Forest Service Takes Aim at Oregon’s Illegal Trails

Sliding down a rocky dirt path, Forest Service ranger Kevin Slagle struggles to keep his balance.

The crudely cut trail in Mt. Hood National Forest is not only treacherous, but is eroding the land and hurting native trout and other species, Slagle says.

It’s also against the law.

The pathway, in the Gibson Prairie area in the forest’s northeast section, is one of a growing number of illegal trails scarring public lands throughout the West.

“It’s a new pioneer mentality,” said Slagle, recreation manager for the Hood River, Ore., ranger district.

Those who cut the trail -- most likely dirt bikers looking for a new thrill in the heavily used forest -- “feel they have the right to do it,” he said. “Some of them think they are providing a public service.”

Forest officials disagree.

Frustrated by the sprawl of illegal trails, the Forest Service has issued a two-year ban for all off-road use of dirt bikes or other motorized vehicles in the Gibson Prairie area. The order covers about 11,000 acres, where officials estimate that at least 30 miles of illegal trails have been carved since last year.

“It’s been an organized effort,” Slagle said. “Somebody has gone in there and mapped out a trail system, flagged it on the ground and cut it from the inside out.”

Similar illegal trails have sprouted in public forests nationwide and become a focus of contention from California to Pennsylvania.

Forest Service chief Dale Bosworth calls unmanaged recreation one of the four major threats facing the agency, along with wildfires, invasive species and loss of open space.

Last year, Bosworth proposed a draft national policy that would restrict all-terrain vehicles, motorized trail bikes and other off-road motor vehicles to designated roads and trails in all 155 national forests and 20 grasslands.

The plan, to be completed this fall, comes as use of off-road vehicles reaches new heights. In the last three decades, the number of off-road vehicle users has increased sevenfold to about 36 million.

This has caused conflict with other users, including hikers, horseback riders and the growing number of homeowners who live near national forests.

The Blue Ribbon Coalition, an Idaho-based group that advocates motorized recreation, says most off-roaders are responsible and are being unfairly singled out.

The group wants to ensure that most trails and open areas now used by all-terrain vehicles remain accessible.

“We’re committed to working with the agency in a fair and balanced way, but we certainly are not going to put up with trail closures without due process,” said Don Amador, the group’s Western representative.

Amador called the Gibson Prairie closing arbitrary and said it was unfair that Forest Service officials blamed dirt bikers. Two other Forest Service officials who recently toured Mt. Hood with a reporter also identified off-roaders as the most likely culprits.

In truth, Amador said, officials don’t know who carved the trail, which stretches for several hundred yards in an area a short walk from a paved road.

The trail’s existence “reflects poorly on the management of the area by the Forest Service,” Amador said. “The fact is, they are not out aggressively signing those roads and trails they want people to use.”

The whole issue of unmanaged recreation “is not just a user problem, but an agency problem which has not been doing its job,” Amador said.

That assessment was shared by one of the nation’s largest environmental groups. The Wilderness Society supports Bosworth’s draft plan, but says the real test will be in how the rules are enforced.

“These regulations are not going to be worth the paper they’re printed on if there are not the dollars and the resources to do the planning and enforce the rules,” said Scott Kovarovics, director of the society’s natural trails and waters coalition.

No new rules are needed to crack down on do-it-yourself trails, Kovarovics said. “That activity is illegal, and the agency can’t stop it because they don’t have the money and the personnel.”

Glen Sachet, spokesman for Mt. Hood National Forest, agreed that enforcement was a problem. But, he said, budget cuts and an ongoing decline in timber sales have left the agency with fewer resources to patrol a forest that has more than 3,400 miles of roads and about 1,000 miles of trails -- including about 100 that are open to dirt bikers and ATV riders.

“I would say the need is greater than the resources we have, and we will fully utilize all the human and monetary resources we have,” Sachet said.

About 240 people now work at Mt. Hood, down from about 800 in 1990. The forest, which encompasses more than 1 million acres 20 miles east of Portland, eliminated its entire road maintenance staff earlier this year to save money, turning to private contractors instead.

Despite its budget woes, the Forest Service has done its best to educate users about the dangers -- and consequences -- of using illegal trails, Sachet said. Riding on or building an illegal trail can draw a $5,000 fine.

No one has been cited since the Gibson Prairie ban went into effect in June.

Kovarovics, of the Wilderness Society, notes that there are about 274,000 miles of roads and trails open on national forests nationwide -- more than enough for off-road enthusiasts to enjoy.

“I don’t think most folks would conceive of going out and blazing their own routes on their neighbor’s property. It should be no less unacceptable on lands belonging to everybody,” he said.