Stonyford Fire Update - July 12 @ 11:00am

Photo (July 11 - afternoon): Looking at OHV Area from

Lodoga/Stonyford Rd.

Here is HQ’s July 12 am report based on intel from a 1900 briefing last night.   Fran Peace from Congressman Wally Herger’s Office was in attendance. 

 With luck they will keep the fire below Miner ridge, saving the Goat Mt. area.  Also, Little Stony is spared for now. That's the good news.  The bad news is that the fire will double in size.  They will start firing out along Stonyford/Lodoga Road today at 1100 (HQ will have its reporter on scene for that), bringing the fire on around the new cat-line to the Goat Mt. Road.  This will burn out all the front country fuels that are a threat to East Park Estates, Century Ranch and homes along the main road.

It appears their plan for the canyon is to use fire (probably a helitorch)  to light off as much as will burn along the rim of the main canyon, which would include all trails and side canyons up to Big Sullivan or Pine Ridge.  They cannot burn out from the road because of serpentine and spotty fuels, but want to remove as much vegetation as possible on the north side of L. Stony Road to prevent rekindling in the event of a wind or weather change which could send the fire possibly to the south side of Little Stony canyon (a bad thing) and on to Lovelady, Goat Mt. and Lake County.  

Everything up to Mill Valley, south to Crackerbox and on the north along the M10 corridor is slicked off. The fire is currently 16,800 acres, but it is estimated to be closer to 30K when finally contained if the plan is executed flawlessly. 

HQ believes the media has not covered what the fire's impact will have on special events such as motorcycle enduros and casual OHV use this fall and winter.  As many of you know, the Fouts Springs OHV Camping area often becomes the largest “city” in Colusa County during the Christmas/New Year Holiday Season with up to 2-4 thousand people camping and riding there.  The fire may have a serious impact on that activity this year.

HQ thanks local Stonyford resident and former FS OHV program manager, Jeff Applegate, on the Grindstone RD  for his excellent feedback on the progress of the fire.

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HQ ACTION ALERT - Send Letter Today to Support OHV Use on Level 3 Forest Roads

Let OHVs Use Level 3 Logging Roads

HQ ACTION ALERT – Send a short letter today asking your Representative to oppose any effort by anti-access legislators to have Section 446 stripped out when the House considers H.R. 2584. Section 446 is an effort by Congressman Wally Herger to keep level 3 logging roads open for historic non-street legal OHV use.

BRC Action Alert with Herger’s Dear Colleague Letter – there is a link to contact your representative using Congress.org’s email contact system. You have to register (I did and it is no big deal) to use it.

BRC Action Alert
http://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/?alert=1356

If you don’t want to register to use Congress.org, you can use the link below to plug in your zip code and then send an email to your Congressman.

Contact your Member of Congress
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Here is suggested text for your letter (feel free to edit and add your own story)

Tag Line: OPPOSE ANY EFFORT TO STRIP SECTION 446 FROM H.R. 2584

I am deeply concerned that anti-access groups and their supporters in Congress will try and have Section 446 stripped when the House considers H.R. 2584, the Department of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.


Section 446 is Congressman Wally Herger's pro-access language that attempts to fix some anti-access tenets from Region 5's version of the Travel Management Rule. Section 446 is almost identical to bill language in Herger's H.R. 242 that was introduced in February 2011.

The main issue is the Forest Service has proposed to close hundreds if not thousands of miles of old logging roads to non-street legal OHV use. This access is important for continued recreational access, connectivity between existing OHV trail systems, and the rural economy.


Please let OHVers continue to use historic non-paved logging roads in California.

Thanks in advance to taking time to send this short letter!

HQ ACTION ALERT - Help Cong. Herger (HR 242) Fix TMR and Reopen Road and Trails

Help Cong. Herger (HR 242) Reopen Closed Roads and Trails

The Recreation HQ is proud to announce the fact that access champion Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA2) had his legislation H.R. 242 introduced into the Congressional Record on January 26, 2011.


BRC Issued a TMR Alert Today with a Link to the Congressional Record
http://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/?alert=1293

HQ believes the alert offers trail users an historic opportunity to engage their own House Member on access issues by having them co-sponsor Congressman Herger’s effort to address the many closure tenets of the 2005 Travel Management Rule as enacted in California’s 19 National Forests.

If you feel OHVers got shafted by TMR in your neck of the woods, you may want to encourage your own House Member to introduce a bill similar to Congressman Herger’s H.R. 242. There may be even county supervisors or county commissioners who want to pass resolutions in support of H.R. 242 or petition their local House Member to co-sponsor the bill or file one for their own state.

As you know, thousands of miles of historic roads and trails have been closed or proposed for closure by the Forest Service. TMR was never supposed to be about landscape level closures of roads and trails used by woodcutters, hunters, OHVers, and other outdoor interests. It got messed up along the way and now it is up to Congress to fix it.

Here is what a local newspaper said about the bill (you may want to show this to your Member of Congress)
http://www.redding.com/news/2011/jan/10/herger-bill-brings-sense-to-road-plan/

HQ encourages you to act promptly to show your support for Congressman Herger’s effort to champion responsible access to public lands.

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