We are so freaking lucky here in the NW. About 8 years ago I was about to give up on some good local ride areas. The Loggers were decimating our trails and did not care, signs were all ripped down, no one was redoing the trials as in their contracts. Then we got this guy Dave Haitt from the seattle area as our "OHV Specialist". The guy has completely changed everything. New trails everywhere, reclaimed trails everywhere, I see him up there all the time, on sundays, on holidays... seems the guy never sleeps. He has also been masterful at getting grants. I am on his Email list and see all the action. He has heavily involved Yamaha (Thanks Yamaha!) and with grants has bought a trail machine, bathrooms, fixed and upgraded staging areas, and as I said had his way with the trails. Its freaking awesome. I go out of my way to thank Dave profusely every time I see him. He is always giddy about some new trail and is quick to draw it on my map and say go ride it and burn it in. He and Yamaha have completely resurrected the OHV ares in the coast range and built an amazing trail system. I can't thank the guy enough and it goes to show you how important a good guy in there fighting for us is. Its am amazing effort in a time when areas are closing in other parts of the country. Thanks Dave, Thanks Yamaha. Great job. Kelly Motosportz
Very good guy to have in your corner, from the sound of it. I am sure the groups that lobby against ORV have some motivated types as well but it's nice to see one on our side. I hope to make it out there sometime to ride some of the fine trails you have.
Very lucky! If I ever move, it would be to that part of the world. Public riding areas don't exist where I live. We are fortunate to have some very generous private landowners. If you don't have access to private land, you race to ride.
Get your butt out here this summer. You will be blown away by the endless trail systems. Literally thousands of miles of trail in Oregon / Washington.
http://www.kgw.com/lifestyle/grants-getaways/Trail-Machine-130890528.html Dave is the old dude with the beard on the trials bike. Barrett Brown is a local fast guy and trail builder shown running the machine. also... http://singletracktools.com/
Single Track is made in Oregon by a longtime off-road racer/ISDE veteran. He is active in local land use and legislative issues, active in one of Oregon's largest clubs and the OMRA and his kid is one of our AA riders too boot!!
Wow, positive press for the use of public lands by motorcyle riders? Followed by more positive things about the trail machine and reclaiming old roads for recerational use? Some freekin pinch me!
I know it is crazy. We also have lots of people who just go work trails. I find new and improved trails all over. Its remarkable which is why I posted it. Its how it should be.
The OHV trail system folks in Oregon (State Parks) actually works with riding clubs...grants from sticker fees are provided to clubs in exchange for trail building and maintenance. Same for youth rider certification. And, those sticker fees are only $10 for 2 years....less than a day's gas. On the other hand Weyerhauser doesnt seem the least bit interested in letting us on their land to ride...at any price. In my neighborhood we've been talking with BLM about helping convert un-maintained logging access roads into trails. In general its a pretty functional arrangement and resulted in a wide variety of riding areas...including a big chunk of the coastal dunes. And the Single Track guy sells to the off-road bicycling folks too.... We cant go anywhere we want anytime we want, but overall its been a pretty effective system and gives us a voice in the process of keeping and adding trails.....and we have been adding trails with very few losses .
In addition to all that there is a "prison camp" located in the woods housing low risk offenders who put in a bunch of time maintaining trails, bridges and such. I love that.
Ahh, the only thing they let prisoners do here in Kali is Fire Hand Crews. Adopt a highway works ok, but states with chain gangs maintaining roads and stuff always seem spotless. I understand there's still no sales tax up there right? Just had some friends I worked with bail to the Oregon coast. They are totally happy with their move and don't even ride.... HMMMMMMMMM
Over here in Qld Aust., we are allowed to ride in state forest if we are a licensed rider and on a licenced bike. We are supposed to keep only to made roads & firetrails. In practice, no one from the forest dept. worries if we stray from those roads as long as we are doing the right thing with licencing. Local to us here, within 30 mins drive, is some of the best riding country around. I feel very lucky actually. All sorts of terrain except for open country. Lots of hills, creeks, loamy forest track though to dry dusty parts with rocks, a great mixture. I really hope nothing changes to stop the use of these places.
I wonder what's going to happen after the Mooloolah Moto Park is built (mid next year apparently). Perhaps there'll be more crack downs on illegal riding to entice people to pay and ride the park. Hopefully nothing closes to licenced and rego'd riders.
I had the same thought when I heard the announcement. We do the right thing & want to keep to the bush tracks. I've been down to QMP, last time I was there the trail section was rutted our worse than anything we ride here. I don't want to tow my bike 3 hrs each way to pay for riding in ruts.... I could see the same thing happening here if not managed well. Parks are a fantastic way to get kids into a great sport & learn skills & reactions they can take with them to the road. Also good for non-mx licenced mx riders to enjoy their bikes legally. However, not everyone likes doing circuits of the same place over & over basically until you can ride blindfolded. We need to keep the pressure on to keep the forests open to our type of bikes.
Sounds like a success story and apparently there are several people in a single room \ meeting or somewhere that are actually working together for the good of all parties concerned... Sounds corny or whatever and very hard to achieve on about any scale of operation such as this. (Those bicycle riders should be glad to see a motorcycle out there to help in they crash or break down.) -- Don't know what that youth rider thing is but anyone who has learned to ride in the dirt usually has very high bike riding skills that last a life time ... Encouraging anything like that will pay dividends for untold yrs.
That is great.... when my boys get a bit older, we're coming for a vacation..... I know it beautiful!
