Club Meeting May 10th|Page 2|Trail Runs / Events|Forum|Gold Hills Posse 4x4

"Bender" wrote: Can someone give a brief summary of what the rangers had to say?

The two Rangers that came were:

Lester Lubetkin - Recreation Officer, El Dorado National Forest
Cathy Bounds - Recreation Officer, El Dorado National Forest (Placerville District)

Lester spoke first:
* He spoke about the history of legal activities concerning the El Dorado National Forest all the way back to 1972, and his personal experience with the process since 1992.
* He outlined the participants of the current legal action (all in the packet I handed out)
* He made Tom and Jeff hold up a large (D Size) Map of the Forest for about 20 minutes and went into detail of the current closures, explaining why, what routes, and possible future impacts
* He addressed the forest service's responsiveness to the Judge's instructions over the past few years, and why the judge has ordered the trails closed until a decision is made based on a "Supplemental Environmental Impact Study".
* He anticipated the decision to be made in April, and was hesitant to predict when the decision would actually be made.
* He brought to our attention some older trails that have been largely un-used (old logging roads) that might be worth exploring.
* He spoke about grants that have been awarded, and how important volunteerism (like the GHP) is.
* He encouraged everyone to adhere to the closures, because part of the plaintiff's order, was monthly monitoring of the trail system, and the effects of those violating the court order.
* He explained their plans of marking the closed trails with Red markers similar to the brown ones you see which have trail maerkers on them. He also said he was unsure if this will satisfy the Judge's intention, but were starting with that method as it is the most economical at this time.

Cathy spoke second:
* Cathy offered numerous alternate recreational activities within the ENF ranging from trail suggestions to guided tours of abandoned railroad lines and logging areas. Similar to "poker runs" and/or "geocaching".
* She spoke about the importance of maintaining the trails during the closures, and will write a letter to GHP authorizing our maintenance run on the 20th.
* She asked that we continue sending photos and feedback on the condition of the trail.

Lester brought fire permits with him and issued them after the meeting. That's all I can recall off of the top of my head, please feel free to expand if I missed anything (I'm sure I did).