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PAST NEWSLETTERS |
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BARBER’S BLURB June 2011
TRAILS As of May 28, I could not get even close to the Breshears Trail due to snow. I will try to get back up there June 11 or 12 to see what has melted off. I haven’t heard if anyone has gotten to Evan’s or Long Ridge Trails. Most of the trails on MERA are open, but it is still very muddy in places. Please ride responsibly and stay on designated routes. I am seeing a lot of “off route” riding up there and it does not look good and is causing some erosion problems. Let’s all do our part to keep our riding areas well maintained. Last I heard, most of the Winom/Frazier system is still snowed in and they keep getting new snow. I’ll try to update trail conditions as I hear about them, when I update the webpage, so let me know if you have any trail condition info. Change of address On occasion I get a newsletter back that can’t be delivered because people have moved. Please let me know if your address is changing so I can keep sending your newsletter. NWTRA Poker Run Anyone interested in riding in the Northwest TrailRiders poker run this year, the date has been changed to July 9 at the Winom OHV campground. For more info you can go to their website, nwtra.freeyellow.com. Elections We need to nominate people for Vice President and two of the board positions this year. All terms are for 2 years and involve very little time on your part. If you are interested, please attend this months meeting or contact me (963-8147). Volunteering I know everyone is busy these days and it doesn’t seem like there is ever enough time to get all the things we want to do done. That being said, it would sure be nice if people could take just one day out of their summer and volunteer to help with a project. This time of year the Breshears system needs opened up. It’s just a matter of following the snow up the mountain as it melts. Evan’s Trail and Long Ridge Trail probably need cleared yet. We are doing some motorcycle trail construction on MERA. There will be work on ATV trail planning and construction on MERA as the summer goes on also. Then in the fall we do our annual cleanup of Breshears. If even half our members could volunteer for just that one day of work, that would be about 50 days of work. I will try to post dates I know we need help, on the website. You can also contact me at mbarber@eoni.com or 541 963-8147 and let me know when you could be available to help. |
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BARBER’S BLURB July 2011
TRAILS As of July 2 the Breshears system still has a lot of snow. Bell Cr. is open almost to the top of the ridge past the bridges. Upper Breshears is open almost to the South end of the “E” trail. The “E” trail is open, but there is a lot of snow at the South end. All of the lower trails and the face trail (motorcycle only) are open. If the weather stays like it has been, it will only be another 2 or 3 weeks till we can get all the way around. Last I heard Evans and Long Ridge Trails had not been cut out yet. If anyone knows different, please let me know. I believe everything on MERA is open now. It finally dried out enough. Please ride responsibly and stay on designated routes. I am seeing a lot of “off route” riding up there and it does not look good and is causing some erosion problems. Let’s all do our part to keep our riding areas well maintained. Last I heard, the Winom/Frazier system is slowly opening up. The Hideaway bridge washed out. Apparently it was mostly still intact and they may be able to move it back into place, if they haven’t done so already. I’ll try to update trail conditions as I hear about them, on facebook and when I update the webpage, so let me know if you have any trail condition info. Dues I want to thank everyone that has renewed their membership already this year. For those of you that haven’t, dues are due at this time. The address label on this newsletter has your expiration date. EXP 11 or older means your member ship has expired. NWTRA Poker Run Anyone interested in riding in the Northwest TrailRiders poker run this year, the date has been changed to July 9 at the Winom OHV campground. For more info you can go to their website, nwtra.freeyellow.com. EOATVA is now on facebook. If you have a facebook account please friend us. If not, you can always sign up. I have been posting trail info there as I get it. If you need someone to go riding with, you can let people know when and where you’re going. Share ride info or pictures too. Elections We re-elected Larry Cribbs as Vice President and elected Don Proffit and George Aldrich as board members. Thanks for volunteering guys. |
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BARBER’S BLURB AUGUST 2011
TRAILS As of July 31 the Breshears system is open and road 6220 is open. I’m sure there are still some wet spots, so ride responsibly. The water diversion work we did last fall held up good and the trails are in good condition. We have done a little bit of work on cutting the brush back, but there are still a lot of places that could use some work. If you’re going to go up there for a ride, think about taking a saw of some kind with you and trim back a place or two. Even if it’s only the random bush that slaps you in the face, if everyone does that it will make a difference. If the Forest Service has a trail crew this year, I’m hoping they can do a little work too. MERA Trail 17 is now open. This is a motorcycle trail that starts from the bottom of the campground. Follow the road through the fence to the bottom of the draw, head to the East up the trail that heads mainly North, across Rd 12, then North to where it comes out on Rd 13. The trail has some fairly narrow side hills, plenty of rocks and some side hills with rocks. It is not a beginner trail. Be careful the first time you ride it. Give us some feedback on what you think. Either post something on facebook or email me. I know this isn’t a lot of single track (about a mile), but it is just the beginning. We hope to have 20 miles or more by the time we are done. It will be a long process. I hope to plan a couple work days in the near future. One for the ATV trail and another to work on another section of single track. I’ll post the dates on facebook, on the webpage and at AC Power Sports. Went in to the MERA cabin to check on it. Reset the mouse traps and cleaned a couple things up. The roof around the stove pipe leaked this spring and got a few things inside wet. That will need fixed before winter. We also need to decide for sure if we want to adopt the cabin and continue to take care of it. I know there is interest in keeping it, but is anyone willing to help take care of it. If we don’t want to take care of it, we should let the County know, so they can find someone that wants to. Dues I want to thank everyone that has renewed their membership already this year. For those of you that haven’t, dues are due at this time. The address label on this newsletter has your expiration date. EXP 11 or older means your membership has expired. EOATVA is now on facebook. If you have a facebook account please friend us. If not, you can always sign up. I have been posting trail info there as I get it. If you need someone to go riding with, you can let people know when and where you’re going. Share ride info or pictures too. |
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BARBER’S BLURB September 2011
MERA As I’ve said before, the first section of Trail 17 (for motorcycles only) is open, but it still needs ridden more to get it better established. I would also like input on what people think of it. We are slowly working on getting another section opened, but that is a slow process and a lot of work. We were hoping to have a small crew come in and help build it, but that hasn’t happened yet. Sean has been working the last week or so on getting the first new sections of ATV trail, out of the parking lot, cut into the hill. It looks like he is making good progress. I will post more info as I get it on facebook and the website. They are also doing more logging this year along the ridge near road #3 and around the cabin. Sean had to pull the fence down around the cabin so they could cut some of the trees around there. When the logging is done, I would like to get a few volunteers to go in with me and see if we can replace the stove pipe and get the roof leak repaired. Let me know if you can help. MEETING AGENDA Mark Davidson (County Commissioner) and Riley Bushue (Greg Walden’s local field rep) have said they would attend this months meeting so that we can discuss the upcoming Travel Management Plan release. We can see if they have any insight into what is coming and what kinds of recourse, if any, we might have to the decision. From the tone of all the meetings leading up to the decision, the change in Forest Supervisors and little bits of information I’ve gathered, the plan is not going to be good for motorized recreation. The question is going to be, what do we do about it? DUES I want to thank everyone that has renewed their membership this year. I hate to be a nag, but for those of you that haven’t paid, dues are due at this time. The address label on this newsletter has your expiration date. If you are not interested in continuing to be a member, please let me know and I will remove you from the mailing list. Email me at mbarber@eoni.com or send info to the club address. EOATVA is now on facebook. If you have a facebook account please “like” us. If not, you can always sign up. I have been posting trail and other info there as I get it. If you need someone to go riding with, you can let people know when and where you’re going. Share ride info or pictures too. Mark Barber Secretary/Treasurer |
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BARBER’S BLURB OCTOBER 2011
MERA We are still working on the new section of trail 17, but there always seems to be other things to do, so it is going slow. We hope to have it done yet this year. I ran the brush cutter up and down most of the first section of trail 17. I also cut back some branches and shortened some stumps. It still needs ridden more though. If there is something you don’t like about it, let me know, and we’ll see about fixing it. I know some of the corners are a little tight, if you have any ideas on how to fix them, let me know also. I haven’t had a chance to look at the new ATV trail to see how it is coming. I did ride out Rd 3 and looked down too the cabin. They have opened it up with the logging and you can actually see the cabin from the road now. It looked like they had cut the trees, but they hadn’t hauled them out yet. Once the logging is done, we still need to fix the stove pipe and roof, before winter hits. BRESHEARS It’s about that time of year again. Time to do our fall maintenance on Breshears. I’m assuming that it will still be open for us to ride next year, after the Travel Management Plan is implemented. Unless I get major objections at the meeting, let’s do it Sunday October 16. Meet at the ESD parking lot in Island City, and head out about 9am. I’ll post the info on facebook and the website. SEPTEMBER MEETING At last months meeting we had a long discussion on what we thought the Travel Management Plan was going to look like. Most everyone’s opinion was that it wasn’t going to be favorable to motorized recreation. It appears that rather than listening to the people that actually live around, and recreate in the WWNF, the Forest Service is going to align its decision pretty close to the wishes of the preservationist groups, Fish and Wildlife, and the Tribes. The groups that have the least at stake, yet have the lawyers, are most likely going to get most of what they want. When the “Plan” comes out, we will have, I believe, 30 days to respond. Anyone and everyone that wrote comments earlier in the process needs to respond at that time. The club will also need to come up with its response. There will need to be a major backlash, with the probability of an eventual lawsuit, if there is going to be any chance of having an outcome that favors motorized recreation. My hope is that the three counties will take this on, and we can join them in the effort. I believe it is time that our side shows what it is made of. We have the numbers on our side. Do we have the will to fight the preservationists to keep our public lands open to everyone, not just the few? |
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“You are doomed to make choices. This is life’s greatest paradox” Wayne Dyer |
