The Forest Service law enforcement officer visited us at our club meeting tonight. There were a few things brought up that I want to pass along. The forest service is seriously considering closing both the Mtn Lake trail and the fire-circle end of Bobcat due to issues including the following:
The mud holes at Mtn Lake are not to be driven through. I realize this sounds ridiculous, but this is the word from the Forest Service and that is that. Although the mudholes have well-used lead-ins from the main trail, they are considered to be "off the trail". Another problem area is the coal-hill area at Mtn. Lake. The main trail there is on national forest land, but the hill itself is on private land. The landowner does not want vehicles driving through the short little trails over the bank there. I know that these areas of the trail have been used for years and years, and that the common understanding was that these obstacles directly next to the trail were fair game, so lets not kick ourselves over it. What's done is done, so at this point please just pass the word along about these guidelines for the use of the Mtn Lake trail.
There was also some talk about Bobcat. Numerous landowners who own land adjacent and overlapping with the upper section of the trail have complained to the forest service. It sounds like most of these complaints are directed towards activities outside of our club (ATV use, drinking, deviating from the trail, etc), but there are also some landowners that simply do not want any vehicles crossing their property. The majority of private land that we wheel on Bobcat is owned by a man that the club maintains good relations with. The club will be attempting to contact and establish good relations with the rest of the landowners, even those whose land only slightly overlaps the trail, or simply borders it. In the meantime, please continue to uphold the club bylaws and report incidents you witness to the club officers and/or the Blacksburg Ranger Station or Montgomery Co. Sherrif.
Our club has and will continue to 4-wheel responsibly, and educate others so that they may do the same. We may catch a bad rap from the actions of those outside of the club. The best we can do is attempt to show that we ARE a responsible group that cares about proper land use. Expect to see some more on how we can more actively pursue this goal.
Moved from a separate thread:
Unregistered motor vehicles are not allowed to operate on national forest land. I have spoken with the forest service law enforcement officer for the blacksburg area in the past and illegal ATV usage is a large area of concern in this area for the forest service. After the most recent snow, I was mountain biking on Brush and the tracks in the snow showed that an ATV had gone all the way down and up a BICYCLE trail which leads from the mudholes area to Pandapas Pond. There was noticeable damage done to this bike trail, which lies on NF land. In the past, I have called-in to Montgomery Co. Sherrif/Blacksburg NF Station to report illegal ATV usage, and have had IMMEDIATE results, with a game warden or forest service officer showing up at the fire circle to wait for the offenders to return to their trailer. I encourage club members to report their sightings of illegal use and abuse of national forest land to the Blacksburg Ranger Station (540-552-4641 - during business hours) or the Montgomery Co. Sherrif (540-382-2951 - outside of normal business hours).
Urgent information from the Forest Service
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