As the subject line says, the Denver area public comment meeting for the US Forest Service to close our trails within the Hayman Fire burn area is this evening, 5:00 to 8:00 PM at 760 Simms street just north of the 6th Ave. interchange.

Hope to see lots of 4x4wire.com members there, the forest service is considering closing Hackett Gulch, Longwater, etc.

crapola...yeah, youse guys need to turn out for this, also, anyone here who's a member on any of the other 4x4 bbsen, you might want to cross-post this. that entire area is beautiful, i was actually out there the very day before the entire area burned...very strange, to be driving north through castle rock in mid summer, through what looked like snow...

one forest service employee's idiocy should not result in the forest service closing the area to the general public. regardless what your use is (ie get your equestrian, mtb and hiking friends out there too), go, and dont let it become a land use/impact/environment issue--it wasnt a 4wheeler, hiker, mtn biker, skier, etc. that started the mess--closing the area because of one irresponsible person is not the answer, there will always be idiots in the world.

if i hadnt moved to f-ing ohio, i'd go to this.

-sean

A couple points of clarification - the address is 740 Simms for today's meeting. The Forest Service describes it as more of an "open house", not a continuous 3 hour meeting. And it would be more technically correct to say that they are considering re-opening Hackett and Longwater, but due to the massive erosion in the burn areas, they're looking for support from the 4wheeling community that we'll help maintain our own trails. They'll be closing Metberry and several other trails in the area.

January 21, 2004
U.S. Forest Service Regional
Office Auditorium (1st Floor)
740 Simms Street
Golden, CO
5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

There will also be a similar meeting in Colorado Springs on Jan 22.:

Coronado High School Cafeteria
1590 West Fillmore Street
Colorado Springs, CO
5:00 - 8:00 p.m

There's more info at this link:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/hayres/travel/

Note that the picture at the top of that link is Hackett. Water doesn't absorb too well in a burn area, so the flash floods are causing havoc with erosion on all roads in the area.

Good clarification Jeff, thanks. I basically lifted it verbatim from our Commander's post on the Rising Sun 4x4 members board. One thing in our favor is Rising Sun and several other clubs joined last summer in hauling hundreds of tons (no typo) of straw to hillsides to mitigate erosion and help in revegetation. We intend to communicate that same level of support to keep trails open that we cherish.

I do oppose any net loss of trail miles though - not only do I lose 'recreation values' (as the FS puts it), but it concentrates use/mile on the remaining trails. Analysis needs to consider impact to the entire forest road system in a multiforest perspective, not just impacts from one particular trail in a watershed.

That said, erosion is a problem that needs addressing. Our club and others are ready to help address it.

er...yeah, i kinda jumped the gun there too...my experience in the past with closures by the FS has not been good, but this sounds like they're looking for help, not mandating closure. there's more info at that link, with a listing of affected trails in the area.

-sean

I think they are taking the 'shot across the bow' approach to drum up help, if in fact they are. I hope so. If we don't help we deserve to lose them.

The Pike NF ranger, Randy Hickenbottom, is not exactly a true fan of OHV use. But he isn't a foaming, rabid opponent either, especially if OHVers step up to the plate.

I will be at the Colorado Springs meeting. I know that my club (Colorado Land Cruisers) are willing to help as well.

yeah, agreed...so how did it go?

There was a good turn-out for the 4x4 community. It was nice to discuss things with the Forest Service. I think it all went well for us, but understand that a big part of this step is for them to receive our written comments and process this into actual decisions about what to do with the roads in the coming months. Nothing is going to happen overnight.

I should mention that there's more discussion about these meetings at colorado4x4.org

I sure hope it goes better than most of those type of meetings I've attended. We, the off highway users, have shown up in force, but to no avail. It seems like they just go through the motions and then do what ever thay want too anyway.............