Posts Tagged ‘trails’

DNR Reopens More Trails on the Olympic Peninsula (Washington)

Portions of the popular Sadie Creek ORV trail system on state trust land in Clallam County are open again. DNR closed trails in area because of damage caused in last month’s wind storm. We’ve cleared the fallen trees and limbs blocking trail access but don’t forget that another portion of Sadie Creek that we closed before the storm due to timber sale activity remains off-limits….

Read more at DNR Reopens More Trails on the Olympic Peninsula

Ashton/Island Park Ranger District Travel Regulations (Idaho)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patty Kraayenbrink 208-524-7639

Idaho Falls, ID – Caribou-Targhee National Forest winter travel regulations for Ashton/Island Park Ranger District go into effect Thanksgiving Day. The official Travel Map for the Ashton/Island Park Ranger District describes winter travel opportunities for both winter cross-country use and winter designated routes. This map along with the snowmobile map produced by the Island Park Chamber of Commerce shows winter recreationists groomed snowmobile trails; groomed cross-country ski trails, areas with seasonal closures and areas closed to protect wildlife winter ranges or designated Wilderness. Maps may be obtained through the Ashton/Island Park Ranger District or the Island Park Chamber of Commerce.

Light snow conditions may still allow passenger vehicle traffic on National Forest roads open to summer motorized travel. Vehicle travel will be allowed until snow depth prevents cars and trucks from using the roadways or Fremont County begins snowmobile trail grooming. Roads maintained by Fremont County are not open to snowmobile use.

Most of the Ashton/Island Park Ranger District is open to winter cross-country motorized use. However, there are a few areas displayed on the map in purple hues that are closed to winter cross-country motorized use. The area known as Big Bend Ridge is closed to winter cross-country use until January 1st for the security of the elk and deer migrating to their winter range west of the Forest. Another large area closed to over-snow motorized vehicles is an area from the south side of the Island Park Reservoir east to Henrys Fork River, south to Highway 20 and Green Canyon Road. This area is the Thurmon Ridge area and Harriman State Park. Winegar Hole Wilderness and Jedediah Smith Wilderness are closed to snowmobile use.

People recreating on snow machines are asked to be respectful of private property. District Ranger, Adrienne Keller, has received complaints from area property owners about people on snow machines who ride their machines wherever they please and don?t pay attention to private property boundaries. “I’ve received complaints about people riding their snow machines around private cabins, running over trees in yards and leaving trash when they’ve stopped for a break on a deck of an unoccupied residence.” The groomed snowmobile trails in Fremont County depend on the approval of private land owners to allow the trail to cross their property to connect the trails to the National Forest. Keller adds, “If private property owners near the trails are affected by this rude behavior of some people on snow machines, we could lose their support for the trail going across their property, affecting the connectivity of the trail system in the Ashton and Island Park areas in Fremont County.”

For more information on winter recreation opportunities on the Ashton/Island Park Ranger District, contact either the Ashton Ranger Station at (208) 652-7442 or Island Park Ranger Station at (208) 558-7301. Safe riding!!

USDA Forest Service
Caribou-Targhee National Forest
1405 Hollipark Drive
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401

http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/caribou-targhee/news/2009/09-61%20ashton-islandpark_winter_travel_regs.doc

Olympic National Forest’s Motor Vehicle Use Map Has Been Published and is Soon to be Released

Olympic National Forest
1835 Black Lake Blvd.
Olympia, WA 98512-5623

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 9, 2009
Public Affairs Office: (360) 956-2274 FAX (360) 956-2330

Olympia, WA – Olympic National Forest’s Motor Vehicle Use Map, which identifies routes available for motor vehicle use, has been published and will soon be available to the public. This map was created in response to the Forest Service’s 2005 Travel Management Rule which required all National Forests to designate roads and trails available for both passenger vehicle and off-highway vehicle (OHV) use. The objective of this rule was to manage off-road vehicle use on public lands, protect resources, provide for safety, and minimize conflicts among visitors.

The routes depicted in this map correspond with those identified in Olympic National Forest’s 1990 Forest Plan. The 1990 Forest Plan prohibited cross country travel of off-road vehicles on the forest, but allows for off-road motorcycle on the following trails:

Trail 830 – Gold Creek Trail, from Road 2870-230 to Road 28780
Trail 833 – Lower Big Quilcene, from Road 27-080 to Road 2750
Trail 833.3 – Lower Dungeness, from Road 2870-230 to Road 2870
Trail 836 – Mount Zion, from Road 28 to the Mount Zion Summit
Trail 858 – Lower Pete?s Creek, from Road 2204 to West Fork Humptulips River
Trail 871 – Church Creek, from Road 2361-600 to Road 2372

Hood Canal District Ranger Dean Yoshina said, “The completion of this year’s motor vehicle use map will not only clarify existing routes, but it can potentially help us identify additional routes, given the high demand of interest in this recreational activity.”

Maps will be available online at the Olympic National Forest Website, and at all Olympic National Forest offices in Olympia, Hoodsport, Quilcene, Forks, and Quinault, beginning on November 23, 2009. The maps are free of charge, and are designed to be used in conjunction with the Olympic NF Forest Visitor Use Map.

Clearwater Forest Releases Travel Planning Draft Environmental Impact Statement

BLUERIBBON COALITION LAND USE UPDATE

The Clearwater National Forest, located in northeastern Idaho, announced the release of their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for managing motorized uses on the Forest’s roads and trails system. The Forest Service (FS) is asking for your input during a 45-day public review and comment period, which will end on August 31, 2009.

All travel management documents and maps can be downloaded from the Forest’s website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/clearwater/. Copies of the DEIS are also available at Clearwater National Forest offices and many local libraries, including those at Orofino, Deary, Elk River, Grangeville, Kamiah, Kooskia, Lewiston, Moscow, Pierce, Potlatch, and Weippe in Idaho, as well as Superior and Missoula, Montana.

The DEIS consists of four alternatives, a No Action Alternative along with three Action Alternatives. The alternatives purport to address the nearly 4500 public comments that were received from November 2007-February 2008 in response to the Clearwater National Forest’s travel planning proposed action.

BRC and Idaho’s Panhandle Trail Riding Association submitted substantial input. It will be interesting to read how our input has been incorporated into the Alternatives. Stay tuned for a full review and a BRC Action Alert.

If you enjoy the Clearwater, we encourage you to look over the maps and send comments to the Forest. Comments should be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the DEIS.

Send Written Comments To:
Kamiah Ranger Station, Attn: Lois Foster, Travel Planning Team Leader, Rt. 2, Box 191, Kamiah, ID 83536.

Send Electronic Comments To: comments-northern-clearwater@fs.fed.us (Please put “Travel Planning” in the subject line of e-mail comments)

For more information, contact Lois Foster, Team Leader, at 208-935-4258.

JUST REMEMBER, PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IS CRUCIAL TO KEEP RECREATION AREAS OPEN, PLEASE GET INVOLVED!

Thanks in advance for your support,
Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107

The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national recreation group that champions responsible recreation, and encourages individual environmental stewardship. It represents over 10,000 individual members and 1,200 organization and business members, for a combined total of over 600,000 recreationists nationwide. 1-800-258-3742. http://www.sharetrails.org

Please Contact your Representative today to help save the Recreational Trails Program!

BLUERIBBON COALITION ACTION ALERT!

The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) has been a vital source of funding for recreational access and trails since its inception in 1991. BRC is proud of our lead role in founding the original ‘RTP’ program – the Symm’s National Recreational Trails Act. As such, we ask your support to help ensure it is reauthorized this year by Congress.

Funding for RTP comes from the federal gas tax you pay at the pump as a calculated portion of fuel that is used for “off-highway motorized use.” The program was last reauthorized for three years in 2005 as part of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU.) This law is about to expire at the end of 2009, and the Recreational Trails Program will expire along with it unless it can be authorized and funded in the next national surface transportation bill, the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009.

U.S. Representatives Mike Michaud (D-ME) and Tom Petri (R-WI) have just release a bi-partisan “Dear Colleague” letter urging members of the House of Representatives to sign a letter to the leadership of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in support of RTP. The letter thanks the leadership for including the RTP in the bill.

The letter also encourages appropriate funding levels to sustain the program through the year 2015, requests funding for a much-needed study on off-highway vehicle fuel use by the Department of Transportation, and asks for adjusted funding for the Federal Highway Administration to continue to effectively administer the program.

Copies of the Dear Colleague letter and the letter to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee can be found on our website at www.sharetrails.org/rtp/

It is critical you contact your member of the U.S. House of Representatives and encourage him/her to sign the letter. The deadline is this Friday, July 17th, so we urge you to send an email or make a phone call to your representatives office today. Explain how important the RTP is to the recreating community and to your organization specifically. Suggested text for your email can be found below in this alert.

If you need help identifying your U.S. Representative, the BlueRibbon Coalition has provided you with a handy tool in our Rapid Response Center at www.sharetrails.org/rapid_response/. All you need to do is type in your zip code.

More information on the Recreational Trails Program can be found on our website under the RTP button at www.sharetrails.org, located on the left-hand side of the page.

Thank you for taking action today to support the Recreational Trails Program.

Greg Mumm
Executive Director
BlueRibbon Coalition

Suggested email text:

Dear XXX,

On July 10, 2009, U.S. Representatives Mike Michaud (D-ME) and Tom Petri (R-WI) began circulating a letter to the leadership of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in support of the Recreational Trails Program (RTP). As my representative, I would encourage you to please sign on to this letter.

The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) provides vital funding for trails all across this country, both motorized and non-motorized. There is overwhelming support for this remarkably successful program from all walks of life. This program needs to be reauthorized this year in order to remain a viable source of funding for recreational trails.

The leadership of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has provided the necessary language to continue the program in the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009. The letter from Representatives Mike Michaud and Tom Petri thanks the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership for this action. The letter also further encourages the appropriate funding levels to sustain the program through the year 2015, requests funding for a much needed study by the Department of Transportation on off-highway vehicle fuel use, and asks for adjusted funding for the Federal Highway Administration to continue to effectively administer the program.

Again, I am asking that you please contact the offices of either Representatives Mike Michaud (D-ME) or Tom Petri (R-WI) to sign on to the letter as soon as possible. There is a July 17th deadline to collect signatures.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and helping Americans of all walks of life to continue to recreate responsibly.

Sincerely,

–Your Name –

Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Travel Management DEIS Available

The Forest Service (FS) has announced the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Motorized Vehicle Use on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, located in southwestern Oregon.

During a 45-day public comment period, the agency will conduct a series of open houses to review the environmental document, including maps and alternatives, to discuss the motorized route designation process and to seek public comments (see schedule below). This comment period ends May 11, 2009.

Read more…

Owyhee Travel Management Plan Released

BLUERIBBON COALITION ACTION ALERT!

OWYHEE TRAVEL MANAGEMENT PLAN EA RELEASED – COMMENTS NEEDED

BLM’s Owyhee Field Office has released their draft travel plan for the Murphy Subregion. If you looked only at the mileage table in the Environmental Assessment, you might think motorized recreation is getting a raw deal. The mileage table shows nearly a 1/3 reduction in available miles. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Read more…