USFS Trail Management Meeting

[Crazy Uncle Larry]

Did anyone else catch last night's USFS meeting at the RamKota?

The USFS gave their briefing on the pending trail development plan. They had maps up and all.

They plan to have another meeting/open house (is what they called it) at the various USFS Offices. The Mystic Region Office, Hwy 16 (south of town and the waterslide) will have their open house on 28 March 2009, from 9AM-12PM. They will be open to discuss the plans as depicted by the maps and answer general topics. The general comment period runs from 20 Mar-4 May 2009. A decision will be made later in the Fall or early Winter and then the plan will be announced and put into force by 2010. You might just want to take a peek at this even though it appears as though it might not apply to us at first glance. Once they are done with this and things are in force, it looks to me like some of the back roads/trails that have been used in the past might find themselves closed if not part of the new trail system. So, if you got a moment on the 28th, it might be a good chance to just feel things out. This might even have an impact on future DDSR rallies. I'd rather know for sure than find out later, so am planning to be there myself. Catch you all later.

[hayduke.klr07]

I had a look at the maps for the meeting tomorrow at the office up on 16.  Man, I'm kind of stuck.  i love to ride my motorcycle and have the most possible access but I also hunt and it drives me crazy to have atv guys riding around lookin' for deer. i.e. walk in in the dark sit there freezing your ass off and then 20 minutes after sunrise some yahoo comes ridin' on by.  i do not care about game retrieval.  i like being able to drive a bit off road to camp.  Honestly, after looking at the maps for twenty plus minutes it seems that most of what I ride will not be affected by any of the alternatives.  What we all are going to miss are all of the "roads/trails" that are not on the travel maps right now.  which is about 4,000 miles worth.  So when you here that we are going to go from 10,000 miles to 6,000 miles...it is accurate to a point.  those 4,000 miles are not a FSR, meaning that it is not numbered and not an "official" road (which do not show up on the current travel map right now.)  Some of those "U-roads" ("user defined", are left over skidder trails, logging roads, mining roads, etc...) All of the alternatives are about within 1,000 linear miles of each other.  meaning the most liberal motorhead version has about 1,000 more miles than the tree huggin' version.  (how was that for stereotypes?)  and that 1,000 miles seemed to be the single track (which I think we need more of) and atv trail(which i do not care about).  I lean towards the motorhead version until i think about hunting.  then i lean to the tree hugger version.  Iknow for certain that none of the versions will be the decision of record.  it will be more than likely a hybrid of alt B & C.  now what will carry over between the two will come down to the comments that you and i and every other person out there makes. 
any who i can not make the meeting but will be commenting, that is for sure. I would recommend that all of you get as much info as you can so that you may make an educated and specific comment on the alternatives.

here is where you can get more info!!!
http://www.fs.fed.us/bhnf/recreation/travel_management/ohv.shtml

[fringefan]

This whole movement scares me because they are closing access to wheeled vehicles (including mt bikes) to thousands of miles of trails accross the county. An article in Bike magazine talks about a large area in Mt where there are closing off 23,000 acres. I see similar philosophies in WY with the Bighorns and the other ranges. What kills me is you can still go by horesback and they usually run livestock accross those same lands. With the exception of 4 wheelers and some dirt bikes, not many two wheel vehicles can compete with the damage done by cattle and horses. Some of this seems like a step in that direction and based on what I see it happens in less progressive communities with strong ranching backgrounds. When I talked to the forrest service it seemed that most of trail/roads getting closed where the non FS trails/roads and most of the little dead end roads that sprout off from almost every road it seems.

Did not seem that bad at all but when you see how the forrest service manages lands accross the country there is reason to worry that eventually it could become a closed forrest. 

[Crazy Uncle Larry]

I get nervous, too when they start talking about making a trail-riding system because that means something will be closed and once the big federal forest system gets moving it can get to be like a snow-ball rolling downhill...out of control and running over everything in its path!!!

I attended the open meeting that was held last Saturday at the Mystic Office out on highway 16, south of the water slide. There were about 6-8 staff on hand to discuss the proposed trails. There were only about 7-8 of us who showed to ask questions. The period for comment runs until 4 May 2009, I believe. They had maps available and were very receptive to comments. I know there are some knuckle-heads on dirt bikes and some knuckle-heads out on 4wheelers who often don't endear themselves to the rest of the riding public. I choose to ride two-wheels but have family from Minnesota and Missouri who want to enjoy a trail ride in the hills and aren't set up for two wheels. So, I'm left to guiding them in a caravan made up of them and their 4wheelers and me and my bike just so I can get them out in the woods and have them see the great outdoors we have. Case in point, my nephew-JW came up last November and went riding with Number Two/Aaron and I on a rented 4wheeler. We took him out in the Victoria Lake area and he had a great time! It got him out of his comfort zone and got him to consider a sport that him and his Dad could both do up here and back around their home outside of Kansas City, Missouri. He went back home after that trip and within a month or two him and his Dad had gone halvsies on a 2007 or 2008 Artic Cat 800 4wheeler (they got a big one so they could do some farm work on it, too). Would I have rather had him excited for a dual sport bike-You bet! Was I glad that he had got his Dad interested? Was I glad that he had got off his behind and was willing to take a little risk and get out of the house on the trails and pick up some bad habits from Number Two/Aaron and I? You double-dog bet I am!!!

So, I watch this effort by the USFS with an eagle-eye and wonder how things will turn out even though, for the most part, it won't have much effect on dual sport riders and where we ride. However, I am reminded of the famous words of one of this country's forefathers (could have been Franklin, Thomas Payne, or Hancock) when they said upon the eve of revolution...We must hang together or we will surely hang separately! Overall, if our USFS people are left to do the job then we will probably come out okay (not perfect, but okay) on this issue. My fear is some pencil-pushing wannabe out to make a name for themselves on either the east coast or Left coast might get involved and throw a wrench in the mix. Oh well, guess we'll just have see how things turn out. My 2 cents on the issue of trail management and trail riding development. Doesn't affect dual sport riders right now but I bet we all know someone that it does effect!

[loingrader]

a bit off topic, but i have nothing against guys/gals on quads.  like everything else...   a few yahoos can give the crowd a bad name. 

i've got a 4 wheeler and i've ridden 4 wheelers in the black hills on numberous occasions.  i ride it for the same reason as i ride my mountain bike, dirt bike, dual sport bike, 4 wheel drive pickup, etc.  to get away from people and enjoy the solitude that the hills can provide.