PEAK PUTTERS

Commentary: Saving the Entiat

State trails group working to protect a fragile landscape

Commentary: Saving the Entiat
By Karl Forsgaard
Washington Trails Association
Posted July 07, 2009

In March 2009, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest published maps of proposed changes in roads and trails open to motorized use. Reviewing the new maps inevitably brought reflection on how we got here, and where we’re headed.

I began working on these trails in 1991 with the WTA Issues Committee. Expertise on the committee included authors Ira Spring and Harvey Manning. Our advocacy work took some personal time, but it’s a worthy cause — I met new friends and learned about some great places to hike! That’s how I was introduced to the wonderful Entiat and Mad River country.

In early 1992, WTA intervened in litigation to support the Forest Service’s decision to close the North Fork Entiat River Trails to motorcycles. We wrote some powerful arguments that the federal courts adopted. The Ninth Circuit’s North Entiat decision is still the leading case in the U.S. on use conflict between motorized and non-motorized users, and the North Fork Entiat Trail remains open to hikers, horses and mountain bikes.

With my sons I celebrated the North Entiat victory by hiking at Big Hill on the Pyramid Mountain Trail. I carried Nick on my back, and Anders toddled on foot. On open meadow ridges high above Lake Chelan, this trail has spectacular flower displays in July. As the boys grew bigger, we kept going back, sometimes with their mom too.

The Mad River country is between the Entiat River and the Chiwawa River. In 1993, WTA met with motorcyclists and Entiat District personnel about Three Creek and Shetipo, relatively parallel trails connecting the Entiat Valley with the upper Mad River. It was proposed that one trail be motorized and the other not. We didn’t reach agreement then, but maybe we will soon — the proposal reappeared on the Forest’s March 2009 maps.

More trail explorations followed the 1996 Goose-Maverick motorcycle trail proposal. Above Maverick Saddle, the upper Mad River Trail follows the pristine river to its headwaters and beyond, through the forested subalpine plateau and large meadows — Blue Creek, Whistling Pig, Mad Lake, and many more.

In early summer, there is a seasonal closure to motorcycles, to protect the wet soils immediately after snowmelt. So early-season hikers can experience natural quiet as flowers start to bloom before motorcycles arrive. As Dylan said, a highway of diamonds with nobody on it. Trails lead to the summits of Klone Peak and Cougar Mountain, and along Chikamin Ridge, with airy views down Three Creek valley. Bull trout, a threatened species, live in the Mad River.

Over the years I’ve met a lot of motorcyclists on the Mad River Trails. Although their machines are noisy, the local riding culture is polite. I’ve also worked alongside motorcycle advocates in meetings about projects, trail funding grant programs, and the biennial trail conferences hosted by the Washington State Trails Coalition.

WTA’s successful advocacy also led to work outside Washington.

Our informal national network became the Natural Trails and Waters Coalition, and we petitioned the Forest Service for the off-road vehicle (ORV) rule that is now being implemented as Travel Management.

For the latest lawsuit, we hiked many times along the lower Mad River, a different ecosystem than the upper Mad, but beautiful in its own way, with grassy slopes and scattered Ponderosa pines, some burned areas and more of those bull trout.

In these unprotected roadless areas, increased ORV use continues to displace hikers. Those who seek peace and quiet will be driven away by those who make noise, and it’s never the other way around.

ORVs also have negative impacts on wildlife, vegetation, soil and water. The Forest Service has said that the Entiat-Mad River roadless area is highly suitable for addition to the adjacent Glacier Peak Wilderness.

ORV interests will oppose such protection, while seeking to entrench ORV use in as many places as possible.

The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest just completed a public comment period on the proposed maps. They will need to complete an environmental impact statement for the final plan, and they’ll be submitting a range of maps for public comment in late fall as part of that process.

Organizations like the Washington Trails Association will continue to update the public on the ongoing travel management process and opportunities to be heard.

Karl Forsgaard is a Washington Trails Association advisory board member. This article first appeared in the May-June issue of Washington Trails, the association’s magazine. For more, visit the group’s Web site at www.wta.org.

__________________
Posted by Clay Graham on PNW4WDA

A few folks are a mite stirred up over this article:



1 day ago"The Forest Service has said that the Entiat-Mad River roadless area is highly suitable for addition to the adjacent Glacier Peak Wilderness."

Of course that would kick mountain bikers off any trails in that area.

As a lifelong mtn biker, I find it interesting that the mtn biker in the picture would be much less likely to have to dismount for trees on a trail that was open to motorcycles. In idaho, many of the non-motorized trails are completely grown over and blocked by deadfall, whereas the motorized ones are generally cleared by courteous motorcycle clubs every year, for the enjoyment of hikers, equestrians and cyclists as well.

ReplySara1 day agoI am an avid offroad motorcyclist. My husband and I frequent the Mad River/Entiat area multiple times during the summer for some epic mountain rides on our dirt bikes. I feel that this article falls short in addressing many of the concerns of offroad riders. We are not out there to destroy vegetation and harm the sacred bull trout. We are out there for the same reasons as hikers: to enjoy the scenery, spend time with our families and friends, and get some exercise. What this writer fails to realize is the fact that ORV trails are quickly disappearing and that hiker only trails make up the vast majority of trails in the State of Washington. ORV users are forced to congregate to the very small proportion of trails open to them in the state. My opinion is if a hiker does not want to be disturbed by the sounds of a motorcycle, they should hike the other thousands of miles of trails that are only open to hikers.
Replytravis1 day agoI am displeased that the Wenatchee World has printed this article. I say this with the belief that the local Wenatchee area business are largely supported by the local ORV and mountain bike enthusiasts more so than the groups that Forsgaard and Manning support. I state this on the personal experience of riding these trails and talking to the people I meet on the trails, the majority of the users are local ORV and mountain bike riders.

Karl Forsgaard and Harvey Manning will lead you to believe their efforts are in the interest of protecting the environment, but time and time again we see their actual intention is to exclude other users. They have raised lawsuits in areas, or pushed for wilderness designation, so that not only ORVs be excluded but mountain bikers as well.
Replytravis1 day agoThe article states

"In these unprotected roadless areas, increased ORV use continues to
displace hikers. Those who seek peace and quiet will be driven away by
those who make noise, and it’s never the other way around."

I can understand hikers do not enjoy the noise and dust of ORVs, but given that ORVs are only allowed on roughly 20-25% of trails available to hikers, what makes it fair to take trails away from a group fighting to keep the few trails available to them? Why do hikers believe that every high alpine area should only belong to them? With seasonal closure, why can the hikers not share these trails?
ReplyTod1 day agoJust a few of the facts that Mr. Forsgaard skipped:

Hikers are not being displaced by offroad motorcycles.

Pursuant to findings disclosed at the 2003 Washington State Trails Coalition conference, all offroad vehicle use is prohibited on over 80 percent of the trails in the State of Washington. Since that time motorized trail mileage has decreased, not increased.

According to a USFS staffer, there would be more trails built, both multi-use and hiker-only if they were not repeatedly confronted by legal action taken by hiker-only organizations.

There would be more money to build and maintain trails in Washington if the Legislature had not diverted nearly 10 million dollars of Nonhighway and Offroad Vehicle Activities account money and gave it to State Parks. The money for this fund comes from fuel tax revenue generated by gas sold for use in offhighway vehicles and fees from offroad vehicle license tabs. The Washington Trails Coalition lobbyist Jonathan Guzzo supported this diversion of funding that will lead to degradation of many trails throughout the state.

ReplyPete1 day agoFrom the article:

"In these unprotected roadless areas, increased ORV use continues to displace hikers. Those who seek peace and quiet will be driven away by those who make noise, and it’s never the other way around."

Non-motorized users have the entire state open to them while motorcycles have jusat a small fraction of those trails available to them, most of which are in 'working' forests, i.e., subject to timber sales, mining claims, etc. This state has several designated wilderness areas, state parks, and national parks already in which OHV's are not permitted, and rightly so, however, the WTA seeks to turn the entire state into a park that serves only their narrow sense of what is best.





ReplyPete1 day agoMore from the article:

"ORVs also have negative impacts on wildlife, vegetation, soil and water."

That is simply not true. The article mentions how beautiful the Mad River/Entiat area is and I agree. Motorcycles have been using those trails for 40+ years and it's still beautiful, right?

I see wildlife nearly everytime I ride and they are never in a hurry to move away from the trail, but are rather calm. We stay on the trails, we maintain the trails, and we pay for the trails through our ORV tabs that went into the NOVA fund...that is until the state stole those monies and gave it to the state parks. We are the ONLY user group that pays to use the trails and yet we are constantly under threat of being locked out by elitist hikers who pay nothing, and already have the entire state open to them.

Mountain bikers beware...you are next! The WTA will not be happy until every mile of trail in this state is open only to hikers.
ReplyDave1 day ago"Mountain bikers beware...you are next! The WTA will not be happy until every mile of trail in this state is open only to hikers."

We (mountain bikers) are #2 on the WTA's most hated list and are well aware of it. We all know who #1 is. Why they are not happy with the vast amount of exclusive hiker trails is something I will never know. The WTA is a zero-tolerance organization firmly aligned *against* any trail user not wearing hiker boots. It's pathetic.
Replyjohn1 day agoFrom the article:
"ORV use continues to displace hikers. Those who seek peace and quiet will be driven away by those who make noise, and it’s never the other way around."


To the contrary the hiking community makes a far greater effort on and off the trail to displace ORV use. Simply look at where the WTA and other hiking groups focus support of the state legisature when in fact those efforts have recently diverted trail maintinence funding away from even their own trails as well as ORV areas. Not to mention how many ORV users spend personal/voluntary time clearing trails for all users. I've never seen a hiker packing a chainsaw or shovel to contribute to this effort.

ReplyTod1 day ago"The WTA is a zero-tolerance organization firmly aligned *against* any trail user not wearing hiker boots. It's pathetic."

Like the late Harvey Manning told me, "I don't like anything on the trail that goes faster than me and I am getting slower every day".
That day he was complaining about people that run.
Be warned!
ReplyTracy1 day agoHikers are not being displaced by offroad motorcycles. Infact the opposite is clearly true!
"Findings disclosed at the 2003 Washington State Trails Coalition conference, all offroad vehicle use is prohibited on over 80 percent of the trails in the State of Washington." ...80 percent!!!

Can't hikers find their quiet time on any of the 80% of trails open to ONLY them?


ReplyTracy1 day ago"According to a USFS staffer, there would be more trails built, both multi-use and hiker-only if they were not repeatedly confronted by legal action taken by hiker-only organizations."

"There would be more money to build and maintain trails in Washington if the Legislature had not diverted nearly 10 million dollars of Nonhighway and Offroad Vehicle Activities account money and gave it to State Parks. The money for this fund comes from fuel tax revenue generated by gas sold for use in offhighway vehicles and fees from offroad vehicle license tabs."

My husband and I finally have children old enough to ride on these trails. We buy tabs for 4 bikes and a bike trailer. We stay several nights a summer in the wenatchee area hotels, patronize area restaurants, stores and gas stations as well. We drive over 2 hours to ride the Mad River area trails several times a year. There are very limited areas among the 20% available that are suitable for children to ride on.

My children should have every right to enjoy the wildflowers, lakes and wilderness that anyone wearing hiking boots deserves.


ReplyTracy1 day agoI tend to agree that if it weren't for motorcyclists the trails would not be maintained as well as they are. It is true I have never seen any hikers do any sort of trail maintainance like our local motorcyle clubs do. Infact, the hikers I have met are generally rude and unfriendly. Most every one of them!! (yes, even while we have our kids w/us!) The motorcycle riders as well as the dirtbikers we meet always stop us and chat up our kids. They are excited to see them enjoying the experience. Last year we met a gentleman on his dirtbike that was excited for his son to be old enough to come along. We also met a gentleman and his young son who drives nearly 3 hours to ride the Mad River trails on their motorbikes.
With only 20% of the trails open to us I do not understand why hikers insist on spending money and time to get rid of us motorcyclists. Go take a hike on the other 80% of the trails open to only hikers and leave our few trails alone!

ReplyMartin1 day agoWOW. Besides myself, everyone else on this thread just signed on as members within the last few hours. I guess the ORV crowd was emailed alerts on this article so that they could comment. No biggie, I just find it interesting. I guess the REI crowd doesn't have the same lobbying infrastructure.
1 replyReplyjohn1 day agoThis article was posted in a thread on an ORV enthusiast website naturally drawing attention to it. But, i agree the ORV community takes a different approach to lobbying in that it does not activly seek to limit the recreational opportunities of other user groups.
ReplyMartin1 day ago"Not sure who 'the orv crowd' is." OOOOO, a tad touchy, wot? Perhaps I should have said 'those people'? Thanks for the laugh.

" I bet if the Wenatchee World printed a mostly false smear article against some other group (religious, ethnic, whatever) a few people would get annoyed with that too and tell their friends, who might then respond."

ROTFLOL!!! (Rolling On The Floor, Laughing Out Loud). This is just too precious: ORVers as a civil rights issue! LOL!!! Next thing you know, we'll have outcries to allow marriages between motorcycles and atvs.

1 replyReplyMartin1 day agoThanks for posting that, John. I kinda figured something like that had occured. It was just really unusual to see so many posts made on that kind of subject occurring so close together. As I said, it was a curiosity; I have no truck with the issue one way or the other.
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