Wednesday, June 12, 2013

OHV Restoration Project Targets Trail Shortcuts



Shortcuts don’t have any redeeming value whether you are at work or on the trail.  While on a recent tour of various travel management prescriptions on the Mendocino National Forest, I had the opportunity to gauge the effectiveness and success of the St. John Mountain Restoration Project.
 


In 2007, the Forest applied for a restoration grant to the California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division’s grant program to address trail shortcuts created when the unit had an “Open” to cross country travel designation.

 
 
 
The agency was awarded the grant that helped support the effort to use natural woody debris and trail barriers to rehabilitate steep routes that could have impacted water quality or affected other environmental concerns.  Signs were also part of that equation.
 
As you can see in the photographs, the project has been very successful in meeting its goal to protect natural resources.  This project also had a positive benefit in that it enhances the long-term future of managed OHV recreation in the area.
 


 
QWR believes that OHV-related restoration projects have become an important tenet of managed OHV recreation in the 21st Century.  “Restoration” (R) can now be added as another foundation block to the three “E”s - Education, Enforcement, and Engineering as core elements of any successful motorized program.
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