Watch out for kids on forest roads

In the spirit of concern about the safety of all citizens, the U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation are working together to inform off-highway vehicle (OHV) users and passenger vehicle operators about traffic safety during the summer months when recreationists spread across Idaho’s public lands.

The agencies put out a news release prior to the July 4th weekend about watching out for young kids driving OHV's on forest roads. The release was similar to a warnings issued by the Forest Service last fall, urging hunters to watch out for kids on forest roads. Here is a YouTube video about that issue.

Off-highway vehicles include motorcycles, specialty off-highway vehicles (SOHVs), utility type vehicles (UTVs) and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs).

“Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation has recently stepped up its OHV safety training classes for the coming summer months to respond to the increased number of users on our public lands and to help ensure OHV users know the rules of the road,” said Idaho Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Merrill. “We encourage people to consider taking one of our free classes. The information presented in these classes will help our younger riders become better, more knowledgeable, and safer riders.”

The 2009 Idaho Legislature passed a law that includes a provision removing the requirement for individuals to have a driver’s license to operate off-highway vehicles on national forest system roads. According to Intermountain Regional Forester Harv Forsgren, the Forest Service is deeply concerned about the ramifications of untrained children on off-highway vehicles driving the same roads as passenger vehicles, recreation vehicles and logging and livestock trucks.

“During the summer, forest roads become crowded with cars, trucks pulling trailers, RVs, and larger vehicles including construction and logging trucks,” said Regional Forester Harv Forsgren. “OHV users – including unlicensed/underage users - and drivers of passenger vehicles will find themselves sharing many miles of National Forest roads in Idaho. Drivers of all vehicles should stay alert to this and drive defensively.”

Approximately 7,700 miles of National Forest System roads are open to passenger vehicles with about 700 miles either paved or two-lane. These are the type of roads where the Forest Service is most concerned for driver safety as travel speeds tend to be faster and drivers of passenger vehicles aren’t expecting to share the road with OHVs.

Be safe out there and watch out for kids on OHV's! Thank you!

Flooding, construction will impact OHV recreation this summer

Buckhorn Bridge washout

South Fork Salmon River Road washout

Record precipitation this spring, combined with heavy rain in May and early June across Central Idaho have had a big impact on trails, washed out bridges and damaged roads, causing an impact to OHV recreation opportunities this summer, including the loss of some OHV travelways.

The washouts only add to the impacts expected this summer when several road construction projects will be active, thanks in large part to federal stimulus funding.

Heavy precipitation caused numerous road washouts on the Boise and Payette national forests as well as some county roads. On the Payette National Forest, the South Fork Salmon River flooded out several hundred feet of the paved road along its bank and also took out the OHV bridge leading to the Buckhorn Bar (Teapot Mountain Loop) trail.

Because the bridge across the South Fork Salmon River is gone, the loop between Buckhorn Bar Campground and Camp Creek Campground is no longer a loop. An alternative access is available by Jakie Creek near the Reed Ranch landing strip, so a trail user can go out and back the same way.

Meanwhile, the Lewiston Morning Tribune reported May 20^th that “people planning outings to the Clearwater and Nez Perce National Forests could experience some inconvenience this summer as contractors funded by federal stimulus money work to upgrade trails, roads and campgrounds.”

Dozens of projects on those two national forests are slated for construction this summer, and there may be temporary road closures and traffic delays as a result in numerous locations. Similar projects are planned on other national forests in Idaho. More than $100 million in projects are targeted in Idaho of the $1.15 billion in Federal Recovery Act funds that was appropriated by Congress to the U.S. Forest Service.

Clearwater Forest Supervisor Rick Brazell says the government agencies will be working with local news media outlets to provide the public notice of temporary closures when they occur. "The main thing would be to check the website, and if they still have concerns, to give a call to the district offices and ask if this campground or road or this trail is open," he said. "It is going to be a challenge for us because we have so many projects going on at one time this summer."

Please feel free to share information about road and trail closures in the comments below the blog or on the Stay on Trails Facebook page. Thank you. - Andy Brunelle, U.S. Forest Service

Two statewide ATV associations merge into one

In a move that appears to be positive for ATV riders in Idaho, the Gem State ATV Association and the Idaho ATV Association have now merged into one new organization called the Idaho State ATV Association.

Idaho State ATV is being led by President Clark Collins, a longtime advocate for motorized trail interests from Pocatello, Idaho, who created and led the Blue Ribbon Coalition for more than a decade.

The purpose of merging the two statewide organizations is to ensure "that everybody is spreaking with the same voice," Collins said. "Gem State ATV was run by people predominantly from north Idaho, and the Idaho ATV Association was perceived as being too Treasure Valley-centric, so we created a new organization that could cover the whole state and speak with one voice."

Check out http://www.idahostateatv.org/

Due credit should go to Bill Jones and Bob Jackson, avid ATV riders in Boise, who created the Idaho ATV Association in 1996. Jones served as the president for many years. Here's a link to a heart-warming story about how Bill and Bob started the organization. Now Bill is working with the Boise ATV Association.

The business of the Idaho State ATV Association should be of interest to many trail machine riders. More than 95,000 ATVs are registered statewide, almost 1/1oth of Idaho's population. The organization has been an important voice for safe and responsible riding on public lands, and it will continue to be, Collins said.

The Idaho State ATV Association will focus purely on advocacy work, while all of the member clubs will focus on offering regular recreation rides for members and social activities. People can join the Idaho State ATV Assoc. as individuals or join as a local club. Most of the clubs in Idaho have joined or are in the process of doing so, Collins said.

Any club that becomes a member of Idaho State ATV will be eligible to have a member on the state organization's board of directors, he said.

The primary advocacy issues that Idaho State ATV plans to work on includes monitoring and commenting on national forest and BLM travel management plans, creating more trails for ATV riding, defending the trails that already exist, and hunting issues with ATVs, Collins said.

For more information about the Idaho State ATV Assoc., contact Collins or other members of the association.

- Steve Stuebner, Idaho OHV Public Outreach Campaign coordinator

5 ATV riders cited for tearing up meadows in the Clearwater National Forest

Restoration work is under way in a meadow torn up last fall by illegal all-terrain vehicle (ATV) use on the Palouse Ranger District of the Clearwater National Forest.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, the majority of the work is being funded by $2,000 in restitution paid by individuals responsible for the damage.

The damage occurred during the fall of 2009 when five minors on ATVs were mud bogging in the Lindley Meadows area near Elk River, riding off road and tearing up fragile meadow vegetation in violation of Palouse District Travel Planning regulations. The individuals were cited, brought to court, found guilty, and forced to pay restitution for their actions. The defendants live in E. Washington.

“When we see illegal ATV use like this, we want to both help users understand the environmental damage caused by their actions and correct the behavior,” said Steve Bryant, Law Enforcement Officer for the Palouse Ranger District. “Then we turn to restoring function on the damaged land. In this case, the perpetrators’ actions were so egregious they were required to pay substantial fines, providing the agency with the means to begin restoration work.”

Palouse District Watershed Specialist Meg Foltz developed a restoration plan for the one-acre Lindley Meadows site.

“The ground was severely impacted from the extensive ATV use, plus the area was extremely wet at the time resulting in deep tire ruts throughout,” she explained.

As part of the plan the Forest Service, in partnership with the Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute, will soon be planting approximately 400 sedges in the area. “As long as the site remains free of vehicles, I feel confident that the sedges will take hold and meadow functionality will return before long,” Foltz said. For updates regarding the project, contact the Palouse Ranger District at (208) 875-1131.

Happy 2010 to Idaho OHV riders

Hi all,

We wanted to wish all of the Idaho motorbike and ATV riders a happy New Year for 2010 and remind folks about the dynamic content on the http://www.stayontrails.com/ web site.

Our web site, which was completely revamped last summer, features a number of informative videos,

including the most recent one about how to register your OHV in 2010. The video can be viewed on the front page of the web site, on YouTube, or on the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation web site.

We also wanted to give OHV riders a head's up about ongoing budget cuts at the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. In a recent article in the Challis Messenger, IDPR Director Nancy Merrill talked to Custer County officials about the potential closure of Land of the Yankee Fork State Park. This is a brand new park near Challis that features a number of motorized trails for motorbikes and ATVs, many historic points of interest, and it's located adjacent to hundreds of miles of motorbike and ATV trails in the surrounding Salmon-Challis National Forest.

If you value the new park, you may want to keep a close eye on the 2010 session of the Idaho Legislature, and let legislators know that you value Land of the Yankee Fork State Park.

Otherwise, please keep us informed about new information of interest to OHV riders in Idaho. If you have ideas about adding new trails to our where-to-ride section -- the most popular spot on our web site -- please let us know! And if you know of important subjects that would be of interest on our blog, please pass the word.

Send suggestions to Steve Stuebner, campaign coordinator for the Idaho OHV Public Outreach Campaign, at sstuebner@drakecooper.com.

Thanks and here's to a safe and responsible riding season in 2010!

- SS

New video explains how to license and register motorbikes, ATVs in Idaho

Do you need a registration sticker and a license plate for your motorbike and ATV to ride legally in Idaho? Or do you just need a sticker? Or just a plate? What's the deal?

There has been some confusion about those questions, so the Idaho Off-Highway Vehicle Public Outreach Campaign produced a step-by-step video that explains the process for registering and licensing OHVs in Idaho.



The short answer to the questions above is that if you ride strictly on OHV trails, and you do not ride on city or county roads, then you only need a $12 registration sticker. Any type of OHV in Idaho, including specialty OHVs like Dune Buggies, needs a registration sticker.

But if you like to ride long loops, which may involve riding on city or county roads to connect to singletrack trails, you need to license your trail machine as well. The nice thing about getting a restricted license plate for a motorbike or ATV is that they aren't very expensive -- they cost only $3, and they are valid for seven years.

As Rich Gummersall from the Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation points out in the video, if you do like to ride long loops, and maybe like to avoid having to shuttle a vehicle to the end of your trailhead, you can license your trail machine and ride on the roads to complete your ride.

"It's a small price for peace of mind," Gummersall says.

OHV riders should know that the $2 increase in registration fees in 2010 allows you to devote $1 from the fee toward law enforcement efforts in the county of your choice, and another $1 will be set aside to develop more trail opportunities on state lands managed by the Idaho Department of Lands.

If you have any questions about licensing and registration of your OHV, please contact the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, 208-334-4199.

Agencies launch aerial patrols near Challis to monitor hunter compliance with road, trail closures

Head's up OHV hunters, the public agencies charged with enforcing motorized road and trail closures during hunting season are watching you.

The Salmon-Challis National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management, Challis Field Office, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in Salmon worked together to conduct aerial patrols during deer hunting season to check on compliance with motorized road and trail closures.

No citations were issued as a result of the patrols, which were educational in nature, agency officials said.

The BLM has an approved travel plan for the Challis region, and the Salmon-Challis National Forest recently approved its travel plan, but the appeal period was still open when the patrols occurred. The aerial patrols focused on hunting areas closed to motorized use where violations have occurred repeatedly in past years, officials said. These areas included the upper Pahsimeroi River area, Little Lost River, East Fork of the Salmon River and Lost River drainage.

The Challis Messenger reported on a meeting with the Custer County Commissioners, in which agency officials talked about the aerial and ground patrols. Click on the images posted on this blog to read the article from that meeting.

No further aerial patrols are expected to occur in the Challis area this year. Agency officials said that aerial patrols have been used in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest area several times in the past.

Feel free to comment about the aerial patrols in the comments section below.