Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area Needs Your Help
Popular OHV Area Might Loose Land Available to Riding

Reedsport, OR (7/21/2011) - The Siuslaw National Forest has published a Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to Establish and Designate Routes and Areas for Off-Highway Vehicle at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (ODNRA). The specifics of the Forest Service proposal, including maps, can be found on the web at http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/fs-usda-pop.php/?project=34220

BRC has reviewed the loss of historic OHV opportunity since the creation of the NRA. In 1972, approximately 28,000 acres were open for legal OHV use. After implementation of the 1979 ORDNA Management Plan, the acreage available for OHV use was reduced by about 47% down to 15,000 acres. When the 1994 ODNRA Management Plan was adopted, the acreage available for open riding was reduced significantly to 5,930 acres. The agency, in Zone 10 (C), attempts to create the illusion that 4,455 acres of designated routes are available for OHV use. However, since only a few miles of designated routes exist in Zone 10 (C) that acreage is reduced to less than a couple of acres (actual land footprint of the routes).

Between 1972 and 2011, the acreage available for open OHV use has been reduced from 28,000 acres down to just below 6,000 acres. Just 20 percent of the NRA is available for legal OHV use today.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

Hundreds of thousands of OHV users enjoy the ORNDA each year. If you want that use to continue and/or expand, you must send in your comments today.

Please take a few minutes to send in your comments. Tell your own personal story, and consider making some the of issues below which BRC feels are important:

Failure to comply with 1972 ODNRA Act's statutory requirement to develop management plans with input from a Federal Advisory Council

Unit-wide failure to address non-native vegetation encroachment

Should not base ongoing and future management OHV recreation on the outdated 1994 Dunes Plan that was created without input from a Federal Advisory Council

The NOI's Proposed Action frontloads and taints the upcoming 2014 plan revision process

The agency failed to coordinate with counties per federal law

Current planning effort disenfranchises local OHV clubs

Written comments should be sent to: Angie Morris, Recreation Planner, Siuslaw National Forest, 855 Highway 101, Reedsport, OR 97467

Or Email comments to: comments-pacificnorthwest-siuslaw-centralcoast@fs.fed.us .

Additional information is available by contacting the project leader, Angie Morris, at 541-271-6040.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact BRC.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Brian Hawthorne
BlueRibbon Coalition
brbrian@sharetrails.org