Wilderness Unauthorized Route Restoration Project EA
Open for Review (USFS Press Release)
The Inyo National Forest announces that the 30-day public review for the Wilderness Unauthorized Route Restoration Project Environmental Assessment (EA) is open on June 4, 2013.
Inyo National Forest prepared an EA to implement a restoration project on unauthorized routes in the White Mountains and John Muir Wildernesses. The forest proposes to conduct restoration activities on fifty-eight unauthorized routes in a project area that includes eighty unauthorized routes. The unauthorized routes are either located in wilderness or were designated as unauthorized by the 2009 Travel Management Record of Decision.
The project has two primary purposes. The first purpose is to protect wilderness character by preventing illegal vehicle trespass into the two wilderness areas. The second purpose is to promote natural revegetation processes on the routes. The forest has identified three objectives for the project: protect soil quality by stabilizing eroding sections of routes; promote the recovery of native vegetation cover and plant communities on route surfaces; protect the undeveloped quality of wilderness character in the White Mountains and John Muir Wildernesses.
Under the Modified Proposed Action, the Inyo National Forest would conduct six types of restoration activities: de-compact surface soils on routes; reestablish natural contours on route surfaces by removing berms; install native vertical mulch; spread native ground mulch; install water bars or similar water diversion structures; and transplant/seed with native plants on the non-wilderness portion of routes. These project activities would enable the Forest Service to best meet the project’s purpose and objectives.
The EA is available in hard copy format or can be viewed on the Inyo National Forest website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/
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Other than bait, water bottles, mosquito repellant, and marshmallows, not much money is generated from hiking, biking, fishing and camping.
Mammoth is morphing into the poor man’s recreational facility.
And the powers that be could care less about the poor man.
Therein lies the problem– the knot heads who make new trails. Such behaviors have caused USFS and BLM to close entire OHV riding areas T
Leslie-we the people are the cattle being rustled off our land.
I have lived in Montana for the past 23 years and the F.S. has been closing roads right and left in this state. It started with closing to vehicles then went to the ORV, then it went to the hikers and now they have shut down the roads to the hunters. So be prepared to view the snowball effect with these people. I think the next move is to shut down the ranchers moving their cattle each year.
These are wild places intruded upon too long by knotheads that believe anyplace they can run their ATV’s is “open”. As the above reveals, they won’t obey regulations designed to protect the environment. They don’t respect the land and could give a damn about anyone that attempts to do so. Anyone needing a lesson on “roads” in the Forest/Wilderness should take a low level flyover, or view some photos taken from the air. I’ve done it. A crazy quilt pattern of parallel roads, spur roads and roads to nowhere. And these knotheads won’t even stick to the “roads” that are sufficient and numerous. They feel much more manly ripping up whatever terrain they choose. These “roads” need to be closed and returned to something resembling a natural state. Unfortunately the Forest/Parks Service has insufficient resources to keep the Motorized Neanderthals out. The fart, scratch and belch boys will continue to go anywhere they damn well please. The rest of us be damned.
“The fart, scratch and belch boys will continue to go anywhere they damn well please.”
You’re damn right we will. When areas get to hot with LEO’s we ride them during the week and at night.
They closed a few roads near my home and I make it a point to continue to ride them during times they are not patrolled.
I do agree with a few treehugger comments though, one of my own pet peeves is off roaders that don’t stay on existing trails. In the areas I ride I noticed ever single blade of grass that gets run over and it pisses me off. Usually it’s dumb kids, but I’ve seen dumb adults do the same thing.
The real solution isn’t regulation it’s EDUCATION. Regulation is just going to piss people off.
Mark….Try doing your “go anywhere we please” attitude to Death Valley National Park….go tear up some of that area,and get caught doing it and see what happens…or,better yet,get stuck out there in a wilderness area.Knew of a time some “guy-guys” went out there, got stuck,needed an expensive tow,and on top of that,fined a HUGE amount for being where they were,as well as paying for the tow.
@ Mark,
Do you not see the distinct contradictions in your comments?
The responsible ones among the OHV crowd would probably appreciate it if you’d quit making them look foolish. Unless that was your intention to begin with.
Closedthesocalledroads….What you posted above is true…but not only that,let’s face it….along with what you said,the majority of those “off-road” group “guy-guys” are just so darn annoying.Usually,a bunch of loud guys not only tearing up the land,but when they get to their destination,it’s a loud party,guys on motorcycles popping “wheelies” or 4-wheel trucks “spinning doughnuts”,drinking lots of alcohol,usually later turning into arguements and then a loud “guy-fight”…and when,or if things settle down again,after a bunch of hugging and “making-up” there in the desert,another beer-run onto the highway and into a little town….and then party,party,party all night long…loud,obnoxious language,the sound of bottles breaking,and even sometimes,the sound of gunshots….by a bunch of drunken partiers late in the night. I’ve seen it more than once…. and more than once led me to pack up my site and move to another area.
Wayne Deja,
I can’t help but laugh at your ignorant vision of off road enthusiasts. I have enjoyed off-roading for over 20 years in the eastern sierra and I have never engaged in any of the idiotic behaviors you’ve mentioned, nor have any of my friends who are also off-road enthusiasts.
I laugh because I can’t help but picture you as a kind of overly sensitive, derelict, Ned Flanders type guy….
Your response seems fit though really, coming from the guy who is too scared to ride his own bike to work. Pure comedy.
amused….Afraid to ride my bike to work ?..Don’t know what you mean by that….Maybe you see it as an ignorant vision,but then,possibly YOU are part of what I mention.A good example of what I talk about happened in one of those quiet little campgrounds on the road off of HWY. 395 on the way up to Virginia Lakes….Got there,set up my tent,unpacked,and went fishing in Virginia Creek….within a couple hours,here they came….two trucks LOADED with guys,,followed closely by 3 motorcycles as they pulled into a spot about 200 yards from my site…out came the ice chests,out came the two unleashed dogs,and then the erratic driving through the campgrounds,and around the boundries of the sites….”wheelies,doughnuts,etc”….and one of them,a shirtless guy with a big beer-bellie talking pictures on his cell phone of all the activity going on.Soon,the two dogs were in my campground harrassing my dog.It kept up for most of the afternoon,hoping since they didn’t pitch a tent or unpack anything,figured they would be leaving soon…when they ran out of beer.But no..The motorcycles found their way across the creek and onto the South side of the area….up and into a spot where an avalanche once hit the area.Around 7 P.M.,one of the trucks loaded with guys took off,and then came back with a few 12 packs of beer,and figured it was going to be a LONG night if I stayed.So I packed up and moved my camp to the Virginia Lakes area,but not before I was telling the owners of the Virginia Lakes Store about what was going on,and said the group had come into their store all drunk and loud…and driving an hour or so ago, they promptly called the Mono Sheriff,saying it was something that had been happening the week before at the campsite by one of the lakes there.Hoperfully,the VERY pro-active LE in that area took care of business once they got the call.When I left the next afternoon,I drove through the site they were at the day before…and where they were,if I was driving a bigger truck,and had a bunch of big plastic bags with me,I could have paid for my gas going back home with all the bottles and beer cans they left behind for someone to clean up.
Here’s where you indicated your fear of riding your bike to work:
https://thereal395.com/24668/a-friendly-challenge-bike-to-work-week/
Gosh, it sounds like you had quite a horrific and traumatizing experience. However, you’re still attempting to lump all off-road enthusiasts in with these idiots, which is ignorant. From your description, I wouldn’t consider these guys to be off-road enthusiasts. Getting drunk and romping around a camp ground is a far cry from proper off-roading, but I wouldn’t expect you to know this.
Seeing you as an overly sensitive, derelict, Ned Flanders type guy it makes sense that this experience would scare you into such a state of mind.
Good thing you weren’t riding your bike when all these crazy, beer drinking bandits came storming through the camp ground!
Amused….Don’t see how my statement shows a “fear” of riding a bike to work…I was just agreeing with what the poster above said…..As far as a “fear” of the drunken guys in their ORV’s,that don’t happen either.When I go camping I’m more than equiped to handle myself if trouble,2 legged or 4 legged, comes my way.These drunk “guy-guys” were “off road enthusiasts”,not staying on the proper roads and trails,using Virginia Creek as a roadway,riding their toys in areas not intended for motorized vehicles,trashing the area they chose to use as their “tail-gate” party…and leaving others to clean-up their mess.
Really Wayne!?!
You need to come camping with my family and friends and see how most people with off-highway vehicles recreate. There’s nothing like riding a motorcycle in the sand dunes or up in the mountains. We do it responsibly and teach our children to do so as well. Please don’t stereotype us. We understand why the green movement wants to shut everything down. There needs to be a happy medium. Unfortunately extremists on both sides get all the attention and most of us in the middle are not heard.
That’s painting with a pretty broad brush, isn’t it flyboy ? Who exactly are “THEY” ? Anyone that doesn’t own a plane to do a “low level flyover”? I’ve worn out 3 ford bronco’s exploring the back-country in Mono and Inyo and I’ve never gone off the trail except to maybe turn around, and my friends and I go out of our way to leave an area cleaner than when we found it.(unless the trash is over 100 yrs. old) I think the idiots that do the things you mentioned are in the minority and that most of us ol’ desert dogs respect the land and want it to be around for the generations to come. Just like it’s wrong to criticize ALL cops when ONE of them screws up, not everyone that drives a bronco or blazer into the back-country to explore an old mine, is there to destroy it. There are a few bad apples in EVERY barrel
not sure what unauthorized roads mean. are they roads that have already been closed with a post or baricade, or roads still in use today. i was hoping there would be a map showing the roads and areas effected. it seems to me the compromising between keeping public lands open and accessible, and limiting access to foot trafficc for enviromental reasons is how fast or slow we close public lands to all terrain vehicles. i’ve never heard the forrest service say were opening up new roads for more access to public land.
The OHV enthusiasts are unwittingly running the worst possible public relations campaign.
Your selfish and irresponsible acts and comments are being noted.
I have said this before…”Clean up your act, or the citizens of this nation will”
Blutarsky
Lawless immigration is doing more harm to Califonia then those lawless off roaders
It’s very odd to live in a Country where authorities pick and choose which laws they will inforce.
Oh heck no Mark! I am not gonna let you get away with that remark!
Lawless Immigration? I don’t know what you mean but there is a lot of “Good” “Hard Working” People who deserve to have a chance, those that just want to take advantage of the opportunity’s too many of us (born here) take for granted.
I don’t expect you to further elaborate on what you mean since you have Priors of not answer a question directed towards you!
But if you have the patience or time to explain your stance I am all ears….
also I disliked your comment but didn’t count, so its at least at 5 thumbs down..
Good for you, J-Frog!
Never allow anybody with the usual far-right BS get away their racist-sounding BS.
Even Tea Party favorite, Glenn Beck was at least honest enough to apologize recently for his neoconservative, divisive hate speech remarks.
A country divided shall not stand. It may make fortunes for the likes of Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter and minds of their caliber – but it only divides the country at a time when we should be coming together more than ever.
It’s not racism but you continue to call it want you want.
There is a legal way for immigrants to come to this Country. And those that have come here legally are offended by those that have not.
You didn’t stop anything in its tracks
There are two types of people in America.
Those who after Obama was elected remarked: “Wow! I never thought I’d ever see a black president elected in my lifetime!”
And the others who whine: “Well, there goes the neighborhood!”
@MARK!
Lawless Immigration? You really think anything that has to do with immigration is close to any core reason why our state is in it’s current perdicament? Policy definitely has something to do with it, not any individual trying to come over for a better chance.
Your definitely right on authorities picking and choosing.
What legal way are you supportive of? The one where it takes folks “Years” to get cleared to come over or granted citizenship?
The way I see it our country can use those innovative minds that come from areas where they need to strive for the better, because it seems we know what we can expect out of the lazy american people that have the world handed to them.
The bad immigrant gets way too much attention, there’s way more good than bad..
Superb; of course, long, long overdue. While I too might be inclined to condemn, or at least criticize, the FS, it is because they permitted this lawless off roader behavior to go on far too long. They should have hit them with a regulatory 2 x 4 long ago!
Try using them Brian.
They’re actually closing logging roads, fire access roads, normal jeep trail, etc, etc, etc…. not doing anything about lawless behavior, just closing down access.
try educating yourself on the what, where, when and why before using the ole keyboard.
thanks!
LOL
Yeah closing, roads then taking the credit of what MotherEarth naturally does, “oh right because you let it happen” “Oh please!! miss me with your self preservation attitudes”…
Way to generalize a whole group of people of “lawless off roaders”. Come find me with your 2×4 and try to catch me!
SageBrush….If your like most of the off-roaders,you’d be easy to catch….just follow the trail of trash,bottles,and beer-cans..
You don’t know how right you are, Wayne. Please keep picking them up for me. Thanks.
SageBrush……And with that comment,and your attitude,you wonder why some people are against opening up more land for public use,and closing down some that do exist.If you want to see what happens when areas are opened to off-road use,check out Jaw-Bone Canyon,between Ridgecrest and Mojave….I can remember back in the 70’s and 80’s when it WAS a beautiful area to visit and enjoy…check it out now..
Isn’t that the truth. Some of the off road mob make the DWP look like saints. No consideration for property rights or the condition of the land.
GW, your right on the money here.
The Forest Service and “friends” of the Inyo are excellent examples of “unsustainable organizations.”
Stealing hundreds of thousands in Gas tax and green sticker funds… managing (aka: closing) more motorized roads and trails than they can afford to enforce.
The “Travel Management” fiasco is a failure; trails are reopening, and the money is drying up (fast).
Soon things will be back to the way they were..
Truer word have never been spoken. But let the “sage huggers” have their time in the sun because I will have mine on any trail that I seem fit.
You can see the results of USFS revegetation on many hiking trails. There are rows of little wire enclosures with nothing in them. Whatever plant was originally in those enclosed wire cages died from lack of water.
Relax, folks. There are still a bazillion miles of road and trail for you to explore and plenty of open areas to destroy.
Duly noted is the segment of the Owens Valley popuation quick to complain about the damage wrought by LA DWP but utterly oblivious to the damage their own activities create. Double standard? Oh you betcha. Now have your fun raging away at me. I’m used to it.
Have fun making ridiculous comments on sierra wave… I’m used to reading them.
Hey Frank,
I was just wondering if the forest service is hiring? I prefer just going around the barriers myself, but I will look for these open areas to destroy from now on!
there are also a bazillion miles of hiking trails for you to hike on. I know the OHV business is good these days, and you cant help yourself… but try to leave the motorized trail business to the people that actually use them.
Thanks, but no thanks.
@Frank- Yes there are a “bazillion miles of road and trail” that these public funds should be spent on for repair and maintenance instead so that people wouldn’t have to blaze new ones. Nature will fix the other “problem” areas in its own time, so just relax Frank.
The forest service sure makes it easy to have an extremely healthy dislike for them
how will the cartels get to their crops?
I was just going to ask the same question.
These previously perfectly legal and open roads should not be revegetated. The potential exists to reopen them one day when a succesful lawsuit reveals the illegality of the closures. Former Forest road engineers freely admit that every last one of these roads was eligible for designation, but they couldn’t be bothered doing their job and so they are now illegal roads???? And Nero fiddled while Rome burned!
So with the first and second purpose can keep a couple of people busy for a couple of hours, What are all the other USFS employees and man hours spent on? Meetings? Then what?
With the deliverable’s and objectives mentioned, I feel there is WAY too much grey area within the interpretation that I wonder what service or REAL deliverable “We the People” get out of this entity? And now with 5% sequestration running rampant, how will we ever get away from gov’t entity’s that offer no real “pertinent” service from using the excuse of “short staffed and short resources”? well what about before sequestration?
In my opinion USFS waste resources and probably a 1/4 of the time use the “best management practice” on a 1/4 of what they do.
Protect the sage brush at our expense.
What a fantastic use of taxpayer money.