Umpqua Lands Trail Riders Association, Inc.

P.O. Box 281 Roseburg, Or 97470

February 4, 2010

Representative Peter DeFazio

We are the Umpqua Lands Trail Riders Association, a 200 member group of motorcycle and ATV enthusiasts. We started our club about six years ago to promote responsible enjoyment of our sport on public and private land.

For the last forty plus years motorized off road riding in the Roseburg area primarily occurred on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and private timber company lands. This use was not regulated and was generally considered acceptable by the land owners. Since then, land ownership has changed and environmental concerns have changed.  That type of use is no longer condoned and areas where our members use to ride are being closed off.

In looking for a riding area in our community, we contacted the Roseburg District of the BLM.  They directed us to an area near Myrtle Creek where there was a large contiguous block of BLM ownership without interspersed private land.   This area has since been dubbed the White Rock OHV Area for planning purposes. Many other areas through out Douglas County were looked at but the White Rock area had the best possibilities.  It was relatively flat with few streams, and had substantial timber harvest in the past. It did not have a lot of environmental hot buttons which could prevent the project from being approved.

For the last four years the club has been working hand in hand with BLM to locate a trail system in the White Rock area. Hundreds of volunteer hours have been spent looking for and flagging the approximate 20 miles of trail. My 36 ½ years of Forest Service and BLM experience in resource management was the guide in trail location. Great effort was put into locating trails so they would have the least impact on the land.  We did this for two reasons.  We wanted to limit our impact to the land but we also were trying to limit the opportunity for preservation groups to appeal the project. The Roseburg District of the BLM has been very supportive of this project up until now.

Because of the uncertainty since the Western Oregon Plan Review was set aside and the uncertainty with the endangered species survey requirements, Roseburg BLM is unwilling to complete the necessary environmental analysis.  We have been told for the last two years that BLM would cover the expense of the environmental analysis. Now suddenly, we are told they will not cover these costs and we will need to get a grant to cover the cost.  In addition they have delayed the analysis for another year.  This sudden turn around has blind sided our club. Because of their procrastination, we have missed the window to apply for a State Parks OHV Grant. So the earliest funding for the analysis could be received, if approved, would be one and a half years from now!

To make the situation even more questionable, an article in the News Review on January 24 reports on a new Pilot Management Plan that Roseburg BLM district manager Jay Carlson and his wildlife biologists are proposing. Coincidently, one of the two areas where they want to implement this spotted owl habitat creation plan is in the same area our club was proposing to have our riding area. I could be gracious and say there seems to be a lack of communication within the Roseburg BLM.  That would ignore the fact there was a wildlife biologist in the original scoping meeting, where our club presented our proposal for the trail system in that area. On the surface this gives the appearance of a deliberate attempt to block the OHV riding area without an environmental analysis.

We hear all manner of rhetoric from the preservation community, politicians and even the president that recreation will replace the lost timber harvest revenue.  And yet here is a recreation project which could bring funds to the community, and we can’t even get the environmental process started.  The system is broken!

We are asking for your assistance in moving this project forward to environmental analysis.  The Roseburg District needs direction on how to proceed.  This direction doesn’t seem to be forth coming from the state office of BLM, the Washington Office of BLM nor from Congress.

The Northwest Forest Plan was supposed to be a solution to the grid lock of the 80’s but it has become just one more tool for the preservationist to prevent any activity on national public land.  The problem is tied to the fact that the Plan was written by resource managers, not lawyers.  Judges and lawyers are interpreting what the Plan means and directing what can and can not be done on public land.

What this has created is BLM and Forest Service land managers unwilling to expend money on any project unless it is guaranteed it will not be appealed.  That is not the best management of our national public lands nor is it what the majority of Americans want.

I feel that un-certainty is what has stalled our project along with many others. There are many existing OHV riding areas on BLM, Forest Service and National Grasslands in this state which have been very successful. There is no reason White Rock could not be another one of those success stories.

I am requesting you, the State Director of BLM give the Roseburg BLM office better direction on how to proceed in analyzing our proposed OHV Trail System.

I am requesting you, our representatives in Congress to secure funding to facilitate moving this project forward. You need to give better direction for resource management for all of your constituents, not just the vocal and moneyed preservationist.  You also need to formulate and pass a bill to return management of the national public lands to the professional resource managers.  I don’t care how unbiased a judge is, they are not resource managers and can not do the best thing for our public lands.

Respectfully,

Wayne L. Brady

ULTRA Trail Officer

and

Retired Forest Service Recreation Manager

cc: Ed Shepard, Oregon State Director of BLM

      Senator Ron Wyden

      Senator Jeff Merkley     

     Jay Carlson, District Manager, Roseburg BLM