Want to reopen the national forest roads?

[bluealtered]

For those of you who hunt in the national forest of the west, Congressman Greg Walden, (R-OR-2nd district) has written H.R. 4272 a bill that requires the forest service to reopen all the roads in the national forest of the west.

The forest service must then submit to the counties that the national forest sets in what roads and why they should be closed. It is then up to the county to decide if the road should be closed or not.

If you are interested in this you need to contact your senator or congress person and ask them to sign on to the bill. There isn't any reason the bill can't be amended to include blm land as well.

For those of you in the midwest and back east, most of the national forests of the west have 50-90% of the roads locked, gated closed or in some way blocked.

 

[Marble]

Doug LaMalfa is my rep. I'll send him an email Monday expressing my desire.

 

[NONYA]

No.gun)

 

[Twodogs10mm]

No.gun)

Why?

 

[rick523]

Why?

I didn't post but I bet I can answer. It opens up the opportunity for road hunters and the like. Makes it harder on the guys that are willing to work a little to get to good areas. JMO

 

[kcebcj]

For those of you who hunt in the national forest of the west, Congressman Greg Walden, (R-OR-2nd district) has written H.R. 4272 a bill that requires the forest service to reopen all the roads in the national forest of the west.

The forest service must then submit to the counties that the national forest sets in what roads and why they should be closed. It is then up to the county to decide if the road should be closed or not.

If you are interested in this you need to contact your senator or congress person and ask them to sign on to the bill. There isn't any reason the bill can't be amended to include blm land as well.

For those of you in the midwest and back east, most of the national forests of the west have 50-90% of the roads locked, gated closed or in some way blocked.

I'm all for road closures! I certainly don't want the last word left up to some bureaucrat down at the county office as to whether a gate is open or closed. If for some reason a gate is to be open the decision should be left to the areas Fish and Game biology dept.

Gates are usually put in place for a reason but certain times of the year some gates can certainly be opened. For an example a gate that closes a road that makes its way through traditional elk calving areas should be closed late winter till midsummer but could be open during hunting season depending on other access. Only knowledgeable people should be making those decisions.

 

[Marble]

The problem is people in the know and are not making decisions based on anything like mentioned above. The Park Service is closing the roads because it easier for them to not patrol them. It has nothing to do with game management. It's basically shutting a large portion of the public from accessing lands that been accessible since man created routes in. They don't any signs of human activity in the areas that are wild.

Close it for periods of time? Like during a rainy season when the roads get destroyed by vehicles? Or during calving season or something else? Maybe. In areas where that is a concern there are already gates up. Been like that since I was a kid. During large storms the gates get closed and when the roads are cleared up, they get opened.

In CA, most of the roads where Elk breed and calf are already on private property, and the roads there are gated. Vehicle traffic where those animals and deer are raising their young have no impact. They are rarely traveled. If animals calf in the front yards of peoples homes I can't see a few cars driving up and down the road making any difference.

 

[BigNate]

I'm one who takes issue with road hunters. I like areas to be closed to motor traffic but heartily agree that it isn't being handled well. Some of the roads closed do very little to preserve an area but closing it is cheaper than maintaining it. One of my neighbors is a forest cop and they have closed many roads so they don't have to repair them. The game biologists should decide closed areas.

Why not leave them open to those who can access them and just post ratings much like a trail system? The road hunters don't usually like bad trails but getting an animal out to a trail and retrieving with a motor vehicle of some kind may not be bad as fewer animals may spoil.

My thought is that firearms should not be overly handy while in / on a motor vehicle. If you are retrieving game you don't need it handy right? Hunting from a vehicle is against the law but hard to enforce. I hate the guys "hunting" from a quad. Unless they're crippled up they shouldn't be allowed.

 

[CogburnR]

I'm one who takes issue with road hunters. I like areas to be closed to motor traffic but heartily agree that it isn't being handled well. Some of the roads closed do very little to preserve an area but closing it is cheaper than maintaining it. One of my neighbors is a forest cop and they have closed many roads so they don't have to repair them. The game biologists should decide closed areas.

Why not leave them open to those who can access them and just post ratings much like a trail system? The road hunters don't usually like bad trails but getting an animal out to a trail and retrieving with a motor vehicle of some kind may not be bad as fewer animals may spoil.

My thought is that firearms should not be overly handy while in / on a motor vehicle. If you are retrieving game you don't need it handy right? Hunting from a vehicle is against the law but hard to enforce. I hate the guys "hunting" from a quad. Unless they're crippled up they shouldn't be allowed.

Having had a close friend die from a heart attack while walking to his downed elk and a number of friends who probably could walk a couple hundred yards to hunt but maybe not make it back and certainly not dragging an animal I have come accept road hunting to a point. It is a little like saying long range hunting should be banned because it isn`t hunting in the eyes of someone and some bowhunters not liking compound bows. To each their own, everyone has a reason for what they do and if you judge people for it you will be judged also. Together we stand, divided we all fall.

I am sure most people would love to be able to walk over hill and dale and pack out an elk in a couple trips. The reality is that the average age of hunters is well over 40 with declining numbers, the fewer hunters the less influence on gov`t and the more the gov`t will regulate it. Shutting down trails is an example of government overegulation. The federal government by law is not supposed to own any of this land anyway and therefore has no legal right to regulate it but they do and have plans to regulate it more if not completely shut it down.

I would love to see the trails shut down to atv`s but since I believe in not taking away people`s rights I don`t support it. I think it is ok to drive down trails in a vehicle hopefully to get to an area to hunt that has some animals. There are many areas that people can only walk or ride a horse into. I think the next areas shut down will be to horses and mules. The people behind all this are anti-hunting...keep that in mind. The number of atvers way out numbers hunters and they cause much more damage but have more political clout.

The decision to shut trails was done at a high federal level, getting the trails back will likely take a LOT of effort.

 

[Barrelnut]

Having had a close friend die from a heart attack while walking to his downed elk and a number of friends who probably could walk a couple hundred yards to hunt but maybe not make it back and certainly not dragging an animal I have come accept road hunting to a point. It is a little like saying long range hunting should be banned because it isn`t hunting in the eyes of someone and some bowhunters not liking compound bows. To each their own, everyone has a reason for what they do and if you judge people for it you will be judged also. Together we stand, divided we all fall.

I am sure most people would love to be able to walk over hill and dale and pack out an elk in a couple trips. The reality is that the average age of hunters is well over 40 with declining numbers, the fewer hunters the less influence on gov`t and the more the gov`t will regulate it. Shutting down trails is an example of government overegulation. The federal government by law is not supposed to own any of this land anyway and therefore has no legal right to regulate it but they do and have plans to regulate it more if not completely shut it down.

I would love to see the trails shut down to atv`s but since I believe in not taking away people`s rights I don`t support it. I think it is ok to drive down trails in a vehicle hopefully to get to an area to hunt that has some animals. There are many areas that people can only walk or ride a horse into. I think the next areas shut down will be to horses and mules. The people behind all this are anti-hunting...keep that in mind. The number of atvers way out numbers hunters and they cause much more damage but have more political clout.

The decision to shut trails was done at a high federal level, getting the trails back will likely take a LOT of effort.

I wholeheartedly agree with these statements. We all like to hunt a little differently based on age and physical ability. We ALL need to stand together. Public land hunting is very popular in Oregon and I feel that at some point it may no longer be available to younger generations.

 

[sourdough44]

Here is a somewhat related situation, Ottawa National Forest lands, South Houghton County MI. There are a handful of rather good gravel roads that go through this Federal land, good enough for any car. There is not a whole lot going on here, especially outside of Fall hunting seasons. These roads may average one vehicle every 30 minutes during the off season, not over every 15 min during Fall.

The Federal Forest Service has a policy that roads can't be used by autos/trucks and ATVs, it has to be one or the other. These roads have been used for decades for recreational ATV & motor bike riding, now tickets are handed out. There are smaller 'two-tracks' that radiate off the better gravel roads, those are still O.K. I think for ATV riding. The ranger said I would have to check at the office to what roads were allowed.

I talked to the Forest Service office about this. He said it was a safety reason, write a letter to Wash D.C. if I didn't like it. Mind you, these are roads that may average 1 vehicle every 30 minutes. This is also as MI really relaxed ATV rules along county roadways.

Just more regulation, control, and restrictions out of Washington.