Large chunk of land under purposed closure.

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Bulldog Canyon Area Unauthorized Uninventoried Route Obliteration Project
The proposal is to obliterate apx 75 miles of unauthorized, uninventoried motorized routes in the Bulldog Canyon Permit Area.

I wonder if that includes the bulldog trail itself or just all the random trails ? "Obliterate" sounds like everything?
 
look at the maps: "obliteration" (in red) is planned for weaving, branching, and other miscellaneous extensions of official trails - I don't see them impacting the major existing routes, since as far as I can make out from those maps, neither the main trail nor some of the popular side spurs would be affected by closure

to me it looks like they feel they need to be seen as busy on something in their territory :meh:

and as far as the "obliteration" goal: traces of previous human occupation and travel in the desert are not all that easy to cover up; usually takes quite a few years/decades for natural vegetation/habitat to take over, unless there's help from erosion during storms - the rationale why they feel spending money on this is a priority is not entirely obvious to me given the many other monitoring/enforcement issues that could/should command their efforts

it's important to keep in mind here that the Bulldog Canyon trail basically runs along historic telegraph and powerline routes - and this needs to be pointed out to Forest Service and other officials who may not know (as they commonly are recent transplants from elsewhere)

I am not in any way inclined to discount the impact of these proposed actions, or trying to let the FS get away with closing popular 4x4 trails, but from what I see outlined on those maps, travel on all of our favorite routes will remain open - that is excluding Kavik's Hill, which has been closed off for a number of years already :bang:

that said, I am all in if the group feels we need to lobby the Forest Service for changes to this plan, willing to write letters or advocate as appropriate and as consistent with club decisions and actions on this matter
 
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Way to go TRAL for getting 2.5 miles removed from the obliteration list and moved to the travel planning list. It'd be nice if they would recognize more of the Willow Springs trail that continues to head west instead of north to the tank.
 
That's a lot of power that one individual has. Lots of "I have determined...", "Not subject to appeal...", "My assessment is..."

and conveniently timed with the removal of the Salt River horses and other wildlife.

Time to go find out who has the grazing rights there, and what the connection to Mr. Hanna is.
 
re_guderian said:
That's a lot of power that one individual has. Lots of "I have determined...", "Not subject to appeal...", "My assessment is..."

and conveniently timed with the removal of the Salt River horses and other wildlife.

Time to go find out who has the grazing rights there, and what the connection to Mr. Hanna is.
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He is the Mesa District Ranger, that's what they do. This project has been on the schedule a lot longer than the stray horses. If you want MORE trail miles open then you have to get involved.
 
inkpot said:
He is the Mesa District Ranger, that's what they do. This project has been on the schedule a lot longer than the stray horses. If you want MORE trail miles open then you have to get involved.
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I get he's the Ranger. I just didn't know that a District Ranger's opinion could waive the need for an environmental impact study, and other weighty decisions. That hardly seems to be the case nationwide with other NF's. And the horses have been in the Salt River for a long time. Like since before Mr. Hanna worked for the FS... Just sayin'. Maybe this is all on the up and up, but my cursory investigation into State Trust land grazing allotment practices says "beware" of anything done under the guise of livestock. BTW, the FS reports the RMU (range management unit) for the Bulldog area as "closed" whatever that means. Not being utilized? About to be utilized? Strangely contradictory to one of the stated goals of "livestock forage production". Can't believe they would lease an area as heavily utilized by the public as Bulldog Canyon is for some rancher to run cattle on. I'm just really, really, jaded. Been lied to too many times to accept some things at face value. So, hopefully this is all for the best, only time will tell. But it's certainly not without its red flags...
 
Gary Hanna is an avid mountain bike enthusiast and advocates for the OHV community as well. He has been very open to understanding the priorities of off roaders. He's as good as any to make decisions for the good of all forms of recreation.

He may be presenting this as his decision but none of it is decided without an exhaustive review from dozens of people.
 
I kind of doubt that Gary just dreamed all this up on a whim. If his decisions to forgo the EIS and such aren't to the letter of the law, then I am sure that the Greenies will file suit immediately. As for grazing in Bulldog, oh yea, just go up to the Willow Springs area. It may be that due to the drought, and maybe traffic? there is not adequate forage to mage grazing/leasing a practical option until it recovers more. The tank up on the north side may be damaged due to OHV traffic, so that could also impact the decision.

I have had Gary Hanna and his boss, Neil Bosworth, the Tonto Supervisor, out on the trail together. They seem to be pretty friendly, so it is a good bet that Neil is familiar with the closures at Bulldog. After reviewing the closure map with others more knowledgeable than I of area's history, it looks like the vast majority of closures will be on trail braids and and old abandon trails that have not been legally open since the area was first gated.

I would really like to see a n increase in legal trail miles in Bulldog, but that does not appear to be likely in the near future. John
 
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