By SUE RYAN
News staff writer
September 19, 2007

The Forest Service has begun the process on a plan to change travel and access on the Mount Hood National Forest.

The purpose is to establish and designate a system of roads, trails and areas for Off Highway Vehicles.

Agency officials entered the first phase, the National Environmental Policy Act review, last month.

A new travel management policy in 2005 created the need to update the OHV policy. The eventual decision will be used to prepare a motor vehicle use map, which should be published in 2009.

Written public comments are being taken until Nov. 1 at the Hood River Ranger Station but officials already heard from people on both sides during a meeting held Sept. 13 at the Hood River Inn.

“It’s disappointing to see money being spent on creating destructive motor bike trails while campgrounds and trailheads are being closed,” said Erik Fernandez, wilderness coordinator for Oregon Wild, based in Portland.

He referred to another planning process, which was not part of the meeting that the Forest Service is undergoing to evaluate campground use.

But Neal Bursell, the president of the Northern Oregon Motorcycle and ATV club in Maupin, had a totally opposite take on the proposed action.

“I have problems with un-informed people making decisions about roads,” he said. “I believe the Forest Service is doing the best job it can to come up with a plan based on input from two very different groups of people.”

Diametric viewpoints but both on the same exact proposal, which involves the Forest Service attempting the first update of motor vehicle use policy on the Mount Hood National Forest since the 1980s.

The old policy allowed motor vehicles to go off road anywhere that was not specifically closed. Since the policy’s creation, the use of off-road vehicles such as All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) or quads has grown in popularity.

Six areas proposed for OHV use include two in the Hood River Ranger District: Gibson Prairie and Bear Creek.

Plans call to build 40.4 miles of new trail for Class III vehicles at Bear Creek and 4.3 miles of new trail for Class I vehicles at Gibson Prairie.

Class I ATVs include quads and 3-wheelers and Class III ATVs are motorcycles.

Other proposed areas include McCubbins Gulch and Rock Creek on the Barlow Ranger District; Peavine and LaDee Flats on the Clackamas Ranger District. Planners also intend for the proposal to address the issue of motorized access to dispersed camping.

The Forest Service planned the OHV routes while considering the impacts to soils, fisheries, botany, law enforcement, fire and fuels, recreation and social issues.

Fernandez, along with Portland environmental activist group Bark leader Alex Brown, said what the Forest Service is doing is not resolving the overall issue of addressing road problems and impacts to natural resources.

Brown criticized the agency’s 1999 Mount Hood Access and Travel Management analysis and said Bark wants to do its own roads inventory on Mount Hood. However, Brown would not respond to questions about why his group had not entered into a memorandum of understanding with the agency to do such a study.

Under the current NEPA process, the government seeks comments pertaining to the nature and scope of environmental, social, and economic issues. Comments can also suggest possible alternatives to the proposed action.