New off-road trails picked

A new network of off-road vehicle trails would add more than 140 miles of trails to the area south and west of Crescent, under a new proposal from the U.S. Forest Service.

The Three Trails OHV Project is designed to outline where off-highway vehicle enthusiasts can ride on the Crescent Ranger District, said Joan Kittrell, team leader with the ranger district.

Nationwide restriction

In 2005, the U.S. Forest Service passed a nationwide rule requiring national forests to develop maps designating which areas and trails were open to motorized vehicles — all the rest of each forest would be off-limits. This was a switch for Central Oregon’s national forests, where most areas were open to off-highway vehicles unless officials specifically designated them as closed.

So the Crescent Ranger District and an advisory committee started to work on mapping areas where trails should be open to motorized vehicles under the new rules, Kittrell said. The district covers the portion of the Deschutes National Forest southwest of La Pine.

“They looked at where they could all agree on where the trails could go, where we could have sustainable trails,” she said.

After making a couple of drafts of a trail system, and taking into account public concerns about how the trails connect or the number of miles involved, the agency released its preferred option earlier this week.

The proposed trail system involves trails just for motorcycles, trails for motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, and trails for four-wheel-drive vehicles like Jeeps. It avoids the riverside areas and gets rid of stream crossings, Kittrell said, and often sticks to trails that riders have already created to avoid creating tracks across additional ground.

“We’ll utilize as much of the disturbed ground as we can,” she said.

Close or rehabilitate

The proposal recommends closing about 115 miles of Forest Service roads and rehabilitating 94 miles of trails that riders have created.

The trail system was designed to connect three areas, she said.

The northern section, near Crescent Junction, includes a trail around Royce Mountain and the Black Rock Pit area. The central area around the Two Rivers community includes several motorcycle loops and longer trails, she said. And the southern area includes trails for Jeeps and other four-wheel-drive vehicles, she said, as well as the other types of motorized recreation.

Some prefer more

Patti Pyland, with Deschutes County 4-Wheelers, was wading though the 500 pages of the Forest Service’s draft environmental statement Tuesday. She prefers an alternative to the one highlighted by the Forest Service — one with more trails for Jeeps and other four-wheel-drive vehicles.

“If they don’t build the trails without satisfying obstacles and trail elements, it’s not going to solve the problem,” she said. “People will be bored.”

Riders want rocks to climb over, changes in grade and direction, ascents and descents — “something to do other than drive down a road,” she said.

Joni Mogstad, who owns a cabin in the area and advocates for off-highway-vehicle riders, said that while she can’t yet comment on the plan itself, it’s important the proposal includes access to parking and staging areas, restrooms and other infrastructure, including good signs. And riders need trails that are connected, so they don’t have to retrace their steps, as well as trails of varying difficulty.

“There needs to be a place where beginners can go and sort of get their feet wet,” Mogstad said, “but there also needs to be places where there’s a challenge for experienced riders.”

Wildlife concern

But Tim Lillebo, with the conservation group Oregon Wild, said he is concerned about the proliferation of off-road vehicles and the areas where the trails are. Trails can disrupt wildlife habitat or migration corridors, he said, noting that the Deschutes National Forest already has thousands of miles of roads.

“We’ve got to be really careful when we create new ones,” he said.

People can comment on the proposed trail system until mid-November, and the Forest Service is hosting an open house on the subject on Oct. 21. The agency plans to have a final environmental report on the project in late winter or early spring, Kittrell said, and could start work on designing the new staging areas and putting up signs on existing loops.

Project info

For more information, including maps of the routes, visit www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/travel-mgmt/threetrails/index.shtml or contact Joan Kittrell or Holly Jewkes at (541) 433-3200. Comments are due by Nov. 15, and should be sent to Holly Jewkes, Crescent Ranger District, P.O. Box 208, Crescent, OR 97733.

The agency will also hold an open house about the project from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Central Cascades Fire and EMS District Community Service Center building, 20400 Crescent Lake Highway in Crescent Lake.