Bulletin E-Edition:
150 miles of off-road trails could gain OK
By Kate Ramsayer / The Bulletin
Published: January 10. 2009 4:00AM PST
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The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to designate almost 150 miles of off-highway vehicle trails south of Bend, in preparation for a change in policy that will limit motorized vehicles to designated trails, roads and play areas on Forest Service land once a new rule goes into effect.
The trails, about 100 miles for motorcycles and about 45 miles for Jeeps and four-wheel-drive vehicles, are in an area called Lava Rock, between U.S. Highway 97 and the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. The agency is currently taking comments from the public about the plan.
“The majority we’re proposing are on existing user-created trails,” said Peter Sussmann, project manager with the Deschutes National Forest. “They provide a variety of challenge levels and some local loop options.”
The area doesn’t now have designated trails, he said, but many locals ride in the area.
And once the Travel Management Rule goes into effect in the Deschutes, scheduled for 2010, Sussmann said, it will be illegal for riders to drive cross-country in the forest, unless they’re on a designated trail or road, or in a designated play area.
This is one of three areas in Central Oregon, along with one near Crescent and one in the east Ochoco area, that a working group identified as sites for additional designated trail systems, he said.
And once trails are designated, the Forest Service will work toward closing other unofficial trails and unused roads in the project area.
“There are certainly more trails out there than we’re going to formally designate,” Sussmann said. “This is a great opportunity for us to sort of reduce the fragmentation.”
The plan doesn’t include trails for the class of vehicles that include quads, he said, noting that there are 300 mile of trails for quads elsewhere in the Bend-Fort Rock district, including the trail system at the East Fort Rock area.
“One of the needs voiced from the public was a need for single-track, Class 3 (motorcycle) trails that are not used by the quads,” Sussmann said.
But some area off-highway vehicle proponents said the area needs more designated trails for quads as well.
“There’s a need for trails for all three classes,” said Dick Dufourd, an off-highway vehicle consultant with RecConnect, a Bend-based business focusing on motorized recreation issues. He added that there should be more than 100 miles of trails within a 140,000-acre area.
But the proposal area is a good one, he said, with rocks and varied topography and terrain, and once the travel management rule gets implemented, people are going to need designated places to ride.
Jon Pyland with the Deschutes County 4-Wheelers said he was definitely in favor of the plan since there are currently only 22 miles of trails on Forest Service land where he and other off-roaders who drive four-wheel vehicles can go.
“It’s something that has been needed for quite awhile,” Pyland said.
But Asante Riverwind, with the Sierra Club, said that the ecosystem in the area has been damaged by off-highway vehicles and that people drive into the monument. The Forest Service doesn’t have enough law enforcement officers to handle the situation, he said.
“I think for the agency to just designate trails under the current situation, it’s not workable, and we’re going to see more resource degradation,” Riverwind said.
Kate Ramsayer can be reached at 541-617-7811 or at kramsayer@bendbulletin.com.
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