Rising Sun/USFS To Protect Jenny Creek Wetlands

[hatfieldcb]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Chris Hatfield
Rising Sun 4 Wheel Drive Club of Colorado
hatfieldcb@yahoo.com
303-805-9312 home
303-324-8751 cell


Four Wheel Drive Club Works with US Forest Service to Protect Wetlands

Lakewood, Colorado -- August 23, 2006 -- Rising Sun 4 Wheel Drive Club of Colorado, Inc., will be working directly with US Forest Service representatives of the Boulder Ranger District to protect wetlands areas in the Roosevelt National Forest this weekend, Friday and Saturday, August 25 & 26, 2006.

The project involves installing 700 feet of barrier on the Jenny Creek Trail 4 Wheel Drive Road, FT 808, in Roosevelt National Forest where the trail re-joins Rollins Pass Road at Yankee Doodle Lake. The barrier is designed to keep motorized vehicles on the trail and protect fragile wetlands outside trail boundaries. Approximately $2500 worth of materials, including 90 metal posts, 1400 feet of 5/8” thick wire rope and 120 80-lb. bags of concrete is being donated by the Rising Sun 4WD Club for the project. Club members have also volunteered time and equipment to haul tools and supplies to the job site and will work hand-in-hand installing the barrier with other volunteers and US Forest Service personnel, under the direction of USFS project managers.

According to Bill Morgan, project leader for the Rising Sun 4WD club, “This project to protect, re-stabilize and replant the wetlands area at Jenny Creek Trail 4 Wheel Drive Road has been on the Forest Service’s list for some time. It came to our attention back in May of 2006 and we began working with them. We consider ourselves responsible off-road vehicle owners and we want to show our commitment to resource protection. We wanted to help eliminate the eyesore caused by irresponsible users. Rising Sun has been keenly interested in adopting Jenny Creek Road to stabilize and maintain the trail, and mitigate user impact in this popular area. With the Boulder Ranger District allowing us to adopt Jenny Creek (FT 808, & FR 502), we enthusiastically volunteered to assist them in remediating impacts in the wetlands near Yankee Doodle Lake, at the western terminus of FT 808 and the base of Boulder Wagon Road below Needle's Eye Tunnel. The use of our vehicles and equipment contribute significantly to the feasibility and affordability of completing this project as well. “

Jenny Creek Trail 4 Wheel Drive Road, as part of the Boulder Stage Route, dates to the late 1800s and is an historic route. Yankee Doodle Lake was a favorite scenic stopping point on the Denver, Northwest & Pacific Railroad (The Moffat Road), which roughly followed the stage route, and is rich in Colorado history and an important part of our Colorado heritage.
-more-

Four Wheel Drive Club Works to Protect Wetlands

Rising Sun 4 Wheel Drive Club of Colorado– based in Lakewood, Colorado was founded in 1981 and is a member of the Colorado Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, the Toyota Land Cruiser Association, and the national United 4 Wheel Drive Association. Monies raised by club sponsored events and rallies are donated to organizations like Blue Ribbon Coalition, Tread Lightly!, Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition and others devoted to keeping trails open for responsible recreational users.

Rising Sun 4 Wheel Drive Club of Colorado
P.O. Box 260175
Lakewood, CO 80226
www.risingsun4sx4.com
www.tlca.org
www.hightrails.org

US Forest Service
Cat Luna, OHV Ranger
Boulder Ranger District
2140 Yarmouth Avenue
Boulder, CO 80301
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/about/o...rd/index.shtml
303-541-2500
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[TUFFTORQ]

Major props to Rising Sun 4wd club!

[hatfieldcb]

Here's the preliminary press release from the USFS:

Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest
Pawnee National Grassland

News Release * News Release * News Release
Release: Immediate Contact: Maribeth Pecotte 303-541-2503

Jenny Creek Trail, Yankee Doodle Lake Get Face Lift

August 23, 2006
Boulder, Colorado – Yankee Doodle Lake lies in a picturesque basin high up along Rollins Pass Road, in the Roosevelt National Forest. The area has attracted visitors since the historic Boulder Wagon Road first traversed the area (and probably earlier). In 1903, David Moffat began to build the Moffat Railroad, which crossed the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass. When the Moffat (railroad) Tunnel was completed in 1928, the railroad abandoned “the hill route” and pulled up its tracks, leaving behind a perfect auto touring route.
Modern-day visitors come with their hiking boots, bicycles, jeeps, motorcycles and ATV’s to explore the high country. They find meadows crossed with tire tracks, breached road closures and, due to its remoteness, an area largely free of official presence. All of that is about to change.
The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, Boulder Ranger District is working with volunteers from the Rising Sun 4WD Club on a restoration project to restore wetland areas near Yankee Doodle Lake and along the Jenny Creek Trail four-wheel drive (4WD) road. The aim of the project is to improve wildlife habitat and fisheries in the Jenny Creek drainage, while maintaining legal motorized access.
The Rising Sun 4WD Club has adopted Jenny Creek Trail 4WD Road, and they are enthusiastic about helping the Forest Service manage this road. They are providing up to $2,500 worth of materials, supplies and labor for this project, and volunteers from their organization will haul the supplies and contribute manpower.
Work in the area has already begun. Forest Service employees have spent more time in the area this summer than usual. More tickets have been issued for driving on closed roads, driving off of designated roads, and for causing unreasonable damage to vegetation. New gates were installed at the top and bottom of the closed Boulder Wagon Road route; and an excavator has been scarifying compacted wetland soils in preparation for revegetation. The volunteer project begins this Saturday, August 26, with the installation of post-and-cable vehicle barriers. The barriers are intended to keep vehicles on designated routes and prevent future motorized trespass into the sensitive wetland areas. On September 2, the revegetation portion of the project will get under way with Forest Service staffers and volunteers transplanting sedges, willows and grasses into the wetland areas.
More volunteers are needed for the revegetation portion of the project (on September 2). If interested, or for more details, contact Terry Savery at 303-245-6414 or by e-mail at: tsavery@fs.fed.us

END

[ginericLC]

Chris,

That sounds great. Last year I inquired with the BLM in Moab to see if they had projects. I was hoping to spend a day or so working on one of their projects when I went down to Cruise Moab. Unfortunately, my trip was shorter than I expected and this idea never came to reality. I'm hoping to maybe go down there this spring sometime and spend a day or two working. I wish I was in a better position with vacation time to organize something. I mean I bet a lot of folks would work on the Tuesday or Wednesday prior to CM. It appears I can't do the CM thing at all this year. Thursday and Friday both fall into our final 4 weeks of school this year as we started really early and get out in May. So they are forbidden days. I'm still trying to work around it. But if I don't make it, I think I'll head down the 1st week in June and work on a project for them.

Eric V.

[Chef]

Chris;
I couldn't be more proud of this project and the Rising Sun Crew. This is exactly the kind of work that will help keep a positive light on our sport, our club, and keep areas open for all of us.
Get an article in TT about this, it's a shining and stellar example of waht TLCA's land use involvement ought to aspire to. THANKS!

[hatfieldcb]

I think the article is in the works. Bill Morgan, our Land Use Coordinator, went up the second weekend and helped with the replanting effort. There are lots of "projects" out there and we hope to do something every year.

[JasonH]

Very cool!

[Chef]

Originally Posted by hatfieldcb

I think the article is in the works. Bill Morgan, our Land Use Coordinator, went up the second weekend and helped with the replanting effort. There are lots of "projects" out there and we hope to do something every year.

Most excellent!

I think I have a deck of cards that looks a lot like your avatar.