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Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

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Rut Row
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Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by Rut Row »

Team - we are on a roll! What a great day in Maryland of OHV enthusiasts.

My day started out with a 2-hour meeting with Donnelle Keech of The Nature Conservancy (TNC). My goal was to establish a positive working relationship and common vision for public riding areas using reclaimed mines. It was a very successful meeting in that regard. We discussed how our goals are not mutually exclusive and how we both can achieve our goals together. We will be meeting again soon to continue those discussions. I'm very confident that TNC will be a willing partner in OHV riding areas.

Next was the DNR's ORV Stakeholders' meeting -- a seismic event! First, DNR is moving to the next phase leading to the opening of Savage River State Forest and the Sideling Hill Wildlife Management Area for OHV riding. Yes, you heard that correctly! It isn't a done deal yet. The next step is in April DNR will conduct a 2-day field review which will included selected OHV participants to evaluate the proposed trails (read that to ride them), then a public comment period. If that goes well, then the State will award a contract for construction of parking, primitive camping, some trail extension, etc. Volunteers will be a large part of trail construction. This all could lead to public riding starting in 2014.

Side note: The NOVHCC trails planning guides that the Dealers' Assoc funded have been distributed to the State and DNR is ecstatic. The comments I got back was this was exactly what they have been looking for.

The public recreation and trails meeting was once again dominated by OHV people. I thought it went very well and our needs are getting documented.

Last good news is the State received the letter from Allegany County inquiring about the State leasing recreational rights to reclaimed mines and then opening that land for public riding - think Hatfield-McCoy. The unofficial word I got was the State thinks this is workable.
Ken
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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by Ovo »

Great Job Ken...Thanks for your efforts and we are ready to go to work!!!
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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by Wingfixer »

This sounds like all good news! Great work Ken! Now, what time are you coming by the house tomorrow?
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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by Rut Row »

Wingfixer wrote:This sounds like all good news! Great work Ken! Now, what time are you coming by the house tomorrow?
If the Talbot County offices are closed then the meeting will be rescheduled. Am checking that now.
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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by Rut Row »

Here's what the local paper had to say
Cumberland Times-News
March 5, 2013
Off-road vehicle users want room to roam
Lack of public trails forcing state riders to take their money elsewhere, DNR told

Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News

— CUMBERLAND — Off-road vehicle users, hoping to use trails on Maryland’s public lands, dominated the discussion Tuesday at a Department of Natural Resources public meeting aimed at determining public desires for outdoor recreation.

The gathering at Allegany College of Maryland was one of three conducted throughout the state.

Although moderator John Wilson asked that participants take a “big picture” view of outdoor recreation in Maryland, the discussion moved quickly to the lack of public ORV trails and the fact that state riders are going elsewhere and taking their money with them.

Chris Alls, Swanton, said he and his family moved from Washington, D.C., to Garrett County and soon discovered that they had more access to ORV riding trails when they lived in the nation’s capital.

“I sit and watch snowmobiles ride across frozen Deep Creek Lake and can’t go on there with my (all-terrain vehicle) because it’s illegal,” Alls said. “ATV riders would come from all over if they knew they could ride on the lake. There’s no other lake in the region that freezes like that, enough to support riding.”

Randy Beeman, Georges Creek, was among the riders who said they often drive to southern West Virginia to use the Hatfield-McCoy Trail there.

“I’ve got a $10,000 machine in my garage and I’m going to ride it somewhere, and I’m going to spend money wherever that is,” Beeman said.

ORV riding on DNR lands became an issue a year ago when the agency closed trails on the Green Ridge State Forest in Allegany County and the Savage River State Forest in Garrett County.

Among the other public land issues brought up at the meeting was the need for additional vehicle access to wildlife management areas for hunting.

“When I was a young hunter you could drive deeper into the WMAs, but now they are gated, some of them all year long,” said Jerry Zembower, president of the Allegany-Garrett Sportsmen’s Association. “Our hunters are aging. They can’t walk way back into the mountains like they used to and they sure can’t pull a deer out that far.”

Information gathered at these meetings and also by telephone and online surveys will be compiled by GreenPlay LLC, a Lafayette, Colo., consulting firm dealing with parks, recreation and open space.

GreenPlay Senior Project Consultant Ann Miller said a similar meeting held recently in southern Maryland was also dominated by the ORV issue.

GreenPlay will provide an outdoor recreation draft management plan to DNR by November. The plan will be used to guide recreation on state lands for the next five years.

The plan must be completed for Maryland to be eligible for federal money via the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Wilson said Maryland has received about $1 million annually, most of which has been used for land acquisition.

Beeman said young people who learn early to ride in a responsible way will not tear up state lands.

“In Pennsylvania, I saw a 3-year-old on a dirt bike with training wheels and he was outfitted just like his dad. Teach them to tread lightly and they won’t become outlaws,” he said.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.
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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by Granville »

How many miles of trail is Savage going to make available? Is there an opportunity to connect with some of the mines to form a loop?

This is great news and I don't think it would be happening if it were not for you.
THANK YOU KEN!
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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by phoo »

Great work, Ken!


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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by Boom Boom »

Ken, that all is great info.
Wish I could be more positive about the direction I see PA going.
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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by asr »

Thank you to all those that was able to take the time and help with the meeting
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Re: Backbrief - DNR Meetings 5 March

Post by Rut Row »

Granville wrote:How many miles of trail is Savage going to make available? Is there an opportunity to connect with some of the mines to form a loop?

This is great news and I don't think it would be happening if it were not for you.
THANK YOU KEN!
Jim - minimum fof 12 (6 out, 6 back) but they have agreed to cut in some loops so I'm not sure of the answer yet.

We (Ray and I) are already talking about how connect it to the mines.

and thanks for you vote of confidence!

now then, when is the spring DAMN ride at Barton? :whip:
Ken
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