Archives 2007
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Archives 2007 |
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November 23rd, 2007 Late-Breaking News... A Fordyce Construction Company work-crew using heavy-equipment & hand-tools began working on the Rattlesnake Bay OHV Trail on Wednesday, November 14, 2007.Some trail is being 're-routed' to avoid prior severely eroded locations & Turf-Stones are being placed in less severe eroded spots so as to help resist future erosion problems.No definite date for reopening the trail has been confirmed, but we do appear to be considerably closer than we were just a few days ago.Further information will be posted here as it becomes available.
October 4th, 2007 WANT SOME MORE TRAILS TO RIDE ON ??? The US Forest Service in Mississippi is currently working on the Implementation Process for the National OHV Travel Management Rule for National Forests in Mississippi. Forest Supervisor Tony Dixon has ‘encouraged’ me to remain involved in the Process in order to help the Forest Service to be aware of what we want in the way of trails in our National Forests. Several of us attended Open House festivities at both the Chickasawhay District & the Desoto District last spring. At the Chick District meeting we submitted written ‘comments’ & descriptions of what we feel is needed on that District. Primarily, the Ridgerunners’ Original Proposed Clover-Leaf Design 100-Mile Trail System is what we suggested/requested on the Chick District. This is a really sound design which has the potential to provide uninterrupted access to approximately 50 miles of trail at any given time, while also allowing an additional 50 miles or so to be temporarily closed for Natural Healing after some Assisted Rehab following a period of use. This program would prevent such cases as we currently have at Rattlesnake Bay in which the trail is used, abused (by some) & then completely closed for the duration of the Rehab Period. The same ‘total closure’ scenario took place at the Bethel OHV Trail in recent years under the mis-management of former Rangerette Judi Henry. Having the option of closing a portion of available trail for rehab while keeping another 50 or so miles open would help to eliminate a lot of the distrust many of us have for the Forest Service & would allow for Nature to play a major role in rehabilitating worn trail. The trails where we just had the Smokey-Bear-Whiz Enduro sat unused for two years due to fallen trees from Hurricane Katrina blocking much of the trail. That two-year period of ‘non-use’ gave Nature time to do a remarkable job of ‘reclaiming’ a lot of the old trail which (while not extremely damaged) had been showing signs of wear in previous years. That two-year period is roughly equivalent to the time that the rotation of Open/Closed Loops of Trail would allow for the same type of Natural Healing under the Ridgerunners’ Original Proposed Clover-Leaf Design 100-Mile Trail System. And with the two loops of trail that would be open during that time, we would still have access to trails to ride during the Natural Healing Process. This a good plan with a lot of promise for fulfilling both our needs for sustainable trails to ride & the Forest Service’s requirements for preserving the resources our National Forests offer. The primary resistance to this proposed plan is that most people within the Forest Service can not get past the idea of ‘100 MILES OF TRAIL IN A SINGLE RIDING AREA.’ I have pointed out that we are actually talking about only 50 miles of trail at-a-time being open. Still we need to push really hard for this Proposed Trail System. The entire system has been laid-out & GPS’d in the past, only to have the project shut-down before anything was actually done to begin clearing the trails. *The loop of trail that the enduro used is one loop of the Proposed System. The old ‘North Loop’ that was used in enduros in previous years is another. The two loops north & south of the Campground we used this past weekend have never been authorized or cleared, although that project was on a list of projects for the Chickasawhay District a few years ago (before it was removed from consideration). Currently, we have been asked to submit ‘comments’ on the Forest Service’s Proposed Action for National Forests in Mississippi. The glaring problem is that, even after the time & effort we put into attending the Open House Forums & submitting written ‘comments’ at that time, the Forest Service has apparently ignored everything we asked for (specifically the Ridgerunners’ Original Proposed Clover-Leaf Design 100-Mile Trail System for the Chickasawhay District) & has proposed adding nothing in the way of new Designated Trails for our chosen sport. If anyone is truly concerned about doing whatever can be done to get us some more trails in Mississippi, the time to act is now. Listed below are three e-mail addresses to submit ‘comments’ on the Proposed Action. Considering that the ‘Proposed Action’ is for the Forest Service to basically do nothing except close some more roads to use by the people who own the land & the roads, I would urge everyone to take the time to send an e-mail to all three of these people. It should be apparent by now that something CAN be done (the enduro last Sunday is a perfect example). However, if only a small group of riders submit ‘comments,’ then those of us who do will have a really hard time convincing anyone at the Forest Service that so many of us really exist. It is not a complex task to communicate with the Forest Service. I do it all the time. A picture of some of our SERA Kids’ Race Riders sent from some of our SERA Kids & their parents would illustrate that there is a future for our sport IF we can preserve access to trails on which to hold events. The Forest Service has a big program going right now designed to ‘get kids off the couch & into the woods.’ There is no telling how much money they have poured into this program so far. We need to show them that we have been ‘getting kids into the woods’ for decades & will continue to do so if they will help us by allowing us enough suitable trails to ride on. Send your e-mails (100’s of them) with pictures to: Tell them that the current 145 total miles of Designated OHV Trail in National Forests in Mississippi is not nearly enough to provide adequate riding opportunities. A mile of trail cleared 4 feet wide covers less than a half-acre of ground. So the total area of every mile of available OHV Trail in National Forests in Mississippi only covers something less than 80 acres of land. That’s not even the size of a lot of small-time corn-fields on family farms. If anyone feels that they need help putting something together to send to the Forest Service, I will be more than happy to assist in any way I can. A lot of people don’t know it, but I seem to be able to ‘get their attention’ a lot of the time. It’s not just citizens of Mississippi who need to participate in this project. Anyone who likes to ride an occasional SERA Enduro in Mississippi needs to be involved & recruit others to join us. The deadline for submitting ‘comments’ is October 20, 2007 (30 years to the day after the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash, but probably just a coincidence…). I look forward to a successful effort to increase the available trails in our National Forests. LET’S DO IT, PEOPLE !!! Fred Pittman, President
January 22, 2007 The 2007 Blazing Saddles Hare-Scramble is postponed until July 1, 2007. We had succeeded in laying out a race-course which avoided most of the "soggy areas" that caused serious problems last year & had actually come up with a slightly longer course, even after 40 acres in the middle of the property had been clear-cut. Some artistically-creative design had resulted in several sections of trail running through the clear-cut area, while providing for separation of the sections which avoided easy "short-cutting" & offering high-speed open-area racing for the strong-of-heart. A crew of pine tree planters were scheduled to replant the clear-cut the week following the race, however, they showed up last week & had almost completed replanting the entire area before anyone discovered that they were there. With this development, the only way to run the race on February 11 would be to reroute back into many of the areas that caused extreme problems last year or attempt to cut a lot of new trail in a really short time. Currently, the low participation in trail-preparation does not make cutting new trail in the allotted time a viable option. The sensible thing (not that I am known for doing "the sensible thing" very often) is to postpone the race so as to allow more time for new trail to be cut & move into a drier time of year so that the 'Blackwater 100-type' bogs we experienced last year are less of a factor. The 'Number 1' thing on my 'List of Things I Don't Enjoy' is calling off a race. However, the time comes occasionally when we all are better off doing things we do not typically enjoy (a colonoscopy is such an example). I hope to see everyone on July 1 when, with any luck at all, we can offer the type of event that SERA Members have come to expect. Thank you for your understanding & your years of support for the Mississippi Hi-Point Enduro Riders. Fred Pittman, President MHPER
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