Riding ATV`s at these dunes has been a person hobby of mine since I was very young. They have had a huge impact on my entire life. What these people need to understand is that to us riders, this is not just a sport but a lifestyle choice. Most of my most fond childhood memories are that of which were made at the Oregon Dunes with my family, and in my adulthood the fond memories I have with friends. Many of whom I would have not had the amazing opportunity of knowing if it weren't for meeting them at the Dunes of riding trips, or sharing the unique love for riding ATV's. The sand makes riding the fun experience it is. If they are to take away a majority of this space, this sand that we love every spec of... Then they are taking away the one thing that means the most to so many people! If they were to go through w/this it would not only make many people disappointed and saddened but I believe it could also have many serious affects as well. One for example being (Taking into considering this is a hobby of thousands of people) taking away a majority of where we ride would confine all these ATV`s and motorcycle`s (not to exclude those who choose playing in the Sand with Vehical`s other than those previously mentioned, via side by sides, etc..) into a much more concentrated area. This would cause many saftey issues. The saftey issues would not stop at that. There are many different types of riders. Ranging anywhere between Vetran riders who like the adrenaline of going fast and doing hard climbs, to beginners such as CHILDREN (Due to this being a lovely family sport). These trails they are talking about closeing off, some of them have way less traffic which make it perfect to take your children or even anyone else who would just like a relaxing slow paced (FUN!) ride or to teach a beginner how to ride. All this by doing so not having to put them out where the possibility of them being hurt could be hire. Now imagine if people didnt have that right. Would they like to put their children into a high concentrated high traffic environment where due to so many people around and so many things going on an accident could very well happen? I don't think so. PLEASE see that to US this is like any other hobby.. You like golfing, great, how about someone takes away half your course... You like bowling? How about we shut down half the lanes. Fishing? Lets close down half the river. You're talking about taking away something we LOVE. You're taking away our lifestyle. You're taking away our happiness. PLEASE do not do this!!! Everyone has that something in their life that they can go to, to escape a bad week at work, a special place they have and make a tradition with their family's to vacation at, or just the one place they can truely kick back, relaxing, fully enjoy themselves and be able to have fun!! Serving the people!? I REALLY hope you decide to do just that. Whether or not you care about riding or not I hope you can see how many people are truley passionate about this lifestyle and how much you doing this would absolutly break thousands of peoples hearts. I am urging you, PLEASE make the right decision.
Thank you!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
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Mr. Ingersoll,
Hey, I know you are probably receiving a lot of emails and this may not get read, but I thought I should at least try.
My family and I ride the dunes several times a year. It is a lot of fun; and it brings revenue to those communities that we ride at. With gas, food, firewood, and even the occasional liquor store purchase :) We usually spend 200-300$ every time we go. And it is one expense that we haven't cut out because of our budget because of the fun that the entire family has.
We used to ride the Joshua Lane Dunes in Florence, but those were closed. My two kids 9 and 10 were crushed when this happened. The adults are pretty upset to, it just seems like a waste to not be able to have some sort of accesses to them. Can it be opened as a day use park, and we will pay you to use it?
Now I hear talk of closing more dunes? I just don't understand. Isn't that part of living here in beautiful Oregon. To be able to leave town and drive a few hours and ride the sand, play in the ocean, and camp out with friends and family. Riding ATV's is a true passion for people here in Oregon, and we are really hoping that there can be some compromise on why the trails and dunes need to be closed. People will pay to ride, so charge, charge, charge! Oregon can make some money and people can continue to ride and have a break from life.
Thanks for taking the time out to read this.
Sincerely,
Angie Cox
Hey, I know you are probably receiving a lot of emails and this may not get read, but I thought I should at least try.
My family and I ride the dunes several times a year. It is a lot of fun; and it brings revenue to those communities that we ride at. With gas, food, firewood, and even the occasional liquor store purchase :) We usually spend 200-300$ every time we go. And it is one expense that we haven't cut out because of our budget because of the fun that the entire family has.
We used to ride the Joshua Lane Dunes in Florence, but those were closed. My two kids 9 and 10 were crushed when this happened. The adults are pretty upset to, it just seems like a waste to not be able to have some sort of accesses to them. Can it be opened as a day use park, and we will pay you to use it?
Now I hear talk of closing more dunes? I just don't understand. Isn't that part of living here in beautiful Oregon. To be able to leave town and drive a few hours and ride the sand, play in the ocean, and camp out with friends and family. Riding ATV's is a true passion for people here in Oregon, and we are really hoping that there can be some compromise on why the trails and dunes need to be closed. People will pay to ride, so charge, charge, charge! Oregon can make some money and people can continue to ride and have a break from life.
Thanks for taking the time out to read this.
Sincerely,
Angie Cox
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
history of the 1972 to date
Comments on recent events in the Oregon Dunes
The 1972 ODNRA Act
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_007083.pdf
1994 Dunes Management Plan
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_007084.pdf
This is in response to the June 9, 2011 ODNRA Scoping letter. First off I’d like to thank the Forest Service for pushing this process though public involvement, even though this was already a signed decision. I’ve read through the proposed actions and I feel that there are some excellent changes to the original 10c lands base. With that said I’d like to highlight some other issues that haven’t been addressed with the proposed action.
On March 23, 1972 Congress passed the Act declaring the ODNRA into existence, this act was signed by President Nixon on the 24th. I read through this document and noticed some fairly strong language in Section 12 about an Advisory Council being established by the Secretary of Agriculture. It was fairly specific about the make-up of this council and it appears that they wanted a local body to assist the Forest Service with the direction of these lands. I’ve have spent several hours trying to find any meeting minutes or notes. I question why this council was never established.
Another thing I’d like to point out is how out of date the current plan is. The plan states that it is to be revised every 10 years but no more than 15 years between revisions. This plan is over 17 years old and the 10c designated trails has not been implemented. I ask why now? There are far more important goals outlined within this plan such as an active vegetation management plan implementation. The plan lists this as a higher priority and specifically identifies more funding to accomplish removal of beach grass, scotch broom, and plantations. Remember before the plantations and invasive vegetation these areas were open sand riding areas and not trails; so I question the validity of calling these trails now, instead of dunes where OHV traffic has benefited the ecosystem by hindering the establishment of invasive vegetation.
There is also some other issues with the plan; it seems that the land designations aren’t consistent from one area to the next. There are two similar invasive vegetation created wetland areas one in the north and one in the south that that are listed under two separate land designations, while being very similar. Maybe this is because during the process of this plan the land base was evaluated by aerial photo interpretation instead of being verified on the ground. That would also be why the majority of 10c lands are plantation, beach grass, or other invasive vegetated lands and not globally significant plant communities. In fact OHV traffic will slow the invasive vegetation from overtaking more open sand lands.
To sum this up the Forest Service should seriously be looking at rewriting a management plan with the input of and advisory council before any implementation of trail closure. I think that the closures will cause more ecological damage than the existing situation. The Forest Service should be working with the State of Oregon to come to some sort of agreement about the obliteration of the foredune and filling in the wetlands so that the natural sand migration can once again continue. OHVs are a very small impact to the dunes ecosystem, the real threat is the invasive vegetation and plantations that were planted in the area during the jetty and town construction. The sad thing is that even if the Forest Service closed the ODNRA 100% to OHV use it won’t matter in the next 20 years anyway if there are no measures taken to control the vegetation and reestablish the natural processes of this ecosystem.
The OHV user group is willing and able to assist with whatever is needed to stop this invasion and help return the dunes to their natural state. The forest Service needs to repair the relationship with this group caused from the 94 Dunes plan with education and support
The 1972 ODNRA Act
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_007083.pdf
1994 Dunes Management Plan
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_007084.pdf
This is in response to the June 9, 2011 ODNRA Scoping letter. First off I’d like to thank the Forest Service for pushing this process though public involvement, even though this was already a signed decision. I’ve read through the proposed actions and I feel that there are some excellent changes to the original 10c lands base. With that said I’d like to highlight some other issues that haven’t been addressed with the proposed action.
On March 23, 1972 Congress passed the Act declaring the ODNRA into existence, this act was signed by President Nixon on the 24th. I read through this document and noticed some fairly strong language in Section 12 about an Advisory Council being established by the Secretary of Agriculture. It was fairly specific about the make-up of this council and it appears that they wanted a local body to assist the Forest Service with the direction of these lands. I’ve have spent several hours trying to find any meeting minutes or notes. I question why this council was never established.
Another thing I’d like to point out is how out of date the current plan is. The plan states that it is to be revised every 10 years but no more than 15 years between revisions. This plan is over 17 years old and the 10c designated trails has not been implemented. I ask why now? There are far more important goals outlined within this plan such as an active vegetation management plan implementation. The plan lists this as a higher priority and specifically identifies more funding to accomplish removal of beach grass, scotch broom, and plantations. Remember before the plantations and invasive vegetation these areas were open sand riding areas and not trails; so I question the validity of calling these trails now, instead of dunes where OHV traffic has benefited the ecosystem by hindering the establishment of invasive vegetation.
There is also some other issues with the plan; it seems that the land designations aren’t consistent from one area to the next. There are two similar invasive vegetation created wetland areas one in the north and one in the south that that are listed under two separate land designations, while being very similar. Maybe this is because during the process of this plan the land base was evaluated by aerial photo interpretation instead of being verified on the ground. That would also be why the majority of 10c lands are plantation, beach grass, or other invasive vegetated lands and not globally significant plant communities. In fact OHV traffic will slow the invasive vegetation from overtaking more open sand lands.
To sum this up the Forest Service should seriously be looking at rewriting a management plan with the input of and advisory council before any implementation of trail closure. I think that the closures will cause more ecological damage than the existing situation. The Forest Service should be working with the State of Oregon to come to some sort of agreement about the obliteration of the foredune and filling in the wetlands so that the natural sand migration can once again continue. OHVs are a very small impact to the dunes ecosystem, the real threat is the invasive vegetation and plantations that were planted in the area during the jetty and town construction. The sad thing is that even if the Forest Service closed the ODNRA 100% to OHV use it won’t matter in the next 20 years anyway if there are no measures taken to control the vegetation and reestablish the natural processes of this ecosystem.
The OHV user group is willing and able to assist with whatever is needed to stop this invasion and help return the dunes to their natural state. The forest Service needs to repair the relationship with this group caused from the 94 Dunes plan with education and support
Saturday, July 9, 2011
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In all the decades that area has been open for ATV / OHV access, go to it even just a couple of weeks after a MAJOR weekend of riding and it's hard to tell people have even been there.
Next, what a way to help an area that has already been in recession for over 20 years...no joke, OHV /ATV tourism is a huge help to a struggling economy of Oregon coastlands.
Next, what a way to help an area that has already been in recession for over 20 years...no joke, OHV /ATV tourism is a huge help to a struggling economy of Oregon coastlands.
more comments
Manage Definition: The organization and coordination of the activities of an enterprise in accordance with certain policies and in achievement of defined objectives. There are generations to come the should have the opportunity to enjoy all that this state has to offer. We once were an abundant state with lots to use and share. Now we are becoming a lock it up and preserve it state. Only to rot and decay and become a hazard to everyone. I say USE IT - not lose it!!!
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THE ROUTES UNDER CONSIDERATION ARE AMONG THE ONLY REASONS WE AS A FAMILY COME TO THE OREGON DUNES TO CAMP AND RECREATE WITH MOTORIZED USE. tHE DEMANDS FOR THESE TYPES OF ACCESS ARE GROWING AS SEEN IN ATV/UTV SALES. NO OTHER TYPE OF USAGE IS GROWING AS FAST IN THE AREAS OF SALES AND USE. THIS MAKES ADDING ADDITIONAL CLOSURES A WRONG HEADED APPROACH TO SERVING THE DEMANDS AND CHOICE EXPECTATIONS OF THE TAX PAYING PUBLIC. KEEP THESE ROUTES/TRAILS OPEN AND PLEASE INCLUDE ME IN ANY FUTURE SOPA'S. THANK YOU.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Another letter
The 10 trails that are noted for proposed use are Banshee Hill and a combination of nine trails into one beach trail. This will constrict all OHV traffic into only open areas and these designated trails. Trail use is the major part of the attraction to the ONDRA and eliminating them will cause further damage to tourism and the economy of the coastal towns. More than half of the ONDRA has been put aside for environmental uses and closed areas to protect habitat. Don't let this proposal pass.
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