ElDorado Forest Trail Closures

[blondejoncherokee]

signed up for corva and BRC, again havent been a member in years. also donated to each a little bit and bought a shirt and some stickers from corva

 

[Jeep450r]

DrvOvrlt, you should get over on Pirate and post that up in the DV/strawberry thread in the Land use area of the forums (unless you already have).

That is some good information that I'm sure someone over there will be able to do something beneficial with.

 

[Logans91XJ]

This Sucks

 

[the_weirdo]

How does this affect Sierra Fest this year - find out here: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1082178

 

[blondejoncherokee]

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5126192.pdf

reading this old report, in stanislaus national forest, 72% of their overall roads maintenence is for high clearance SUV trails, im sure this is the sort of stuff that doesnt help our cause, i wonder what we can do to help. if stanislaus goes next, whats next then tahoe NF? i never realized that we need to be more proactive...

main reasons to close down a road:
decline in timber harvest
decline in staffing
decline in funding

 

[kcjeep6]

I attended a meeting in Placerville yesterday on this closure, here’s my report;
The County was broadsided with this closure just like we were. The Sheriff did not know there was a decree that he need to enforce until 5 days ago! This meeting was actually a Citizens Coordination Committee that may soon be sanctioned by the County. Their motto is “Protection of our Public Lands for the People of El Dorado”. The County does not want to be hit with something such as this closure without knowing every again. The County is very aware of the economic loss this will cause. They are on our side!

It turns out that you can have a road thru a meadow or wetlands as long as you do a study on the environmental effects. This is way CDB filed suit, they claim that the Forest Service failed to address this in the Travel Management Plan. This is what they do, they hire collage students to go thru documents and find the mistakes, than they file a law suit and collect money from the tax payers

The next course of action will be a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). This will start with scoping process for the notice of intent, than a public comment period; next will be the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, then another public comment period. After this the Record of decision, at this point if you have submitted a comment you can appeal.

The CBD used something about the Hydrological dynamic of a meadow or wetlands as a base for their suit. I don’t want to give too much away to the other side but we will need to hire a Hydrologist to prove the roads will not damage the meadows. I believe CORVA will hold a Comments Project for this. We will teach you how to write an effective comment on the SEIS. It is worthwhile to give 4 hours for this class if you want to keep our public lands open.

If I made a mistake in explaining the SEIS process please post up I am not an expert on this. I will keep everyone updated as I learn more.
I like the Idea of camping a Hermit Valley for Sierra fest, some large banners the can be seen from the roadway would be great! The other thing is to put signs on your XJ’s so when the group id driving down the highway we will get our message out.

Happy Trails
Ken

 

[Ben H]

Ken,

Thanks for the update. I would have like to have been there.

I'm not sure that the below comment is the approach that needs to be taken. I think it is ever so important that we, as a group, remain unbiased throughout this project; something that our opponents surely will not do.

I don’t want to give too much away to the other side but we will need to hire a Hydrologist to prove the roads will not damage the meadows.

A hydrologist should be hired to determine if there is/will be or is not/will not be damages to meadows by existing roads or by establishing new roads. We need an unbiased opinion, based on science. The ultimate goal here is: An unbiased opinion will be given more credence than the discredited biased opinion given by the frivolous lizard kissers. Would you agree?

That being said, you, I, and everyone else knows good and well that roads, if properly laid, cause no significant damage. This is evident by existing roads through existing meadows and the continuation of species in these areas.

Does CORVA have a good hydrologist in mind? If not I'll ask around my circle of jerks about a competent hydrologist. Or if anyone here has any recommendations for a good hydrologist, please say something.

Cant wait to get my hands on some CORVA approved form letters.

Thanks again Ken.

 

[NorCalChris]

I'm going to sign up for CORVA this afternoon. I'm willing to sign up one of our members as well. If you are interested in Signing up, but can't afford it let me know. Call or text. 805 85754fivethree

 

[kcjeep6]

I hope everyone knows that the other side reads all of the forums; this is why I am reluctant to post too much information on any forum. I do agree we all need to stick together!

Yes CORVA does have a hydrologist in mind the one we are think of going with was at the meeting and had a lots of good stuff to say for our side. Some of these roads have been in place for 150 years and the meadows are still healthy, but there needs to be a study that says so. The more scientific studies we have the better. The CBD did not do any studies the just found something in the Travel Management Plan that was not addressed correctly!

Ben you and I are on the same page

 

[XJensen]

I will bring this up to the environmental group in our firms sacramento division.

I was already thinking the window decals. I think that is a great idea.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

im all for stickers. i say we get johhnie walker to vinyl his jeep with save the el dorado trails

 

[the_weirdo]

I love the idea of sticker sales with a theme to keep trails open.

I'll be the first to admit that I have never given trail access much thought; now that it affects my favorite trail (Deer Valley) I am completely on board and have signed up for multiple 4x4 groups.

If not now, when?
If not us, who?

 

[blondejoncherokee]

i agree with the weirdo. i never realized how i do nothing at all to keep trails open until they closed deer valley, barret, and strawberry.
ive always wanted to run barret but have never made it happen. now it may never happen.

 

[Skipper51]

I think if you went into an office and said I want to save a meadow ecosystem from destruction, will anyone donate to help me you will get some money.

I think if you went into an office and said I want to continue to drive my 4x4 through a meadow, will anyone donate to help me you would get zilch.

Just saying that we have a much harder climb. The collage professors teach that the wilderness is being destroyed and students volunteer to help save the planet.

We can't meet the ecologist one with one. We need a ten to one ratio, be it money, energy, or educating the legal system and the public.

 

[Rob D]

I don't really understand how they can just pull this crap out of thier a$$es and a judge will actually agree with thier crap. It is, and has been, an existing road for a very long time. What is next. Do we start to close Hwy 4 for a year because there wasn't an environmental study done on the effects of the meadows it passes thru? And while we're at it lets include Hwy 50, 88, 395 and I-80 to the list. They all pass thru at least 1 meadow, as does most, if not all, of the highways in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. As with many other rulings/judgements now days, it really makes me wonder about the compentancy of our judges now days and thier ability to "read" the laws to support thier own agendas or ideals. Okay, rant over.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I don't really understand how they can just pull this crap out of thier a$$es and a judge will actually agree with thier crap. It is, and has been, an existing road for a very long time. What is next. Do we start to close Hwy 4 for a year because there wasn't an environmental study done on the effects of the meadows it passes thru? And while we're at it lets include Hwy 50, 88, 395 and I-80 to the list. They all pass thru at least 1 meadow, as does most, if not all, of the highways in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. As with many other rulings/judgements now days, it really makes me wonder about the compentancy of our judges now days and thier ability to "read" the laws to support thier own agendas or ideals. Okay, rant over.

damn good point.
i hate the whole guilty before proven innocent on some sort of meadow degradation witch hunt. its completely ridiculous.

 

[kcjeep6]

I am in contact with the El Dorado County Coordination Committee, we are having a little trouble getting a couple of the Supervisors on board with use on the County commenting on the SEIS. The Committee believes letters to the Supervisor will help. I do not want to post some of this information on the internet so if you PM me I will forward the information to you if you would like to help keep our trails open.
Thank you
Ken

 

[srmitchell]

I remember last year- Some fools went AROUND the snow banks blocking the trails, thus cutting into the untouched areas of meadows.

I urge you all, tread lightly, and have zero tolerance for those who don't.

 

[DaveNJeep]

The more I read the ELDO NF statement by Kathy Hardy (the Super) the more I'm sure this won't even last this entire summer, let alone go longer than that.

“I know that prohibiting travel on these routes will be a big disappointment to forest visitors, but we have to be responsive to the order.” said Hardy. “I have a team of people lined up to complete a supplemental environmental impact statement as quickly as possible.”

If you want an endorsement to OUR efforts as good stewards of OUR lands then I can't imagine more of one than that statement.

If we want to do something let's contact Hardy and offer to lend ANY help neccessary to get these studies done. Donations of equipment, work parties, transportation of equipment, etc. How about we offer to modify the actual trail to prevent travel off trail into these meadows by installing barricades, etc.

 

[EricsXJ]

If we want to do something let's contact Hardy and offer to lend ANY help neccessary to get these studies done. Donations of equipment, work parties, transportation of equipment, etc. How about we offer to modify the actual trail to prevent travel off trail into these meadows by installing barricades, etc.

That is a good approach. What I am confused about however, is why the Forst Service has not partnered with someone to formally adopt some of these trails (speaking mostly of Deer Valley). Seems like adopting the trail is the way to go for organizing trail maintenance and work days, similar to FOTR and FOF.