Date: 10/06/2009 The Mt. Hood National Forests -- located in northwest Oregon -- released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for their Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Management Plan, including Forest Plan Amendment #17. The Forest Service (FS) is asking for your input during a 60-day public review and comment period, which will end on October 28, 2009.
The public may review the DEIS, along with associated maps and appendices, by going to the Forest's website at http://www.fs.fed.us...thood/projects/. Limited hard copies of the document are available by contacting Jennie O'Connor Card.
Public comments are invited and should be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the DEIS. Before commenting, the public is urged to review the DEIS, including appendices and associated maps. Written, facsimile, and electronic comments concerning this action will be accepted.
Send written comments to:
Jennie O'Connor Card, Off-highway Vehicle EIS
Hood River Ranger District
6780 Highway 35
Mount Hood-Parkdale, OR 97041

You may also hand-deliver your comments to the above address during normal business hours from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. Phone: (541) 352-6002 ext 634
Email comments to:
comments-pacificnorthwest-mthood@fs.fed.us
Please put "Mt. Hood Travel Management DEIS" in the subject line of e-mail comments. Acceptable formats are email message, MS Word (.doc), plain text (.txt), or rich text format (.rtf). Comments should include your name and address.
Fax comments to:
(541) 352-7365
For more information on this DEIS, please contact Jennie O'Connor Card, OHV Interdisciplinary Team Leader, at 541-352-6002 ext. 634, or Malcolm Hamilton, Recreation Program Manager, at 503-668-1792.
JUST REMEMBER, PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IS CRUCIAL TO KEEP RECREATION AREAS OPEN; PLEASE GET INVOLVED!

Thanks in advance for your support,
Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107

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The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national (non-profit) trail-saving group that represents over 600,000 recreationists nationwide The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) season is beginning. Federal employees, please mark BlueRibbon Coalition and Check #11402 on your CFC pledge form to support our efforts to protect your access. Join us at 1-800-258-3742 http://www.sharetrails.org
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Here is a copy of the CGORA public comment to the MHNF regarding the Mt. Hood OHV Travel Management Plan.
Please copy and send this with YOUR name to: comments-pacificnorthwest-mthood@fs.fed.us
It has to be in by Wed, Oct 28.
There is more information here: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mthood/projects/.
Thanks!

Dear Mr. Larsen,

The Columbia Gorge Off-Road Association (CGORA) has been working closely with the Hood River County Forestry Dept to develop and maintain the motorized trails on HRC property. Our 180 club members have a history of being responsible trail users who work closely with the Hood River County Sheriffs Department to help protect our public lands for the enjoyment of all trail users. CGORA is willing to adopt the FS trails in the Bear Creek and Gibson Prairie areas and to work closely with MHNF to develop, construct, and maintain the trails for all the designated user groups.

Currently, there are 2,463 miles of gravel and native surface roads, 49 miles of motorized trails, and 394,886 acres of forestland open to OHV use in the Mt. Hood National Forest. Alternative 3 reduces OHV use to 224 miles of road and 102 miles of trails.

After reviewing the Alternative Plans for the Mt. Hood National Forest Travel Management Plan, CGORA supports a Modified Alternative 3 that incorporates the following tenets:

*The Proposed Action in the Notice of Intent never articulated the potential for the closure of over 90% of non-paved forest roads to non-street legal OHV use. CGORA believes this violates both the spirit and intent of the Travel Management Rule that was to originally address an increasing amount of cross-country travel nation wide. Oregon state law allows for non-street legal OHV use on non-paved roads. CGORA believes the road closures in the preferred alternatives are in conflict with the state legislative intent for public OHV use on non-paved roads. CGORA supports the limited mileage closures in the Proposed Action and not the blanket closure of most roads to non-street legal OHV use. This creates a hardship on families, outdoorsmen, and senior citizens that use ATVs and UTVs for touring, driving for pleasure, and exploration of the Forest

* The Bear Creek Area needs to remain as single-track trails, as proposed in Alternative 2. As OHV users, we do not enjoy riding on roads, and as motorcycle-specific riders, we enjoy single-track trails the most, as they provide the most challenge and keep speeds down for safety. With road connections between the single-track trails, it would make this a non-functioning system. CGORA disagrees with the rational, or lack thereof, for not including this area in Alternative 4. Modern trail construction techniques are designed to “minimize” environmental effects.

* The Gibson Prairie Area needs to have motorcycle and quad TRAIL connectors to the existing Hood River County Trails - not roads! These trail connectors were put there many years ago by various users and were built as close as possible to FS standards. The Back Country Horsemen have recently been given permission from the MHNF to reopen these trails. The North Section Line Trail #451 is now the ONLY OHV trail currently in the area (there used to be many others, but opposing, special-interests had them closed.) Trail #451 has been maintained and enjoyed by motorcyclists, hikers, and equestrians for many years with no conflicts. These existing trail connectors would only add about 17 miles of trail, and could be brought up to FS standards by volunteers. The MHNF has a history of accepting user built trails. CGORA disagrees with the rational, or lack thereof, for not including the Gibson Prairie Area in Alternative 4. CGORA believes wildlife concerns have not been substantiated or possible mitigations analyzed that would allow for continued OHV use in the area. There is a lack of evidence regarding substantive “illegal trail construction” (i.e. the relative low amount of user created routes forest wide) that, if in fact, were a problem could be addressed with the new managed OHV program with adequate law enforcement. CGORA believes the rational for eliminating use based on the “potential” for user conflicts with the Long Prairie Range Allocation permittee is highly subjective and ignores the agency’s multiple-use mandate and examples of where OHV recreation coexists with grazing interests.

These same recommendations have been submitted many times throughout the numerous public comment meetings. I hope you take these suggestions and recommendations to heart and provide an enjoyable trail experience for the OHV public.

Regards,

Columbia Gorge Off-Road Association
Hood River, OR

Please spread the word and get as many riders as possible to send this in! This is our only chance to save the trail riding in the Mt Hood National Forest! Today is the last day!

Done. :banana: Now I hafta go ride them this coming summer.