Public Meeting

[crash2]

Here is my take on it. I didn't learn anything I did not know except its all getting shut down.

Facts--we are looking at roughly 2000 acres for motorized use--thats not hikers,mountain bikers or horse folks.

Fact--its getting shut down the 2nd temporairly--its going to reopen

Fact--its now up to us the users to make reiter what it will be.

Fact--Its your volunteer work thats going to speed up its reopening--hopefully april

Fact--this is the flagship so to speak for the development of other ORV areas.

Fact--------Its up to us. Its up to the users. Its time to get out from behind your keyboards and get involved. I don't care if its with RTW or any other organization or just yourself--its up to YOU.

Those are the facts.........


And for the last fact. I will continue to work my ass off as I have been doing to try and get the best for us the users.

 

[The_Shocker]

The main speaker was ->

Mark R. Mauren
Assistant Division Manager
Recreation, Public Access and WCC Programs
Asset Management and Recreation Division
Washington State Department of Natural Resources
360-902-1047
[email protected]


There was a sign in sheet to receive email updates about reiter. I have been getting updates sent from him since adding my email to the Reiter survey that I filled out online several months ago.



Here's some of what I heard there.....

Out of the 10,000 acres that are up there the planned ORV area is 2,000.
Of that 2,000 we get 1,000 for Motorized use and the horses, mountain bikers and hikers get the other 1,000.

Other points brought up were the dates of November 2nd for TEMPORARY closure and it was stressed several time TEMPORARY and they are having another meeting in a few weeks to determine what criteria is needed for reopening and that they would evaluate the progress in April as to whether the criteria has been met to open part or all of the acres we are reduced to.

Another fact I found interesting is the statement that they were going to aquire a independant trail planner and made it sound like they haven't gotten bids from trail planners yet. There was an outcry for them to save the money and keep it internal but DNR was fearfull that we wouldn't trust them and thought an independant planner would be more credible to us.


I also was sad to hear alot of finger pointing from bikers. It kind of reminds me of when snowboards started getting popular and the skiers all claimed that they were the only "REAL" sport and they should have the mountains to themselves since snowboards were a fad.

I will probably think of more but that's all I got for now.

 

[64FJ40]

What a bunch of inconsiderate hillbillies we must look like. Thanks to whomever stood up and asked the crowd to act like civilized adults, but apparently that wasn't clear enough English for the good old boys around me


Short story:
- He stressed the idea that the closure is indeed temporary.
- A lot of area, however, is permanently lost. Get over it. The entire lower (west) area around the first pit will be designated non-motorized use only. Hikers, bikers, horses.
- Regardless of your opinion on how things should be done, the DNR has chosen to fully close the entire area (except to walk-in users) temporarily while work is planned and completed over the winter months. Like it or not, it is the most cost-efficient way to get things done from their perspective and they're trying to do this all on a shoestring budget ($140K).
- He overused the term "scientific process" or whatever it was he kept saying. But regardless, he's right. The physical attributes of the areas being closed to motorized use make them unsuitable for sustainable long-term use. You don't have to major in soil science to understand this.
- The DNR is cognizant of the fact that none of us trust them to make the right decisions with regard to how trails are built. So they're hiring a consultant to collect input from us users and implement that into the plan.
- The end goal is to have a more complete facility with a campground like Middle Waddle, but that won't be for a while yet. The entire plan is estimated to cost $9M.
- The planning process is going on now, with the criteria for implementation scheduled to be finalized in December. Work could begin in January. He mentioned April 1st as a date for evaluation to determine when the area would re-open.
- Over the course of the closure, they are planning to institute a "forest watch" program, particularly on weekends. I assume more information will be going out to people that are on their mailing list as potential volunteers.


I'm sure there's more, but I think that covers most of what I got.

I can't find a digital copy of the map they had posted. I thought they said it was on their website, but I didn't see it. I should have taken a picture.

 

[zukkev]

Here is my take on it. I didn't learn anything I did not know except its all getting shut down.

Facts--we are looking at roughly 2000 acres for motorized use--thats not hikers,mountain bikers or horse folks.

Fact--its getting shut down the 2nd temporairly--its going to reopen

Fact--its now up to us the users to make reiter what it will be.

Fact--Its your volunteer work thats going to speed up its reopening--hopefully april

Fact--this is the flagship so to speak for the development of other ORV areas.

Fact--------Its up to us. Its up to the users. Its time to get out from behind your keyboards and get involved. I don't care if its with RTW or any other organization or just yourself--its up to YOU.

Those are the facts.........


And for the last fact. I will continue to work my ass off as I have been doing to try and get the best for us the users.

Amen Brutha!!!....sorry I didn't make it:booo:, but Jakob was there, and called me with the info that was discussed. Everything you've stated mike, as facts, is what Jakob took from the meeting. :awesomework:

 

[crash2]

For the record---you will not get anything done in a meeting setting like this.... Informative yes--work no.

 

[crash2]

Amen Brutha!!!....sorry I didn't make it:booo:, but Jakob was there, and called me with the info that was discussed. Everything you've stated mike, as facts, is what Jakob took from the meeting. :awesomework:

Thats ok kevin there were enough to get the needed info.:awesomework:

 

[The_Shocker]

One thing I didn't get a chance to ask was what about camping? Since they don't think there will be enough money to make what they want for a campground there for maybe a year or so, will they allow camping at all when it's reopened. Camping for me is a huge part of riding and wheeling and hope we can have something temporary to accomodate that when it's reopened.

I also found interesting that the GoldBar Nature Trail guy who asked about them taking away their access, was answered that they can't let anyone profit from having unfair access to their lands. It seems that they are already there and have access so taking it away is a BIG deal. It would be different if they were not there until now and started to advertise that you can get a spot here near the new ORV park and have better access than others.

 

[zukkev]

Thats ok kevin there were enough to get the needed info.:awesomework:

I kinda figured as much---besides, running on about 2.5 hrs sleep wouldn't bode well for the drive home...

 

[crash2]

One thing I didn't get a chance to ask was what about camping? Since they don't think there will be enough money to make what they want for a campground there for maybe a year or so, will they allow camping at all when it's reopened. Camping for me is a huge part of riding and wheeling and hope we can have something temporary to accomodate that when it's reopened.

I also found interesting that the GoldBar Nature Trail guy who asked about them taking away their access, was answered that they can't let anyone profit from having unfair access to their lands. It seems that they are already there and have access so taking it away is a BIG deal. It would be different if they were not there until now and started to advertise that you can get a spot here near the new ORV park and have better access than others.

I can deifnately see both sides of that neil. But my gut tells me they should still have access to it. if not I can pretty much see a legal battle of some kind which could inherently hurt us and halt any work.

 

[Travis1]

Any word at all on how they were going to handle the increased usage at the few places that remain open? :eeek:

 

[Corey Y]

What a bunch of inconsiderate hillbillies we must look like. Thanks to whomever stood up and asked the crowd to act like civilized adults, but apparently that wasn't clear enough English for the good old boys around me

One (4x4) guy was arguing with me for about 15 minutes and he thought that all the money the DNR makes from trees goes out of state. Some four wheelers have no clue as to what is going on and they were arguing with non wheelers, making "us" look like total idiots. Alot of questions were answered, but I don't think some people were understanding what was being said.

 

[Binder]

Here is my take on it. I didn't learn anything I did not know except its all getting shut down.

Facts--we are looking at roughly 2000 acres for motorized use--thats not hikers,mountain bikers or horse folks.

Fact--its getting shut down the 2nd temporairly--its going to reopen

Fact--its now up to us the users to make reiter what it will be.

Fact--Its your volunteer work thats going to speed up its reopening--hopefully april

Fact--this is the flagship so to speak for the development of other ORV areas.

Fact--------Its up to us. Its up to the users. Its time to get out from behind your keyboards and get involved. I don't care if its with RTW or any other organization or just yourself--its up to YOU.

Those are the facts.........


And for the last fact. I will continue to work my ass off as I have been doing to try and get the best for us the users.

The only fact is that you must have been at a different meeting than the rest of us.

 

[crash2]

The only fact is that you must have been at a different meeting than the rest of us.

How so?

 

[Duck Dodgers]

One (4x4) guy was arguing with me for about 15 minutes and he thought that all the money the DNR makes from trees goes out of state. Some four wheelers have no clue as to what is going on and they were arguing with non wheelers, making "us" look like total idiots. Alot of questions were answered, but I don't think some people were understanding what was being said.

That's going to happen regardless. The key is to be the penny that has the brighter shine than the dull one. Every sport has it's morons and lug heads that refuse to see or understand clearly. Call it DNA. Just move on and educate those that want it.

 

[Corey Y]

I agree with Crash, I heard all that at the meeting. I think some people are so focused on the temporary closure that they are not listening to anything else.

 

[crash2]

That's going to happen regardless. The key is to be the penny that has the brighter shine than the dull one. Every sport has it's morons and lug heads that refuse to see or understand clearly. Call it DNA. Just move on and educate those that want it.

Thats the plan.....

 

[crash2]

I agree with Crash, I heard all that at the meeting. I think some people are so focused on the temporary closure that they are not listening to anything else.

Same conclusion we came up with after the meeting...

 

[Travis1]

Same conclusion we came up with after the meeting...

so, the newspaper article said 2,000 acres for recreational use, but only 1,000 for all motorized use.

But, you said we get 2,000 acres for motorized use.

did their tune change?

 

[crash2]

so, the newspaper article said 2,000 acres for recreational use, but only 1,000 for all motorized use.

But, you said we get 2,000 acres for motorized use.

did their tune change?

Thats not what I got from the meeting...

 

[The_Shocker]

I don't recall the issue of what will happen with increased use elsewhere, but He kept repeating that even if we had all 10,000 acres still it wouldn't be enough to sustain us. Our population has grown as well as our types of recreation activities. For instance he said that most of the areas were built in the 60's,70's and 80's before people were mountain biking or even Quads were popular. This seems to be our biggest issue with some of the bike crowd that says it was all theirs 30 years ago before we came and ruined all their singletrack trails. It's the evolution of our sports and progress that has created more needs but they haven't been met and hence we have singletrack trails that have been converted for other uses.


As Crash said....it's up to US to get Reiter back opened up in whatever capacity they are going to allow us. If you didn't go to the meeting but want to help volunteer, I would suggest emailing Mark Mauren with your name address phone number and email contact so you can be added to DNR's database of volunteers as well as be updated by email of upcoming meetings and such.