Anyone up for the Oct URE workday???

[broncosbybart]

Sounds good! I'll be there then! Anyone else? FYI, with Thanksgiving and Christmas cominng up, I don't plan on making a Nov or Dec workday. Not even sure any are planned for those months. So, if you want to come out for a 2014 work day, this is it!

The Oct work day should be pretty low key. Got this email from Terry today:



This message is about the October 25th Work Day on the OHV trails. We’ll be doing some restoration work by seeding, mulching and fertilizing several areas along the trails that we have blocked off in the past. We’ll also be putting up some “No Vehicle” signs up and we’ll be moving the boulders that were for a vehicle barrier along the trail/road at Art Lilley and putting up “no vehicle” signs there too. Depending on how many folks we have we can also have a crew putting up orange diamonds, arrows and putting the number decals on the trail markers.

Please bring up shovels, garden rakes (with the thick tines), work gloves, work boots and be dressed for the weather and to work. If anyone has a small hand seeder please bring it up to use. We have a few hand seeders that we’ll have there for folks to use. Make sure to have water and food. I’m not sure if Snappy is planning on making lunch or not. We’ll need vehicles or trailers that can haul the straw bales up to the restoration areas. I’ll be flagging the areas this upcoming week. Rodney will have the straw bales on the trailer when we meet up.

Meet at 9 am at the Uwharrie Hunt Camp. Rodney & I’ll be working with you all next week and we’ll try to get as many areas as possible. Thanks a lot everyone. I’m looking forward to seeing you all and doing great work on the trails.

Bye - Terry

[broncosbybart]

I think it is just nick h and me. If anyone is planning on it let us know. Thx

[chuzie]

How did it go?

Sent from my GS3 on Cyanogenmod with T2.

[nhopman]

Well, just Charles and I showed. I ended up having to drive the tow rig, guess my red top Optima finally bit the dust. Couldn't start it with a battery charger or the jump box, so I'll need a new battery before the URE run. I rode with Charles. We didn't really do too much, ended up working on D.i.c.k.e.y Bell. One crew built/repaired a few water bars and we cleared ground and spread seed and fertilizer to camo an old road bed people are using that is considered off trail to ride on and camp on.

Talked to Terry some about our trail and about Kodak.

Dutch John - seems to be staying in good shape. They are looking into doing something different with the one long log bridge (the one that is at the turn just after the rocky downhill area) and a possible re-route to make the big eroded hill climb better/safer for the ATV's etc. apparently a kid broke his arm not too long ago on that hill climb. She wasn't too sure what all that would involve, they are going to look at it during the winter closure with the contractor to see what can be done.

Kodak Rock - They still don't know officially, but there are a couple things they are working on getting done. They have people in the area now digging stuff up. Best case - they hope to at least open enough to allow vehicles to drive to Kodak to play on the rocks and then turn around to go back. In other words, probably no more Rocky Mt. Loop that will make a complete circle any more. The trail/s above Kodak are where the more "significant" archeolocigal sites are and they want to keep people away from that area. Worst case - trails stay closed as they are now, never to re-open.
She said that it would probably be at least 2 years before it can get opened up, if at all.

Biggest reasons for the trail closures do not appear to be exclusive to "trail" damage and sediment run off, but to the multiple spider trails and people going off-trail wherever they please, so we need to be sure to keep ourselves and others on the trail at all times. There also seems to be increasing problems with people camping as well, they are driving their rigs way off the trail to set up camp, not to mention the amount of trash tey leave behind when they do break camp. I actually suggested they ban camping on the trails all together. That idea has been talked about amongst the rangers, they may do that and just allow camping in designated areas at the trail heads and maybe a few spots on the trails. They would actually have to set up camp site numbers, etc. to make them official areas, but one benefit of doing this is anyone camping outside of a designated area can be hit with a big fine.

Which brought up the question about the lack of law enforcement patrol on the trails. Apparently they are working on that as well. I personally wish they would patrol a lot more and give out some big tickets and even confiscate some rigs if possible to get the word out, I don't think it would take too long to get the people that are causing the most problems to not come back to the area, which would really help us out in the long run.

Some Good news:
They are looking at opening a new trail around the Wolf dean area and Art Lilly Campground so that people can ride a trail instead of having to run ORV's on the actual road. It will be a small trail but new all the same. This may happen this winter.

Nick

[chuzie]

More patrols require more manpower and more $$$. We need a self reporting infrastructure in place to efficiently communicate violations to the authorities so they can respond in a timely manner to follow up. We are the largest and cheapest resource the FS has. Social media and smart phones are the perfect avenue. We can anonymously report violators, along with a pic or vid, to FS in real time. Simple, cheap, effective.

Sent from my GS3 on Cyanogenmod with T2.

[Bronco Biff]

Maybe some Deputy Rangers??