Believe it or not, it’s hunting season. For many people, the fall hunt is about getting outside with friends and family, listening to elk bugle, watching the leaves turn and even cheering on the first snowflakes. While it may feel strange given that we haven’t wrapped up fire season completely, it is the time of year where avid outdoors people take to the mountains in search of hunting big game. One renowned destination for solitude, scenery, and wildlife is the Ochoco Mountains.

This forest was once a best-kept secret tucked away in a remote pocket of Central Oregon. That’s no longer the case. Upward of 70,000 people just visited the Ochocos for the “Symbiosis” eclipse festival. Headline articles in papers across the West mentioned the Ochoco National Forest, and the 70,000 people who had likely never even heard of the Ochocos are now talking about them to friends and family. The cat is out of the bag, and the Ochocos are no longer under wraps. They are on the radar of people seeking a reprieve from the crowded trailheads in the high Cascades. People are even starting to pronounce “Ochoco” correctly!

We thankfully made it through the solar eclipse with minimal damage to our public land. Unfortunately, we now face yet another destructive threat, and this one is sure to cause even more long-term and detrimental effects than a fleeting solar eclipse: The Ochoco Summit Off Road Vehicle Project. This 137-mile ATV trail system will cut across the Ochoco National Forest, adding to the roughly 700 miles of illegal trail already there and causing irreparable harm to wildlife and quiet recreation. Motorized trails will cross tributaries to the wild and scenic North Fork Crooked River, threatening struggling populations of redband trout. Motorized trails will cut through old growth areas, some of the most pristine wildlife habitats remaining on the landscape. This will not be the forest for hunters and anglers if the plan goes through.

A recent Bulletin article highlighted the Oregon Hunters Association (OHA), the state’s largest hunting organization made up of more than 10,000 dues-paying members, and its recent decision to file a lawsuit to stop this project. I applaud OHA for standing up for wildlife and conservation. This is the third separate lawsuit from six different organizations that represent significantly different constituents, highlighting the broad level of opposition and overwhelming unpopularity of the proposal.

What does the future of hunting and quiet recreation look like in the Ochoco Mountains? According to the U.S. Forest Service’s own survey data, hikers, hunters, anglers, and campers outnumber OHV users 50 to 1 in the Ochocos. Yet the agency wants to spend a huge amount of time and public money on an off-road vehicle playground that would degrade the experience of responsible low-impact recreational users of the forest.

The Ochocos are a place where you can stand among majestic old growth ponderosa pine and relax in peaceful solitude, and this ATV proposal is igniting a much-needed conversation about what we want the future of our forest to look like. It’s time to think long term and proactively about a plan that balances increased conservation with low-impact recreation and fuels reduction. Protecting the Ochoco Mountains as a National Recreation Area would ensure that hunters, anglers, bikers, equestrians, trail runners and other recreationists will be able to enjoy the Ochoco Mountains for generations to come. These protections would provide an opportunity to thoughtfully balance recreation and wildlife into the future, and to help preserve this public lands treasure that we can all share.

— Sarah Cuddy is the Ochoco Mountains Coordinator for Oregon Wild. 
She lives in Bend.

What does the future of hunting and quiet recreation look like in the Ochoco Mountains? According to the U.S. Forest Service’s own survey data, hikers, hunters, anglers, and campers outnumber OHV users 50 to 1 in the Ochocos. Yet the agency wants to spend a huge amount of time and public money on an off-road vehicle playground that would degrade the experience of responsible low-impact recreational users of the forest.