A new federal report says only one-quarter of U.S. Forest Service
trails meet the agency’s own standards as it attempts to catch up with a
$524 million maintenance deficit. Volunteer groups like the
Backcountry Horsemen of America and The Wilderness Society have stepped
into that gap, but they worry the backlog will drive folks out of the
woods. “We found problems with trail maintenance was undermining
support for wilderness and public land in general,” said Paul Spitler,
director of wilderness campaigns for The Wilderness Society. “They go
there and find trails aren’t maintained, and they can’t access places
they want to get to. That’s not what people expect when they go visit
public lands. We need to get a handle on this problem and figure out
some solutions. If we don’t, we’re in danger of losing the public.” Those
two groups petitioned members of Congress to look into the matter,
since the last similar study was done in 1989. U.S. Reps. Mike Simpson,
R-Idaho, Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Jim Moran, D-Va., officially
requested the study. The Government Accountability Office report released on June 27 found
the Forest Service did some maintenance on 37 percent of its 158,000
miles of trail in fiscal 2012. But it estimated another $314 million in
deferred maintenance remained on the to-do list, along with $210 million
in unfinished annual maintenance, capital improvements and operations.
In its recommendations, the GAO called for closer work with volunteers
to get projects done...more
And yet, Congress continues to appropriate more dollars for land acquisition (Simpson chairs the Interior Subcommittee on Appropriations) when they can't manage what they have.
This year for land acquisition the Forest Service requested $177 million, the Park Service $100 million and the BLM $49 million.
And why aren't the volunteer efforts more effective?
But even volunteer work costs money. Before Himmel can mount a
Backcountry Horsemen work party, the Forest Service has to get them
certified in first aid, chain saw use and other necessary skills. If the
project takes place in designated wilderness, that may require training
in traditional tools like cross-cut saws. The agency also often
provides food, fuel and other supplies for the volunteers to use. The GAO report identified that as a potential reason for the maintenance
backlog. It noted “certain agency policies and procedures complicate
trail maintenance efforts, such as the agency’s lack of standardized
training in trails field skills, which limits agency expertise."
If you really want their help, change the damn policy and procedures.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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