Sunday, September 5, 2010

Dear Mr. Forest Service

Dear Mr. Service, et. al.

For years I have practiced riding behavior that I felt was the best for preserving the wonderful back country environment that I love so much. That meant riding quietly on the trails. It meant staying on the trails. It meant going so far as to not even run overly aggressive tires so not to overly damage the trails and create added erosion. Treading lightly!

For many years I have spent my time attempting to transfer these principles for treating our environment kindly as a duty - a service (so to speak). I hoped that as others realized how important it was to protect our wonderful back country we would see s difference.

I now question why I bothered with any of this.

Several weeks ago I rode one of the most incredible and pristine 2-track ATV trails I have come across in a very long time. It wandered for several miles through incredible country. Unfortunately at one point I came across a gate that stopped my travel by ATV. Although I couldn’t understand the reason for this closure, I obeyed. I even questioned the tactics of other trail users that attempted to show their disdain for the needless closure.





Today I look out and watch it all burn. Yes, it was a lightning strike, a natural cause, but your decision to let it burn has not only cost us taxpayers many MILLIONS of dollars more than if you had put it out when you had the opportunity, but it has now burned through many more acres of pristine wilderness, including the very trail you had closed off to me so I wouldn’t damage the environment. I now question your judgment, and wonder why I bothered not going ahead and riding onward. What difference would it have made in the end? I trusted your judgment and yet I now realize you didn’t have my interests at heart at all. It was merely control.

I more recently took a ride up to what had been a wonderful high country lake only to find it had been fenced off to use by ATVs. No longer could I ride to the shore of this small lake and park my ATV and have lunch with my (handicapped) daughter. It was crudely fenced and gated. And all quite ugly actually. Much uglier than the ATV tracks I’d seen on the shore before. Or even the trash I’d seen there left from campers. I can pick up the trash left by the idiot inbreeds and haul it out. I’m rather certain I can’t dismantle your fence and haul it out without spending some time in a small grey room with free meals. I question you again as to whose interests you had in mind when you made the decision to fence this lake. I’m rather certain if you had my daughter’s and my interest at heart, you wouldn’t have made it impossible for me to get her to the shore. We didn’t eat our lunch on that wonderful shore that day thanks to you. But I left wondering why I paid you to do something so against what I wanted?



















I then rode further down the trail only to find several big pieces of machinery working through the forest. They were cutting down trees. Nice trees. Not the hundreds of trees dying to the bark beetle. Nope. These were healthy trees. And the machines went wherever they wanted, leaving tracks much more severe than my ATV ever could. Or all the ATVs I've seen on the trail as a matter of fact! They also left fuel and oil spills – something I know I have never done. I questioned you again. Is this what I wanted? Who wanted this? I rode on the existing trail, keeping the area clean all these times only so you could do this? 

































Once again I set out to explore another wonderful 2-track trail I had ridden just last year. When I got to the trailhead, it had been, ah, changed. Once again, you had spent my hard-earned money to close this trail to my use. But you didn’t just set a gate to limit travel. Or even a 50" gate to limit the type of vehicles. Nope. You used a piece of heavy equipment and destroyed it. And scarred this beautiful area. Once again you spent my hard-earned tax dollars doing more damage to the environment to keep me out than I could have done in many years of riding the trail!

Shame on you! I hired you to manage this great backcountry area for my kids, and myself and even paid you well to do it. Let me also remind you that while I may someday get older and have to stop working, when you stop working for me (us), we will continue to pay you! How can this be?

How can I have hired someone who works so against me rather than for me?

I question you. Why is it that I’m such a bad person that you must close trails to my use, only so you can then let then burn, bulldoze them over, rape them, or let dying cattle lay on them and rot? Oh, that’s right! I struggled to get to the fencing I paid to have you install, having had to ride past a rotting, maggot-infested carcass of a dead cow. Don’t remove that. Nor the trash. Just spend thousands of my tax dollars building an ugly fence to keep me out!

So let me get this straight. I pay you, but you tell me what I can and cannot do? I pay you and yet you do not protect the riding areas that I want preserved? I pay you, but yet you call me bad on the environment? All this while you destroy trails with bull dozers rather than let me ride on them, let fires burn through pristine trails, all the while costing me more money than I wanted to spend had you put it out when it started, rather than let me ride on them? I pay you to build fences around lakes rather than let me ride to them? And this while knowing full well that cleaning up the trash would cost less, and look better than what you did?

I didn’t hire you for this! How long would Home Depot remain in business if you went in and paid for the material to rebuild your kitchen and although they took your money, they said all you could do was have new dishtowels? Or worse yet, hired a contractor to remodel your kitchen and they put up barricades to keep you out. They tore down your kitchen while you ate TV dinners in the family room? I say not long.

So let me get this straight one last time – I can’t ride there, but you can bulldoze it, fence it, cut it down, let rotting carcasses lay, and burn it all down, and that’s okay?

And through all this, you want me to pay you? How do you sleep at night?

Expletive!

Maybe two!

Yes, two!




14 comments:

  1. You people in the USA are lucky us poor tax payers in the land of OZ are not permited to ride ATV's out side private property

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  2. I better not complain too much then, eh?

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  3. Thanks for keeping an eye on our public lands and how they are used. Such an important thing documentation.

    I'm very grateful for you posting this and advocating with such passion.

    Pretty silly how superior the federal government proclaims to be in some cases and how in those same cases are quite hypocritical. I guess that's human nature but it just seems to be getting worse with the double standards everywhere.

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  4. Wow, you said it all through poignant words and images. From one very frustrated, responsible rider to another ... THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

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  5. Having the job I do I get the opportunity to talk to folks from all over the country and from all lines of work.

    I had the opportunity to talk to several retired/ ex-Forest Service personnel and they too are amazed at the poor decisions that our current Forest No-Service continue to make and the damage they do to our forests.

    One thing they all agreed on is that the reason to allow the 45,216 acre Twitchell Canyon Fire to burn was a budget decision, something I never doubted.

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  6. I forwarded this on to a few friends who are also passionate about riding ATV. I live in upstate NY and other than the wildfires its the same thing here. We pay to be exiled from public lands despite our best efforts and advocation. And yet the DEC uses ATVs to maintain and patrol land that ATVs aren't allowed on. What a laugh, "do as I say not as I do" I guess... Stupidity should be illegal.

    Along the lines of stupidity... Not only has the State closed all of its land to ATVs but there are open paved roads that parallel State truck trails. So its legal to ride an ATV down a paved road but not on the dirt roads and access trails that go to the same places. How does that make sense?

    As always thanks for your observations and opinions!!

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  7. Doug you should run for office. Your common sense would be a real change in D.C.

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  8. Not only does Doug Meyer have common sense he is honest, he has credibility, morals, conviction, religion, scruples and integrity and can’t be bought. He would never be elected.

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  9. Doug
    I couldn’t agree with you more; often when I head for the forest lands I find a sign when entering the forest areas that reads “land of many uses”, so now I wonder not only what uses, but for whom.
    If trail closures are an attempt to regulate ATV’s let’s look at the big picture; the forest lands is for everyone with that said, I meant the land should have opportunities for all, not just those who would selfishly keep the land to their own liking.
    Like you Doug I live in Utah and there are over 200,000 registered ATV’s in Utah; OK what does that mean, it means ATV’s bring in a economy that helps local business, provides tax revenues and promotes tourism that bring in more money. Let’s say the registration of ATV’s average $30.00 per year, times that by 200,000 registered ATV’s and you get 6 million dollars of registration fees, 6 million dollars and that is just registration fees for ATV’s. Now if you include tandem axle trailers to haul ATV;s and Toy Haulers, pickup trucks I’m sure that figure will exceed over 10 million dollars, oh let’s not forget traveling expenses such as fuel, food and lodging and then that 10 million dollars could easily turn in to 20 million dollars of tax revenue.
    Who sees the value of this revenue, its places like Fillmore, Beaver, Marysville, Moab, Richfield just to name a few, as they all see the benefits of ATV’s in their communities.
    There will always be people, who don’t care, don’t follow the rules, but I see the same type of people in the wilderness also, so what it means is “you can’t fix stupid”. Our society is full of stupid people and it starts from the top down as we elect stupid people to represent us.
    Closing trails is not the answer, opening new trials and promoting good behavior is the answer, Otherwise disgruntle ATV riders will ignore the signs and the gates and find a way in and do more harm all because someone wants to keep ATV riders out. There is a balance, and the use of public land is for all, and everyone has to learn to share.
    Jeff

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  10. Well stated, every one of you. You are right on, but we appear to be only talking to ourselves. I am tired of being ignored or even told we do not see the big picture. If you went and listened to BLM Director Abbey last week like I did, you would see the trend.

    The picture I see is that we are being systematically denied access to more and more and I do not see an end to it unless we fight it.

    I work alongside Forest Service personnel on a regular basis while doing volunteer search and rescue here in Utah. I have asked many of them why all the trail closures and I have been told many times they are not closing trails, they are keeping new ones from being made. Bull crap! Pull out a topo map that was printed in the 60’s or 70’s and look at what has been closed.

    I had the opportunity to talk to a high ranking Forest Service Employee last November where both of us were taking courses at a medical conference in Salt Lake City. I asked him if there was a mandate from Washington regarding shutting down backcountry access and he said there was not. He said that almost all of his time was spent closing new trail that were being put in and in many cases by deer hunters. He said he had just finished closing a two mile stretch of freshly cut trail that week.

    Something is wrong, because that is not what I am seeing. Example, I have the Utah State Parks GPS Trails overlay that was jointly generated by the State, Forest Service, BLM and ATV enthusiasts four years ago. Last year I was riding from Torrey to Escalante and back on one of the most beautiful ATV trails in Utah. That is a favorite trail for many so it sees a lot of ATV traffic. We decided to not go through some of the more swampy areas up on top because some big puddles and ruts were being formed. We noticed a parallel trail up on the ridge to the east on that overlay so on the way back and decided to take that instead since it was up out of the water and it was on the ridge. The trail was marked with trail signage up in the meadow and we road it until it dropped back down and came out near the Guard Station.

    Guess what, on that side of the trail head there was a sign that said "No ATVs", only hikers and horseback riders could ride that trail; whereas up on top there was no signs saying no ATVs. This trail was clearly shown on the overlay yet there was now a sign that said no ATVs at one end of it.

    I take a lot of pride in always following the trail,being polite, staying on the correct trail and cleaning up everyone else’s trash, and this really made me mad. That trail has an incredibly long and steep climb up to the ridge, far steeper than all but the diehard hiker and horseback rider would ever take when there are some much easier and just as scenic trails in the area.

    This trail for all practical purposes has just been closed. When only a couple percent will use it then nobody will keep the trail cleared and the trail will die. There can be only one real reason for that kind of closure, the forest service does not want anyone up there and they do not want to keep it open.

    Why do that, it gave an alternate route around the meadows that get soft during storms.

    I am over 55, my back and my knees are gone from doing over 2,500 search and rescue missions.

    My wife and I access the Utah we love through our ATV. We ride with a group and we easily spend over $10,000 a week as a group when we go to Torrey, Kanab, Moab, Green River, or Richfield. We do that type of ride over six times a year. This kind of money has to help keep those small towns dying.

    When trails are being closed we start picking the more established trail systems which in turn overloads the traffic on those systems.

    Please do not lock us out of the Utah we love.
    Chris

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  11. The comments here are all good. One of the reasons for the "change in attitude" of the regulating agencies is the "new overall governing agency" called NLCS(National Landscape Conservation System). This relatively new agency came about in the 1990's and has recently been expanded to include All of the Dept of Interior agencies. Their mission seems to focus more on NON-MOTORIZED activities than multiple-use. Cost has no factor!! When asked of the newly appointed directors (lastest political changes) they WILLnot answer what they are going to do about continued motorized access, but instead talk in "generalities" of the recreational experience that has NOTHING to do with motorized access. When you go to Environmental groups and the Wilderness Society pages you see and read almost verbatim the same statements. This action is creating the European wealthy mode for recreation. "You have to pay to recreate in here". These closures will eventually create exclusive access to only a few being able to access; for a price! Check out whose idea the NLCS was!!! A lady from Europe from the United Nations Came here to work for the Clinton Admin. and then recieved funding thru an Granting foundation out of Virginia that "caters" to non-motorized groups. Slowly she has gained power and influence with backing from Soros and likeminded people. Access should be for the chosen only. Please research this and then draw your own conclusions. THE non-motorized wave started in the late 1970's and has grown, including Scholarships to become "Conservation minded" and a lot of those NOW work in the Dept. of Interior agencies. Keep looking!! If WE in the Motorized community work for Defunding of NLCS and returning to seperate Agencies within the Dept. of Interior (due to coming funding cuts due to lack of money to go around to All of Gov. spending), then create lots of input into getting back to MULTIPLE-USE policies. WE have to start lobbying now or continue to lose out big-time! Promote cost benefits and job promotion policies for staes and local communities. Check out COHVCO in Colo. and a study they participated in that showed Yearly impact of motorized spending to be in excess of 1 billion dollars annually!. It is changing Federal and state agencies programs because of continual budget cuts. WHERE is the money coming from for you FEDERAL and STATE employees to keep your jobs? They are starting to ask those questions and wondering how am I going to keep the years I have doing this job funded? Supply answers and you have a new recruit! Good luck. tomdb

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  12. Thank you so much for your inputs! Hopefully the 'choir' can stay wound up - and focused ;-)

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  13. Well stated, every one of you. You are right on, but we appear to be only talking to ourselves. I am tired of being ignored or even told we do not see the big picture. If you went and listened to BLM Director Abbey last week like I did, you would see the trend if you don't already.

    The picture I see is that we are being systematically denied access to more and more and I do not see an end to it unless we fight it.

    I work alongside Forest Service personnel on a regular basis while doing volunteer search and rescue here in Utah. I have asked many of them why all the trail closures and I have been told many times they are not closing trails, they are keeping new ones from being made. Bull crap! Pull out a topo map that was printed in the 60’s or 70’s and look at what has been closed.

    I had the opportunity to talk to a high ranking Price Forest Service Employee last November where both of us were taking courses at a medical conference in Salt Lake City. I asked him if there was a mandate from Washington regarding shutting down backcountry access and he said there was not. He said that almost all of his time was spent closing new trail that were being put in and in many cases by deer hunters. He said he had just finished closing a two mile stretch of freshly cut trail that week.

    Something is wrong, because that is not what I am seeing. Example, I have the Utah State Parks GPS Trails overlay that was jointly generated by the State, Forest Service, BLM and ATV enthusiasts four years ago. Last year I was riding from Torrey to Escalante and back on one of the most beautiful ATV trails in Utah. That is a favorite trail for many so it sees a lot of ATV traffic. We decided to not go through some of the more swampy areas up on top because some big puddles and ruts were being formed. We noticed a parallel trail up on the ridge to the east on that overlay so on the way back and decided to take that instead since it was up out of the water and it was on the ridge. The trail was marked with trail signage up in the meadow and we road it until it dropped back down and came out near the Guard Station.

    Guess what, on that side of the trail head there was a sign that said "No ATVs", only hikers and horseback riders could ride that trail; whereas up on top there were no signs saying no ATVs. This trail was clearly shown on the overlay yet there was now a sign that said no ATVs at one end of it.

    I take a lot of pride in always following the trail,being polite, staying on the correct trail and cleaning up everyone else’s trash, and this really made me mad. That trail has an incredibly long and steep climb up to the ridge, far steeper than all but the diehard hiker and horseback rider would ever take when there are some much easier and just as scenic trails in the area.

    This trail for all practical purposes has just been closed. When only a couple percent will use it then nobody will keep the trail cleared and the trail will die. There can be only one real reason for that kind of closure, the forest service does not want anyone up there and they do not want to keep it open.

    Why do that, it gave an alternate route around the meadows that get soft during storms.

    I am over 55, my back and my knees are gone from doing over 2,500 search and rescue missions.

    My wife and I access the Utah we love through our ATV. We ride with a group and we easily spend over $10,000 a week as a group when we go to Torrey, Kanab, Moab, Green River, or Richfield. We do that type of ride over six times a year. This kind of money has to help keep those small towns dying.

    When trails are being closed we start picking the more established trail systems which in turn overloads the traffic on those systems.

    Please do not lock us out of the Utah we love.
    Chris

    ReplyDelete