IF YOU LIKE RIDING IN THE MCCALL AREA

[TreewellDweller]

Comments are needed for the Nez Perce Clearwater Forest Travel Plan. The main area of concern is the area of the Great Burn. Please go to the Nez Perce Clearwater National Forest website and make a comment in support of winter motorized recreation. The deadline is April 20, 2020. Yes, 2 days away.
The Nez Perce Clearwater National Forest is just north of the Payette National Forest. The Payette Forest lays south of the Salmon River, east of the Snake River and west of the Salmon Challis Forest.
The Payette Forest has 2 large Recommended Wilderness Areas (RWA) that have some incredible snowmobiling opportunities but snowmobiling has been restricted/eliminated. These 2 areas also had historically been open to snowmobiling but for the last 20 years, or more, it has been restricted or closed. The Payette Forest surrounds the communities of Cascade, McCall, and New Meadows with some of the best snowmobiling in the region, as you folks from Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and Caldwell realize.
If the Great Burn is not opened to snowmobiling only because it is a RWA, then rest assured, when the Payette Forest does it's "Travel Plan" renewal in a couple of years we will see the same result.
The science that they claim for the closure in regards to wildlife is not adequate and mostly incorrect, due to over zealous biologists and activists doing the studies.
Now is the time to make a comment on this issue. Even if you don't recreate in the Nez Perce Clearwater Forest, you need to make a comment.
And, I mean "NOW". Comments close on April 20th.

 

[DOINTHEDOO]

Coming through McCall with my wife on December 12th for a few days and looking for recommendations on places to stay. It’s been 20 years since I’ve ridden there and when I did we went to warren and basically boondocked off of that trail system. Any advice on where to ride would be appreciated.

 

[TreewellDweller]

You shouldn’t have any trouble finding motel accommodations or a short term rental. When we get enough snow the grooming will start, but there is no specific date. Even if we get enough snow to start grooming by the 12th of December, I would be cautious about riding off trail. Lot of obstacles that can sneak up on you.
Burgdorf is still closed due to the pandemic but Secesh Stagestop and The Baum Shelter Too, in Warren, are open for meals. Enjoy!

 

[DOINTHEDOO]

Thanks for the info, what’s the best site to keep up on your snow totals to know if there is enough snow?

 

[kiliki]

Current or Historic Data

wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov

brundage reservoir

 

[TreewellDweller]

Thanks for the info, what’s the best site to keep up on your snow totals to know if there is enough snow?

You could keep an eye on the Brundage Mountain Ski Resort website or the snotel sites for Brundage Reservoir or Secesh Summit.

 

[kidwoo]

Hey Treewell: what's the status of the big burn area?

I was chatting with someone from ISSA not too long ago and it sounded like they were giving it a rec wilderness designation or similar (roadless etc) if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Sled Idaho]

Hey Treewell: what's the status of the big burn area?

I was chatting with someone from ISSA not too long ago and it sounded like they were giving it a rec wilderness designation or similar (roadless etc) if I'm not mistaken.

The short answer is the snowmobile community won their lawsuit against the USFS where Region One had been managing RWAs / WSAs as defacto-wilderness. That policy is now gone. The next step is getting those areas that were closed (like the Great Burn) to snowmobiling (and other motorized uses) based on that policy reopened. Unfortunately it's not as easy as common sense would dictate, i.e., all closures implemented by an illegal closure policy are null & void. Areas considered for reopening are under review currently.

 

[TreewellDweller]

Hey Treewell: what's the status of the big burn area?

I was chatting with someone from ISSA not too long ago and it sounded like they were giving it a rec wilderness designation or similar (roadless etc) if I'm not mistaken.

The above answer is somewhat correct. The judge ruled that Region 1 of the USFS could not make a permanent and legal ruling to treat Recommended Wilderness Areas as actual Congressionally approved wilderness from a “sticky note” that was passed around through Region 1’s hierarchy. (Sorry to say, this is how it happened.) So, the judge ruled in favor of the snowmobile community. Within a few months, the supervisor of Region 1 made a special ruling that the current Recommended Wilderness Areas that had been treated as Congressionally approved wilderness would in fact be treated as such, until it went through a NEPA process to exclude it. We won, but we lost. Maybe, with the new streamlined NEPA process that the Trump Adminstration got put together we can start the next phase of getting it reopened. But, who is going to push the USFS and who is going to pay for it?

 

[kidwoo]

I'm pretty familiar with how the R1 decision regarding 'recommended' W was handled because it became the standard down here as well (fortunately not really enforced). I didn't realize the big burn area was recommended though.

Thanks for the info. I'm hoping to do something similar in CA to get that crap released. Good luck finishing the deal. Funny how an environmental asessment is needed to understand how sleds would affect an area when sleds used to be allowed in the area. Such a joke.

 

[TreewellDweller]

I might be mistaken on Region 1 terminology. Some regions have Recommended Wilderness Area (RWA) and some have Wilderness Study Area (WSA). They are basically the same thing.