A Special Christmas Message from Trail Santa

Merry Christmas from Trail Santa

As my extended trail family gets ready to celebrate Christmas 2017, QWR wants to send its warmest wishes to you and yours during this very blessed and special season.

Many of you will be attending various holiday-related concerts, parties, church plays, donating to charities, helping feed the homeless, religious services, and family gatherings.   Some of you will be spending the holiday season with your family riding OHVs at your favorite state, federal, or private recreation site.   All of which is a very good thing!

Trail Santa Wearing RZ Mask in Dusty/Smokey Areas

QWR also wants you to know that we deeply appreciate the friendship, support, and advice that came over the course of 2017 from our colleagues, agency partners, clients, conservation representatives, powersports sponsors, elected officials, industry leaders, OHV clubs, recreation groups, and individual enthusiasts.

2018 will no doubt be filled with new challenges and opportunities.  But for the next week or two, let’s focus on our faith, family, and friends.   May you all have a very blessed Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Trail Santa  

The California Trail is Important Link to our Past/Future

CA Trail Center near Elko, NV

At QWR, we believe “The Trails You Take on Life’s Journey are Important.”   Trails can offer backcountry adventurists a link to our past and/or help chart a course for the future.  A perfect example of that link to our past is found along the California Trail.  

According to The California Trail Interpretive Center, between 1841 and 1869, up to 250,000 people sold their belongings, packed wagons, and set out on a 2,000 mile trek for California.

Path of CA Trail

Located near Elko, Nevada, The Center is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and offers the public a high-quality “step back into the past” experience via a number of kiosks, video/audio presentations, authentic pioneer-era structures, artwork, and other educational modules.

CA Trail Marker Post 

 The Center also has a number of free publications with maps and site details for those of you who might want to explore the California Trail by vehicle.

LINK TO THE CA TRAIL INTERPRETIVE CENTER

http://www.californiatrailcenter.org/

While most of the California Trail is in close proximity to major interstate highways or goes through private property, there are some segments on federal lands that are accessible for those of you with high-clearance SUVs  or adventure/dual-sport motorcycles.

BLM Dirt Road along CA Trail

The next time you are near Wells, Nevada, you might want drive about 12 miles up Highway 93 and turn right at the BLM’s Hunter Draw/Willow Creek sign.  Just a few miles up that dirt road you will find carsonsite markers that identify the original California Trail where wagon ruts are still visible.

BLM Route Sign along Highway 93

Remember to stay on the dirt road which mostly parallels the California Trail so as to honor and protect the historic route.

View from BLM Road along CA Trail

QWR commends Congress for authorizing the California National Historic Trail in 1992.  The California Trail is administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the BLM, Forest Service, local/state government, and other stakeholders.   

LINK TO THE NPS CALIFORNIA TRAIL PROGRAM

https://www.nps.gov/cali/index.htm

QWR believes the California Trail highlights the important role that trails have in adding quality to our lives for both current and future generations.

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Access Preserved Through Partnerships

OHV Trail in Designated "Play" Area

Plumas National Forest

QWR believes the quality of an agency’s OHV trail program is directly proportional to the quality of their partnership with affected communities.   Successful recreation programs do not operate in a vacuum.

Designated OHV Trail

Plumas National Forest

Those trail axioms were further validated at the field tour and public meeting of the California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR) Commission held on June 2 and 3 in Plumas County and the Plumas National Forest.

Scenic View of Crystal Lake and Valley

The Plumas National Forest is over 1.1 million acres and is located north of the Lake Tahoe area in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.  Over 80 percent of Plumas County is federal land.

On June 2, the 2-day event kicked-off with a pre-tour welcome by the OHMVR Commission Chair, Ted Cabral. 

OHMVR Commission Chair, Ted Cabral, Welcomes Partners

Self-introductions soon followed by officials from the state legislature, state park director’s office, county board of supervisors, county planning commission/public works,  and sheriff’s department.

Also in attendance were representatives from Forest Service Region 5, CA BLM State Office, Plumas National Forest, BLM Eagle Lake Field Office, local businesses, private sector trail maintenance professionals, volunteers, and local/state/national OHV recreation groups.  

Forest Recreation Lead Explains OHV Program and BDT

Plumas National Forest

 The tour stopped at a number of locations where Forest staff highlighted existing OHV opportunities on designated roads, trails, and areas.  Agency staff also noted a number of ongoing resource protection efforts to armor meadows.

Meadow Protection/Armor Project

Forest recreation officials and local users were especially proud of their Plumas Backcountry Discovery Trail (BDT) that consists of about 150 miles of non-paved Forest roads and trails. Many of the BDT routes are open to non-street legal “Green Sticker” OHVs.

BDT Route on Plumas National Forest

 The concept of a formal statewide system of motorized adventure routes was first noted in the California Recreational Trails Act of 1974.  Over the years, subsequent BDT-related legislation was passed and on-the-ground planning efforts were undertaken by Division staff, federal partners, and other stakeholder groups.

BDT Map for Multi-Day Tour

Unfortunately in the late 1990s, work on the partially completed route network was halted when the state was challenged by legal action filed by opponents of the plan.  They stated that a full EIR/EIS must be completed to implement and sign the statewide trail system.

BDT Route Marker

QWR strongly supports development of a programmatic state/federal planning effort that will create a formal network of non-paved backcountry routes that connect many of the Golden State’s scenic areas. 

LINK TO PLUMAS NATIONAL FOREST BDT

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recmain/plumas/recreation

At several of the stops, local user groups and other partners talked about their supportive role in helping the agency ensure that trails are maintained and critical resources protected.  Agency staff credited their partnership with the OHMVR Division’s Grant Program, Plumas County, and local users for helping them fulfill their mission to serve the public in managing a high quality OHV program.

Plumas County Sheriff's OHV Patrol Jeep

 Several of us toured some of the non-paved county roads that were designated by Plumas County as “non-highways.”  

County Road 113 Designated as "Non-Highway" for OHV Use

County roads often play an important role in Forest Service Travel Management planning efforts where non-paved routes can help users access and better utilize agency system roads and trails.

Nick Haris (L), Ted Cabral (C), and Don Amador (R)

Tour of County Non-Highway Designation

Lisa Mangat, CA State Park Director, stated at the formal public meeting on June 3, that “Access is Preserved through Partnerships.”  QWR believes that statement from a top official in Governor Brown’s administration serves to prove their current and future support of the OHMVR program. 

Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship Presentation 

QWR also believes the recent OHMVR commission meeting/tour, underscores the important role that partnerships have in sustaining trail-based high-quality recreation programs on federal units.

  

User/Agency Trail Field Trips Important Part of Collaborative Process

Stonyford OHV Program Manager - Sarah Ridenour-Chamberlin (R) Explains 

Soil Erosion Structures to Forest Supervisor - Ann Carlson (L), 

and Forest Recreation Officer - Katy Rich (C)

QWR is committed to the collaborative process as a strategy to bring land agency staff and the trail-based recreation community together with a common goal of both protecting resources and providing a high-quality outdoor experience.

Much of the collaborative or stakeholder process is centered on attending meetings where information is shared, values are appreciated, and relationships are formed.

QWR believes that “out-of-the office” field trips where private sector partners invite agency staff to review the development and management history of an OHV area is also an important element of the stakeholder process.

Mendocino Forest Supervisor - Ann Carlson, Reviews

St. John's Mountain Restoration Project (Funded by a CA OHV Grant)

with Agency Staff

Recently, leadership from the Mendocino National Forest toured the multiple-use recreation program on the Grindstone Ranger District.  With one of the largest destination OHV programs in the country, the District is a good case study on how OHV management prescriptions have evolved over the last 36-40 years.

Mendocino NF OHV Manager Reviews Work Order

with Trails Unlimited Crew

On the Mendocino and several other National Forests/BLM units, managed recreation didn’t start with the 2005 Travel Management Rule.   Rather, it has been a multi-decade process where the 1960s-era mining, firebreak, or logging road-based route network was gradually converted to a sustainable trail system that consists of engineered contour trails, soil loss structures, and road-to-trail conversions.

Functioning Sediment Catch Basin on System Trail

Managed federal OHV trail-based recreation programs are hard to sustain on current (and future) recreation budgets appropriated by Congress.   In some regions of the country, the Forest Service and BLM receive grants from state funding sources such as the CA OHV Division Grant Program or OR’s ATV Grant Program.

In the 21^st Century, successful OHV trail programs must also rely on partnerships with the private sector such as OHV clubs, conservation groups, and other local stakeholders.   Those entities can be the source for the agency’s professional volunteer workforce where users are given chainsaw certification classes or other trail maintenance training.

Getting Ready for a Day of Trail Clearing

QWR commends those user groups and agency units where an all-hands-approach has been adopted and implemented.   QWR understands that it can take a lot of agency staff time to manage a substantive volunteer program.   However, a robust volunteer corps can also play a supportive role in helping the agency obtain non-federal resources/monies (i.e. grants to help manage their trail program, fund projects such as an OHV bridge, or donations for construction labor/materials).

Post 2012 Mill Fire Volunteer Work Party

 The collaborative process is a two-way street.  Don’t wait for agency staff to call for a meeting or workshop.  As a private sector partner, looks for ways to engage your federal contacts either at meetings, field trips, or volunteer work parties.  Be willing to do some heavy lifting yourself. 

Successful Day of Trail Clearing

QWR believes the quality of our trail future is directly proportional to the quality of the collaborative process/stakeholder involvement on your Forest or BLM unit.