ENF Seasonal Closure

[Simple Man]

This was just put of by the FS. It's a song and dance. The seasonal closure looks like it's been put off for a year but that's not good enough for me. I don't ever want it closed.

What? You hadn't heard that every dirt road within the El Dorado National Forest was going to be closed from Nov 1 to May 1? You need to join FOTR and other involved groups to keep informed. I will do what I can to keep this board informed but sometimes I forget to post stuff.

Please go to the FS website and look around. Read up on what they're doing. Write them letters, call them on the phone, send them e-mails. We can make a difference.

I'll post up my letters for you to read.


Doug Barr






Over the past few weeks, several issues have been raised by the public via
email, telephone calls, and our bi-weekly public conference calls that need
to be clarified. The following items in the link below seem to be the most
confusing. You can also find this link on our website at:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado/projects/route/index.shtml.

Clarification of Questions Asked by the Public About Route Designation on
the Eldorado
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado/documents/route/enf-route-q-clarify110705.pdf

If there are other issues that you would like clarification on, please
contact Anthony Scardina, Route Designation Interdisciplinary Team Leader,
at (530) 621-5276 or by email at [email protected]. Thank you for all of
your participation and input.

Sincerely,

Anthony Scardina
Route Designation Interdisciplinary Team Leader

 

[Simple Man]

Here is the letter I just sent to Anthony about this latest "Clarification".



Anthony,

I am still calling this closure wrong.

I have many reasons why I believe that this closure is not needed or required. First is that the closure bans over the snow travel within the ENF on system roads. There is no "damage to native trails" when you're driving on snow. Second, within the "final rule" is the line, "Designations of roads, trails, and areas for motor vehicle use should be based on accurate, pertinent, unbiased information." Show me that information!!!!! Prove to me for each and every road/trail you want closed there is "damage to native soil".

Futher more, several places wihin the "final rule", the Department of Agriculture leaves the decision to designate roads/trails to the "local level" with public or user input. Don't pass the buck and claim that you (the ENF) are being forced impliment this closure. It was your decision, plan and simple. And you never included the public or users in reaching your decision.

From your clarification: "A seasonal closure of dirt roads and trails must be instituted during wet weather periods to reduce damage to dirt roads and trails." I think this statement is wrong. There are other ways to reduce the impact of use on a dirt road or trail. Water bars to limit the number of water crossings along a road. Better drainage systems to prevent the pooling of water on or near the trail. The placement of gravel or cobble to reduce the amount of sediment going down stream. Education of the users of how to tread lightly. There are many alternatives.

It is my understanding that the ENF does not have an OHV plan. Even so, I would like to formally request a copy of the "Eldorado National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan as amended by the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment, January 2004" as refered to in the "Notice of Intent".

You are trying to close my national forest from me and I will not let it happen without a fight. Nor will any of my friends in all of the groups I'm associated with, see signature. We are strong, we are united and we will keep our national forests open for the citizens of the United States of America to enjoy!


Doug Barr

Friends of the Rubicon
Rubicon Trail Foundation - Director
North Tahoe Trail Dusters - Vice President
Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo Four Wheel Drive Club
California Associasion of Four Wheel Drive Clubs
Blue Ribbon Coalition - Life Member
American Motorcycle Associasion
North American XJ Associasion
United Fourwheel Drive
Tread Lightly

 

[Simple Man]

I sent this one last week and probably started the FS to think about explaining their actions. I'm sorry I didn't post it here when I sent it almost everywhere else.




Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Anthony Scardina regarding the Notice of Intent issued by John D Berry.



I feel short sided after having worked closely and very hard with most of you to keep our public trails open. Thank you for your hard work and efforts. I intend to keep up the fight, on the trail, in the meeting rooms and from the computer!



FOTR has proven that the users can work with the Forest Service and the Counties to keep our trails and forests open and healthy. We need to convince the El Dorado National Forest of this fact.









Anthony Scardina

Route Designation ID Team Leader

El Dorado Nation Forest

100 Forni Road

Placerville, CA

95667

[email protected]



October 31, 2005





Anthony,



I have just read the “Notice of Intent” for the El Dorado National Forest and I am again very disappointed. I am against the blanket closing of OHV trails.



The El Dorado National Forest must have the motto, “Management by Closure.”



The El Dorado National Forest Service staff rarely attempts to manage anything OHV related within the forest. Their solution for any OHV problem is always, “close it”. Anyone remember Bassi Falls?



El Dorado County put a closure on Spider Lake. Friends of the Rubicon cleaned the site. After the closure timed out, the Forest Service initiated a new Forest Order again closing the area. No attempt was made to educate the users. No attempt was made to put up educational signs. No attempt to physically change the area to prevent damage. It was just closed.



Now, rather than work with user groups to solve the current concerns, the Forest Service wants to close every OHV trail in the forest for six months out of the year! No attempt to single out specific problem roads. No attempt to get user groups to maintain the trails to prevent erosion. No attempt to educate the users about spring time trail use. Just, “Close it.”



Even if it comes to a closure, why not just a two month closure from mid-March to mid May? That’s when the spring melt runs its course. In the middle of January there is no erosion damage because you’re always on several feet of snow.



It is my understanding that timber harvesting over snow is the preferred by the forest service due to the lower environmental impact. Yet OHV travel over the snow has been voluntarily banned by the latest forest order except for system roads. Read as “closed”. And now with this Notice of Intent over the snow travel will be banned altogether. Read again as “closed”! How does that work with “The Purpose and Need for Action” (page 2 under Supplementary Information): “It is Forest Service policy to provide a diversity of road and trail opportunities for experiencing a variety of environments and modes of travel….”?



No closure of hiking trails. No closure of snowshoeing areas. No closure to equestrian usage. No closure to cross county skiers. No closure to snowmobiles, aircraft, watercraft or mountain bikes. But it’s closed to motorized wheeled OHV use. That’s wrong.



The Rubicon Trail runs through ENF, TNF and the LTBMU. Over the years the trail has needed work. The users, in cooperation with the TNF, LTBMU and Placer County have worked to keep the trail and adjoining forests open and healthy. We have even worked with the ENF. Thousands of volunteer hours have been documented.



Five years ago, Placer County in cooperation with the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and the trail users solved the very problems that concern the ENF today. A closure was ordered but working together a solution was engineered and implemented to correct the problem. That process would work in El Dorado National Forest as well!



Please remove the six month closure from the list of possible actions. By working together we can obtain the same results and keep our National Forest open to the public.







Doug Barr

2092 Tangerine St

Sparks, NV

89434-2661

(775) 356-5856

[email protected]











Cc:



John D Berry

Tim Dabney

Rich Platt

Jeff Wiley

Susanne Jensen

Doug Ridley

Ron Thompson

Del Albright

Rubicon Oversight Committee

Rubicon Trail Foundation

Friends of the Rubicon

 

[SeanP]

Doug, thanks so much for posting this on . There are some great folks in the Sierra Chapter that passionately believe in trail stewardship and will help to fight the fight.

I am on the FOTR list and monitor that for news. What I feel is missing is a firm understanding of who is in a position of authority within the different agencies overseeing the ENF. I would love to see an org chart with names and pictures of who we are dealing with.

Sun Tzu "Know your enemy" comes to mind. We are dealing with a very few opponents and knowing who to direct our efforts at helps.

SeanP

 

[Simple Man]

I posted a list of names in the ENF and others who we should e-mail in another post. I'll work on getting a "chain of command" or organization chart from the seasonal to the Dept of Agriculture.

Unfortunately, Senators are the ones who could put pressure on the Dept of Agriculture and I don't think Boxer or Fienstien would do that for us.


Doug

 

[Big Red]

I posted a list of names in the ENF and others who we should e-mail in another post. I'll work on getting a "chain of command" or organization chart from the seasonal to the Dept of Agriculture.

Unfortunately, Senators are the ones who could put pressure on the Dept of Agriculture and I don't think Boxer or Fienstien would do that for us.


Doug

There are so many wheelers within our state and with 1 focused voice, we can make a huge difference and cause change. Thanks Simple Man for bringing this all to our attention. With a sample letter, like you provided, and where to send it, we can all write up letters and put pressure on the people in authority and demand that our trails stay open. You make some good arguments that the land isn't damaged while feet deep with snow and that loggers etc mine forests at this time of the year....why cannot we drive on them at this time??? Also we have spend thousands of hours on trail repairs etc to keep our trails open, we are a responsible bunch who care about the environment and use our vehicles to get deeper into it to appreciate it. It is totally wrong to ban OHV vehicles and then allow any other gas powered vehicle to use it like snow mobiles etc. We must point to why we aren't adversely effecting the environment rather than say why can they do it because then the other gas powered vehicles might be banned as well, but then we have more people who use those vehicles fighting it as well. I don't think the snow mobilers are anywhere close to the huge # us wheelers represent though. Just some thoughts. I'll get some letters written and sent.

Troy

 

[CRASH]

I posted a list of names in the ENF and others who we should e-mail in another post. I'll work on getting a "chain of command" or organization chart from the seasonal to the Dept of Agriculture.

Unfortunately, Senators are the ones who could put pressure on the Dept of Agriculture and I don't think Boxer or Fienstien would do that for us.


Doug

My letter (sent last week). Did the comment deadline get extended? Otherwise, it closed on November 3rd.

November 1, 2005

John D. Berry, Forest Supervisor,
El Dorado Nation Forest
100 Forni Road
Placerville, CA 95667

Dear Mr. Berry,

I have reviewed the “Notice of Intent” for the El Dorado National Forest and I offer these comments for your consideration:

A seasonal closure from November 1 through May 1 affects not only OHV enthusiasts who frequent these routes for over-the-snow recreation, but also hunters and anglers who use these routes to access back country lakes and hunting areas during the fall and winter season. Obviously, a large group is potentially affected by this action, yet the ENF has not produced any evidence of resource damage by over-snow OHV use. Does this data exist? If so, I expect a full accounting to be included in the EIS for this action, including sampling of stream courses showing increased sedimentation due to over-snow OHV use, as well as evidence of other resource damage caused by this activity.

If the ENF’s contention is that damage is caused by operation of vehicles on moist soil surfaces, and not during over-snow travel, than it is the management responsibility of the ENF to manage these roads so they are open during acceptable conditions and closed during periods when resource damage is likely. This means that ENF will have to actually perform the management duties assigned to it, and which it is funded to perform. This either means all OHV routes will meet acceptable drainage and stability requirements year-round or that they will PERIODICALLY be closed due to unacceptable conditions. If the ENF does not wish to perform these tasks and duties, then it should voluntarily cut its recreation budget for the same November to May blanket closure period.

Finally, it is critically important for the ENF to work with forest users, and specifically OHV users in this instance, to manage areas susceptible to damage. For instance, user education programs have been very successful on the Rubicon Trail in reducing littering, resource damage, and unsanitary practices. A similar, larger program could and should be implemented forest-wide in order to inform forest users about resource damage that can potentially occur due to driving off designated routes, or driving on moist soil surfaces. The ENF needs to instill an attitude of cooperation, stewardship and a sense of ownership to forest users. Management by fiat only leads to resentment of authority and a disregard for resources. I ask you to use the public relations resources that the USFS possesses to reach out to forest users rather than to close them out of the resources that they simply want to enjoy.

I reiterate: do not succumb to the “easy” solution of closure. That method serves only to concentrate users into ever smaller areas where impacts are magnified.

Thank you for considering my comments.

Andrew Fecko.

 

[Simple Man]

Anthony Scardina assured me that comments regarding the "Notice of Intent" will be accepted for the official 30 day period, starting Nov 2nd. And if the meeting with the FS we are trying to arrange doesn't happen until after the 30 day deadline, he will accept comments from that meeting.

[email protected]

He is THE forest service contact for the "Notice of Intent" and seasonal closure.

Stay tuned for information about the meeting. It will probably not be the kind of meeting where we want everyone showing up with pitch forks and torches. The idea is to get a small group together to very clearly state our position and solutions to preventing the seasonal closure.


E-mails and letter are always read. Don't worry about any deadlines. Just speak your mind.

 

[Big Red]

Thanks for all the info Simple Man. Great letter Andy, looks like you got your points across and have good arguments. We can use these in our own letters, but change some of the verbal so it doesn't sound to scripted.



This is in response to my letter concerning the proposed closure of ENF.

I got this e-mail from the Boonie Bouncer's club, so Andy and who ever has sent letter(s) should be getting some response back:


Mr. Gariano,

Your comment has been received and added to the record. Thank you for your
input. We will have a public meeting on December 14 in Placerville to
discuss these comments. More information about this meeting will soon be
posted on our website at:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado/projects/route/index.shtml. I will also
add you to our email list so that you can updates on the project.

Thank you again for your participation. If you have any further questions
or concerns please feel free to call me.

Anthony V. Scardina
Eldorado National Forest
OHV Program Manager
Presidential Management Fellow

USDA Forest Service
Eldorado National Forest, Supervisor's Office
100 Forni Road
Placerville, CA 95667

TEL: 530-621-5276 CELL: 724-787-6421
FAX: 530-621-5297
EMAIL: [email protected]
WEB: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/eldorado/