Feds seek input on Cline Buttes recreation plan

Kate Ramsayer

The juniper woodlands and sagebrush-covered stretches of Cline Buttes draw hikers, mountain bikers, equestrian and off-highway vehicle riders looking for a place to play near Redmond and Sisters.

Over the years, people have created a network of trails on and around the buttes — some on Bureau of Land Management land, and some edging into private property.

“There's a lot of use going on in this area, and a lot of it isn't organized,” said Bill Dean, assistant field manager with the Prineville BLM district. “What's out there — it's not designated for the recreation experience.”

So, for the last three years, BLM staffers have held public meetings, hosted design workshops and drafted a new plan for the 32,000-acre Cline Buttes Recreation Area. The proposed plan — with an environmental study examining the impacts of different actions, maps of potential trail routes and descriptions of juniper-thinning projects — was released Friday, and the federal agency is asking members of the public what they think of the different options.

“We wanted to improve the safety and quality of the recreation experience,” Dean said.

The existing trails, created by riders, ranchers, drivers and hikers over the years, are used by a variety of people, which can create a hazardous situation if horses, mountain bikes and vehicles cross paths, he said. The area features more than 7 miles of routes per square mile, and the trails break up the habitat for animals, and can help spread weeds as well.

Those factors led to the BLM decision to establish trail systems on Cline Buttes, Dean said.

The plan sets out three different sets of options, as well as an option to do nothing. All of the options work to separate the different types of recreation, especially the mountain bikers and equestrians, he said.

In the option being proposed by the BLM, the agency would set up more than 90 miles of trails and routes for motorized vehicles, said Greg Currie with the Prineville BLM, and 120 miles of non- motorized trails.

Pedestrians, equestrians and mountain bikers would see an extensive trail system in the Maston area, Currie said, and there would be a pedestrian-only area around the old Tumalo Canal area. Two trailheads would lead to trail systems on the buttes themselves, he said — one for equestrians, and one for hikers and mountain bikers.

There would not be any trails for motorized vehicles on the buttes, Currie said, but there would be areas elsewhere designed for single-track motorcycles, jeeps and other off-highway vehicles.

“We're trying to provide for really interesting trails, (at) a variety of skill levels,” Currie said. “And we're really going for quality of trail experience, as opposed to just quantity.”

Many Redmond residents head to Cline Buttes to ride off-highway vehicles, said Eric Platt, owner of Midstate Power Products in Redmond. The trails are close, and there are options for everyone from beginners to experts, he said. But the unofficial trails sometimes cross private property lines, he said, and riders can unexpectedly come up to a fence — something an official trail system could fix. And Platt said he would also welcome a BLM trail system if it was well maintained so that ATV riders wouldn't hit rocks and obstacles that can damage their vehicles.

“It would be nice to go ride on a good, maintained trail system,” he said.

The Cline Buttes Recreation Area plan also includes efforts to cut down small juniper trees on 62 percent of the 32,000-acre area, Dean said.

The young junipers can suck up lots of water and put stress on the old-growth trees, shrubs and grasses, he said. All the small trees would also make it more difficult for firefighters to tackle wildfires, he said.

“A big part of our effort out there is to reduce the fire threat,” Dean said.

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Source: http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091019/NEWS0107/910190360/-1/RSSNEWSMAP

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