Oregon Dunes: 2011 updates

June 9, 2011 — The Forest Service is beginning to write the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for allowing increased off-highway vehicle (OHV) use in the remarkable and globally significant Oregon Dunes. They are asking for your opinion of what to include. The preliminary proposal is to hand over an additional 287 acres of currently protected lands for quiet recreation to unrestricted OHV use, including vegetated areas to play in, not just travel through as the 10C designation requires. Plus, OHVs will get 3.6 more miles of trails to ride through 10C to access 10B play areas. Some of the new trails (which are existing illegal trails) are through inventoried roadless areas. In return, the Forest Service will close off 103 miles of illegally created trails through sensitive vegetated areas.

January 20, 2011 – Currently, it is legal for off-highway vehicles (OHV) to ride on about 7,350 acres of the open sand (called 10B). OHVs also have access to hundreds of acres of trails through vegetated areas (called 10C). But since 1995 OHVs have created hundreds of miles of illegal trails through rare and fragile dunes vegetation in 10C that the Dunes Plan put off-limits to OHVs. The Forest Service is going to address this by proposing to enforce the closure of some illegal trails and designate some as legal. Download our 1-18-11 comments here.