Meeting notes from Snoqualmie Ranger District Meeting (Bi-Monthly) US Forest Service (held at the Enumclaw DNR building) 01/08/2018
This meeting is normally put on by Mary Coughlin, whom was in attendance, but did have to depart early. Assisting her were Todd (also from Snoqualmie) and Alex Weinberg & Marta (? Not sure on her name) (from the I 90 corridor FS district)
In attendance were 7 back country horsemen, 3 PNW / Off Road enthusiast (myself included), 1 Motorcyclist, 1 Pilot, 1 Trail Associate, 3 Snowmobilers, and 3 late shows whom didn’t identify preferences. Also, one person listed multiple associations (think he said his name was Don or Dan Johnson ??)
The other two Off Road enthusiasts were Derek and Danny Clark, also from PNW4WDA and club
1st discussion was regarding the snow parks and snowmobiling. General consensus was an extremely poor snow levels. There are multiple locations where vehicles have been either abandoned or broke down including a truck (some glass company’s rig, not Todds) which blew out the transmission and a partially stripped out motor home (tires missing) at snow parks or in snowed in areas.
Additionally, the Snow Park Permit is not being properly utilize and people are going beyond legal parking places without the permit, and recreating and shooting without permit. The FS plans to increase signage and interactions / contacts to reinforce this point
2nd discussion was regarding the new “Smartsheet†which is hoped to be implemented in this district. Currently, the Smartsheet is only implemented in the I 90 corridor. Both the Snoqualmie and Olympic districts are heading towards (although not formally adopted yet) utilizing this methodology. In a nut-shell, it’s a Excel Spreadsheet based user form, which can be used by ALL members of ANY user-group, whom once approved by the local FS, can download directly into the FS spreadsheet any problems found on any trail. This simplifies Trail Condition reporting, and allows everyone to be aware of scheduled work parties by any groups, whether it’s FS employees, FS volunteers, or other groups. This conversation took the great majority of the meeting, and was the reason both Alex and Marta (??) were there.
3rd discussion was regarding the Chain Saw Certification to utilize chain saws officially for work parties inside the district. Currently, there is no authorized instructors available. MJ moved to North Bend, and is not interested in helping Snoqualmie ‘for liability reasons’, and the only other options are to get the ‘head guy’ out of Portland to come up, or, perhaps another guy from Skykomish (maybe misspelled that) to help out. Additonally, in the last year the ‘ratings’ or ‘classes’ of Sawyers has changed definitions, which compounds the complexity of the classes. Furthermore, the FS is really leaning towards forbidding the Felling of trees (all trees by non-FS employees) and leaning towards only Bucking and Limbing duties.
4th discussion was regarding Evans Creek ORV. Currently there is no firm date on the road repair to fix the washout. The ‘Road Engineer’ has inquired when he can get access to assess the damage and repair, however that has not happened yet, and appears doubtful before the seasonal closure is over (think that’s April 15th. Might be April 1st, cannot really remember. Sounds like the Engineer wants to cut the road back into the hill, instead of filling the washout / hole. This could have consequences with the trails which run on the same hillside, further up.
Respectfully submitted, Tony
