12:36 pm
Club Trailmaster
March 13, 2015
The Eldorado National Forest will be submitting applications for Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) Cooperative Funds for the upcoming 2017/2018 grant cycle.
The Forest Service will be hosting an Open House on February 8, 2017, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM to discuss the proposed preliminary grant applications. This Open House will be held at the Eldorado National Forest Supervisor's Office, 100 Forni Road, Placerville, CA 95667.
Our trail should be one of the proposed grants. I will be there to voice support for this grant and to discuss early plans of action with forest staff. If any of you can make it feel free to stop by.
4:58 pm
Club Member
August 17, 2014
9:31 pm
April 10, 2015
10:02 am
Club Member
September 3, 2008
5:08 pm
Club Member
August 17, 2014
10:40 am
Club Trailmaster
March 13, 2015
This open house was a lot less formal than last year's but was good to talk with people from the forest service and other clubs. There were members from hi-lows, motherload, hi-landers, and us. There were 2 people from motorcycle clubs, polka-dots and AMA district 36. There was also 1 snowmobiler and 3 or 4 from a horseback association.
The current EDNF staff is open to OHV but none actually participate save for a couple on the Amador side. They are all happy to have jeep clubs involved because our patrols and reports are their big sources of fund matching. (Our first snow run with 57 people might be their biggest single day fund match to date) That said, they aren't jumping out of their way to get trails re-opened.
One issue I see is the none of the people making decisions, doing that paperwork, or signing the checks has any direct involvement with OHV. A hinderance to this is FS staff not wanting to risk damage to FS vehicles and the mountain of paperwork required if they get stuck and have to call for help. To this end, I will be inviting the forest service officially onto our beginner runs and intro trainings at Prairie City this year. For the Prairie City run I hope to get a few FS staffers with 4x4s to come on their day off. When we do our packsaddle pass beginner exploration runs however I am anticipating having Kyle or other staff in a FS Jeep actually come along with us. The goal being to give them a work excuse to be part of something, give them support to try trails they would otherwise skip in favor of pavement, and increase their confidence off road (and hopefully get one of them hooked on the hobby).
Any other ideas to get FS staffers out on the trails with us?
1:12 pm
Club Member
September 3, 2008
1:29 pm
Club Trailmaster
March 13, 2015
Gregulator said
Free food? Do they realize that we would help them if they were to get stuck and need assistance? They are always more than welcome to ride with us on any run.
Good call on the free food. A run with a BBQ would be a good one to bring them on.
I think we need to show them a recovery for them to feel comfortable risking getting stuck. Also they have to report any scratches or dents and that means paperwork.
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