Responsible Use of our Trails

[Sandee McCullen]

In response to many requests regarding "can my vehicle do" specific trails.....

Most of us know that most vehicles can traverse most of our trails....... what many of us do not think about is "what does it do to the resources and/or trails"? Or "WHAT THE AGENCIES SEE"

"Getting through with help"; "getting through by rock stacking"; "getting through via a by-pass" will and is closing our access to trails. Most specifically to those that do have some resource values that we need to take extra caution with or those that the agencies are watching closely........ or rather the environmentalists are watching.

These guys surf our WEB sites; they join our groups and email lists; and they "sit on the desk of our land managers"!!!!!!

It's very important each of us ensure our vehicles are capable of approaching the challenge of a trail without taking the chance of doing damage or change to the resources. The environmentalists are watching for EVERY SPOT OF OIL; every moved rock they can declare as "changing the watershed"; every possible area of "Critical Environmental Concern" or simply "any/everything" to close OHV out.

I am not trying to start another flame war, nor am I declaring you all do not have the right to explore our back country............... I'm simply asking everyone consider their choice. Soon each of the extreme trails will have vehicle requirements in lieu of "trail ratings". If vehicles are then caught on these trails without proper equipment they will be cited. This is the only way we can keep our trails in condition to "offer the challenge" along with proving to the land managers we "don't impact or damage the land or resources".

Jawbreaker was closed two years ago because of "abuse of the resources"... it is now under appeal but most likely we will lose this trail permanently. Martinez Canyon is certainly NEXT on the list. The recent "tip over" spied by the enviros was most certainly not a benefit to us. Mookie did a great job with his "response" but the enviros AND Tucson BLM will most certainly use the incident against US.

If we can show concern for the resources and responsible recreation we can win this miserable battle but it's going to take all of us to join together and understand the issues.................. We have to look squeeky clean. We need to carry cleaning materials for when spills do happen; we need to eliminate "changing" the land or trail; we need to clean and DE-rock our trails; and most of all.................. take pictures of EVERYTHING GOOD WE DO.

PLEASE HELP US WIN THIS BATTLE AGAINST THE LAND MANAGERS AND ENVIROS! .........

[Y2K-XJ]

Very well said Sandee!!! :cool:

[FlexyXJ]

In response to many requests regarding "can my vehicle do" specific trails.....

Most of us know that most vehicles can traverse most of our trails....... what many of us do not think about is "what does it do to the resources and/or trails"? Or "WHAT THE AGENCIES SEE"

"Getting through with help"; "getting through by rock stacking"; "getting through via a by-pass" will and is closing our access to trails. Most specifically to those that do have some resource values that we need to take extra caution with or those that the agencies are watching closely........ or rather the environmentalists are watching.

These guys surf our WEB sites; they join our groups and email lists; and they "sit on the desk of our land managers"!!!!!!

It's very important each of us ensure our vehicles are capable of approaching the challenge of a trail without taking the chance of doing damage or change to the resources. The environmentalists are watching for EVERY SPOT OF OIL; every moved rock they can declare as "changing the watershed"; every possible area of "Critical Environmental Concern" or simply "any/everything" to close OHV out.

I am not trying to start another flame war, nor am I declaring you all do not have the right to explore our back country............... I'm simply asking everyone consider their choice. Soon each of the extreme trails will have vehicle requirements in lieu of "trail ratings". If vehicles are then caught on these trails without proper equipment they will be cited. This is the only way we can keep our trails in condition to "offer the challenge" along with proving to the land managers we "don't impact or damage the land or resources".

Jawbreaker was closed two years ago because of "abuse of the resources"... it is now under appeal but most likely we will lose this trail permanently. Martinez Canyon is certainly NEXT on the list. The recent "tip over" spied by the enviros was most certainly not a benefit to us. Mookie did a great job with his "response" but the enviros AND Tucson BLM will most certainly use the incident against US.

If we can show concern for the resources and responsible recreation we can win this miserable battle but it's going to take all of us to join together and understand the issues.................. We have to look squeeky clean. We need to carry cleaning materials for when spills do happen; we need to eliminate "changing" the land or trail; we need to clean and DE-rock our trails; and most of all.................. take pictures of EVERYTHING GOOD WE DO.

PLEASE HELP US WIN THIS BATTLE AGAINST THE LAND MANAGERS AND ENVIROS! .........


YOU GO GIRL!!!!.. And people just call me an *** when I say "If you have to stack, you shouldnt be here"

[Y2K-XJ]

Thats why Im not on a lot of trail runs, I know the limits of my Jeep,
I almost fall asleep on small rated trails, I want to run the Bigger trails.. I am building my rig more but untill then Ill stick to the 3.0-3.5 Bunny trails WHERE I BELONG..
I will stack only in a emergency "Gonna Flop" situation,(I always unstack, and most of the time I even unstack a couple more than what I put there from the previous stackers.) :D

[Sandee McCullen]

Thats why Im not on a lot of trail runs, I know the limits of my Jeep,
I almost fall asleep on small rated trails, I want to run the Bigger trails.. I am building my rig more but untill then Ill stick to the 3.0-3.5 Bunny trails WHERE I BELONG..
I will stack only in a emergency situation(I always unstack, most of the time I even unstack a couple more than what I put there from previous stackers.) :D

If ALL OHV recreationists felt and did the same we wouldn't be in the precarious situation regarding lose of our trails........... THANKS!!!

I think the "education" is slowly getting out there but we're losing an awful lot of trails and land in the meantime. We ALL simply need to be truly responsible recreationists........ I'm not saying not to "meet your challenge"........ just recognize the abilities of your vehicle and experience before you do. Hopefully more will follow your lead............. again, THANKS.

[1BLKJP]

Sandee, while I completely agree with all of the information you provided above. I have one question, aren't the "Can my rig do specific trails" questions a good sign for us? I mean if someone is actually taking the time to ask if we think they can handle a trail then that is better than them just going out and doing it. If we can help educate members of possible dangers to themselves or the trails then we should shoulder that responsibility and do so.

[Sandee McCullen]

Sandee, while I completely agree with all of the information you provided above. I have one question, aren't the "Can my rig do specific trails" questions a good sign for us? I mean if someone is actually taking the time to ask if we think they can handle a trail then that is better than them just going out and doing it. If we can help educate members of possible dangers to themselves or the trails then we should shoulder that responsibility and do so.

Absolutely, but that is only the first step......... AND there's not enough of us really doing this. When the enviros find pictures of overturned vehicles they love to jump on the fact that we "must have destroyed the water table with oil products" ! The land managers are still not convinced of the end results of the cleaning products we're using nor are they convinced we can traverse a riparian wash without damaging it or crawl a rock wall and the "tire marks" left are not a "end of the earth problem". Anyone on the technical trails out there know they are in sad shape. They have large oil spills throughout, rocks are stacked to block the normal water flow and (as we've already found in cleaning Annilhilator) are finding beer cans and oil 2 ft deep in rocks and dirt fill. Vegetation is being run over and trees have been pulled off the banks from winching. I've convinced a few of the land managers of the necessity to place "winch points" at some of the waterfalls and areas that seem to gain the most damage from ripping oil pans or breaking axles but when this is done we have another problem to deal with............. convincing our fellow 4-wheeler to USE the winch points rather than rocking a ramp or tearing up the trail to get through. "Winch rather than Rock"
It doesn't take very many unqualified vehicles through a trail that is above their challenge to truly hurt both the trail and the challenge of those that are capable of traversing without doing damage to the resources. I don't know how to convince many that this problem is REAL. Several years ago I was told by a very open minded OHV Manager that we "would probably have to lose something very important to us before we wake up". I didn't see it then but most certainly do now. Take a look at the ORBA WEB page to see some of the HUGE legal issues we're dealing with. Arizona is most definitely immediately behind California in HUGE LOSES. At this time Arizona is the leader in having "route inventories" done and we now have 7 Resource Management Plans in working process within BLM and 3 within Forest Service. A long time rule of "cross country travel" within Forest Service is now GONE FOREVER because of the abuse. ALL trails within both BLM and FS will have to be "Designated..... open, closed or limited". This means if the land mangers find anything they feel "they cannot manage", they will simply "Designate it CLOSED". There is request for something like an additional 6 million acres the enviros want into Wilderness or "managed with Wilderness Criteria". Ariz already has 6.1 million acres of wilderness lands locked to OHV. Game & Fish have sent numerous reports to Tucson BLM requesting ALL roads and/or trails be CLOSED unless they show to be "ROADS WELL USED". NO WASHES; NO ROADS IN OR NEAR SENSITIVE AREAS (of which G&F declare everything to be) and NO OHV (ATV's or bikes) use anywhere on public lands. They are also requesting "Rock Crawling" to be outlawed from ANY PUBLIC LANDS............

Long story................... if we don't get involved in the issues, recognize that we are truly losing the battle, and find a way (like getting businesses involved in ORBA) to fund the legal battles on our near horizon........... WE LOSE. We also MUST start truly abiding by the "LEAVE NO TRACE" thought within our recreation. SOON.

[roger]

This is an excellent thread. Has it been posted to AZVJC via Yahoogroups? If not, it needs to be.

-Roger