Ideas for Uwharrie

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krzyabncanuck

krzyabncanuck

USFS HOTSHOT
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As everyone know by now i have been pretty much living there on the weekends. So i have been invited for an important meeting with numerous people / groups / agencies.

If you have any input for something you would like to see done out there please post it up. Please keep in mind that it has to be something pretty easy to do. It would be getting done by us ( volunteers / trail sponsers ).

Have a few weeks before my meeting, so please post up before the middle of December.

This is your chance to have something said directly to the USFS / other users by someone that can get things said / done.

And this gives me another chance to look for property up there.

Or if you want, just take me aside at the barn next weekend.
 
Make the posession of bud light illegal.....and massive fines for littering
 
The USFS will be at this meeting also so please take some time out of your day to put some thought into this.

At the last meeting i was at it was pretty much said that this is our time to make sure that it will be here for your kids to enjoy. I will say that we as the OHV crowd does not get and stay more involved then this place will go the same way as Tellico and Johnson Valley is going right now.

I know everyone is complaining now about those places, and right now you have people that are willing to stand up just like me, but i/ we need your ideas / help to keep it going.

This is just the start for me here. If you vote me into this position for the club also you can expect me to do alot more posts like this and more. I will also be asking for your time a few times a year. And some funds to help support the FOU with rentals for a Bobcat and the likes. This is just a heads up about more to come.

Now please give me some good thoughts/ ideas.

Thanks
 
Likely not a popular opinion, but I would like to see them enforce their rules to the extent possible with their manpower.

Typically there are so many people breaking rules, the USFS and others complain and call it out as rationalization for shutting things down. If they'd start enforcing them and making examples of people, word will get out.

I'd love to see them have zero tolerance for alcohol on the trails.

Patrols/checkpoints on the trail system for license, insurance, permits - which their rules require.

Cleanup stations on the trails - posts with garbage bags, trash collection, perhaps some stuff to clean up spills where vehicles often break.
 
Lots of good stuff here. I think though the situation with ATV riders being 90% of the problem out there needs to be addressed.

In the 20+ times i've been to uwharrie I've seen one actual jeep driver liter, no full size rigs cut new trails, but I see both from ATV riders everytime i'm out there.


I'd say give them their own trails and keep them off ours and the problems with our trails will go away overnight. If the ATV riders can't keep up with their trail system then shut it down.

There are plenty of places in the US that have ATV only trails so why not a full size only trail.
 
Joe, I and they both would like to see them enforce more stuff on the trails, but as is said it is not in the budget. We have Officer Foote but that is about it. Most of the time most of the USFS personnel are in other places fighting fires and the likes. They do not just stay here in NC either. Most of the summer most of them were gone besides the people in the office. To include the Ranger herself.

Al, i have brought this point up a few times and will be bringing it up again cause like you i firmly believe that is who is destroying our trail system / dumping their trash. Are there ATV clubs that go up there anyone know ? I would be willing to try to get them invited to this meeting.

Thanks again.
 
krzyabncanuck said:
Joe, I and they both would like to see them enforce more stuff on the trails, but as is said it is not in the budget. We have Officer Foote but that is about it. Most of the time most of the USFS personnel are in other places fighting fires and the likes. They do not just stay here in NC either. Most of the summer most of them were gone besides the people in the office. To include the Ranger herself.

Al, i have brought this point up a few times and will be bringing it up again cause like you i firmly believe that is who is destroying our trail system / dumping their trash. Are there ATV clubs that go up there anyone know ? I would be willing to try to get them invited to this meeting.


Thanks again.
Click to expand...

I don't think there are any actual clubs like jeep or cruiser clubs but there must be message boards with an NC section to post in somewhere.

The manpower part is a problem in the government sector right now so I don't really see a way around that.
 
The biggest thing we are trying to give to the USFS is an idea or 20 on how we can go about helping them to keep the trails open. The biggest thing the other group has agreed on is that we need to have good plans on how to help them. Cause if we just point out the problems then they are going to do nothing but shut it down to fix the problem. And then we loose.
 
Please forgive me where I am ignorant of all that goes on at Uwharrie, but what about a volunteer force that is able to enforce the rules (in some watered down fashion). As much as our group, and others use the park, is there some way the group members can be a volunteer force that assists the USFS? If one of the big problems is man-power.

Jeremy.


krzyabncanuck said:
The biggest thing we are trying to give to the USFS is an idea or 20 on how we can go about helping them to keep the trails open. The biggest thing the other group has agreed on is that we need to have good plans on how to help them. Cause if we just point out the problems then they are going to do nothing but shut it down to fix the problem. And then we loose.
Click to expand...
 
Darin, so they have no budget and no manpower?

In that case, I'd ask what are the biggest problems and/or risks where we can offer assistance?

If the target is on a different range, we risk wasting our shots.

What are their needs, and where and how can the community help?
 
Joe, I do not want to post on here their manpower / budget issues. But yes they have serious issues.

We are trying to go at them with answers to their issues prior to them coming up with the issues. If we can not come up with good solutions to the issues at hand, then thier only answer is to do the same thing they did with the range and shut it down. They have no time for small stuff.
 
SchniperJB said:
Please forgive me where I am ignorant of all that goes on at Uwharrie, but what about a volunteer force that is able to enforce the rules (in some watered down fashion). As much as our group, and others use the park, is there some way the group members can be a volunteer force that assists the USFS? If one of the big problems is man-power.

Jeremy.
Click to expand...

I think this is a great idea, Jeremy.

You absolutely cannot make the argument to USFS that they need to patrol and enforce. They simply do not have the manpower or budget to dedicate someone to that task. However, if they have a training program(Tread Lightly/Darin or similar) that can appoint individuals who promote good trail stewardship and conservation, we can have hundreds of individuals on the lookout. Ofcourse we would not be able to ticket or punish individuals but we could perhaps setup random check points throughout the trail system to atleast monitor day passes and season passes. If they do not have a day pass we can sell them one on the spot (with the threat that we are calling them in to the ranger if they cannot obey the forest rules).......
 
Ok.

Some things that went on last Sunday out there to talk about.

Looking at doing some things to make it better for us out there. One thing is , John Deere would like to spend some time / money and fix our parking lot / camping spot area at the beginning of our trail. I told them I would try to get ONSC involved out there also on the days that they were out there. Stuff like putting up better railing and the likes.

Now another thing we talked about there was making a rock garden right there also. If anyone has camped / cleaned up back there you know the area i am talking about where the natural ones are at.

So would anyone besides me be interested in helping out doing either thing on our trail ?

There are a few other things that came out, but i can not discuss it on an open forum where others can see. People that do not want us up there to begin with.

And is there anything you would like to see done to / on our trail ? Please tell me here soon.
 
Darin i would like to help. Do have any weekends in mind? Hopefully its a weekend i have Fri off. Long drive for me and i would need a place to stay and or camp.

I would like to see a full scale police call done. But with idiots like the ones on Daniel last weekend in the Sammy's and bronco it wouldn't do much good.

I'm also open to donating funds from my company for rental equipment. Or maybe club funds?
 
If i'm not busy with a prior engagement I would def be interested in doing that.
 
Darin, I am interested in helping. I have sort of been waiting to see what the trouble areas are. I don't working. If gas was cheaper i would be up there more often.
 
Not sure if this helps or hinders the planning, but I'll throw it out there. My wife is very well known stormwater and erosion control specialist in the State. She's also a certified flood plain manager, so she knows her stuff when it comes to how to keep soil where it needs to be. And she has resources across the state in multiple counties and municipalities.

The problem is, the Forest Service is way behind the current standards compared to what industry standards are. If money's tight, then the FS is asking for the trails to be shut down due to sediment in streams.

The potential here is to devise a plan in order to keep the trails clean as far as runoff is concerned. It may be a tallorder, but it might be a good way to keep Uwharrie at the leading edge of "environmental stewardship", ahead of other trail systems.

Now, I have to tell my wife I've volunteered her for some brainstorming! The question would be, are we willing to implement some of these potential ideas on Wolf's Den, and do we have the permission of the FS to do a experimental trail that is close to compliance with EPA standards?
 
Brian, I will answer a few of your questions right now. Others will have to wait till after the meetings.

What we talked alot about was the water / stream beds. Our idea is to just fix them to keep them open. Just learned the new rules of that the other weekend and i tell you what we have alot of work to do on that front. This is one of the things we would like to go forward with.

I KNOW the FOU would really like to have some input from your wife. I can bet my life on that and would like to bring that up this weekend at the big meeting. It owuld only help our cause.

And you are very correct, the FS service is WAY behind the times. But this new FOU that we are starting up is online to start fixing this stuff. There might be a few of us going to a trail cutting school here soon. Only a few of those schools in the States.
 
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