The Mount Hood National Forest has started a process to analyze its road system with a eye on cutting way back on the number of roads currently open. The Forest Service states on its writeup that they are currently funded for maintaining 16% of their roads. So they are looking for public participation to see what roads people think important enough to keep. This does not include roads improved in the course of fighting fires.
It is very important that anyone who uses forest service roads to speak up about what is important to them. This is especially important if you happen to use abandoned, forgotten or unofficial trails rather than popular and overused trails.
"The U.S. Forest Service Travel Management Rule requires all national forests to prepare a plan on how they could make their road systems less costly and more ecologically stable, while providing an appropriate level of access to national forest lands, by the end of 2015."
There will be a series of meetings hosted by the Forest Service, with the one in Estacade November 5th.
Oregonian article:
http://www.oregonlive.com/travel/index.ssf/2014/10/mount_hood_national_forest_beg.html
Forest Service page:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mthood/workingtogether/?cid=stelprd3818668
More work, less talk might help.
D.
I bet the FS won't take in consideration the miles of roads that they have recently and are currently decommissioning. They haven't finished decommissioning the roads that are already in the process to be decommissioned and we are talking about doing more. It is getting to the point where you can't hardly pull off the road anymore. I assume they are going to keep all of the primary roads (46, 57, etc.) open, it's the secondary and tertiary roads that I am worried about. Once the tree stands are thinned almost all of the tertiary roads and a lot of the secondary roads are being decommissioned or blocked. Have you guys noticed that in these thinned areas like the 4620 road up to the Fish Creek Mtn. trailhead?
Here is a link to a PDF document where you can easily make a comment:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3818948.pdf
Fill out the document and it has an "email" button to email it to the FS. I sent my comments in already.
Anybody planning on going to the meeting about the road study at the Clackamas River Ranger District in Estacada at 5:30 pm on Nov 5th? I plan on going and maybe eating a hamburger and drinking a pint at Fearless afterwards to digest the info.
Don