OPINION - ADV to our Forest Past to Guide our Future

ADV Journey to Understand our Past

Opinion

By Don Amador

May 20, 2018

ADV to our Past to Guide our Future

Adventure (ADV) riding is not just a recreation activity where outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy spectacular views, natural wonders, and good times with family and friends.  On occasion, it can be a solemn journey to better understand how important historical and tragic events have shaped - or continue to shape - management of public lands.  

Rattlesnake Fire Info Board Directs View to Fallen Heroes

Recently while helping support the 2018 SheetIron Dual Sport Ride, hosted by the Oakland Motorcycle Club, I took an ADV ride on Forest Highway 7 that bisects the Mendocino National Forest.  The purpose of the trip was to pay respect to the wildland firefighters who lost their lives battling the 1953 Rattlesnake Fire.

Crosses Mark Spots where Fire Overran Firefighters

According to the Forest Service, on July 9, 1953, a brush fire was reported in Grindstone Canyon several miles northwest of Elk Creek on the Mendocino National Forest. As the fire raged out of control, the Forest Service requested volunteers from the New Tribes Mission that was located about 25 miles south of the fire to help.

Tribute to Fallen Firefighters

That evening, the main fire was contained and 24 men were sent down into the canyon to put out a spot fire. After this was accomplished, the crew sat down to eat their supper. They had just begun to eat when the wind shifted direction and the original fire jumped its line and started down the canyon.

One of the firefighters from above ran down to warn the crew to get out of the canyon. Nine of the men scrambled up the hill to the firefighter who was warning them and made it to safety. The other 15 men tried to run down the canyon to a road below, but were overtaken by the rapidly moving fire.

Bell at Rattlesnake Fire Overlook

Fourteen firefighters from the New Tribes Mission and one Forest Service employee from the Mendocino National Forest lost their lives making it one of the deadliest in Forest Service history. The brush fire burned over 1300 acres before being brought under control on July 11, 1953.

Response to the tragedy led to changes in wildland fire training, firefighter safety standards, firefighter knowledge and awareness of fire weather and fire behavior. The Rattlesnake Fire is reviewed every year by wildland firefighters across the nation in basic firefighting training and fire refresher training as part of "Lessons Learned".

LINK TO FOREST SERVICE RATTLESNAKE FIRE OVERVIEW

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mendocino/recarea/?recid=25300

Sitting on the bench at the Rattlesnake Fire Overlook where the information board directs your vision across the canyon to the white crosses that mark where the fire overran our fallen heroes is a somber experience.

Rattlesnake Fire Overlook

It also gave meaning to, and strong motivation for, the ongoing efforts of collaborative forest health efforts where diverse interest groups seek to enhance programs that reduce the number of Megafires by increasing fuel reduction projects on private and public lands. 

"Seat Time" Important Part of Trail Education

Region 5's Regional Forester, Randy Moore, (Far Right)

on Tour of Stonyford OHV Program

QWR believes that spending quality time out in the field and on the trail with local club representatives, agency staff, and OHV business leaders is a critical factor in land-use education efforts.

Attending meetings and hearings related to trail use are important and will remain so for decades to come.  In addition, OHV professionals and advocates should also include on-site field/trail reviews with local experts and key decision-makers as part of their advocacy/education program.

Eric Anderson,Vroom Network, Tours "Wash"

Designation  and Grouse Issues in Northern Nevada

Today, many public land agencies have embraced the collaborative process where key interest groups are invited to participate in ongoing meetings where unit management ideas are discussed.  Eventually, those concepts addressing forest health, impacts of intense wildfire, and OHV recreation might be used to help shape future agency planning efforts.

Forest Supervisor Tours OR Dunes With Users to Review

OHV Management Program

Staff turnover is not just affecting the Forest Service and BLM.  Clubs often select new presidents or task members with being their point-of-contact for trail issues.   On many units, agency leadership and recreation staff are rotating out at an alarming rate do to retirement, move-to-promote, or other factors.

Local Club Officials and Volunteers Engage with

FS Recreation Staff in Trail Monitoring

OHV industry representatives are also important to include in the trail education process since they often have both a professional and personal stake in sustainable motorized recreation.

OHV Representatives Tour Hull Creek OHV Program

with FS Recreation Staff Lead

Modern 21^st Century trail management has many tenets that are best experienced out in the field.  Those prescriptions/concepts include trail signing, connectivity, erosion control structures, route armoring, public information programs, quality of the user experience, law enforcement, resource restoration efforts, potential trail projects, and safety programs.

FS Recreation Lead Tours Trail Program

There are also potential impacts from ongoing or future agency planning efforts that might impact the current OHV program.  Over the next 5-20 years, land managers will be making trail decisions based on everything from major landscape level plan revisions to OHV route and event restrictions driven by environmental regulations or court ordered mandates.

Riders and Agency Recreation Staff Tour/Discuss FS Restoration 

Grant Project

 QWR wants to encourage the OHV education community to continue efforts to spend some quality “seat time” out on the trail with our key partners.  There is no substitute for stopping on the tour and discussing just how a planning process or proposed regulation might impact OHV use.  That stop might also be the best time to see if a solution is possible.  

See you on the trail.

  

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 21^st 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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Environmental Responsibility Key Tenet of OHV Recreation

Environmental responsibility is a key element of OHV recreation on state and federal lands.  It is important to know that many units are working hard in a collaborative manner with various stakeholder groups to address conservation issues associated with motorized recreation so that those OHV opportunities are preserved for future generations.

 

The Eldorado National Forest is a leader in such efforts to solve environmental challenges related to management of both casual OHV use and permitted recreation events.

CERA Leader Reroutes Enduro Course around

California Spotted Owl Nest Site

 

 

The agency is required to protect the California Spotted Owl and to safeguard owl nesting sites especially during the spring reproduction season.  Recently, the California Enduro Riders Association successfully rerouted a section of the Fool's Gold Enduro to avoid conflict with an owl nest so the event could be held.

 

QWR's Don Amador Stands at Old Low Water Crossing

Replaced by New OHV Bridge in Background

 

 

The Forest has installed a number of structures including the recently completed OHV bridge over lower Rock Creek.  This project replaced the low-water crossing along Trail 1 and ensures the long-term viability of this highly popular motorcycle route.

 

OHV Bridge Over Little Silver Creek

 

 

The OHV bridge seen in the above photograph was constructed over a perennial tributary of Little Silver Creek as part of the Rock Creek Recreational Trail’s decision document.  It replaced a low water crossing and was designed to reduce sediment delivery into the stream course.

  

QWR is believes the future of OHV recreation can be secured through actions that address important environmental challenges that are associated with motorized access in the 21^st Century.

 

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