Saturday, January 4, 2014

IDPR Trail Rangers clear 1,843 miles of trail statewide in 2013; thanks for the work guys!

Post burn log pile-ups can take many hours, if not days to clear. 
Hi all, 

Happy New Year to the Idaho OHV community! We wanted to share the impressive achievements of the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation Trail Rangers  program in the 2013 field season. 

The Trail Ranger crews work hard all summer long in Idaho's backcountry to ensure that our multi-use trails on national forest lands are free of downfall and brush, usable and sustainable.  They're strong and sturdy guys who ride motorbikes to access the trails, carrying chainsaws, shovels and other necessary tools for trail maintenance.

The overall goal is to clear about 2,000 miles of trail statewide. Twenty-six different ranger districts on eight national forests throughout the state put in requests for trail-clearing, and IDPR fulfills the requests as best they can. The Forest Service provides a place for the Trail Rangers to sleep, and the trail work is provided to the national forests at no cost. Idaho OHV registration fees pay for the program, keeping many popular multi-use trails open and cleared for the public to enjoy. 



Here's the breakdown of the Trail Rangers work by region, according to IDPR's ATV/Motorbike Program

North: 
Miles request: 540.7
Miles Cleared: 528.3 
Downfall: 1949 
Tread work: 1027
Water Bars: 179

Southwest:
Miles Request: 734.2
Miles Cleared: 679.6
Downfall: 7080
Tread Work: 1058
Water Bars: 308

East:
Miles Request: 668.9
Miles Cleared: 635.1
Downfall: 2551
Tread Work: 110
Water Bars: 169

Total miles cleared 1,843 miles 

One statistic seems to jump out in the Southwest region -- the removal of more than 7,000 trees! Recent wildfires, microbursts and blow-down events all led to that amazing tally of downed timber.

You can see individual ranger district reports on Trail Rangers work on the IDPR ATV/Motorbike Facebook page.

Many thanks to the Trail Rangers for their fine work in 2013, and thanks to the OHV users for supporting the program!

If OHV users have a particular trail that they'd like to have addressed by the Trail Rangers, they should contact their local Forest Service ranger district office to ensure that the trail is under consideration for maintenance. Folks also could contact the IDPR ATV/Motorbike progam for information as well. 

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