Good land use news

Stewards of the Sequoia Trail News Kern Plateau Off-Highway Vehicle Trails Open for the Season The last of the seasonally closed off-highway vehicle (OHV) trails on the Kern River Ranger District (KRRD) opened last week with the help of volunteers. XDue to extended winter conditions, the Sherman Pass Jeep Trail and North Meadow Jeep Trail remained closed later than usual this year. XOnce the warming temperatures allowed access, Forest Service crews encountered fallen snags, remnants of the 2002 McNally Fire, Xscattered across the trails. XFortunately, ongoing volunteer agreements under the Adopted Trail Program offered OHV enthusiasts the opportunity to help open the trails as soon as possible. XTwo of these volunteer organizations, the Bakersfield Trail Blazers and the Ridgecrest Gear Grinders, volunteered under this program and assisted the Forest Service in removing over 70 fallen snags from the trails on Saturday July 10. XOther Forest Service sponsored OHV volunteer groups include BPMC, KTM Talk Riders, Stewards of the Sequoia and Thumper Talk. XEach of these groups has played a part in helping the Forest Service maintain over 300 miles of trail this year. XDistrict Ranger Rick Larson expressed his appreciation by saying, "I would like to extend my personal thanks to these OHV organizations, as well as, to all our volunteer partners for taking the time to help us keep trails and other facilities open and safe for the public. XOur combined efforts make the outdoors more enjoyable for everyone!" Read More About ThisX X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X XBALANCE BROUGHT TO AMERICA GREAT OUTDOOR INITIATIVE BLOGStewards of the Sequoia, Save The Trails, ARRA and American Landrights teamed up to post alerts recently asking people to VOTE for IDEAS to help ensure the President's Great Outdoor Initiative was about keeping public lands open to all forms of recreation, including Off Road Recreation. Prior to that the top rated IDEAS had mostly been about closing public lands, designating more inappropriate Wilderness Areas and National Monuments.I am very pleased to say many of our members and others have responded, and as you can see in the sidebar the HOTEST IDEAS with the most votes now are about keeping public lands open to everyone. You can also see the ones with most NEGATIVE VOTES are about locking up more public lands.We want to make sure this Great Outdoor Initiative BLOG continues to represent the need to keep multiple use lands open to the public and open to multiple use.Please go to the site and see for yourself and PLEASE VOTE FOR (PROMOTE) any IDEAS you think are GOOD and (DEMOTE) any IDEAS you think are BADhttp://ideas. usda.gov/ ago/ideas. nsf/productTOP INNOVATORYour votes have made yours truly, Chris Horgan, the Top Innovator by almost 1000 votes or 50% more than the Second Place Innovator. All of the IDEAS posted by me are about keeping public lands open to all forms of recreation and promoting forest health through much needed active management, so those are the kind of IDEAS the public is voting for with a vengeance.Your votes are going to make a statement to the PresidentTo those of you who have VOTED-Job Well Done. You have given voice to urgent concerns.We need to keep the pressure on. If you have not VOTED Please do so NOW.It only takes a minute to register and VOTE. They require only your name, password and city.If you have already Voted then Please keep voting for new IDEAS you like.Thanks for Taking ActionTogether we can help keep our trails openChris HorganExecutive DirectorStewards of the SequoiaDid someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up to receive it yourselfStewards of the Sequoia

You can see a video of our efforts to open this trail here:
http://www.bakersfieldtrailblazers.org/

There was a lot of work done, but luckily I took my camera so that prevented me from doing actual work! 8>)

The club opened the trail when I was off racing in another state. It's nice to get a press release from the Forest Service about this. The Bakersfield Trailblazers and the Gear Grinders do this every year, and have for a very long time.