Reiter Foothills update, SEPA comment period

From an e-mail I received several days ago.

The comment period for this proposal will run from December 20, 2010 to January 31, 2011. Comments should be submitted to the SEPA Center at [email protected] or PO Box 47015, Olympia, Washington 98504-7015 for distribution to the responsible official.


*NOTE: This SEPA Notification is being resent to correct a wording mistake on the cover memo and in the text below. Under the description of phase 1 and phase 2, the word trail has been corrected to trial as highlighted below. The corrected cover memo is attached.

SEPA File No. 10-122002

SEPA LEAD AGENCY & DETERMINATION OF NONSIGNIFICANCE

This is to advise you that pursuant to WAC 197-11-900 (922 through 948), the Department of Natural Resources has determined that it is Lead Agency for the following:

Reiter Foothills Forest Recreation Motorized Trail System, Phases 1 and 2: The proposed motorized trail system will provide recreation opportunities for a variety of off-road vehicle (ORV) use, including single-track/motorcycles, quads/all-terrain vehicles, and four-wheel drive (4x4). The proposal includes:
· Phase 1: Development of a motorized trail system (design and construction) which includes 10.5 miles of trail, three temporary parking areas, and one trial riding challenge area.
· Phase 2: Construction to include 15.3 additional miles of trail, a new trailhead, four 4x4 challenge areas, and one trial riding area.
Located in Sections 11, 12, 13, and 14, Township 27 North, Range 09 East; Sections 07, 08, 09, 10, 16, 17 and 18, Township 27 North, Range 10 East; and Section 36, Township 28 North, Range 08 East, W.M., Snohomish County.

Information about this proposal including the Threshold Determination, SEPA Checklist and associated maps can be viewed on DNR’s website at:


Pursuant to WAC 332-41-504, this proposal was filed in the department’s SEPA Center at the Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington Street SE, P.O. Box 47015, Olympia, Washington, on December 20, 2010. We will consider comments on this proposed DNS received by 4:30 p.m. on January 31, 2011. Comments should be submitted to the SEPA Center at, [email protected] or P.O. Box 47015, Olympia, Washington 98504-7015 for distribution to the responsible official. Please include the file number listed above on all comments.

Reiter Bah humbug

Kind of a lump of coal for us. It is hard for me to visualize the area on the SEPA maps but I am surprised that even powerline is going to be restricted. Might want to make some public comment. Perhaps also as a chapter??

DECEMBER 21, 2010





Hi, folks:



Yesterday, we reached a major milestone on the road to developing recreation opportunities in Reiter Foothills Forest. The proposed motorized trail system is now out for public comment through the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review process.



You can review the plan and comment through January 31, 2011.



To find out more about the SEPA review process, how you can comment, and to download related documents and maps, visit the Reiter Foothills Forest Motorized Trails Project SEPA web page <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=lxcmzvdab&et=1104112939386&s=4380&e=001OrRC_1R5HhFqsXkV3Uaz_c_DSm8mhXpolPAvfXQRzlIlQ5zlx8YoZna7KQVqTmvVpgUA4G2qvYIqA44WTEpPn3bxIncV4IiEXORryZEYKwuLtmUedkeLpQ5ONx7S7vP6jTTniDsfACLSlEBvh1hHoa_lx0GXJhLHQtcBZ0y_IDDfhgqfXSTMTxg7_vjREnBzjyrLB8_XfDk6X9-Cf1ww2ZHhDy2iIutg> .



You can also read more about the motorized trails plan and the SEPA process in our news release <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=lxcmzvdab&et=1104112939386&s=4380&e=001OrRC_1R5HhGy6ACt2MZw-RFpyu27FI-EnTr8LYfUuR1zdV7Ei88PPjWKN6Gbx6wqKdpydFK_HZKCb7Dd4KvzEoYjc4hJ2S4htFvydOdf6FIjaAC8mfx86GpezKPevqh8XuRV8FNqmN16qRnicGE8l3FsewxaSddxPCpzD9EwnfQl1ye-q0j8tfbk2Di2QKOkYEeHZENfEdk=> .

Nick I merged your thread with Rich's. I figured it would get more views here than in the For Sale forum.

Thank you to both of you for keeping the rest of us updated.

Thanks that was silly of me. Multislacking.

By the looks of those maps, all the "good" trails are gone. Can someone post info on what exactly is going to be happening with the trails? I can't seem to find much, but what I'm mostly curious about is if they'll have as difficult of trails at Reiter as they used to...or if they're just making a bunch of so-so trails?

This whole situation is a huge bummer. My fingers are still crossed though that there is hope for Reiter to be as good - if not better - of a trail system as it was.

all the old trails were placed ontop of the water table of goldbar and they were complaining about contaminates in their water suply plus people were going up there and with full size and plowing over trees for the hell of it, along with leaving ungodly amounts of trash.

i was at 4wheelparts the weekend before turkey day for thier early black friday sale, and some rieter trail watch guys were there. had a map of fase 1 and 2. looks like 4x4 trails are going to be a huge spiderweb. with bypass on all of the extreme obsticles. its gona be hardpack mudcreat for low maintance. and all obsticles are going to be hard set so they wont move. and hopefully the fullsize guys will have places to go to.

heres the map to look at
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/amp_sepa_other_reitertrail_proposedmotortrail.jpg

if you look in section 1 down in the lower left you will see the trail system for the 4x4 guys

Thanks for the info and the link to the map, Ben. We all knew it wouldn't be ideal when this process alll started a couple of years ago, but it looks like it's at least not going to completely suck.

BenDiesel said:

heres the map to look at
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Publications/amp_sepa_other_reitertrail_proposedmotortrail.jpg

if you look in section 1 down in the lower left you will see the trail system for the 4x4 guys

Click to expand...

That's what concerns me. I saw that map, and by looking at it and comparing it to my memory of the trails I used to drive on there...there's a significant loss of trails. The map shows what looks like it was the old sac up trail area, among other trails (can't recall the names) but places like Rhino land and such are all gone. There's a huge reduction in overall trail area in that plan compared to what I remember.

I'm just hoping that the trails that were in that area before aren't going to be the only trails I should expect to see there. I'd hope they can bring back some of the style/feel from the trails that were across the powerlines down to that smaller region.

Ya I know but this is what they are giving us. And I suppose we should bne happy for it. Not much we can do bout it when they shut us down. Atleast they are working with us

WOW. All the 4x4 trails are in the South West corner. I guess it's time to buy a quad. All the vista points are in their areas.

Did anybody hear if "single tracks" and "ATV"s are allowed in the 4x4 trails?

BenDiesel said:

all the old trails were placed ontop of the water table of goldbar and they were complaining about contaminates in their water suply plus people were going up there and with full size and plowing over trees for the hell of it, along with leaving ungodly amounts of trash.

i was at 4wheelparts the weekend before turkey day for thier early black friday sale, and some rieter trail watch guys were there. had a map of fase 1 and 2. looks like 4x4 trails are going to be a huge spiderweb. with bypass on all of the extreme obsticles. its gona be hardpack mudcreat for low maintance. and all obsticles are going to be hard set so they wont move. and hopefully the fullsize guys will have places to go to.

Click to expand...

this is not true. it was an idea RTW gave to the DNR but DNR looked into cost and its not on the table anymore. no definite answers regarding what the actual trails would look like.

Muddy Beast said:

That's what concerns me. I saw that map, and by looking at it and comparing it to my memory of the trails I used to drive on there...there's a significant loss of trails. The map shows what looks like it was the old sac up trail area, among other trails (can't recall the names) but places like Rhino land and such are all gone. There's a huge reduction in overall trail area in that plan compared to what I remember.

I'm just hoping that the trails that were in that area before aren't going to be the only trails I should expect to see there. I'd hope they can bring back some of the style/feel from the trails that were across the powerlines down to that smaller region.

Click to expand...

all the old trails are pretty much gone. where they will have the new trail systems is pretty much virgin land. walked through proposed trails last month with DNR and the trails will actually have to be built.

BenDiesel said:

Ya I know but this is what they are giving us. And I suppose we should bne happy for it. Not much we can do bout it when they shut us down. Atleast they are working with us

Click to expand...

this is incorrect. they are not working with us, we are working with them. yes the 4x4 crowd has "some" say but not much. we the 4x4 crowd is trying to make the best of it and still can use any volunteers that are willing to help.

BenDiesel said:

Ya I know but this is what they are giving us. And I suppose we should bne happy for it. Not much we can do bout it when they shut us down. Atleast they are working with us

Click to expand...

Yes at least they are working with us instead of shutting us down. We will have to bend a little bit to make this work. Just remember that they are also bending for us. DNR takes allot of heat from the environmentalist for our sport on there land. I am happy they are at least keeping Reiter open. We can work on opening more trails there in the near future, but lets get it back open and operational then get the really hard trails back so we all can have fun once again at Reiter. Just my two cents.

Metal Thrasher said:

WOW. All the 4x4 trails are in the South West corner. I guess it's time to buy a quad. All the vista points are in their areas.

Did anybody hear if "single tracks" and "ATV"s are allowed in the 4x4 trails?

Click to expand...

I have not heard a definite answer to this.

Icemans said:

Yes at least they are working with us instead of shutting us down. We will have to bend a little bit to make this work. Just remember that they are also bending for us. DNR takes allot of heat from the environmentalist for our sport on there land. I am happy they are at least keeping Reiter open. We can work on opening more trails there in the near future, but lets get it back open and operational then get the really hard trails back so we all can have fun once again at Reiter. Just my two cents.

Click to expand...

x2 hope this will be true. its a very long process and Reiter is just making baby steps forward. hopefully the end of Jan. there are no law suits and Reiter can actually start becoming NEW reiter again

So does it probably make sense to send some kind of group comment? This email address is where they invite comment but it almost seems like input from our chapter as a whole might be in order. I will of course send my own input.

[email protected]

I agree, a collective chapter comment wouldn't be a bad idea.