2offroad
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Concord NC
Per Bruce AKA Raidoman
Badin Lake OHV Area update - 26 March 06
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trail grooming
The grooming of the trails, water bars and tail ditches, and the turnouts have been completed. Some will not be pleased initially with some sections of the trails because they've been smoothed and filled, but the waterbars and fill spots were left "soft" and not compacted, so the first big rain is going to make a mudfest. Give it about three months and this grooming will probably lead to some of the most challenging conditions the OHV area has ever had.
Trail Closures
It has been decided to close the firing range temporarily in favor of keeping Saw Mill trail open until arrangements to reroute it can be made. The firing range has had some real problems with proper shooting techniques and discipline, and has not been supervised, so it was decided to keep the paying section (OHV) open.
The reroute already exists and needs only the requisite system paperwork submittals, approval, and three culvert pipes installed to become reality. It's not particularly challenging, but it allows us to keep Saw Mill open and is a much better connector trail.
OHV Campground
Deep Water Horse Camp is being looked at as a highly potential OHV campground. Wherever such a campground is located, it would have to be connected to the trail system. Deep Water is next to the lake, and is connected to three closed trails, but will have to be upgraded with proper toilets and trash receptacles before it can be an official camping area, so that's being strongly recommended at this time.
Trail openings
To open any previously closed trail, conditions that brought on the original closure have to be resolved or changed. There are four trails that intersect/merge in the FR576 and Deep Water section. One leads to a very large and extremely important archeological site that will have to be protected. That particular trail is highly visible from one that can be reopened for OHV access to Deep Water, so that problem has to be solved before anything else is done.
The other factor was the Bald Eagle nesting population near the Falls Dam. The eagle population has rebounded, moved to other nearby areas, and the current Uwharrie administration doesn't seem to buy into the theory that the OHVs disturb the eagles any more than the watercraft on the lake, hunters, hikers, and general activity that has not been restricted in the area. This has been our stance from the beginning 10 years ago. At any rate, there is a pretty fair chance that the trail that leads from the Deep Water location to the area of Wolf Den/Dutch John/Falls Dam trail intersections will be reopened before any OHV campground will be in place officially.
Law enforcement
The new NC ATV laws will be enforced, alcohol and drugs will not be tolerated, and off-trail ridng issues will be dealt with by allowing/constructing obstacle by-passes for ATVs and less well prepared vehicles where appropriate and by citations where not appropriate.
The volunteers are asked to record and report license numbers of vehicles observed committing obvious offenses, and as much info as possible regarding the particulars of the description of ATV/motorcycles doing the same.
Signage
The upgrading of and better placement of signage was discussed and ageed that some steps will be taken to correct the lack of info available to the user population.
Volunteer activities
It was stated in the meeting that with fire season personnel demands and the budget cuts, the Badin Lake Recreation Area is completely dependent upon volunteers to get and keep the various facilities open, and that fees will likely have to be instituted for facilities other than the OHV trails. That means that without volunteer participation, there's nothing to say that even the success of the fee demo program will be sufficient to keep the trails open, and that means we need people to respond.
There will be meetings to put together some recommendations for upcoming projects and to create schedules to get them done, and the details will be posted here. More to come.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uwharrie News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a forest meeting Tuesday PM this week and several issues concerning recreation were part of the presentation. There is a workday and meeting Saturday (tomorrow) for the leaders of the various 4WD interests. I'm currently holding off posting info until the Saturday meeting so that some more definite info can be obtained after our exploration/examination of some of the trails we didn't get to last weekend. There has been a fire on Daniel, BTW, so expect some changes in appearance, and I was told to tell yas, "Stay the hell off the firebreak" that was cut during the fire. Maybe not in so many words, but don't say ya weren't warned. OK, so it was in those words. They were talking to me and my ATV cronies, but you can bet your sweet arses that it means EVERYBODY.
Some of what will be explored is a re-routing of Saw Mill to alleviate the dangers of proximity to the firing range, trail conflicts with archeological and endangered species sites, and possibilties of potential new trail openings.
I'll be posting the info Sunday PM if all works out in my schedule.
Badin Lake OHV Area update - 26 March 06
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trail grooming
The grooming of the trails, water bars and tail ditches, and the turnouts have been completed. Some will not be pleased initially with some sections of the trails because they've been smoothed and filled, but the waterbars and fill spots were left "soft" and not compacted, so the first big rain is going to make a mudfest. Give it about three months and this grooming will probably lead to some of the most challenging conditions the OHV area has ever had.
Trail Closures
It has been decided to close the firing range temporarily in favor of keeping Saw Mill trail open until arrangements to reroute it can be made. The firing range has had some real problems with proper shooting techniques and discipline, and has not been supervised, so it was decided to keep the paying section (OHV) open.
The reroute already exists and needs only the requisite system paperwork submittals, approval, and three culvert pipes installed to become reality. It's not particularly challenging, but it allows us to keep Saw Mill open and is a much better connector trail.
OHV Campground
Deep Water Horse Camp is being looked at as a highly potential OHV campground. Wherever such a campground is located, it would have to be connected to the trail system. Deep Water is next to the lake, and is connected to three closed trails, but will have to be upgraded with proper toilets and trash receptacles before it can be an official camping area, so that's being strongly recommended at this time.
Trail openings
To open any previously closed trail, conditions that brought on the original closure have to be resolved or changed. There are four trails that intersect/merge in the FR576 and Deep Water section. One leads to a very large and extremely important archeological site that will have to be protected. That particular trail is highly visible from one that can be reopened for OHV access to Deep Water, so that problem has to be solved before anything else is done.
The other factor was the Bald Eagle nesting population near the Falls Dam. The eagle population has rebounded, moved to other nearby areas, and the current Uwharrie administration doesn't seem to buy into the theory that the OHVs disturb the eagles any more than the watercraft on the lake, hunters, hikers, and general activity that has not been restricted in the area. This has been our stance from the beginning 10 years ago. At any rate, there is a pretty fair chance that the trail that leads from the Deep Water location to the area of Wolf Den/Dutch John/Falls Dam trail intersections will be reopened before any OHV campground will be in place officially.
Law enforcement
The new NC ATV laws will be enforced, alcohol and drugs will not be tolerated, and off-trail ridng issues will be dealt with by allowing/constructing obstacle by-passes for ATVs and less well prepared vehicles where appropriate and by citations where not appropriate.
The volunteers are asked to record and report license numbers of vehicles observed committing obvious offenses, and as much info as possible regarding the particulars of the description of ATV/motorcycles doing the same.
Signage
The upgrading of and better placement of signage was discussed and ageed that some steps will be taken to correct the lack of info available to the user population.
Volunteer activities
It was stated in the meeting that with fire season personnel demands and the budget cuts, the Badin Lake Recreation Area is completely dependent upon volunteers to get and keep the various facilities open, and that fees will likely have to be instituted for facilities other than the OHV trails. That means that without volunteer participation, there's nothing to say that even the success of the fee demo program will be sufficient to keep the trails open, and that means we need people to respond.
There will be meetings to put together some recommendations for upcoming projects and to create schedules to get them done, and the details will be posted here. More to come.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uwharrie News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a forest meeting Tuesday PM this week and several issues concerning recreation were part of the presentation. There is a workday and meeting Saturday (tomorrow) for the leaders of the various 4WD interests. I'm currently holding off posting info until the Saturday meeting so that some more definite info can be obtained after our exploration/examination of some of the trails we didn't get to last weekend. There has been a fire on Daniel, BTW, so expect some changes in appearance, and I was told to tell yas, "Stay the hell off the firebreak" that was cut during the fire. Maybe not in so many words, but don't say ya weren't warned. OK, so it was in those words. They were talking to me and my ATV cronies, but you can bet your sweet arses that it means EVERYBODY.
Some of what will be explored is a re-routing of Saw Mill to alleviate the dangers of proximity to the firing range, trail conflicts with archeological and endangered species sites, and possibilties of potential new trail openings.
I'll be posting the info Sunday PM if all works out in my schedule.
