Welcome!

 

Eastern Oregon

All Terrain Vehicle Association, Inc

P.O. Box 571

La Grande, Oregon 97850

 

Email:    mbarber@eoni.com

Message Phone:  541-805-0172

  

EOATVA OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS

 

  President– Chris Hedden  963-4300

  Vice President– Larry Cribbs 963-4521

Sec/Treas– Mark Barber   963-8147  mbarber@eoni.com

  Ray Clements   963-9837

  Art Chase  963-2585

  Don Proffit  963-3297

  George Aldrich

 

Next meeting: May 8, 7 P.M., Island City, City Hall

Announcements:

 

TRAVEL MANAGEMENT PLAN, ETC

             The  final decision on the TMP has only been delayed it isn’t going away. This is far from over. There are supposed to be more chances for public input, this summer. Keep your eyes open for dates and times.

             While checking the maps and looking at the trail systems I found some things wrong with the Breshears system trails. Hopefully we got those changed for the next version. I also got some information that they left some trails off the Winom-Frazier system. If you have seen any errors in any of the trail system routes please let me know. They were not supposed to have changed any of the trail systems.

             To keep up to date on what is happening with the TMP, another place to check is http://www.facebook.com/ForestAccessForAll

 

This is the full text of the letter from the Forest Supervisor.

 It has been one month since the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest released its travel management decision. Since then, there has been considerable public interest and debate over various aspects of the plan. As I have listened to the many people who are commenting on the plan, it has become apparent that there is a good bit of confusion, as well as some concerns that would benefit from more discussion.

Because of these concerns I have decided to withdraw the travel management decision, and stop the clock on the appeal process that is underway. The forest needs to develop a travel management plan for public motorized recreation, but I want to be sure the various options for moving forward are considered in a constructive manner. I believe that by taking the time now to allow for further dialogue and consideration regarding the concerns that have been raised; we will develop a better outcome in the long run. Some of the key concerns include the following.

A main concern is there have been significantly different numbers bantered about regarding how many miles of roads would be designated open for public motorized recreational use, and how many are being closed to motor vehicles. The number question is a challenging one because there are different ways of looking at the situation. For instance, there currently are over 9,000 miles of roads on the Wallowa-Whitman national forest landscape, but only about 4,700 miles are considered open to the public. Many of the others are impassable because they are overgrown with vegetation. Meanwhile, the project area included in the travel management decision is focused on 1.3 million of the 2.4 million acres on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. Road totals for the project area are therefore less than those for the entire forest.

Along with the roads question, is a concern that the maps provided to the public do not offer enough detail for people to adequately consider the potential implications of the decision. I have heard several people suggest that the agency provide more information on these maps, such as road numbers, landmarks, and watershed boundaries. Without more detailed information, it is difficult to provide specific responses back to the agency about the decision, and what people might like to see changed.

Another key issue is that many people are concerned about access for firewood. While the travel plan decision provides for identification of additional firewood cutting areas across the forest, many people are concerned that this approach may not be adequate to meet the need for fuelwood in our northeast Oregon communities. I have met with quite a few people to discuss this concern and appreciate the various suggestions that have been offered regarding ways to address the issue.

A separate concern involves access to private lands and permitted uses such as grazing and mining on the forest. Access to private land and permitted uses is fully allowed by the travel management plan. Private land owners would still have access to their cabins, miners would continue to have access to their claims, and grazing permit holders will retain access in allotments to administer their permits.

These are all important concerns and I appreciate the people who are raising them. I also think the agency has a responsibility to address these concerns, including clarifying misinformation, providing more specific information to the public as requested, and engaging in further dialogue.

I truly appreciate the passion that has been shown in response to this decision, and want to encourage everyone to direct this passion in a positive, productive and respectful way. I encourage anyone who has additional suggestions to share them with me or one of our local district rangers. The Wallowa-Whitman national forest is treasured by all, so let’s be sure we develop a plan that is reasonable, responsible, and makes sense now and for the future.

Monica J. Schwalbach

4/17/2012

          Read Greg Walden’s letter to Schwalbach at http://1.usa.gov/KvbeC8

 

 

YOUTH MOTORCYCLE TRAINING

         April 22, 2012 we held our first youth hands-on motorcycle training evaluation at the Union County Fairgrounds. This course, as well as the on-line Safety Education Course is required for all motorcycle riders between the ages of 7 and 15, starting in 2012.

         Oregon Motorcycle Riders Association (OMRA) is the coordinating organization for this course, but it the responsibility of the local clubs to provide the actual training. OMRA will be working with EOATVA, as well as individuals in Wallowa and Baker Counties to provide this training on an ongoing basis. This first training session was also to train evaluators for future training sessions. Unfortunately, Chris and I were the only ones to show up, from La Grande. Dustin and Earl came down from Enterprise and learned to be evaluators, and will put on classes in Wallowa County. We would like to see several evaluators trained, so that we would have more flexibility in scheduling training.

         We are going to have a class in June 14, at 6:30 PM at MERA. Once the course is set up it doesn’t take long to do the evaluation. We ran 13 kids through in less than an hour this time.  We also made almost $500 dollars for the club.

         For now you can go to http://www.omraoffroad.com/training.htm for information on the course, and for on-line Safety Training go to www.oregon.gov/OPRD/ATV/index.shtml.

If you need ATV training/evaluations for you kids, go the Oregon Parks website for information on those classes.

         Pictures of the class are below.

 

        

 

 

Last update, 05/02/12

Informational banner

Everyone lined up ready to ride the course.

Nervous parents watching.

On the course.

Over the bumps.