QWR at Chappie-Shasta OHV Area - Tech and Trail Review

Amador at New Campground at Bohemotash Mountain

 

QWR’s sound tech team and Sound Trails Initiative were at the 2012 Buckhorn Enduro held at BLM’s Shasta-Chappie OHV Area near Redding, California.  The Redding Dirt Riders did a great job of putting together a challenging and scenic motorcycle event that attracted Enduro riders from throughout the region.

 

 

Rider Gets "Pass" Sticker at Sound Tech Station

 

Before the event, QWR reviewed some of the new projects on the unit that included the creation of a remote camp ground on Bohemotash Mountain.   BLM has been working hard to maintain and improve the trail experience at the area for dirt-bikes, ATVs, and side x sides.

QWR/BRC’s Don Amador helped show off this premier destination OHV area this past spring to OHV media.   Most, if not all, of the side x side journalists had never visited the area.  Based on the articles that were published, they were impressed with the quality of the recreational experience and vowed to come back.  In fact, many side x side owners have visited the area based on those articles. 

Here is a link to the ATV.com article

http://www.atv.com/features/atv-trails-chappieshasta-ohv-area-2124.html

 

Here is a link to the ATVconnection.com article

http://atvconnection.com/articles/driving-kawasakis-teryx4-on-the-gorgeous-trails-of-mountain-shasta/

 

QWR appreciates the great work the BLM is doing at Shasta-Chappie to provide the OHV community with high quality and environmentally-sound recreational opportunity.

 

Post-Fire Recon at Stonyford OHV Area

QWR’s Sound Trails Initiative spent a few days last week working with Forest Service staff doing a post-fire assessment.  As some of you know, about 3/4ths of the designated trail system at the Stonyford OHV Area on the Mendocino National Forest was decimated by a wildfire that was started by two lost hikers in July.  

 

The Stonyford OHV Area is the largest Forest Service destination area in Northern California.   While there is no direct access to the trail system for non-street legal OHVs out of the main camping areas at Davis Flat and Fouts Springs, dual-sport motorcyclists can access a large number of non-burned trails by simply riding a few miles up M10.  Non-street legal OHVs can be trailered up M10 for a few miles where they can use system roads/trails that are open.

 

In addition, dual-sport motorcyclists can access the extensive trail network at the Upper Lake OHV Area by using the OHV corridor that links up Stonyford with Upper Lake.

 

QWR will be working with the Forest Service and volunteers over the winter months to help restore and monitor the trail system for an anticipated reopening of the main route network in late spring of 2013.

 

QWR also wants to thank all of our sponsors who make it possible for us to protect and promote responsible OHV recreation on public lands.

 

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Thanks to Readers in the USA and other Countries

QWR wants to send a special thank you to our readers in countries outside of the USA.  We get a lot of hits from off-road and trail management interests in Russia, Latvia, Poland, and the UK.  If you are in a country outside of the USA, QWR would appreciate a note letting us know what topics are of most interest to you.

Thanks to all of you for your support and interest in responsible motorized use on public roads, trails, and areas. 

Send notes to: damador@quietwarriorracing.com

California County Postpones Vote on Noise Ordinance

 

 

As you know, QWR supports responsible rules and regulations that address excessively loud on and off-road motorcycles.  Recently QWR became aware of a poorly crafted ordinance being considered for adoption by Calaveras County in the Central Sierra.  As written, it would criminalize basically all sound emitting activities within the county including the operation of sound compliant OHVs, using a riding lawnmower, or starting up your stock Ford F-250 diesel pickup.

 

Here is an article on the issue

http://thepinetree.net/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=32259

 

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors was supposed to vote (Sept. 11) on it (many expected it to pass), but thanks to many letters from concerned citizens and businesses, that vote was postponed until September 25, 2012.  QWR will be checking in with the supervisors regarding this issue.

 

QWR letter is below:



 

 

 

 

 

September 9, 2012

Board of Supervisors

Calaveras County

891 Mountain Ranch Road

San Andreas, CA 95249-9709

Re: Proposed Noise Ordinance

 

Dear Board Members:

 

As a sound testing professional who promotes management of responsible motorized recreation on public and private lands, I urge you to postpone adoption of the proposed noise ordinance at your September 11, 2012 meeting.   Adoption of the proposal with the inclusion of Section 9 02 030 would make criminals out of a parent calling their children in from the yard for lunch,  a resident starting up their stock 2005 Ford F-250 Diesel pickup, and a person operating  their riding lawnmower or using their gas-powered modern weed whacker.  Here are the sound readings from the aforementioned sound sources that would be impacted by the plan. 

 

The readings were taken using a calibrated Quest Type-1 law enforcement grade sound meter. The SAE J-1287 “20-inch” sound test for OHVs was used as the test procedure.   The tests were taken 20-inches respectively from the mouth of a male parent calling kids in for lunch, the left front bumper of a stock Ford F-250 Diesel, the exhaust tip of a 2010 Craftsman 17.5hp riding lawnmower, and the exhaust tip of a Troy Bilt Model TB21EC weed whacker.

 

RESULTS

 

·         Male parent – 88.7dBA

 

·         2005 Ford F-250 -  700 rpm – 77.3 dBA and 2,000 rpm – 83.4dBA

 

·         Troy weed whacker – 5,000 rpm – 89.2 dBA and 7,000 rpm – 92.5 dBA

 

·         Craftsman lawnmower – 2,000 rpm – 78.7 dBA and 3,300 rpm 90.5 dBA

 

According to the proposal as I read it, all of the aforementioned activities would exceed the sound limits of the proposed ordinance.

 

As you know, local municipalities often adopt either a decibel-based or a disturbance/nuisance-based sound or noise ordinance or a hybrid that uses portions of both concepts.   If not properly crafted, local sound laws can end up being functionally unenforceable and/or face constitutional challenges.

 

At this point, QWR urges the county to postpone a vote on the plan until the unintended consequences of the proposal on residents within its sphere of influence are more completely analyzed.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Don

 

Don Amador, President

Quiet Warrior Racing/Consulting

555 Honey Lane

Oakley, CA 94561

Office: 925.625.5309

Email: damador@quietwarriorracing.com

Website: www.quietwarriorracing.com

Certified Sound Technical Inspector – J1287 Level 2 - # 12100635

 

Quiet Warrior Racing promotes a responsible trail and road ethic for both non-street legal and street legal motorized vehicles by offering quality recreation-oriented consulting services to its clients for the benefit of their customers, stakeholders, and the public good.

 

 

 

New Trail Ideas Highlighted at 2012 NOHVCC/INOHVAA Conf.

It was great to attend the 2012 NOHVCC/INOHVAA annual conference held this year in Great Falls, MT.

The National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council and International OHV Administrators Association worked hard to provide an informative and productive forum for professionals and volunteers involved in OHV recreation management.

 

The conference had representatives from land agencies, industry, trail contractors, and user groups.  Those OHV stakeholders included the BLM, FS, NOHVCC, MIC, SVIA, ROHVA, SVIA, Federal Highway Administration, ARRA, AMA, BRC, QWR, NOHVCC state partners, Trails Unlimited, RecConnect, Tread Lightly!, and many others.

 

Presentations covered a lot of interesting trail-related issues including a joint effort by the trail professionals at “GreatOHVTrails” to pen a new trail construction manual specifically designed for OHV use.  They urged users and others to contact them with ideas and suggestions for their new book.

 

John Mueller was there from Sutter Equipment to discuss their new Tier 3 EPA certified Trail Dozers and also daylight efforts to design a new narrower trail dozer for constructing single-track trails.  Gary Lambert was there from the new Nevada OHV Commission with info on trail projects in the Silver State.

 

Steve Pretzel, the Director for Trail Bike Management in Australia, gave a presentation on how users and the government are going from unmanaged OHV recreation to managed use.  It was interesting to see how similar the land issues, challenges, and solutions are in that country in comparison to the USA.

 

ROHVA presented a segment on side by side related safety training programs.   BRC gave a presentation on new 21^st Century congressional land-use designations.  Paul Turcke was there from The Cascade Project a new 501 (c) 3 non-profit recreation-oriented land trust.  That website should be up in a week or so.

 

Finally, it was nice to touch bases with old friends from the OHV community to discuss where OHV started from and where it is going.   Based on feedback from those attending the conference our future looks bright.  However, it was pointed out that we must remain ever vigilant to promote and protect responsible OHV recreation on public and private lands.

Here are some links to the aforementioned groups.

 

GreatOHVTrails

www.GreatOHVTrails.com
 

RecConnect

http://www.recconnect.biz/
 

Trails Unlimited

http://www.fs.fed.us/trailsunlimited/
 

NOHVCC

http://www.nohvcc.org/
 

BRC

www.sharetrails.org

MIC

http://www.mic.org/
 

ROHVA

http://cbt.rohva.org/
 

ARRA

http://www.arra-access.com/site/PageServer
 

AMA

www.ama-cycle.org
 

Sutter Equipment

www.sutterequipment.com

 

Tread Lightly!

http://www.treadlightly.org/
 

Trail Bike Management AU

www.tbma.com.au
 

SVIA

http://www.atvsafety.org/

 

 

 

Volunteers Needed for Post-Fire Recovery at Stonyford

QWR, a volunteer on the Mendocino, wants to give you an update on the Mill Fire.  As you know, the 2001 Trough Fire did not impact that much of the trail system, but it did destroy the various OHV camping and staging areas at Fouts Springs.  On the other hand, the Mill Fire spared the Fouts Springs campgrounds but fried about 80% of the popular trails between Fouts to Lett’s Lake and back down to Little Stony.

 

Link to Current Mill Fire Closure Order and Closure Map

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5382658.pdf

QWR believes that trail volunteer efforts will play a key role in getting this area back online.  QWR is planning to play an important role in helping the agency facilitate and work on volunteer trail efforts.  If you love Stonyford we are asking you to fill out and send in a volunteer agreement to Paige to help with future volunteer projects. (see  volunteer agreement below)

 

Here is an announcement from Paige

Thank you for eagerly extending a helping hand for the process of cleaning up the devastation of the Mill Fire.

We are currently awaiting the full report from the BAER (Burned Area Emergency Response) Team.

As soon as we get permission to enter the area and start closure & rehabilitation work, I will email you with some dates.

The first project in order will be to secure the perimeters of the fire.  Access to the trail system will need to be closed with signs and straw bales along the intersections of M-10, 17N02 & Goat Mountain.  Theses main roads hopefully will be opening soon.  Not until the fire is called out, which most likely will be after we get rain, will we be able to start trail rehabbing.

I have attached a volunteer agreement which will need to be completed prior to any volunteer work that you do for the Forest Service.

Thanks again and I will be in touch soon!

~Paige

  

Paige Makowski

Mendocino National Forest
Grindstone Ranger District
O.H.V Recreation Technician
(530) 963-1328

Here is the link to the volunteer form

http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/Volunteer_FS_agreement.pdf


Send form to:

Paige Makowski
Mendocino National Forest
825 N. Humboldt Ave.
Willows, CA 95988

If you would like to sponsor or support QWR’s post-fire recovery work (e.g. travel, supplies, seed money for matching grants, etc.) you can donate at:  *ID it for "Stonyford Fire Recovery"

http://www.quietwarriorracing.com/Sponsorships.html

Thanks in advance for your support in helping get Stonyford reopened for public use.

Buyer Beware of Purchasing Exhaust from Private Parties

QUIET WARRIOR RACING

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Don Amador

Phone: 925.625.5309

Date: May 21, 2012

Email: damador@quietwarriorracing.com

BUYER BEWARE WHEN PURCHASING MUFFLERS/SPARK ARRESTORS FROM ONLINE PRIVATE PARTIES

OAKLEY, CA - Quiet Warrior Racing (QWR) urges riders to beware of buying sound and spark arrestor compliant exhaust from private parties. Several riders at Oakland Motorcycle Club’s 2012 SheetIron 300 Dual Sport Ride were turned away from the event after failing to pass tech inspection.

The QWR tech team was not able to pass those exhaust systems because they did not have an officially approved spark arrestor or the spark arrestor had been compromised.

Don Amador, president of Quiet Warrior Racing, states, “Be careful when purchasing exhaust systems from online private parties. Several riders new to the sport had to be turned away from a recent dual sport event because they had unwittingly purchased a non-sound/spark arrestor compliant muffler from a private source.”

“With the price of travel, entry fees, and other costs associated with riding a dual sport or off-road motorcycle being so high, riders must take time to make sure their exhaust meets sound and spark arrestor land-use laws. QWR urges riders to include a review of their exhaust system on their bike prep check list before riding on public lands,” Amador concludes.

For further review, please go to the Forest Service spark arrestor link below:

http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/html/03511307/03511307.htm

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Quiet Warrior Racing, a recreation consulting business, promotes a responsible trail and road ethic for both non-street legal and street legal motorized vehicles

QWR Urges FS to Address "WildlandsCPR/FS OHV Guide" Issue

QWR submitted the above letter on March 13, 2012 expressing our concerns about a new

318-page FS OHV Guidebook that adopted the Wildlands Center for the Prevention of Roads closure-oriented management prescriptions.

It appears the document was created in a vacuum without oversight from agency OHV experts at the Regional and Washington Office levels.  QWR has asked the agency to address our concerns. 

QWR believes the agency should quickly acknowledge this mistake and take steps to assure the public it will not happen again.