# Trails Advocacy



## Trails (Jan 28, 2009)

The thread about Back Country Horsemen made me think about trails advocacy and how we as horsemen (and women) can help to keep trails open to stock use. I wrote the attached piece for my monthly column in Western Mule Magazine. It talks about exactly this topic. Here's the link.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

you should submit that to other magazines,ACTHA, and to ETI .


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

"If we don’t exercise our voices, we’ll be overlooked and our legacy will be forgotten." I love this sentence and your article Trails!

Especially liked you encouraging riders to form and participate in work parties!

Our area has some excellent trails, but due to the ATV's tearing up multi-use trails the NFS is closing them down left and right trapping us riders. We aren't allowed on the Ozark Highland's Trail or on the ATV only trails! 
We've been working on a three mile section of trail for years repairing damage done by ATV's. Fixing erosion problems, installing RR ties, clearing debris, etc. Right now it's a hiking only trail, in the past few years we've had our efforts destroyed by them using certain areas of it as a climbing obstacle. Eventually we will have it horse ready for our trail riding guests, but the ATV's keep setting us back. In addition to that we have free leased land to the NFS to set up informational kiosks next to scenic views. We also allow them free access to service roads from our properties, and a multitude of other neighborly benefits. 

Unfortunately all I hear about is budgeting problems and further closings due to them logging... Something has to be done. So I will be looking into the BCH in Arkansas.

Again, great article!


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

I think it's a problem with the forest service itself. Or rather, those in control who make policy.

On the way home from work yesterday I was listening to one of the talking heads on the radio....the topic was jobs and it soon turned to energy, and then to the policy to not allow drilling on public land.

One of the things this guy mentioned was exactly what I've thought for some time now. He said the environmentalist want to eliminate most public use of public land and limit access to only walking.

We've seen the elimination of many, many ATV trails. Horse trails are also being limited although I have seen some expansion of horse trails by the forest service in the Cherokee National Forest. 

Have you ever seen what a tornado does to a forest? Or, a forest fire? These forces do far more environmental damage than an ATV could do in a thousand years. Because the forces are nature they seem to be okay but let a horse leave a hoof print and the forest is forever damaged...

It's the political winds, constantly blowing, that sets public use policy.

We have to have the right people in place that set public land use policy. Ask yourself if the land is being used the way you want to use it.

One person, one vote. Use it wisely.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

My sister works with the National Forest Service near Gainsville, Georgia. They actually have been getting trail riders to help them with mapping the forest. The horsemen keep the trails cleaned up and they provide needed data to the forest service. She actually went on a long trail ride with the group that is working on the project as one of her work days. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.....


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

gunslinger said:


> Have you ever seen what a tornado does to a forest? Or, a forest fire? These forces do far more environmental damage than an ATV could do in a thousand years.


Though we don't have many tornados hereabouts, we do have fires. Couple of years after a rangeland fire, you can hardly tell that there's been one. On the other hand, there are plenty of places out in the hills where off-road vehicles have worn tracks several feet deep into the ground - then the riders move over a few feet, and start on another one.


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

Well James, heavy logging equipment does worse.

My beloved southern Appalachian Mountains, as late as the 1920's were literately raped, clear and clean cut, devoid of trees. 80 years later and it's hard to tell it ever happened.

The land repairs itself. 

Being good stewards of the land is one thing and I fully support that. However, banning one group often leads to banning other groups.

Public land use policy should work to include all rather than exclude many.

My point is, if we ban everything that leaves tracks the public land won't be used and will become worthless to all but a few.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

gunslinger said:


> My point is, if we ban everything that leaves tracks the public land won't be used and will become worthless to all but a few.


But if you take your logic to the opposite extreme, anyone should be able to run in their logging rigs and cut down as many trees as they want (or strip mine, overgraze, whatever). Otherwise it's worthless to all but the few people who like trees 

Or maybe we could look at what actually does harm the land. Around here ATVs indisputably do. Could be different where you live.

We could also look at whether various groups are willing to make efforts to share the land. I'd argue that ATV riders, on the whole, simply aren't willing to make efforts to share with others. There is, for instance, no reason in the world why their engines can't be fitted with decent mufflers & emission controls, or why they can't ride in a courteous fashion. Yet I can't even count the times when ATV & dirt bike riders have come up on me at high speed, unmuffled engines roaring & belching clouds of blue smoke. Then they'll deliberately skid around in circles, tearing up the track and throwing dirt everywhere...

If you keep that up long enough, the land does become worthless to all but a few - the ATV riders.


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

ATV, do leave marks in the ground, no doubt.

So do logging crews. The forest is a renewable resource. The management of the National Forest has always been to provide the timber resources the nation needs. How many years did it take to form the grand canyon, and is that worthless land?

Personally I don't care for the loud roar of ATV, nor the rude behavior that some riders demonstrate. On the other hand, many hikers also don't like the tracks a horse leaves nor the manure in the middle of the trail.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be any rules on public land, but I think we've gone past the center, and everyday we see more and more restrictions on public land use. Needless to say there are some sensitive areas that require prohibition.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

gunslinger said:


> ATV, do leave marks in the ground, no doubt.
> 
> So do logging crews. The forest is a renewable resource.


That's just what I'm saying. Though a logging crew might visit a particular area once in several decades, while the ATVs run through every weekend. You have to look at what happens to a particular area due to various forms of use, before you can determine just what & how much use it can take. (Just as you might be able to pasture one horse on an acre, while half a dozen would eat it bare in short order.) I don't know about your area, but hereabout there are a lot of places that can't take the amount of use they've been getting from ATVs, and anyone with eyes can see it.



> The management of the National Forest has always been to provide the timber resources the nation needs.


No, lumber is just one of many uses for National Forests - and again, that goes back to the sustainability issue. You can't clear-cut the same patch of land every year, or even every decade. There's a rate of cutting that's sustainable, just as there are maximum rates of ATV use, camping, hiking, or whatever.


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## Tazmanian Devil (Oct 11, 2008)

gunslinger said:


> Public land use policy should work to include all rather than exclude many.



Exactly. There are, however, some unfortunate truths that get in the way of this.

Government bureaucracy, while a stereotype of red tape and inefficiency if a problem. I am not going to point blame at the workers in the field or the policy makers. Whatever the cause, it is a real issue. Once you get to a state or federal level, common sense is usually out the window.

The many vs. few argument is also impeded by the groups themselves. In my area each group is out for themselves and sometimes intentionally cuts out other groups. Horse owners are the smallest group (or the least organized/least vocal) and we end up losing the most. The hikers don't want to share trails with the bikers who don't want to share trails with the horses. They often argue that horse trails should be closed and opened up to biking. Once they have access to any trail they argue how "unsafe" it is to share because the "horses might spook."

Other areas might be different, but I wonder how much. Several comments on this board show that at least some of "us" might have a problem sharing trails. Of course there are "rude" ATV, mountain bikers and hikers. There are also "rude" horse people. Just as we complain about them on forums like this, they do the same on their forums. There are rude people (or just folks who don't know better) everywhere. 

Like a friend of mine says - we all need to put on our "big boy pants" and deal with it. 

While we complain that "they" ruin a trail or create a dangerous situation, they can just as easily do the same. A bureaucrat sitting in Washington or a state capital doesn't care who is right. They will either segregate the trails or close them altogether. Everyone loses.


You can also find answers by following the money. ATV manufacturers, logging companies, mountain bike companies... they all have a vested interest in designated trail use. They also have money to throw at the issue - through advertising, press outlets and political donations. This "education" has more impact than horse owners, who for the most part, approach the topic as separate individuals - rather than large corporations or powerful lobbying groups. (Yes, we have some groups on our side, but they don't carry the clout of the large commercial organizations).


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

Here's a perfect example

http://www.horseforum.com/trail-riding/tva-closes-normandy-trails-tn-245465/


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## womack29 (Oct 30, 2011)

I trail ride horses and my husband rides dirt bikes. We both are involved in keeping trails open in our state and two others for these hobbies.


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