Forest Service Denies More Land for Off-Roaders

Ruling on a three-year controversy, U.S. Forest Service officials in Washington have concluded that the management plan for Angeles National Forest adequately provides for off-road vehicle recreation, contrary to complaints by three off-road groups.

In a 23-page ruling released Friday, forest service officials denied appeals by the off-roaders--motorcyclists, Jeep drivers and others--who said they were shortchanged by the 10-year plan for the forest adopted in 1987.

Matt Mathes, a spokesman for the forest service’s San Francisco regional office, which administers the forest, said officials there “are happy about the decision.”

Representatives of two of the off-road groups could not be reached, while a third said he had not yet seen the decision.

Forest management plans, required by federal law for each of the national forests, set guidelines for protecting natural resources and serving a wide spectrum of visitors, from hikers, campers and equestrians to target-shooters and off-roaders.

Before adoption of the Angeles plan, about 215,000 acres--about one-third of the forest--had been open to off-road vehicle (ORV) use. The plan closed this area and called for creation of a 364-mile network of ORV trails and roads through the forest, which extends across northern Los Angeles County from the San Bernardino to Ventura county lines.

But off-roaders had expected to get more. The draft version of the plan envisioned ORV trails eventually reaching 581 miles, and called for increasing the number of open ORV “play” areas from three to four. In play areas--called “sacrifice” areas by off-road critics--off-roaders can ride wherever they want without sticking to trails.

The final plan held the future trail network to 364 miles, dropped the fourth play area and cut the acreage of an existing play area--Rowher Flat northeast of Santa Clarita--to avoid damage to potentially significant Indian cultural sites.

Robert T. Haggard, a resource planner for the Angeles forest, said officials rolled back some of the off-roaders’ gains after the draft plan drew howls of protest. “The overwhelming response we got,” Haggard said, was that “there were certain things that people did not think were appropriate to the Angeles National Forest, and they included off-road vehicles.”

Although the ruling rejected each of five arguments raised by the off-roaders, it made one concession. The off-road groups had sought to delete from the plan a map of future ORV trails that showed numerous gaps and dead-ends, which the off-roaders said made the trail system unworkable.

In the decision, forest service officials ordered that the management plan be amended to state that the proposed route locations “are estimates” and that trails may be built “in other locations within the areas open to ORVs.”

Rick Fisher of Chatsworth, who represented the California Off-Road Vehicle Assn. in its appeal, expressed satisfaction when told of that provision. It means that trail routes aren’t “chiseled in stone,” he said.