Stonyford OHV Areas Ordered Closed Today

July 9 11:30 AM photo taken by Applegate looking

from near Stonyford west and north towards Fouts Springs

The Mendocino NF has issued a Forest Order closing the S. End of the Forest to public use.

July 9 Forest Order

http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/mendocino/alerts-notices

HQ’s on scene reporter, Jeff Applegate, says he just heard that the Fouts Springs area is looking good.  The fire is slowly moving south and east.  It is currently bumping Gilmore Ridge. 

Let's remember that off-road champions Phil Ray and Taz Harvey have property and homes that are still in harms way.  Also, Jeff Applegate and other OHV stakeholders could be in harms way too.

As many of you know, there is a lot of fuel on the forest floor including downed trees from the 2001 Trough Fire.

Good news on the Fouts Springs OHV Camping/Staging Area being safe so far!

PS-Let's remember that off-road champions Phil Ray and Taz Harvey have property and homes that are still in harms way. Also, Jeff Applegate and other OHV stakeholders could be in harms way too if the winds pick up this afternoon!

Massive Wildfire at N. Cal OHV Area

Photo taken July 8 in the evening by Jeff Applegate looking up from his house near Stonyford

to Trough Springs Area

How many remember the 2001 Trough Fire that nuked the Fouts Springs OHV Area and burned through the Snow Mountain Wilderness? 

It looks like we have a repeat going on with the new Mill Fire that started on July 7.  According to information given today to the HQ by the former FS OHV manager, Jeff Applegate,  who lives near Stonyford  - the fire is approaching 10k acres and has burned up everything between Fouts Springs and Trough Ridge clear down to the Visitor Station.

Jeff says the prognosis is not good with voluntary evacuations all the way down Fouts Springs Road to Stonyford.  Many trails in the Letts Ridge area are burned over including Letts Ridge 32.  It also appears that somebody  started additional 5 fires yesterday afternoon on Sites Lodoga Road totally 2.5K acres. 

Both fires are still very active with more trails in the Hornet’s  Nest Cracker Box and Trough Ridge areas threatened.  So far the staging area and Boy's Ranch are intact, but fire bumping both areas. 

Will keep you posted as news breaks.

Wildfires and YOU

Scott Sinclair looking N. from the Smith River

NRA into S. OR in 2003 after the Biscuit Fire

Michelle Malkin’s excellent article on wildfires and the band-aid approach this administration (and others for that matter) have taken to address (or not address) fuel management (we used to call it logging) struck some very raw nerves with me today.

Malkin’s Article on Wildfires

http://www.news-press.com/article/20120621/OPINION/306210026/How-Obama-bureaucrats-fueled-western-wildfires

While extremely hot wildfires destroy human life, property, and our natural resources, they also impact public recreational use of federal lands.  I have seen wildfires destroy destination recreation areas … which are then closed to the public until they are reconstructed.   I wrote a 2003 article on the Biscuit Fire that impacted NW CA and S. OR.  which included a lot of areas that were “closed” to motorized access in order to “protect” them.  Some protection!

2003 Article on the Biscuit Fire

http://www.sharetrails.org/magazine/article/biscuit-fire-team-stealth-access-amp-big-lie

It seems right now that everything is upside down.   Growing up in Northern California in the 60s/70s, there were busy timber towns that employed a lot of people with well-paying jobs (I know because I worked in one of them).  Now those communities are ghost towns which are surrounded by federal timber land where the trees (and wildlife) are just waiting for the next wildfire to burn them.

I hope that I live long enough to see some common sense brought back into the environmental equation.   Resource management should be more than just installing a gate with a closed sign on it.

Thanks for your interest!

Statesmanship and OHV Advocacy

The General believes it is helpful to occasionally go back in time and review a specific land-use event that may give riders insight into an agency action and what the OHV community’s response was or should have been and if that response was effective.

The case-study for today is the post-Angora-fire decision by the Tahoe National Forest to ban OHV use on their trail network during the summer of 2007 because of critical fire danger.

FS 2007 News Release with OHV Restrictions
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/tahoe/news/07_news_releases/07_jun_29_addl_fire_rest.shtml

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Overview of Angora Fire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_Fire

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As the western representative for the BlueRibbon Coalition, I was shocked by the Forest’s rather unprecedented action to ban OHV use even on designated trails. Historically, most Forests allow OHV use on their trail and road networks – even through times of critical fire danger – since OHVs operating with legal spark arresters on trails are not considered a fire danger.

The closure was met with fierce opposition by many riders who wanted OHV groups to file a lawsuit or raise hell in some form or fashion. However, another tactic was employed by The General and several other organizational leaders and that effort included us voicing our strong objection to the unwarranted closure while also stating our equally strong feelings and understanding about the devastating impacts of the recent Angora Fire on the local community and Forest Service staff.

I believe our message of objection and concern about the unprecedented temporary trail closure combined with a thread of understanding and support including our request that the agency keep OHV trails open in future orders related to critical fire conditions resulted in OHV trails remaining open in this year’s Fire Closure Order
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FS 2009 News Release with OHV restricted to trails and roads
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/tahoe/news/09_news_releases/news-2009-07-27-fire-restrictions-begin.shtml

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Many times in land-use advocacy the easy way would be to throw red meat to the masses by making undeliverable promises of revenge, litigation, and retribution on agency staff that do not do our bidding. While taking the agency to task on policy issues is legitimate and sometimes necessary, there will come an occasion where you have to blend advocacy, policy, access, effectiveness, and statesmanship into a position that looks at the big picture and considers the human element. Is making the right call easy? Not always, but it should be.

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Obama, Recreation, and Wildfires

Today, American citizens and outdoor recreationists are being deluged by an avalanche of legislative proposals and regulatory schemes that include healthcare reform, “cap and tax,” government run auto companies, budget battles, Wilderness bills, and, of course, travel management. Many are of dubious value.

In the midst of all of this – comes a somewhat welcome proposal by the Obama administration to review how federal wildfires are funded.

See article:
http://www.pe.com/politics/goad/stories/PE_News_Local_S_fire22.42f3380.html

The article correctly points out that historically once the federal wildfire budget has been exhausted – the agencies borrow (or steal) funds from other programs such as timber management. What the story does not say is that often the first department to be defunded was the Forest Service or BLM recreation/trails program.

In states such as California where massive wildfires can be the norm, the small stream of appropriated recreation monies that was slated for on-the-ground trail projects or facility maintenance was many times diverted to fighting wildfires.

The General welcomes the administration’s effort on this topic and hopes that it will end the agency’s current practice of cannibalizing its non-fire related programs to pay for countering wildfires.

April 24 - Update on Smokey Bear ATV Ad

The General thanks all of you who recently sent in feedback and complaints about the continued airing of the now infamous 2008 Smokey Bear ATV ad. As you know, the BRC, AMA and other OHV groups requested that the ad be pulled.

In response to our collective request, the Ad Council did send out a request to media outlets to pull the ad in 2008. However, it appears that some TV or radio departments did not get the message.

Based on BRC’s April 13, 2009 letter requesting The Ad Council review of our continued concerns, they responded today with a letter basically asking for our/your help in tracking the unapproved airing of these ads.


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April 13, 2009 BRC Letter to Ad Council
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/Smokey-Bear-ATV-Ad-April-2009/BRC-Letter-0001.pdf

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April 24, 2009 Ad Council Response and Request for Help
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/Smokey-Bear-ATV-Ad-April-2009/Ad-Council-Response-Letter.pdf

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On Monday, the BRC will be sending out an alert to its members (sign up on the BRC Alert System if you want to get such alerts)

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BRC Alert System
https://www.sharetrails.org/secure/lists/?p=subscribe&id=2

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That alert will be asking you and your friends to monitor TV and radio shows for the airing of the ad and then contact Helen Cleveland with the details so that Ad Council can do the appropriate follow-up.


CONTACT:

Helene Cleveland
Fire Prevention Program Manager
USDA Forest Service
hcleveland@fs.fed.us

Thanks to all of you who made The General aware of this issue.

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