January 14, 2010

Dirt Doe Creek before.jpg Featured Story: Future gets brighter for WA's aging national forest roads
Federal action is now occurring to repair and reclaim crumbling national forest roads in Washington state that have been harming endangered salmon and clean water. “The most encouraging sign is that we are beginning to see a long-term funding plan to address this decades-old problem left behind from timber harvesting in national forests in our state and across the nation,” said Sue Gunn of Wildlands CPR.
adirondack.jpg Featured Story: An end to snowmobile grooming in MT's West Pioneer Wilderness Study Area
A judge signed a settlement agreement between Wildlands CPR, Friends of the Bitterroot & the Forest Service that removes authorization for 95 miles of snowmobile grooming in the West Pioneers Wilderness Study Area. In addition, check out these two articles:
Helena Independent Record and Missoula Independent

GroupChallenges.jpg News: Group challenges planned eastern Oregon ATV area
An environmental group is challenging in court a proposed off-highway vehicle area in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest of northeast Oregon. The Hells Canyon Preservation Council contends the plan will damage summer elk range in the Sled Springs area, and that increased OHV use will displace the herd.

2Ways.jpg News: Two ways of life collide in CA's Wonder Valley
Solitude reigns in the desert community until the ORV's roar in. Then the tension escalates and tempers flare. "You see them buzzing around all the time and they just come closer and closer," a resident said of the men, women and children who blast joyously through the desert on rattling dirt bikes and quad runners.
register.jpg News: New Jersey Off-road vehicle bill OK'd
The Legislature has approved a bill to require registration for off-road vehicles but advocates for riders say they succeeded in winning a condition that the penalties in the measures won't take effect before the state designates at least one public riding area.
iowa_dnr.jpg News: MT's Badger-Two Medicine motorized travel ban upheld
Supporters of traditional use of the forest won the first round in a legal battle over a ban on motorized travel in the Badger-Two Medicine area of the Rocky Mountain Front, which the U.S. Forest Service implemented last fall.
snowmobile.jpg News: Council sues NY Adirondack Park Agency over trail plan
The Adirondack Council has filed a lawsuit against three state agencies, claiming the snowmobile trail management plan adopted by the state Adirondack Park Agency in November violates the State Land Master Plan.

snow_mobile.gif Opinion: Mark Menlove: ID senators need to heed more than just snowmobilers
There's a move afoot from ID Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo to pressure their MT counterparts, Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus, to remove the Montana side of Mount Jefferson and Hellroaring Creek from wilderness designation. The move is ill-advised.
cover pic.JPG Resource: The Road RIPorter, Winter Solstice Issue, Volume 14.4
The Tellico River flows from its headwaters in Cherokee County, North Carolina on into Tennessee.  As it does, it supports a self-sustaining population of wild native brook trout.  Valued for their beauty, their delicious taste, and their sport-fish qualities, they are also indicators of the broader health of the watersheds where they live.

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Resource: A Peek into Forest Service Road Management: Road Accomplishment Reports (RARs) Revealed
The RARs detail how much money the agency spent on road related activities, e.g. maintenance, decommissioning, access improvement, new construction. They can be a bit daunting at first, but they offer some of the most specific and detailed information available to the public regarding how the agency manages its road system. All '06 & '07 RARs are posted here, along with a guide.