Conservationists sue to block Sled Springs OHV

Written by Wallowa County Chieftain

Monday, December 28, 2009

Kathleen Ellyn

The Hells Canyon Preservation Council (HCPC) last week filed a lawsuit to block the Sled Springs OHV Project planned by the Forest Service.

The project would establish a 144-mile trail system for Off-Highway Vehicles (OHV) within the broader, nearly 40,000-acre Sled Spring Wildlife Management Unit.

HCPC, in a Dec. 23 press release, identified the area as "crucial wildlife habitat" and "the highest quality elk summer range." They pointed to Forest Service reports that found that motorized vehicles were a threat to maintaining productive elk herds and that elk calf births had declined in the Sled Spring area in recent years as arguments against the planned trail system.

HCPC also criticized the trails based on information that the proposed trails pass through three known Northern Goshawk nest stands and possible corridors for travel that would extend the range of gray wolves and wolverine.

Jennifer Schwartz, HCPC staff attorney, said that the ability of Sled Springs to continue functioning as an important wildlife habitat "has already been impaired by past and present commercial logging and livestock grazing - establishing a large OHV play area on top of all that adds insult to injury."

HCPC argues that OHV systems result in more, not less, off-road trespass in unauthorized areas. ". . . results indicate that OHV users did not confine themselves to designated trails," Schwartz said. "Take for instance the Winom-Frazer OHV Complex Near Ukiah. ODFW found that 27 unauthorized trail segments totaling over 14 miles had originated from just one of the designated trails it surveyed."

Spokespersons for the Forest Service and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife were unavailable for comment due to the holidays. An extended report including comments from the two agencies will be published in the Chieftain after the holidays.

Source: http://www.wallowacountychieftain.info/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=61&ArticleID=20364

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“During the past decade, I have personally had six out of seven elk hunts ruined by the careless intrusions of ATV operators. This epidemic has forced me to abandon one prime hunting area after another, only to encounter the same situation elsewhere. The shameful part of this picture is that the overwhelming majority of these ATV’ers are young and healthy, not decrepit or physically challenged. Maybe these riders would be more respectful of other people's outdoor experience if they knew we could ID them."

- Bill Sustrich, Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers