Rex Trail Closure

[Ronster]

Hot off the presses :mad:



Rex Trail closes to large off-road vehicles

By Tim Mowry
Published Wednesday, May 7, 2008

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The Rex Trail, a popular moose hunting area south of Fairbanks, will be closed to large off-road vehicles this fall.
The Department of Natural Resources in Fairbanks announced its decision to restrict ORVs weighing more than 1,500 pounds from using the trail about two weeks ago in a newspaper ad and will be holding two public meetings next week to inform the public why the decision was made as well as get input on future management of the trail.
The decision is a temporary one, emphasized Jeanne Proulx, natural resource manager for DNR in Fairbanks. The weight restrictions will be in effect from June 13 to Oct. 31, she said. The restrictions apply only to the Rex Trail on the east side of the Parks Highway.
The DNR has notified several individuals and user groups concerning its decision to restrict traffic on the trail and, as expected, the reactions have been mixed, Proulx said.
“We recognize this decision will impact people using these types of vehicles,” she said. “We have heard concerns from them. We’ve also heard from people who are supportive of the restrictions.”
The Rex Trail begins at 276 Mile Parks Highway and runs for about 50 miles through the foothills of the Alaska Range to the Wood River. While the trail is used year round by private landowners and placer miners for hauling supplies, the bulk of traffic comes during September when hordes of moose hunters on four-wheelers, track rigs and modified off-road vehicles travel the trail looking for moose, Proulx said.
Traffic on — and damage to — the trail has increased in the past four years because of increased hunting pressure as a result of large-scale antlerless moose hunts the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has initiated to reduce the moose population in game management Unit 20A. The trail was nearly impassable by the end of the hunting season last year because of heavy use. The DNR received complaints from several users after the hunting season, Proulx said.
DNR made the decision to restrict large ORVs such as Nodwells, a commonly-found track rig in Alaska, as well as modified pickup trucks and military vehicles, due “to the nature of the use and the amount of it,” Proulx said.
Currently, any vehicles that are more than 1,500 pounds must obtain a permit from DNR to legally use the trail.
As a result of weight restrictions, Proulx said the DNR will not be issuing any permits for heavier vehicles on the trail from June 13 to Oct. 31, but permits will be issued during the winter.
The DNR is holding a meeting in the Parks Highway community of Anderson on Tuesday from 7-10 p.m. at the Anderson School, and there is a meeting scheduled in Fairbanks on Wednesday at the Noel Wien Library Auditorium from 7-10 p.m.
In addition to explaining the decision behind the weight restrictions, DNR is seeking feedback on what to do in the future, Proulx said.
“We have received so many different suggestions and recommendations that we want to get some public input on how people feel about some of the different management options,” she said.
Recommendations run the gamut, Proulx said.
Some people want the trail left as it is, with no restrictions; some think the trail should be upgraded or hardened and others think the trail should be either partially or completely re-routed, she said.
“It’s a very broad range,” Proulx said. “We want to describe what some of these recommendations are and what ones are most feasible under the circumstances.”
The decision can be appealed and Proulx expects it will be. The appeal period is May 13 to June 2, she said.

[naturalbornmudder]

Brothers,

this is where the proverbial rubber meets the road as far as where Tread Lightly!, the UFWDA, and the Blue Ribbon Coalition have the biggest impact. The Rex trail is the front line in the battle for responsible trail users like Arctic Offroad and our southern brothers to make a stand, take responsibility of our community land, not just our personal actions. AO and others like us are constantly preaching land use responsibility and the self-governing hobby-ist.

Here it is. The time to practice what we preach. To take thoughtful responsible action by making our voices herd, and what's more importantly, make our actions known.

I advise active contact and participation with the DNR to let them know AO's interest in supporting open trails and shared responsibility in the upkeep of the trails we value.

Inaction is something that AO cannot afford, in my opinion. If the collective voice is not heard here, then there is an impression of people not being concerned.

IF AO speaks out, I would recommend supporting the decision to temporarily close the trail to allow for trail repair and trail healing in order to, at a future date, allow trhe trail to be reopened and monitored. DNR, BLM, and any other land governing resource is actually an ally of what AO believes, and we should let them know we want our trasils to remain open, and unchanged by the irresponsible.

[akdsmer]

Proulx said the DNR will not be issuing any permits for heavier vehicles on the trail from June 13 to Oct. 31, but permits will be issued during the winter.

Time to apply for a permit.

[ARCTIC_EXPRESS]

I like how there was no actual dates of the meetings just tuesday and wednesday

[akdsmer]

The Department of Natural Resources in Fairbanks announced its decision to restrict ORVs weighing more than 1,500 pounds from using the trail about two weeks ago in a newspaper ad and will be holding two public meetings next week to inform the public why the decision was made as well as get input on future management of the trail.The DNR is holding a meeting in the Parks Highway community of Anderson on Tuesday from 7-10 p.m. at the Anderson School, and there is a meeting scheduled in Fairbanks on Wednesday at the Noel Wien Library Auditorium from 7-10 p.m.

Here you go...

[ARCTIC_EXPRESS]

tuesday this week, last week, 2 years from now? doesnt give a date just a day

Here you go...

[akdsmer]

Here you go...

By Tim Mowry
Published Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Originally Posted by Ronster
The Department of Natural Resources in Fairbanks announced its decision to restrict ORVs weighing more than 1,500 pounds from using the trail about two weeks ago in a newspaper ad and will be holding two public meetings next week to inform the public why the decision was made as well as get input on future management of the trail.The DNR is holding a meeting in the Parks Highway community of Anderson on Tuesday from 7-10 p.m. at the Anderson School, and there is a meeting scheduled in Fairbanks on Wednesday at the Noel Wien Library Auditorium from 7-10 p.m.

I took the published date, and the statement "meetings next week" and "Wednesday at the Noel Wien Library Auditorium from 7-10p.m." to make come to my conclusion....Wednesday May 14th at the Noel Wien Library Auditorium from 7-10pm. :p

[ChevyKev]

Or you could look at the thread about the meeting on this that was posted last week... :whistle:

http://www.arcticoffroad.com/forum/showt...php?t=7102

[Ronster]

I forgot about the meeting last night, did anyone attend? It looks like there was a good turnout, but everyone was throwing the 4 wheeler and non track vehicles under the bus.

Here is the article from the news miner:

Rex Trail users blast closure of hunting route



Off-road vehicle owners tore into officials from the Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday night for the agency’s decision to close a popular moose-hunting trail south of Fairbanks this fall because of supposed damage caused by their rigs.
About 30 people attended a meeting at the Noel Wien Library to hear why the DNR recently decided to impose seasonal weight restrictions on the eastern Rex Trail, about 80 miles south of Fairbanks. The decision prohibits ORVs weighing more than 1,500 pounds from using the trail between April 15 and Oct. 31. It will go into effect June 13, unless it is overturned.
The Rex Trail is a 50-mile trail through the Alaska Range foothills that starts near Mile 280 of the Parks Highway and ends at the Wood River. It attracts hundreds of moose hunters each fall on off-road vehicles ranging from small three- and four-wheelers to track rigs to modified pickup trucks with oversized tires.
Use on the trail has skyrocketed in the past three years as a result of a liberal, large-scale cow moose hunt in the area, which has attracted more hunters from other parts of the state to the moose-rich Interior.
The DNR made its decision to close the trail after assessing damage to the trail last fall and winter following several complaints about the conditions of the trail from hunters and other users, said natural resource manager Jeanne Proulx.
During an inspection of the trail, DNR officials found ruts 3- and 4-feet deep in some places. In others, there was water flowing down the trail. New trails had been blazed around particularly bad spots, creating a “braiding effect,” she said.
The decision to close the trail was based on the DNR’s policy to manage trails for as much multiple use as possible, Proulx said. Damage to the trail this year was so severe that it even hindered travel by snowmachiners in the winter, she said.
“What we’re managing for here is multiple use all year round, not just one month a year,” Proulx said.
Nearly everyone who offered an opinion at the meeting spoke against the decision, sometimes passionately.
Speakers, many of them owners of track rigs that will be prohibited from using the trail under the new policy, questioned the DNR’s research on what kind of vehicles are doing the damage, wondered why there were no public hearings held before the decision was made and said owners of “monster trucks” from Southcentral are responsible for damaging the trail.
Track rig owners said their vehicles, which have wide treads and exert less pressure on the terrain wheeled vehicles, do less damage than four-wheelers and modified highway vehicles with tires.
“We’ve been using this trail for 30 or 40 years, and we weren’t tearing the trail up,” said Rogge Hunter of North Pole, who owns a track rig and a cabin on the Rex Trail. “It wasn’t until those guys from Anchorage, Eagle River and Wasilla came up here with their big-tired rigs that there was a problem.”
Others at the meeting echoed Hunter’s opinion. If anything, four-wheelers should be banned from using the trail before ORVs, said Greg Shaffer of Fairbanks, who doesn’t own a track rig but hunts with a friend who does.
Shaffer referred to statistics from the Department of Fish and Game that showed the number of hunters using ATVs on the trail has nearly tripled in the past three years since the cow moose hunt along the trail was expanded while the number of large ORVs using the trail has remained basically the same.
It’s the ATVs that are digging up the trail and creating side trails around mud holes they can’t get through, he said.
The lack of public input leading up to the decision was also mentioned, though Proulx said the decision did not require the DNR to hold public meetings.
“You made this decision before any public meetings were held and people could comment on it,” said track rig owner Mel Grove, a Big Lake resident formerly from Fairbanks who still hunts on the Rex Trail. “The route you’ve gone about this is unfair to the public. It lumps all ORV users into one group.”
Restricting ORVs from Rex Trail will create the same kind of problems elsewhere, noted Mike Lewis of North Pole, another track rig owner.
“Are you guys prepared for where everybody is going to go if you close us off from the Rex Trail?” Lewis asked. “If you squeeze it here, it’s going to pop out somewhere else.”
Others said it’s not the ORVs that are the problem as much as it is the drivers.
“The people who are driving their track rigs responsibly to get to where they’re going, I don’t have a problem with,” said John Morack, who has hunted along the Rex Trail for several years. “The people who aren’t ought to be stopped.”
Part of the problem is that DNR does not have any enforcement authority to cite those who are violating generally allowed uses on state land, such as operating an ORV more than 1,500 pounds on a trail without a permit or leaving the trail and plowing over trees, said Proulx. That’s another issue that the DNR is trying to address, she said.
The decision to impose seasonal weight restrictions on the Rex Trail has already been appealed and it will be up to DNR commissioner Tom Irwin whether to reconsider it, said Chris Milles, acting regional manager for DNR in Fairbanks. Milles expects more appeals before the appeal deadline on June 2.

[naturalbornmudder]

Brothers,

this is where the proverbial rubber meets the road as far as where Tread Lightly!, the UFWDA, and the Blue Ribbon Coalition have the biggest impact. The Rex trail is the front line in the battle for responsible trail users like Arctic Offroad and our southern brothers to make a stand, take responsibility of our community land, not just our personal actions. AO and others like us are constantly preaching land use responsibility and the self-governing hobby-ist.

Here it is. The time to practice what we preach. To take thoughtful responsible action by making our voices herd, and what's more importantly, make our actions known.

I advise active contact and participation with the DNR to let them know AO's interest in supporting open trails and shared responsibility in the upkeep of the trails we value.

Inaction is something that AO cannot afford, in my opinion. If the collective voice is not heard here, then there is an impression of people not being concerned.

IF AO speaks out, I would recommend supporting the decision to temporarily close the trail to allow for trail repair and trail healing in order to, at a future date, allow trhe trail to be reopened and monitored. DNR, BLM, and any other land governing resource is actually an ally of what AO believes, and we should let them know we want our trasils to remain open, and unchanged by the irresponsible.

looks like AO missed the boat...

[trailkilla]

Yeah I read the article and really don't know what to think. I would say that the DNR should lighten up a little and let nature take its course

[Ronster]

Unfortuanly, in all facets of life, one person (or group of people) can ruin something, and the rest of us have to pay for it.

[ChevyKev]

I beg to differ that we missed the boat.

“You made this decision before any public meetings were held and people could comment on it,” said track rig owner Mel Grove, a Big Lake resident formerly from Fairbanks who still hunts on the Rex Trail. “The route you’ve gone about this is unfair to the public. It lumps all ORV users into one group.”

1. The decision was made without the public.

2. Track rig owners have a point - I know Mike Lewis - built a bumper for him. He showed me photos of him going out 12-20 years ago. The larger track rigs if driven responsibly don't do much damage.

3. The decision was made without the public.

4. “You made this decision before any public meetings were held and people could comment on it,” said track rig owner Mel Grove, a Big Lake resident formerly from Fairbanks who still hunts on the Rex Trail. “The route you’ve gone about this is unfair to the public. It lumps all ORV users into one group.”

5. The decision was made without the public.

6. AO has never run this trail - and we probably wouldn't run it in the summer/fall due to trail conditions. There are certain trails we understand we can't travel in the summer because of the type of terraine. The fact that other similar users have tried and have damaged the trail hurts our efforts. As Ron's last post mentioned.

7. Did I mention that the decision was made without the public.

8. If we went to the meeting and talked about Tread Lightly - we would also basically have to side with the time restraints the state has just imposed. Because when we drive our type of vehicles through miles and miles of muskeg in the summertime - we will damage the trail. That's why we stick to higher ground for the most part in the summertime.

[naturalbornmudder]

Quite the contrary sir, as Ron's timestamp 7 days prior to the meeting date for posting shows, as does your one a week prior to that, AO did miss the boat. Not you, Mr. Prez, AO.
This is the same old discussion that you and I had several times before about getting the club populus involved more feverishly in the topics that present themselves in meetings and on this forum.
Any current AO member could have gone and sat in on the meeting and took the proverbial high ground, irregardless of whether we take to the literal high ground in the summer time, or not.
In my opinion, I believe that AO should have sided with the state on this one. In the spirit of temp closing a trail for repairs/healing as opposed to permanently closing a trail when it has gotten too bad to do anythign about.
Thats why it was a good idea for AO to have a committee for such things. If Ao wants to turn the tides of closed trails and banned rigs, we have to publically show our true colors, not just stick to the fights that directly effect us.
if we take the "as long as it isnt in my back yard" approach, the momentum of taking away things as well as the momentum of decisions being made without public consent will go unchecked.
Passionate? you bet yer a$$. This is my land as well as yours. We value the right to travel on trails and wheel responsibly. I'll be damned if I can sit by and watch my rights being taken away due to the actions of the abusive minority.
Our way lies with cooperation in the efforts to keep our land ours.

We cannot sit by and wait for our elected BOD to make every meeting, write every letter or brief every action. We need to work as a cohesive team to spread the good word, the responsible word to snow machiners, 4 wheelers, DNR, BLM, local governments, and John Q Public that AO is responsible intelligent, and unwillign to allow our rights to be taken away. AO is willing to fight to keep our trails open, but would rather cooperate to keep them open.

[akdsmer]

Nate is just mad because this trail will be in his backyard and he won't be able to wheel it.

AO should have had a presence there I agree. To stand up (with the correct information) and state that the current uses on this trail does have to stop and improvements do have to be made-that we do care about future use and the condition of trails. It would also allow us to present ourselves as a environmentally friendly group to the management agencies that we may have to deal with in the future.

I say that the president (the Honorable Chevy Kev) should appoint a member(s) to keep the club informed on the trail issues and to, with the BOD, provide a face for AO at these type of forums.

No, not me. I nominate Nate.

[naturalbornmudder]

actually, let me clarify. I called l Pres today and in all actuality, he and I are in complete agreement with what was posted. We both agree that it isnt Ao's fault the trail got closed, but that we should be louder with our collective voice once an announcement of a meeting was mentioned.