountain Biking May Put Western Park Trails Off Limits
October 11, 2009
Outdoors
Growth in Mountain Biking May Put Western Park Trails Off Limits
By CHRISTINA ERB
...Corey Biggers’...full-suspension mountain bike, weighing 27 pounds and made of carbon fiber and aluminum...
Bikes like his...are the driving force behind a USFS effort that aims to keep mountain bikers off hundreds of miles of trails, possibly thousands, including parts of the Continental Divide Trail.
Authorities usually treated mountain bikers the same as hikers and horseback riders, allowing them unlimited cross-country access to Forest Service lands. Bikes were forbidden only in...wilderness [areas]...
www.sunjournal.com
Bikers worry new state park will close their trails
By Lindsay Tice, Staff Writer
Published: Nov 16, 2009 12:00 am
Buy a Print
Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
The Maine Department of Conservation is working....to turn the 2,600-acre Androscoggin Riverlands into...Androscoggin Riverlands State Park. In October, a consultant made several suggestions.., including prohibiting mountain bikers from using the Homestead and Ridge trails.
Both trails are favorites of mountain bikers.
Kathy Eickenberg, planning chief...Maine Bureau of Parks/Lands, said the trails are currently marked for foot traffic only...
www.keci.com
Posted: Tuesday, 08 December 2009 5:35AM
Proposed Forest Service rule would trim discounts
AP News (12/8/09)
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing a plan that would reduce discounts given to senior citizens/disabled people who want to camp in national forests.
Agency proponents say the change from a 50% discount to a 10% discount would help private concessionaires remain profitable, would bring the federal fee policy in line with private market camping rates. Critics say it would be a breach of faith and would further erode affordable access to public land.
http://www.keci.com/Proposed-Forest-Service-rule-would-trim-discounts/58...
December 20, 2009
Forest Service may close off-road area to snowmobiling
Machine tracks found in caribou herd’s habitat
Becky Kramer
The Spokesman-Review
Only a few rogue snowmobilers willfully ride into off-limits areas of protected...caribou habitat...
Officials from Colville National Forest [are] prepared to shut down access to a popular road...
John Bymers, a...resident who snowmobiles.., said many...closure maps are hard to follow. Gates, signs.., landmarks can get buried under 10 feet of snow...
Bymers: “I’ve never met[/talked to] anybody...that’s seen a caribou.”
Borysewicz, Forest Service biologist, said he frequently hears that comment..
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/dec/20/forest-service-may-close-of...
www.sacbee.com
Nursery supporting forest replanting efforts to close
Chico Enterprise-Record
Published Saturday, Dec. 26, 2009
The state's only nursery devoted to replanting areas destroyed by wildfires and battered by erosion is shutting down because of the budget crisis.
The state Legislature cut $3 million from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The...nursery...can produce 2.5 million seedlings annually.
wjz.com
Jan 24, 2010 2:35 pm US/Eastern
Forest Service Closes Some Va ATV Trails
FINCASTLE, Va. (AP) - The USFS has closed a trail system in Botetourt County, where erosion caused by four-wheeling has created high levels of sediment in nearby streams.
[T]he Forest Service decided to close the Patterson Mountain ATV Trail System, a 16-mile network that consists of a main route and 10 side trails.
http://wjz.com/wireapnewsva/US.Forest.Service.2.1445909.html
latimesblogs.latimes.com
Forest service boosting patrol efforts to catch snowmobile trespassers
January 25, 2010 | 11:07 am
Inyo National Forest officers will be adding aerial patrols in their effort to catch snowmobilers riding in off-limit areas this winter.
The airplane patrols will be added to monitor designated Wilderness/Research Natural areas, which have been prohibited to motorized vehicle access since passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964.
Riding in closed areas is both a federal/state offense, punishable by fines up to $5,000, six months in jail and possible seizure of snowmobiles.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2010/01/forest-service-boosting...
www.kswt.com
Kaibad forest to limit ATV access
Associated Press - February 21, 2010 7:04 AM ET
WILLIAMS, Ariz. (AP) - [R]iders of [ATVs] could be limited in where they can go in...Arizona's Kaibab National Forest near Williams.
The USFS plans to limit ATV access to only roads in the area, ending a longtime policy of letting ATV riders drive where they want.
[USFS] is considering closing about 25 percent of those forest roads....
Similar measures are proposed for Arizona's Coconino National Forest.., ...part of a [USFS] directive to limit travel...to existing roads.
www.seattlepi.com
Last updated February 19, 2010 5:47 p.m. PT
Judge rejects suit to block wilderness landings
By TODD DVORAK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BOISE, Idaho -- A federal judge...cleared...way for state biologists to be dropped by helicopter into...Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness up to 20 times this winter to dart/collar wolves....
Motorized vehicle use in federal wilderness areas is prohibited by law. [T]he [USFS] issued a...permit approving the flights.., in part because the state promised the project could yield valuable...data about wolf behavior, denning sites.., migratory patterns.
[E]nvironmentalists...[sued]...to block the landings....
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_id_wilderness_helicopters.html
Rally opposes closing Ouachita forest trails
Associated Press - March 14, 2010 6:34 PM ET
MENA, Ark. (AP) - Users of the off-road trail system in the Ouachita National Forest near Mena hope they can persuade the USFS to keep the trail system intact.
ATV recreational drivers rallied Saturday at Mena in support of the trails.
The effort to keep the USFS from closing down many trails and restricting use of others is also supported by several Mena business owners who say tourists...bring a lot of money to the area..
- Login to post comments
denver and the west
Trail users collide in crowded forests in Colorado
With an explosion of recreation, especially ATVs and dirt bikes, federal agencies will set up access rules for Colorado lands.
By Mark Jaffe - The Denver Post
Posted: 06/14/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
[T]he trails of Colorado's national forests...is ground zero in the effort to stop riders/hikers from bushwhacking their own trails, in sorting out sometimes conflicting uses.
[T]he Forest Service is planning for trail use on 14M acres. [T]he federal Bureau of Land Management is doing the same on...9M acres.
[T]ravel management planning, will determine where Coloradans...can hike, bike, ride off-road vehicles, where trails will be closed.., cross-country travel banned.
http://www.denverpost.com/frontpage/ci_12586253