Shawnee Group of the Sierra Club
Outings Newsletter Local Action Resources Membership
Shawnee Group of the Sierra Club
Outings Newsletter Local Action Resources Membership
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National |
 | Clean Air |
| Energy |
| Population |
| Wildlands |
Effective: April 16, 2001
The following local Action Issues require everyone's immediate attention:
Issue 1: Obliterating the hundreds of miles of illegal, user-created trails which have devastated watersheds across the Shawnee.
Issue 2: Revegetating areas which have been denuded of vegetation and soil, particularly in sensitive Natural Areas such as Jackson Hole.
Issue 3: Completion of marking the Natural Area boundaries, particularly the numerous illegal trail crossings along Lusk Creek.
Issue 4: Designation of legal trails on appropriate routes.
Issue 5: Increasing law enforcement to protect the Shawnee from illegal equestrian and ATV activities.
Issue 6: Installation of interpretive signs at trail heads and at Natural Area boundaries to help educate the public about why these sensitive areas must be protected.
Issue 7: Bringing the National Forest Service into compliance with the federal court order which directs the agency to “identify and cite” commercial campgrounds which are operating and accessing the Shawnee without Special Use Permits.
 | Obliterate the hundreds of miles of illegal user-created trails which have devastated watersheds across the Shawnee For more photos like these go to www.traildamage.8k.com hosted by Tony Jones |
According to the Forest Plan, user-created trails cut after 1992 are illegal. Under various federal statutes, so are any trails which are causing damage to the resource. The Forest Service should make a priority of identifying and obliterating these trails.
These trails were not made by individual riders wandering cross-country. They were deliberately, illegally made by the same people riding repeatedly over the same spot. These riders have often flagged the route, trimmed branches, and cut saplings -- all in violation of the Forest Plan and the law.
All trails made after 1992 must be obliterated. New ones have been cut just since some Natural Areas were marked. The area between and around Double Branch Hole and Jackson Hole is particularly hard-hit. Private property owners in these areas have blatantly cut new trails around and between the Natural Areas; and are beginning a whole new cycle of damage.
There are many places where trails braid or "spider-web": there are two, three, five, or ten trails leading from point A to point B. These trails occur because the first route becomes so damaged that deep mud holes are created and large tree roots are exposed. Then, rather than maintain the mess they have made, riders cut another new illegal trail, then another. The space between these nearly-parallel routes becomes an “island” of soil and vegetation which is cut off from the surrounding landscape. The soil washes away from these islands, the roots are exposed, and the vegetation -- including large trees -- dies. Loss of the root layer accelerates soil loss until the damage is large-scale rather than the width of one trail itself. This phenomenon has occurred in numerous places and is occurring in countless more. It must be halted immediately
 | Revegetate areas which have been denuded of vegetation and soil, particularly in sensitive Natural Areas such as Jackson Hole |
Places like Jackson Hole Natural Area have been severely damaged by illegal equestrian traffic. Numerous trails have been cut, large areas denuded of vegetation, saplings cut or eaten, and large trees girdled---more than a dozen just at the bottom of the Jackson Hole waterfall. This has occurred within the Natural Area and in the surrounding Shawnee National Forest, especially on routes which connect Jackson Hole to Double Branch Hole, Sand Cave, and elsewhere. In just the past year, since the marking of Jackson Hole boundaries, new trails have been cut from nearby private property.
The property owners who are engaged in this illegal activity must be identified, cited, and prosecuted.
The illegal trails must be immediately filled with brush to slow erosion and begin the excruciatingly slow process of rebuilding lost soil.
Native vegetation must be replanted along the reclaimed trails and in the denuded areas---such as the bottom of the waterfall at Jackson Hole.
Volunteers are available to accomplish this. Lack of manpower is not an excuse
 | Complete the marking of Natural Area boundaries, particularly the numerous illegal trail crossings along Lusk Creek |
All Natural Area boundaries must be marked. Immediate priority should be given to Lusk Creek.
The Forest Plan clearly says---and it was made clear by Forest Service employees at the Federal Courthouse in Benton in 1999---that Lusk Creek itself, from bank to bank, has the status of Natural Area. Lusk Creek has NOT been marked to indicate its protected status. In just a couple of miles of Lusk Creek there are at least a dozen illegal equestrian crossings. None of them are posted with Natural Area boundary signs.
It would be a simple matter to remedy this. Natural Area boundary markers should be placed prominently in the trails at the creek crossings. The banks at those crossings should be brushed out with fallen trees and limbs from the immediate area. Large signs explaining that people must not ride in the creek (and why) should be posted at all trail heads and in the campgrounds.
This is a matter which deserves immediate attention. Not only has the posting and subsequent law enforcement been ordered by a federal judge; but doing this now, early in the riding season, will prevent a tremendous amount of damage later.
If the Forest Service needs assistance in placing the signs or brushing out the illegal crossings, volunteers are available. Many volunteers have not signed up for other “trail maintenance” opportunities because that work does not carry the urgency of this situation.
 | Designate legal trails on appropriate routes |
The Forest Service has had over a decade to designate trails on the Shawnee. Riders, hikers, and everyone concerned about damage caused by illegal user-created trails have waited long enough.
The Forest Service must make trail designation a major priority. If trails were given the same priority now as timber sales were in the past; we would already have an appropriately located, properly designed, well-maintained trail system across the Shawnee.
Our legislators can help by securing the appropriated and non-appropriated funding which this priority deserves.
Volunteers can help; fees from Commercial Use Permits can contribute; but it is the Forest Service’s job to do this quickly and effectively.
 i | Increase law enforcement to protect the Shawnee from illegal equestrian and ATV activities. |
The season has begun for high-volume equestrian traffic on the Shawnee. This is a time when the soil is soft and ecosystems most fragile. Now is when illegal equestrian and ATV traffic do the most damage.
The Forest Service should authorize all field personnel to write tickets for offenses which damage the resource.
The agency should assign all available personnel to patrol Natural Areas and illegal, user-created trails in order to ticket illegal riders.
Sending a strong message now will deter many others from riding in Natural Areas for the remainder of the season.
Stringent prosecutions must follow to enhance the deterrent effect.
 | Install interpretive signs at trail heads and at Natural Area boundaries to help educate the public about why these sensitive areas must be protected. |
Most horseback riders are good people who care about the land and will happily stay on designated trails and out of protected Natural Areas.
They are eager to do their part protecting the Shawnee, especially if they understand why Natural Areas were designated.
Interpretive and informational signs should be created with input from botanists, zoologists, geologists, archeologists, and soil scientists to explain the value and importance of Natural Areas.
Signs should be posted prominently at trail heads and campgrounds throughout the Shawnee.
Expanded versions of the same information must be included in brochures about horseback riding on the Shawnee.
This same information must be presented to the media, to civic and social groups, and in schools. Reporters, journalists, and teachers are happy to receive and disseminate such information. These media are free outlets which should be utilized.
Ignorance and greed are the cause of all resource damage on the Shawnee. The ignorance can be easily corrected. For the handful of irresponsible riders and selfish campground owners who refuse to respect these areas, adequate law enforcement and stringent prosecution are the only recourse.
 | Bringing the National Forest Service into compliance with the federal court order which directs the agency to “identify and cite” commercial campgrounds which are operating and accessing the Shawnee without Special Use Permits. |
An important portion of a federal court Order of February 22, 2000, has not been followed. That Order directs the Forest Service to identify and cite campgrounds which are operating without a Special Use Permit.
There are numerous such campgrounds operating without the required permits. They are easily identified. Not one of them has yet been cited. An obvious violator is Bear Branch Campground, which was mentioned specifically in the court Order; but there are numerous others as well.
The Forest Service must follow the Judge’s Order to identify and cite these campgrounds for utilizing the Shawnee without the required Special Use Permits.
It is true that the agency is currently in the process of scoping for Commercial Use Permits and Outfitter/Guide Permits. That is well and good -- and more than a decade overdue. But this scoping process does not meet the demands of the federal court Order which must be obeyed immediately.
When the Forest Service does choose to issue Special Use Permits, the conditions of the Permits must be constructed in such a way so as to eliminate the illegal, unnecessary equestrian damage which is occurring on the Forest.
Permits must specify particular routes which campground patrons may utilize. These routes must be monitored as to the number of riders and the impacts which are occurring on them. Maintenance must be performed in a timely manner so that permanent damage is mitigated. Trails badly damaged must be closed. Seasonal closures must be included to prevent damage during the wet season. Trails must be closed any time the soil is too saturated to ride without causing extreme damage. There must be monitoring and enforcement of permit provisions. Permits which are violated must be revoked.
Special Use Permits are required by the Forest Plan and by various federal regulations and statutes. Their issuance will be a good thing not only for the Shawnee, but also for the majority of responsible horseback riders who are being given a bad name by a handful of irresponsible riders and selfish campground owners.
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Last edited: 08/03/05
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