Great Informative Trail Info

[KTMrad 508]

Some important items you can voice your opinion on....get involved or lose it all !

Forest Service starting to use Trail Cat Machine to maintain trails

The Trail Cat Machine is a great tool for building trails, but we have to question using it to maintain water bars. Stewards of the Sequoia find it takes far longer to get the Trail Cat into the trail to work on waterbars. For example it has taken the Forest Service crew about 12 days get the machine in to work on water bars on 7 miles of the Kern Canyon trail. This averages out to less than half a mile a day. We think a hand crew could have done a better job on the same 7 miles of trail work in less than three days. It appears many of the Trail Cat built dirt water bars are rutting out and will not last like our hand built rock reinforced water bars. Meanwhile the Trail Cat crew has widened the trail in order to get the machine into the trail and sanitized many technical sections that a lot of people come to the ride the trails for.

We feel hand work is faster and preserves the nature of single track trails. Keeping our single track narrow is one of the reasons Stewards volunteers have spend thousands of hours putting their sweat and love into hand work.

We need to know what our members think so we can best represent you. Please click here and send us a two minute letter which we will submit to the Forest Service to let them know how those who enjoy these trails think.

IMPORTANT....PLEASE VOICE YOUR OPINION ON THIS !Should the Forest Service save time and use only hand work on single track trails like Kern Canyon trail?

Should the Trail Cat be used to maintain trails and possible widen and sanitize them or should it be used only to build trails or work on trails that are already ATV width?

Speak up now and make your thoughts known. Click Below Link to Send your letter.

http://www.savethetrails.us/Default.aspx?PetitionID=53

Sierra Club and Wilderness Society cutback staff

Not since the radical departure of Dr. Patrick Moore from Greenpeace in the mid 1980s has the green lobby been rocked by two large seismic events. Last week, Carl Pope, resigned from the Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society cut their staff by 31 percent as reported by Trail PAC.

According to the LA Times, the departure of Carl Pope, 66, chairman of the club and a member for more than 40 years, comes as the nonprofit group faces declining membership, internal dissent, well-organized opponents, a weak economy and hostile forces in Congress trying to take the teeth out of environmental regulations.

An E&E News article stated The Wilderness Society has reduced its workforce over the last year from 224 to 155. In addition, the Washington, D.C.-based group, which currently runs on a $26.7 million annual budget, cited reduced donations amid a sluggish economy as one reason for the cuts.

We think this is good news since Stewards have personally experienced the exclusionary elitist policies of both the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society. Last year both groups were invited by the Forest Service to meet with other community groups including Stewards of the Sequoia to discuss travel management in the Piutes. They refused, apparently they have standing orders not to collaborate with the community. This is not too surprising considering four years ago Stewards Executive Director met with two Sierra Club chapter Presidents and Stan Van Velsor of the Wilderness Society to discuss their desire to close four of our adopted trails in the Piutes. Turns out they have never been on these trails or in the area and they did not know we had adopted them or that closing them would force people to truck long distances to get to the trail system. Once I had educated them it seemed reasonable they would change their position. Nope they were intractable and still wanted all the trails closed for no reason.

Even with all their musle and money, little bitty Stewards of the Sequoia have succesfully blocked every attempt they have made to close our trails.

So Christmas Comes Early to those who enjoy Public Lands when the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society have less resources at their disposal to try to shut down our trails.

2011 Marks New Era For Public Access

This is the year we entered a new era for those who value access to their public lands.

Think about it for the past thirty years the best we have been able to do is oppose bad legislation and there has been plenty of it. We have fared poorly as one often will when opposing something, but this year we have a lot of bills protecting access to public lands. Bills that many of you have been supporting loudly. Now the anti access crowd finds themselves in the position of having to try to stop our freight train.

Click here to read more about fourteen incredible pro access, pro common sense bills currently in Congress and the Senate.

Your voices are being heard. Be sure to keep the pressure on. We have finally taken the high ground. Let's continue to speak up so we can keep it.

Stewards Director Testifies Before Congressional Subcommittee

Click Here

Bakersfield Trailblazers donate $3000 to help keep roads and trails open

Lots of people complain about trail closures or reduced access, but the Bakersfield Trailblazers are doing something BIG to keep the trails they ride open. At their recent club meeting their members voted to donate $2000 to Stewards of the Sequoia on top of the $1000 they donated earlier this year to help fund Stewards very successful Trail Preservation Program.

Club fundraising like the Bakersfield Trailblazers are super important to fund Stewards efforts to keep your trails open. Especially now with individual donations at a record low. Please talk to your club about doing a fundraiser for Stewards to help preserve access to your trails. Stewards is a non profit so your donation is also tax deductible.

Black Rock, Borrell and Boulder Gulch Restoration Projects

The Sequoia Forest Service is proposing these projects in order to implement the Travel Plan which Stewards and the public have been heavily involved in over the past six years. They will be closing some roads due to archeological and species habitat issues that could not be fixed. They will be rerouting roads and trails in order to keep all connectivity. Stewards of the Sequoia volunteers will be helping with the reroutes to keep trails open.

You can read Stewards letter of support for the projects at

http://www.stewardsofthesequoia.org/PDF/Stewards-BlackGulch&OtherProjectsComment.pdf

You can read about the projects at

http://data.ecosystem-management.org/nepaweb/nepa_project_exp.php?project=35862

http://data.ecosystem-management.org/nepaweb/nepa_project_exp.php?project=33062

http://data.ecosystem-management.org/nepaweb/nepa_project_exp.php?project=36988

VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED FOR SATURDAY TRAIL APPRECIATION

Stewards trail maintenance program has kept many trails from being closed as a matter of fact our volunteer work is the first line of defense in thwarting the Wilderness Society's trail closure program . Why not be part of this winning program. We could use a few good volunteers on dirt bikes to help out this Saturday 12/3. We will be working with the Forest Service on one of the trails the Wilderness Society has been unable to close due in large part to our volunteer efforts.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

You can learn more at

http://stewardsofthesequoia.org/events-schedule.html

[dirt dame 559]

Sierra Club and Wilderness Society cutback staff

Not since the radical departure of Dr. Patrick Moore from Greenpeace in the mid 1980s has the green lobby been rocked by two large seismic events. Last week, Carl Pope, resigned from the Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society cut their staff by 31 percent as reported by Trail PAC.

According to the LA Times, the departure of Carl Pope, 66, chairman of the club and a member for more than 40 years, comes as the nonprofit group faces declining membership, internal dissent, well-organized opponents, a weak economy and hostile forces in Congress trying to take the teeth out of environmental regulations.

An E&E News article stated The Wilderness Society has reduced its workforce over the last year from 224 to 155. In addition, the Washington, D.C.-based group, which currently runs on a $26.7 million annual budget, cited reduced donations amid a sluggish economy as one reason for the cuts.

Well, at least the bad economy had one desirable effect.

[X-country-Rider 0]

Sierra Club and Wilderness Society cutback staff

Not since the radical departure of Dr. Patrick Moore from Greenpeace in the mid 1980s has the green lobby been rocked by two large seismic events. Last week, Carl Pope, resigned from the Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society cut their staff by 31 percent as reported by Trail PAC.

According to the LA Times, the departure of Carl Pope, 66, chairman of the club and a member for more than 40 years, comes as the nonprofit group faces declining membership, internal dissent, well-organized opponents, a weak economy and hostile forces in Congress trying to take the teeth out of environmental regulations.

An E&E News article stated The Wilderness Society has reduced its workforce over the last year from 224 to 155. In addition, the Washington, D.C.-based group, which currently runs on a $26.7 million annual budget, cited reduced donations amid a sluggish economy as one reason for the cuts.

Well, at least the bad economy had one desirable effect.

Well said!!

[dsfox 0]

Good Progress, Nice to Hear!!!...but we really NEED to keep at it...there are many bills up for vote involving this and new wilderness claims, etc....We can only make progress with many voices...Responses are usually a quick letter or email form....

I know it's a pain sometimes, BUT, if WE don't all speak up, it will be much more of a pain to Loose our Beloved Trails...

Riders: Please don't take them for granted...Take 5, it makes a difference....