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Stop the forest service.....


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I work for US forest service, and it always amazes me how quick people are to criticize an agency that provides so many recreational opportunities all over the country. I have never been out that way, so I cant comment on this particular incident in question.

I live and work in NC. Right on the border or NC/TN there is the Nantahala national forest, who USED to offer many miles of OHV trails. It was THE place to take your rock crawling buggies and jeeps. The trails were technical and rocky in a mountainous terrain. People drove from states away to enjoy these trails.

Then, after years, the US forest service closed these trails. There was a long drawn out battle between the forest service and the Souther 4WD Assocoiation. The SFWDA claimed that that the trails did not need to be closed, but that reroutes were possible solutions and only partial closures were needed. I watched in my local 4x4 forum as person after person bashed the forest service for closing these trails for "no reason." I own a rock crawling truck and I love going out on the trails. As a member of the SFWDA and other off road clubs, I listened to both sides of this story for a long time.

Then, on a work trip, I got my chance to actually visit the Tellico after the closure. I saw the trails, and they were in terrible shape and should have been shut down years ago. Sedimentation in the local trout streams were unbelievable. Reroutes were not an option because of rare plant species and the steep topography. That forest will never be the same due to the damage OHVs did to it. Those trails are never going to heal and water quality has been forever damaged in the local tributaries, so has amphibian and fish life.

The point Im trying to make is that its easy to bash an organization when the only headlines you see about it are the negative ones. You dont hear about it when the US Forest Service aquires 300,000 acres from private land owners with the intent to build recreation facilities. It happens all the time. You only see the negatve news because thats what people in this sport feed on. We should all be glad that the US forest still exists under the department of agriculture. If something were ever to happen to the forest service, and we were turned over to the national park service, you can kiss all OHV trails and riding areas good by. Remember, the NPS has a goal to preserve and the US forest service has a goal to conserve. Conservation allows sustainable timber harvest and motorized vehicle recreation.

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this stuff never stops having been borne and raised in western oregon i have watched the forest service destroy entire communities and countless people in the name of saving rare grass and birds.that they now want to take away our recreation should come as no surprise. you cant win against people that are ruling against the will of the people especially when they are armed with our money. i prey that i am wrong but i suspect that the closures are a done deal these decisions are made long before the ideas are proposed for supposed comment.i grew up 1 mile from south jetty but ask any logger how it will end. sorry about the rant but thats my .02

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Some people sure have a lot to say about a place they never been. Take ur cut n paste bullshit to another thread. So STFU and sign

 

 

 

x3,500

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I see where you are coming from, and it really sucks losing a spot to ride, but, there are other places to ride.

No, the other places aren't like the one bring closed and it is a longer drive and more inconvenient to go somewhere else. When a species becomes extinct it is gone forever. It is never coming back. Biodiversity on this earth must be preserved. You may think of it as just a grass, but the cells of that grass may one day be a vital component of a cure to cancer or other illness.

 

Have you been to the oregon dunes? what species is going to be extinct? THERE IS NONE, 95% of these trails have been there for 10 years and nothing has changed, EXCEPT WAIT the plant life that the forest service cut down to put fences, OMG. IM going to throw another one at you, alot of the SPECIES of plant life in THE DUNES are not NATIVE, OMG COULD THESE NO NATIVE PLANT LIFE BE TAKING OVER AND KILLIN OTHER SPECIES, yes. IM sure that is the ORV fault huh? A blade of fucking grass? are you kidding me? there is plenty of the same grass, in the Areas that you already cant ride, witch are almost or in some areas GREATER then in the areas you can ride.

 

Lets dig into this alittle bit " Biodiversity on this earth must be preserved"

 

the earth goes threw cycles, like it or not thats the way it goes, live of all forms will come and go, that is what life is, you may not like it, but as time goes on some live evolves, and some does not, some will not make it, and some new ones pop us, DID the dinosaurs ruin the ecosystem, OR EAT THE LAST BLADE OF GRASS SO MOTHER EARTH DESTROYED THEM? no

 

 

When im at one of the meetings the forest service has and they can show me 1 species in the oregon DUNES that is going to be gone in a area ALREADY NOT SHUT DOWN, not that there is one in these areas mind you..... then you will have a arguement.

 

Give me a valid arguement, tell me these rare species in the OREGON DUNES that need to be saved by shutting down more area,? ecosystems, blades of grass, Obviously you have been brainwashed and need to open your eyes and realize that you cant have everything, " more inconvenient to go somewhere else"

 

" more inconvenient to go somewhere else" SOMEWHERE ELSE? the 104 miles of 108 miles of trails in this area are the last ones left to take before you start taking open dunes buddy......... so ill be waiting for you to start nameing all the rare species only found in the OREGON DUNES IN THESE AREAS so we can plant some of them somewhere else cause im sure they can only grow in sand......

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Thank you for your valued opinion, but if a topic is posted in a public forum then expect public opinion.

 

kthanksbye

 

 

<EDIT> I dont want you guys to get the wrong idea, I am not siding with the forest service in this particular case, I want the riding area to stay open, but the attacks and bashing of the agency is not good for the sport. The forest service overall is doing great things for outdoor recreation, trying to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy what we enjoy now.

 

 

 

So how are future generations going to enjoy it when you cant do it anymore, they will be riding in a bathtub by the time your employer is done. Bashing? well when all the people trying to close areas say is, vegetation, ecosystem, grass, and cant give you any reason then that for needing to close another area for the same reason it gets alittle old. PUBLIC LANDS, OUR TAX DOLLARS, OUR RECREATION FEES.. that you have no problem collecting, and adding more.. whats the next species you will use to close more?

 

 

 

 

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this stuff never stops having been borne and raised in western oregon i have watched the forest service destroy entire communities and countless people in the name of saving rare grass and birds.that they now want to take away our recreation should come as no surprise. you cant win against people that are ruling against the will of the people especially when they are armed with our money. i prey that i am wrong but i suspect that the closures are a done deal these decisions are made long before the ideas are proposed for supposed comment.i grew up 1 mile from south jetty but ask any logger how it will end. sorry about the rant but thats my .02

 

Indeed, rare species my ass, witch ones where are they, its BS, they have no arguement.

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Thank you for your valued opinion, but if a topic is posted in a public forum then expect public opinion.

 

kthanksbye

 

 

<EDIT> I dont want you guys to get the wrong idea, I am not siding with the forest service in this particular case, I want the riding area to stay open, but the attacks and bashing of the agency is not good for the sport. The forest service overall is doing great things for outdoor recreation, trying to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy what we enjoy now.

 

 

The forest service overall is doing great things for outdoor recreation, sorry i just seen this. Besides telling us what we can and cant do, charging more fees, havingless designated camp sites, always trying to close more areas, turning one time camp areas into day use areas. trying to charge fees to park that use to be free on our public lands. RULING not managing, taking not helping.

 

 

Tell me what do you do for the ATV or ORV users?

 

 

 

 

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Please tell me these great things the forest service is doing for outdoor recreation, I think of it more as the great things your doing for your own interest, but ill check back for your take on the great things your doing for us ATV and outdoor people.

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Have you been to the oregon dunes? what species is going to be extinct? THERE IS NONE, 95% of these trails have been there for 10 years and nothing has changed, EXCEPT WAIT the plant life that the forest service cut down to put fences, OMG. IM going to throw another one at you, alot of the SPECIES of plant life in THE DUNES are not NATIVE, OMG COULD THESE NO NATIVE PLANT LIFE BE TAKING OVER AND KILLIN OTHER SPECIES, yes. IM sure that is the ORV fault huh? A blade of fucking grass? are you kidding me? there is plenty of the same grass, in the Areas that you already cant ride, witch are almost or in some areas GREATER then in the areas you can ride.

 

Lets dig into this alittle bit " Biodiversity on this earth must be preserved"

 

the earth goes threw cycles, like it or not thats the way it goes, live of all forms will come and go, that is what life is, you may not like it, but as time goes on some live evolves, and some does not, some will not make it, and some new ones pop us, DID the dinosaurs ruin the ecosystem, OR EAT THE LAST BLADE OF GRASS SO MOTHER EARTH DESTROYED THEM? no

 

 

When im at one of the meetings the forest service has and they can show me 1 species in the oregon DUNES that is going to be gone in a area ALREADY NOT SHUT DOWN, not that there is one in these areas mind you..... then you will have a arguement.

 

Give me a valid arguement, tell me these rare species in the OREGON DUNES that need to be saved by shutting down more area,? ecosystems, blades of grass, Obviously you have been brainwashed and need to open your eyes and realize that you cant have everything, " more inconvenient to go somewhere else"

 

" more inconvenient to go somewhere else" SOMEWHERE ELSE? the 104 miles of 108 miles of trails in this area are the last ones left to take before you start taking open dunes buddy......... so ill be waiting for you to start nameing all the rare species only found in the OREGON DUNES IN THESE AREAS so we can plant some of them somewhere else cause im sure they can only grow in sand......

 

Thanks for saving me the trouble. Tree huggers can go hug trees elsewhere. Or better yet, pound sand. (pun intended) :D

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If you had ever been to the Oregon dunes you would actually know what you are talking about but since you have never been here and have no clue what you are talking about your generalazation about the forest service does not work. If you want to tell people what a great organization you work for in your state that is fine but dont try to tell us what they are doing here becasue we are the ones that are here and seeing it every time we try to go ride. So like was stated above go hug a tree and then pound sand!

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On my district, the Uwharrie national forest, we spends thousands and thousands of dollars every year on maintenance of our OHV trail systems. Many, many, many hours of work by not only the recreation staff, but also the fire and forestry technicians goes into keeping the trail system open on our district. This year alone we added three concrete bridges over streams in an effort to keep motorized vehicles out of the water. The water crossings in those locations were getting seriously entrenched. Our trails are inspected by hydrologists and landscape architects from the forest service senior office every year, and we do everything we can to make sure they will like what they see. We have plans layed out to add another mile of trail to our system this fall. We recently constructed a new parking lot with toilets to accommodate more users. We added more camp sites with RV hookups last year. Some of us also volunteer our time to work with the volunteer groups in trash clean up, guide rail installation and creating water bars on the trails. We put up guide rail every time we discover a user create trail to keep others from using it. Many of these unauthorized trails go through areas where there are endangered plant species. We stay on top of our trail system and work WITH our users to keep the trails open.

 

 

I signed the petition, now I am done with this thread.

 

 

You know i love all the stuff you said, til the end. What are these endangered species of plant if i might ask, why, dont you take some and polonate, and replant is more areas if they are so endangered? this is the 20th century. we also have Atv rides the clean up the beaches and do other things to keep our areas clean, all we ask for is to keep the dunes that we love from being a rare species.

 

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The us forest service works for "US". We say don't be idiots about closing areas because a stream has sediment in it, a plant is getting ridden on, the fish are pissed off. Nature always repairs itself. Consider forest fires for the "damage" they do. It is not damage it is repair. I doubt that quads are responsible for asian carp, that quads created the mother of all ruts in the Grand Canyon, and that we run over as many plants as 100,000 square mile forest fires burn up.

 

The forest service should just say, "We don't want to work so hard so we will just shut down areas". That would be closer to honesty than the load we are fed. Maybe we should all stop hunting because a few people poach. Maybe we should shut down all good clean family fun and the let the kids all return to x box and twinkies all day long. Riding and outdoor activities keep kids off drugs and healthy and useful to our society. Closing down areas is indicative of a lazy us forest service .

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I can sort of relate to closed trails in my area, only because of the drunk fat rednecks with their lifted ATV's and massive tires. All they do is fuck up the trails, throw beer cans all over the place and overall just make a mess. That's why they close trails where I ride. It only takes one person to ruin it for everyone.

 

Or when they go tearing straight up a hill and wear the vegitation off. Then it rains and makes massive washouts. So they just make a new trail right beside the washed out one.

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