Blog Archives for March, 2009

By Laurel Hagen - March 27, 2009    Working in the Utah wilderness and countryside, I constantly run into places that have been damaged by off-road vehicle use. I put together this video in response to a recent study

By Thomas R Petersen - March 24, 2009   What strikes me about Wildlands CPR's 2008 Annual Report is what ED Bethanie Walder calls "real-world solutions." From the off-road vehicle program's Best Management Practices (BMPs) — downloaded several thousand times from the website giving land managers the tools they need for solid on-the-ground management— to the opening of the Restoration funding spigot—about $40 million went to the Legacy Roads and Trails Inititaitve in 2008 resulting in more than 60,000 acres of watershed improved, nationally—Wildlan

By Adam Rissien - March 23, 2009   The House Transportation Committee voted to table House Bill 614 that would have created a state penalty for violating travel restrictions on any public lands in Montana. If passed, anyone riding an off-road vehicle illegally would have been subject to a maximum $500 fine and up to 6 months in jail.

By Bethanie Walder - March 18, 2009   The Pacific Northwest Region of the Forest Service has posted a draft reportdocumenting what they accomplished with the $8.4 million dollars theyreceived from the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative (Legacy Roads) in fiscal year 2008.  The report lists the following accomplishments from the funding received:

By Adam Rissien - March 18, 2009   New West's community blog page features a post by George Wuerthner titled "Temporary Roads Are Like Low Fat Ice Cream," which can be found at this link

By Bethanie Walder - March 18, 2009    The Pacific Northwest Region of the Forest Service has posted a draft report documenting what they accomplished with the $8.4 million dollars they received from the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative (Legacy Roads) in fiscal year 2008. 

By Sarah Peters - March 17, 2009    The Lewis and Clark National Forest issued a decision yesterday that bodes well for quiet for both wildlife, the Blackfeet Indian Tribe, and recreationists.  The travel planning decision dedicated 187 miles of previously motorized trail to nonmotorized uses, while leaving access open to important trailheads. The Blackfeet tribe and local conservationists applauded the decision and supported the Forest Service's rationale behind the decision.  Unfortunately, motorized access groups are disgruntled over the decision, and plan to appeal it.

By Josh Hurd - March 17, 2009    The United States Forest Service released its initial set of projects, for "construction and maintenance of facilities, roads, and trails, and abandoned mine mitigation and for wildland fire management." The comprise only 10% of the total projects being funded in the Forest Service under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the econom

By sue - March 11, 2009   We’ve heard a lot in the news over the past few days about finalization of spending bills for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09).   At long last, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 was signed into law today.  The act includes a spending measure for a handful of committees that were unable to pass their bills at the end of 2008 including the Interior Appropriations bill.  We’re very happy to report that the final bill included $50 million in funding for the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative, an increase of $10 million over FY08 funding

By Sarah Peters - March 10, 2009    A little over a week ago, the Forest Service came out with their draft Environmental Assessment evaluating the Tellico Off Road Vehicle area and I was pleased to see that their preferred action alternative calls for closing the ORV trails in the area due to water quality problems.