OMRA Legal News

Support needed for Gifford Pinchot N.F. Trails!

Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 7:07 PM

Subject: Langille Ridge access road proposed to be closed

The fisheries department of the Cowlitz Valley Ranger District is proposing a project to reduce sediment into the Yellowjacket stream system and thereby improve the conditions for fish and spawning grounds in the Yellowjacket creek watershed. One part of this project would be to "decommission" road 2809. The 3 mile long road is the only access to the Langille ridge trail from the north. The District is asking for substantive comments and input from the public regarding this proposed action. I am sending this message to people I know are familiar with this trail. Please pass along to others who may like to comment. I interpret "substantive" to mean something more than "keep the trail open because I like it". If you ride the trail, express what this means to you. If you have observed the condition of the road, say what your impressions were. Maybe how you think the road should be managed. If getting water down your boots bothers you, maybe a bridge would solve several problems. Form letters and generic responses count for little. It needs to be personal.

The bridge at the start of this trail was washed out in the 1987(?) floods. Since then, the only way to get to the trail is to ride through the stream. this is a concern for fisheries. Since the bridge washed out, Alders have grown along the sides of the road and grass has sprouted in the road bed. Some of the culverts along the road have washed out.

The proposed action would include digging up the low side of the road and putting that material on the high side, rip up the center of the road to increase absorption of water, and dig up the remaining culverts and leaving 6' trenches across the road in their place. The Alders of course which have created a canopy over what has become a trail would generally be removed to accomplish these actions. One might ask the question how these actions would reduce sediment in the streams.

For those of you who have not ridden the trail lately, the Forest Service's Cowlitz Valley trail crew, myself and other volunteers from the Jones Creek Trailriders and the South West Off Road Riders spent several days working on the trail. Last summer we did brushing, tread widening, and rock removal on the worst sections of the trail. It is still a challenge but not quite as scary.

Those who respond in January are then eligible to respond in the future to changes in the plan, other proposals and comments from other people. The project is in the initial planning stages and was proposed without input or support from the Forest Recreation Department. the plan will be developed over the next 3-4 months.