Any West-siders plan on going to any of these meetings???

wendell said:

hope to see everyone there

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Backpacking – Colville: Limited opportunities due to layout of Forest and small amount of wilderness. Okanogan-Wenatchee: High use rate on the Wenatchee, primarily in wilderness, which is accessible and can accommodate future use.
Snowmobiling – Use expected to increase by 350 percent by 2050. Some PWAs have popular marked routes and play areas. For all three forests, all but two miles of groomed trail are outside PWAs. Climate change will alter winter use. High use on the Wenatchee and Colville, where projected increase could have impacts. A relative low use activity on Okanogan.
Backcountry Skiing – A low use for all three Forests. Many of the popular or important areas are in PWA’s. Groomed Nordic trails are mostly outside PWAs and many are associated with ski areas.
Hunting – National trend is for major decrease, but will remain a local significant use. Some PWAs have low OHV use related to hunting season. Colville and Wenatchee have relative high use and Okanogan low use. Wilderness and PWAs provides wildlife habitat.

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The national population is growing; the amount of people recreating in the outdoors is increasing with the growing population; the diversity of ethnic groups is growing and more women are participating in outdoor recreation; the average age of people recreating is getting older; although the most popular recreation activities have held steady (camping and hiking), and are still the most popular activities, there are new ones that are growing significantly in demand. Because of our fast-paced society and career minded parents with children, people use the National Forests for shorter durations—they want more weekend experiences rather than multi-week ventures.

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Trail use on all thre5e Forests has remained stable. However, the type of use on trails is changing; and with changing uses (increase in Mt. bikes and motorized equipment), there have been challenges in offering opportunities for the newer uses in combination with the traditional uses (hikers and horse-riders). There are fewer over-night hiking trips and more day-hike trips and this includes wilderness hikes as well. Winter trails have become more important, and there are grooming agreements associated with many of them.

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Demand for designated OHV routes is increasing. According to the Washington State Department of Licensing, in the counties where the National Forests reside (Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas, Yakima, Okanogan, Ferry, Pend Oreille, Stevens), OHV registration have gone up an average of 26% in Colville NF counties, 31% in Okanogan County, and 19% in Wenatchee NF Counties just in the past two years (these figures do not include motorcycles). Snowmobile registration in those same counties went up 14% in Colville NF Counties, they went down 3% in Okanogan County, and down 13% in Wenatchee NF Counties. There are other counties that influence these Forests as well (Spokane, Pierce, and King) which all have increased OHV registration, but gone down in snowmobile registration from 2002 to 2004. (Washington State Department of Licensing Vehicle Fee Distribution Report, www.dol.wa.gov/

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Although Backpacking, Hiking, and Walking are still the most popular forms of travel on trails, Mt.Biking, and OHV riding are increasing in popularity and demand.

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However, there appears to be a growing demand for OHV routes that is predicted to continue to increase, and supply may not be meeting demand in some of the areas of the Forests. The OHV use seems to cross all income levels and age levels as well, and all surveys are fairly consistent with this prediction of increase.

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Budget has been declining for the past decade, and is predicted to decline further or stabilize at the level it is at now. Fostering mutually beneficial volunteer agreements will continue to be important to continue trail and trailhead maintenance and improvements, on trails that are important to some user groups, but may be falling out of the maintenance schedule.

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Driving for pleasure has a high participation rate across all age classes, income levels, and ethnic groups. Studies show it is on the increase. Trend data shows that viewing and photographing scenery has the highest percentage of participation than any other outdoor activity nation-wide, followed by visiting nature centers as second, and driving for pleasure as third. (Hall, 2005)

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Since people are taking shorter trips into the wilderness, the campsites within the interior of the wildernesses are shrinking, but the campsites that are easier to get to with larger group sizes are remaining the same size as they have been for many years. There are some identified areas within some of the wildernesses that are at capacity. Although some campsites are larger due to traditional use patterns, the Wilderness Areas in general are on an upward trend in revegetation and naturalization.

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Tampico said:

We had good attendance at the Yakima meeting last night. 15 Yakima Ski-Benders, plus at least 8 additional snowmobilers not affiliated with our club. Also a lot of quaders and jeepers. I would estimate 80-100 people, and 80%+ were motorized forest users. The meeting was well run and fairly non-confrontational.

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ruffryder said:

I guess I am going to need to make up some hours of work today..

Some interesting reads..

Trends in recreation, word doc

The major trend information from page 1, paragraph 2

The part in bold is of importance and shows reasoning to limit the creation of new wilderness locations, as use of the forests has shifted away from being able to use these areas.

Page 2, paragraph

again, less need on wilderness and more need on access

page 2, last paragraph
This shows the importance of OHV areas and also shows how important registration numbers can be. Not just funds, but as a mechanism for quantifying users..

page 3, paragraph 2
do mountain bikers and OHV's need more wilderness?

page 5, paragraph 2
Looks like OHV use seems to be the largest growing sector. Need for more wilderness??

page 5, paragraph 3
does anyone have any data comparing the volunteer hours of different user groups? I have done some volunteering in the past, and I would be curious to see how much is done between the different user groups.

page 5, second to last paragraph


page 8, first paragraph
seems to me, from a recreational point of view, there is no reason to expand the wilderness.

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