Early Report on QWR/BRC 2013 Summer Northcoast Redwood Access Tour

Del Norte County BOS Building

 

Although HQ is officially closed until Monday, we wanted to get a short story out for weekend readers who want to know how the 2013 Summer Northcoast Redwood Access Tour turned out.  In simple words, it was a huge success.  



NPS/State Park HQ in Orick

 

HQ will go into more details next week, but we attended a number of meetings and/or tours with county officials, users, and agency staff to discuss and review a wide range of state and federal OHV recreation-related issues.

The Land Use Battle Wagon at the Largest (or one of the largest flags) Flag in CA

"Wes Greene's Tractor Service in Arcata"

 

At the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors video link below (44:24 to 52:12) you will find BRC’s, Don Amador, giving public comment to the officials on the following subjects: noting board’s history of fighting for access, non-highway designations for county roads, asking FS to revisit 1999 project level NEPA decision to close 40 miles of routes in High Plateau, county RS2477 filing/request, restoring green-sticker vehicle access at Tolowa Dunes State Park,  potential for a county ATV park, ask county to review its standing/statute of limitations regarding the biology scandal involving Mad River Biologists, and listing the Last Chance Grade Bypass plan as an emergency.

 

Video Link (if you have trouble with Internet Explorer… try launching video in Google Chrome)

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/36301919

 

Popular OHV Route on Smith River NRA

 

 

Thanks to all who helped support this tour.  Watch for more tour-related stories in Del Norte, Humboldt, and Trinity counties.

 

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Road Ripping Hits Colorado NF

Road Ripping in Six Rivers (without NEPA) that Prompted Lawsuit/Stipulation

Over the last few years, HQ has been concerned the Travel Management Rule was (and apparently continues to be) being used by some units of the Forest Service to illegally “authorize” ground-disturbing project-level activities associated with road and trail decommissioning.

The BRC, Del Norte County, CAL4WD, and several other groups challenged such actions in 2010 and the federal government agreed to a public process before using ground-disturbing activities to decommission routes.

Six Rivers NF Lawsuit with Stipulation
http://thegeneralsrecreationden.blogspot.com/2010/12/ohv-legal-effort-takes-forward-step.html

2011 Letter from Six Rivers NF Forest Supervisor Agreeing to Public Notice
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/Smith_River_NRA_Kelley_ltr_RE_comments_5-25-11.pdf

HQ wanted to alert riders in Colorado that the same type of illicit road/trail decommissioning appears to be occurring in their state. Our good friends at the Colorado Trails Preservation Alliance recently sent a letter to the Gunnison National Forest challenging ground-disturbing activities associated with road and trail decommissioning. It looks like the agency skipped the public process as required by NEPA.


September 2, 2011 COTPA Letter to the Gunnison NF with photos
http://coloradotpa.org/news/news/letter-to-the-gnf-nf-supervisor-for-action-being-taking-by-the-gnf-district-ranger.html

The 2005 TMR was never supposed to be used to effect landscape level route closures or be used as the authorizing process to obliterate existing roads and trails. Unfortuntely on some units, TMR is being misused.

The TMR saga continues…

An OHV Christmas Miracle - A Case Study in Perseverance

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life

Many of us fondly remember the original “Miracle on 34th Street” movie (I did not like the remakes). The Recreation HQ believes that OHV may have its own version of that movie for this Christmas called the “Miracle on the Gasquet-Orleans Road.”

Triplicate Article on Miracle
http://www.triplicate.com/20101213110976/News/Local-News/Forest-access-deal-may-end-suit

HQ riders have been following the recent developments of the stipulation signed by the court regarding the Six Rivers NF lawsuit that addressed ad hoc road ripping without public notification and an unfair MVUM that had closed several important jeep trails.

BRC News Release on Stipulation
http://www.sharetrails.org/releases/?story=715&filter=media

HQ Blog with History and Overview of Six Rivers Case
http://thegeneralsrecreationden.blogspot.com/2010/12/ohv-legal-effort-takes-forward-step.html

The General believes that this tactical suit was key in bringing the environmental groups to the table. I don’t think the collaborative stakeholder process would have successfully resolved the issues surrounding several important and historic jeep trails (or the ad hoc closing of routes) without the litigation.

Is this lawsuit an OHV version of the Normandy Invasion? No. However, it is a key battle in OHV Wars and one that is worth the fight.

Thanks for your service and Merry Christmas!

"Blessed" Routes Closed in Current MVUM

In a recent blog, The General advised his followers to “hold the Forest Service accountable” particularly when it comes to travel management planning. A good
case study of a unit being unaccountable is the Smith River National Recreation Area.

*Photo: Trail that is open and blessed on the 1994 Forest Visitor Map, yet it is closed on the current MVUM

In 1990, President George Bush signed the Smith River National Recreation Area Act.
http://www.smithriveralliance.org/resources/library/SmithRiverNRAAct.pdf

As you know, the NRA just published a MVUM that was apparently based on a pre-Act
(circa 1990 Forest Visitor Map - with many OHV routes not being shown) rather than basing the MVUM on the post-Act 1994 Forest Visitor Map (that showed NRA/Act “blessed” OHV routes) as was promised to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.

The Forest’s current and past rationale for making such ad hoc decisions (i.e. to arbitrarily close roads and trails without project level NEPA) is based on their false belief that the 1990 Act gave the NRA “special authority” to bypass the NEPA process and just close routes as they see fit.

The crazy thing is that in the 1995 Forest Plan it references that OHV projects should be “scheduled” to implement OHV use on trails and roads. See excerpt from 1995 Forest Plan:

******************************************************************

http://fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm9_027543.pdf

Page 13
Off-Highway Vehicle
(OHV) Management
Strategies
Assess areas for OHV use. Schedule projects to implement
vehicle use in some areas and restrict use in other areas.
As needed Recreation
Transportation Management
Strategy
.
Assess transportation system and use. Schedule projects to
construct, reconstruct, or decommission roads based on
anticipated needs.
1998 Engineering
****************************************************************************

Yet over the years and until BRC and local stakeholders started to complain about ad hoc closures, the NRA had been doing aggressive road decommissioning/obliteration without any (in most cases) project level NEPA to back up the work. It appears the NRA continues to use this invalid rationale to deny public access to “blessed” routes via its current MVUM.

National Park Service Take Over of State Parks is Bad Idea

The General has received a number of questions from the field regarding the proposal by the National Park Service to take-over a 6 or more units of the California State Park System including the state portion of the Redwood National and State Parks in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

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NYT-Greenwire Story

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/07/02/02greenwire-national-park-service-threatens-takeover-of-6-98645.html

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RNP Website
http://www.nps.gov/redw/

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To some folks it may seem like a good idea. However, in my opinion it creates a number of recreation and access issues. Though some NPS units offer mostly non-motorized recreational opportunities, many NPS units manage their facilities as quasi-Wilderness areas where even non-motorized public access and use is discouraged.

For example, most of the public recreational opportunity (including hiking, fishing, mountain biking, and equestrian use) occurs on the state units of RNP. On the NPS lands, the feds appear to discourage public use via the small amount of trails available for non-motorized use, lack of staging/parking areas, onerous regulations, etc.

Also, if you think working with state parks is difficult… just try to “work” with the NPS in CA. In a late 1990s RNP plan amendment, the NPS stated in the document that their anti-access agenda would put the local commercial surf fisherman … “out of business.”

As politicians debate the budget in Sacramento, it would be my recommendation for them to look at implementing a “user-pay/user-benefit” program for regular state parks.
Those self-funding tools could include an increased entrance fee (such as a 15-20 dollar annual tag for your car, increased camping fees, etc.). What the public won’t support is an across-the-board fee for ALL vehicles regardless of if they use the park or not. Fees collected should be used for park-related on-the-ground public services.

At the end of the day, a take-over by the NPS of our state park units is unacceptable and a concept that should be rejected by lawmakers in Sacramento.

Good News - Combined Use as an Access Tool

While many users legitimately focus on the bad news of how travel management planning in California will impact OHV access on Forest Service roads and trails, The General believes that we should also look for breaking “good access news.”

Although many of us are concerned about Region 5’s interpretation (or misapplication) of the mixed-use/combined-use issue regarding OHV recreation on level 3 forest roads, the fact remains that California law has empowered local governments with the ability to designate appropriate public roads less than 3 miles in length as “combined-use” roads for both street legal and non-street legal motorized vehicles.

See CVC on Combined Use
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d16_5/vc38026.htm

For a long time the BlueRibbon Coalition has encouraged recreationists to work with their local county governments in a partnership or team effort to collectively champion
responsible motorized access to or through public lands.

A recent example of a local government taking advantage of this regulation occurred in Del Norte County. I commend the local users working with their county supervisors on this proposal.

See Del Norte County Info and Resolution on New Combined Use Roads
http://www.dnco.org/agendas/bos/MG77017/AS77028/AI77341/DO77403/DO_77403.PDF

While OHVers are rightly focused on TMR in CA and trying to read through the growing number of NEPA documents being dumped on them by various Forests, the users should not forget to champion (with support and resolutions from county govt.) the “combined-use concept” as a parallel - yet separate – process related to federal travel planning.

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