Eastern Washington Off Road

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201001 ... /701189889

Published: Monday, January 18, 2010

Reiter Foothills trail work delayed, frustrating off-road riders
By Andy Rathbun
Herald Writer

GOLD BAR — State officials have bumped back their plans to work on new trails at Reiter Foothills so they can first respond to an outpouring of public complaints.

More than 400 responses were received during an environmental review of the state’s plans, said Candace Johnson, an assistant regional manager with the Department of Natural Resources.

Officials wanted to respond to the comments by last December, but now believe their timetable will be moved back by at least a month.

“We’re really sorry for any inconvenience that this causes folks, but we need them to be patient,” Johnson said.

The news of the delay riled off-road users like Mike Leibold, 68, who owns Everett Powersports. He is pursuing legal action against the state to reopen the site.

“There will be every kind of delay that they can conjure up,” Leibold said.

The 10,000-acre forest was shut down in early November, angering off-road enthusiasts who have frequented it for decades.

About 250 people attended a public meeting in October, expressing doubt and dismay with the state’s plans to redraw the riding trails on a smaller parcel of land.

Mark Mauren, an assistant division manager with the Department of Natural Resources, attended that meeting.

“They feel that this is a ploy on the DNR’s part to close the ORV (off-road vehicle) users out across the state, which isn’t true,” he said.

State officials say the work is necessary to keep trails from running across streams and causing erosion on the public land.

Many people who ride off-road vehicles disagree with that plan, Leibold included. He said the closure at Reiter Foothills is among the reasons business dropped at Everett Powersports.

“One is the economic climate, the other is the closure,” Leibold said. “There’s no place to ride.”



Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com.

As far as I know this work party which was in prep for the trail rebuilding work to begin (whenever it actually does???) did happen this last Sunday the 17th


I would like to get a work party set on the calendar for the month of January. There are a couple things that I would like to accomplish:

1. There is a dumped canopy camper under the power lines on the very steep hill where they head down towards Index. I will need at least 2 rigs with winches and some agile people who want to scale down the hill to help pick up the trash with me.

2. The first big wave of restoration work is looking like it will begin soon. We are going to be placing straw bails, straw blankets, straw waddles and other erosion control stuff at the stream crossings. The second wave will be later this winter in planting native species in those stream crossings. I anticipate being ready by January 17th with supplies to begin this work.

On another note, I believe we will be having a public workshop in the Monroe area on January 13th. This meeting will be to get everybody up to speed on our restoration plans, update on trail planning and construction, and get people scheduled for work parties. I know that this is the date of your January RTW meeting, but that is how it ended up Sorry!

We will be sending out an invitation email soon regarding this meeting. Please stay tuned.

I hope I have more to share with you all soon!

Thanks,

David Way
Reiter Foothills Recreation Manager
(360) 854-2830
david.way@dnr.wa.gov