Joined Mar 2002
438 Posts | 0+
SCARBOROUGH, ME.
Hi, all.....
Just got my American Motorcyclist for Dec. 2007, this is an excerpt from the "Vanishing Trails" article on preliminary decisions being made after groups and individuals cataloged existing trails for inclusion in permitted riding areas.
"The Forest Service appeared to be cooperating with that effort, releasing specific guidelines for trail users who wanted to use handheld GPS units to map these long-standing trails that may not have been known to forest managers. The National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council even produced a DVD describing the entire mapping procedure to get riders up to speed on the process.
Across the country, many motorcycle and ATV groups followed those instructions and filed their trails with forest officials. In California, $12 million was even transferred to the Forest Service from the states OHV trust fund to perform this trail research.
So how much impact is this effort having on travel management plans? So far, in those forests that have reached the stage where they are releasing their updated trail maps, not much:
In the 1.8-million-acre Coconino National Forest in Arizona, officials are proposing designating a paltry 24.5 miles of motorcycle trails.
In the 564,000-acre Apalachicola National Forest in Florida, the proposed travel management plan calls for just 55 miles of motorcycle trails and 34 miles of OHV trails.
The 1.2-million-acre Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota plans to allow just 79 miles of single-track motorcycle trail. This is a forest that has more than 10,000 miles of roads and trails already in existence. And officials are proposing cutting that back to less than 4,000.
Officials in the 1.9-million-acre Inyo National Forest in California have proposed just 16 miles of motorcycle trails and 37 miles of motorcycle/ATV trails. Another 3 miles may be added later.
That doesnt mean these are the only routes open to motorized vehicles in these forests. For instance, in the Inyo National Forest, officials have included some 900 miles of existing, user-generated motorized routes in the proposed plan. Most of that total represents dirt roads for which a use permit exists now or was issued at some time in the past. But whats been lost, in every one of these cases, are the user-created motorcycle and ATV trails so painstakingly documented by riders in the past year.
As if that wasnt bad enough, off-road riders in some of these areas are telling us that the route maps being published by forest officials make it impossible to use even the few remaining miles of trail. They note that, in many cases, the new maps dont include enough landmarks for a rider to know where the trails are. And if they wander off the designated trails, riders face fines of up to $5,000.
Maine is already almost unrideable, with a immense amount of acreage either owned or controlled by non-public organizations.
Just got my American Motorcyclist for Dec. 2007, this is an excerpt from the "Vanishing Trails" article on preliminary decisions being made after groups and individuals cataloged existing trails for inclusion in permitted riding areas.
"The Forest Service appeared to be cooperating with that effort, releasing specific guidelines for trail users who wanted to use handheld GPS units to map these long-standing trails that may not have been known to forest managers. The National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council even produced a DVD describing the entire mapping procedure to get riders up to speed on the process.
Across the country, many motorcycle and ATV groups followed those instructions and filed their trails with forest officials. In California, $12 million was even transferred to the Forest Service from the states OHV trust fund to perform this trail research.
So how much impact is this effort having on travel management plans? So far, in those forests that have reached the stage where they are releasing their updated trail maps, not much:
In the 1.8-million-acre Coconino National Forest in Arizona, officials are proposing designating a paltry 24.5 miles of motorcycle trails.
In the 564,000-acre Apalachicola National Forest in Florida, the proposed travel management plan calls for just 55 miles of motorcycle trails and 34 miles of OHV trails.
The 1.2-million-acre Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota plans to allow just 79 miles of single-track motorcycle trail. This is a forest that has more than 10,000 miles of roads and trails already in existence. And officials are proposing cutting that back to less than 4,000.
Officials in the 1.9-million-acre Inyo National Forest in California have proposed just 16 miles of motorcycle trails and 37 miles of motorcycle/ATV trails. Another 3 miles may be added later.
That doesnt mean these are the only routes open to motorized vehicles in these forests. For instance, in the Inyo National Forest, officials have included some 900 miles of existing, user-generated motorized routes in the proposed plan. Most of that total represents dirt roads for which a use permit exists now or was issued at some time in the past. But whats been lost, in every one of these cases, are the user-created motorcycle and ATV trails so painstakingly documented by riders in the past year.
As if that wasnt bad enough, off-road riders in some of these areas are telling us that the route maps being published by forest officials make it impossible to use even the few remaining miles of trail. They note that, in many cases, the new maps dont include enough landmarks for a rider to know where the trails are. And if they wander off the designated trails, riders face fines of up to $5,000.
Maine is already almost unrideable, with a immense amount of acreage either owned or controlled by non-public organizations.
