GWNF users - VA MD DC

[SteveVB]

The Dry River District rangers are putting together a proposal to close Old Long Run, although this could be just the beginning of the closures , and this area of the country has few public trails at this point. The deadline is Friday, so a letter faxed, or e-mailed with comments would be a good idea. Jackie is former OCC officer- OCC has done a lot of work to keep the trails clean and usable- more than a few Explorers have helped out in that regard. From the GWNF list:
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Please take the time over then next day or two to write (and overnight or fax) your response to the proposal to close Old Long Run Jeep trail. The deadline for comment is June 20. You can see a copy of the notice at:
4x4 Icon - Old Long Run Scoping Notice
The essence of this scoping notice is that they want to close the road because we lost access to the bottom of the road when it was gated by private landowners so now we drive down and up it so it will get more wear so it should be closedL.



I have to say that my response to this is a little stronger than Paul’s – I think that this is the first step in losing all access to public trails in the Dry River District of GWNF. If you read Mr. Gyant’s proposal, you will see how easily all of the same arguments could be applied to Kephart or Dictum. OCC has worked hard to maintain good relations with the rangers and keep this specific trail clean – if we can’t keep this one open we won’t be able to save any of them. I believe that this is a trial balloon and that if it moves along without public outcry… well, bye bye public access.



Please send comments – if we aren’t willing to do a little to keep trails open then we don’t deserve them.





Jackie Cooper

 

[VBVA]

Damn! Sorry I missed this. I would have been a huge supporter of keeping this open. I love GWNF and I really like Old Long Run, it is a very fun trail to ride on. Let me know if there are any more chances to lobby for keeping trails in GWNF open...


EDIT: My avatar is from OLR

 

[tenikiwon]

Whatever happened?

Whatever happened with this?

Do they have cleanup weekends. Around in Wisconsin we used to work with the Rangers and help clean up and make trails so they wouldn't close the area on us.

 

[SteveVB]

Well, they closed the trail in spite of the fact that they had numerous supporters and crappy evidence against it, but in the end a group of private land owners closed the access at the bottom end, and the FS was worried that down and out traffic would put too much wear on the trail. OCC had invested years and years of work on that trail- replacing washouts, fixing bridges, and later removing them and adding water crossings with silt ponds. In the end it counted for nothing....

Various clubs from VA, MD and DC have run regular cleanups for years in GW. The latest was a month or so ago with 3 clubs and dozens of folks picking up tons of trash on other trails. The investment doesn't seem to sway the rangers- very frustrating for all involved. Clubs are up against the local yahoos, and wheelers that dont give a damn, a FS that cant or doesnt want to spend money, adjacent private landowners who dont like the intrusions through or onto their land, and other single minded forest users-fishermen,hunters,hikers,bikers,bird watchers, protectionists, mean people, anyone you can think of, etc. It's easier and cheaper for the FS to just close a trail than manage it.

After OLR was closed a couple of others have been closed also. Not a good thing- I think more than a few folks have given up on public lands here. The private pay to play parks are filling the needs of wheelers- most of the trails were not difficult, but they did get out into the wilderness.

 

[Nick_Good]

I walked down ols long run trail last year to get to a good native trout spot on the creek. It is closed. A guy bought a section of the land that the trail crosses. There are numerous signs and he has a camper on the property. Also the last section of Kephart was closed also. You cant get back to the cliffs at the end anymore.
Nick Good