Jan 4, 2010: Ouachita National Forest Makes Travel Mgmt..

[troy]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2010

Ouachita National Forest Makes Travel Management Decision
Designations to Take Effect This Spring

I have attached the announcement as a PDF. As you might expect, the announcement regarding OHV use in the forest is not good news for us.

For the Ouachita National Forest, the biggest change is that most cross country travel, either on user created trails or just riding through the forest on an OHV, will be eliminated.

Um, really? I'm pretty sure that riding any trail not on the MVUM since 2005 has been illegal anyway. So does this mean they are now going to "enforce" the existing rules? That would suggest they have resources to do so, and I'm pretty sure they do not.

They are closing the Wolf-Pen Gap Trail system on week days!

Off-highway vehicle operators will see different opportunities at the popular Wolf-Pen Gap Trail system near Mena, AR. The 31 miles of loop trails will be designated as open routes on weekends and holidays between May 15th and September 15th. The change is due to adverse effects on water quality through sedimentation linked in part to current OHV use in the area.

One of the main things to come out of the Travel Management Rule of 2005 was the idea of an "MVUM" or Motorized Vehicle Use Map.

When implemented in the spring, routes will easily be identified by obtaining a Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) from the local Ranger District office. The map will be the legal document that spells out where the route is, what type of motorized vehicle use is appropriate, and when it is open.

Every forest district was mandated to produce an MVUM and keep it updated. The rule is, ONLY trails shown on the MVUM are legal for OHV use. All other "trails" you come across--marked or otherwise--should be off-limits to OHV use. Problem is, the MVUM is unusable! I obtained a copy of the St. Francis MVUM and found that it is not nearly detailed enough to read. It does not give any way points or other ways to pinpoint where the trails are. I tried to use it in an area I'm quite familiar with. Two things came out of that experience:

• NONE of the trails I ride were on the MVUM!
• NONE of the trails on the MVUM could be located!

The announcement pokes a few positive goodies in there:

Forest officials say, however, that options for additional or different routes still exist...“The public will have an important role to play in future route designations,” said Wagoner. “I encourage people to continue to work with the district office where they enjoy riding to share suggestions for potential trails or volunteer their group to help the Forest develop and maintain new designated routes.”

Somehow the logging companies continue be granted permission to cut all the roads they want and clear cut areas leaving huge, uprooted stumps, etc. I used to get riled up about these announcements. However, it is my observation that the Ouachita , Ozark, and St. Francis forest folks and communities around them are generally OHV friendly. It is also my experience that the district is in no way capable of enforcing the Travel Management Rule or their own decisions. Whether this is because of budget, man-power, or apathy, I don't know.

Here is a link to a 4.5MB PDF that is a map of the trails that will be on the MVUM and designates the trails they are permanently closing. If you figure out how to actually locate trails from this map to a physical location on the ground, let me know! Seems the forest service could issue a GPS data file with all the approved trails in a generic GPX format.
http://www.rideforum.net/tmp/ONF_TM_EA_Alt_E.pdf

Understand that I WANT to abide by the law and forest service rules. I do stay off obvious private property. When I encounter gates on public trails that are closed, I close them after I pass. I NEVER litter and even pick up other people's litter occasionally. I do stay on trails--I don't just forage through the forest (except in a few "got to get out of here" accidental situations). But until the forest service can produce a map that actually has trails I can find that allow me to build a decent ride loop, I'm just "quietly" riding trails I can find. Heck, some of the trails I ride down there have been turned into 25' wide logging roads. I'm sure my motorcycle is really tearing it up.

That said, WE are our own worst enemy. Off-road enthusiasts as a whole are more to blame for the "man" coming down on us than any outside force.

More info at http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/ouachita/recrea ... ndex.shtml

[Stu]

Troy,

Any suggestions for "options" as outlined by Waggoner above?

Stu

[troy]

Troy, Any suggestions for "options" as outlined by Waggoner above

I definitely have some thoughts on this...

First the short version: I think we should do nothing, shut up, install quiet pipes, and ride the trails we want to ride. While doing this, respect the rights of private property owners and treat public land as if it was your own--it IS yours. (Those of you who know my TE450 are thinking I'm a hypocrite right now. I'm researching options to quiet my beast down.)

Longer version:
I think this statement is hot air and mostly thrown in as an appeasement to all that they are trying to take away:

I encourage people to continue to work with the district office where they enjoy riding to share suggestions for potential trails or volunteer their group to help the Forest develop and maintain new designated routes.

I say this because I and others have tried to do exactly that. The response is always the same -- NOTHING. No reply. I can only assume the issue is simply lack of manpower due to lack of budget.

Some groups have been successful with their local forest districts. For example, rider groups in Colorado claim success in organizing to provide accurate trail data and have even been allowed to volunteer to maintain signage, etc. You may be familiar with the NOHVCC's cooperative program with the USFS to provide GPS-based trail data.

http://www.nohvcc.org/forest/forest.asp

I've studied this program and was interested in doing this in the St. Francis. When I submitted a request to the USFS, I got no reply. Others tell me they had similar experiences. What I find interesting and frustrating is that the groups that are trying to shut down our trails are doing the same thing--that is, working to provide trail data to the USFS in hopes of getting those trails closed to motorized use. It seems the USFS is playing both sides to get data and giving both sides hope that in doing so, they can accomplish their goals. Hmmm...hard to serve 2 masters.

For those of you who've enjoyed the single-track at Brock Creek, you can thank the Arkansas Riders association. They have been successfully working directly with the USFS for years--and were granted permission to cut those trails.

So while we hear of these terrible announcements about how the USFS is closing trails, the reality is, local districts do work with riders occasionally, they don't have the capability to enforce the rules, and from what I hear, when you actually do speak directly with a Ozark / St. Francis forest person, they are off-road friendly. I'm sure there are exceptions to that!

I am a bit torn between taking action or keeping my mouth shut. For now, I think things are not as bad as they seem and we should just keep riding while trying to improve our public image from the inside out. A great philosopher once said, "I'm starting with the man in the mirror."

[safiri]

They are closing the Wolf-Pen Gap Trail system on week days!

Off-highway vehicle operators will see different opportunities at the popular Wolf-Pen Gap Trail system near Mena, AR. The 31 miles of loop trails will be designated as open routes on weekends and holidays between May 15th and September 15th. The change is due to adverse effects on water quality through sedimentation linked in part to current OHV use in the area.

Uh, yeah. The reason is BS, short and sweet. I don't have Wolf-Pen Gap numbers, but as an example let's use a nearby recreational park: canoes on the Current River. 80% of use is on the weekends and 80% of that 80% is on Saturdays. I can't imagine the WPG usage being much different. In other words, I seriously doubt the streams are getting muddied up very much on the weekdays. Perhaps the real reason is to give the Greens something ... "Look, we are allowing the fish to live in clear water 5 of 7 days."

[safiri]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2010

Ouachita National Forest Makes Travel Management Decision
Designations to Take Effect This Spring

I have attached the announcement as a PDF. As you might expect, the announcement regarding OHV use in the forest is not good news for us.

For the Ouachita National Forest, the biggest change is that most cross country travel, either on user created trails or just riding through the forest on an OHV, will be eliminated.

Um, really? I'm pretty sure that riding any trail not on the MVUM since 2005 has been illegal anyway. So does this mean they are now going to "enforce" the existing rules? That would suggest they have resources to do so, and I'm pretty sure they do not.

I guess I read the FS statement a bit differently. I don't ride "cross country" or on "user created trails". I ride on existing, mostly marked and numbered FS roads / paths / trails. I realize this doesn't meet the letter of the law, but if I drive down a road that looks public and isn't marked private, then I have no expectation of knowing that it is private and that I am trespasing. Yeah, pulling in a driveway is obviously private.

Perhaps the real solution is for us to bid on some timber concessions and go on and use our motorcycles as scouting vehicles!

[slimtrader]

Troy,

I think you are correct when you say the forest service it trying to play both sides. By writing new strict rules they are pleasing those who think we shouldn't be riding out there, but at the same time they can't or don't want to to enforce the new rules either because of budget/manpower issues or like you said, they are ORV riders or ORV friendly themselves.

The truth is, it's a very big forest. Our little line would be reclaimed by the forest very quickly by deadfall and new growth if we stopped riding and is dwarfed by the damage from logging companies. Those areas will take years and years to grow back after trees are harvested, BUT they will grow back. I understand that it is nice to have some areas off limits to motorized traffic so they can be enjoyed noise free and kept natural looking. Loud bikes annoy me as well when I'm not riding.

It might be easier if there were areas on the map marked for the type of activities and uses allowed. ie. multi-use, hikers only, horses only, bikes only, motorized. ect. They already do some form of that now but maybe it should be expanded and better enforced. For now I'll try to be a good representative of the off road motorcycle community and try to teach or confront those who threaten our image. I think we should try to stay as far away as we can from areas that are known to be popular with hikers, moutain bikes, campers. Go deep into the forest or stay in a designated ORV area. I can empathize with those that don't ride if they are constantly seeing large groups of noisy bikes near areas they like to use.