Motor vehicles would be limited to designated roads on U.S. Forest Service land under a proposal from the agency that would put the rest of the forest off limits — a flip of the current system.

As part of the proposal, staff with the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests are drawing up maps of the 9,000 miles of designated roads and trails in those forests and the Crooked River National Grassland that will determine where people can drive. The effort is a requirement under a national rule that was adopted in 2005.

To get comments on a draft of the maps, and to see what the public thinks of a possible exception to the rule change for campers, the agency is holding a series of public meetings starting next week.

“We’re not going to be closing any roads with this decision,” said Mollie Chaudet, team leader for the area’s travel management project. “We’re just going to be limiting motorized use to the designated routes.”

It’s all part of a national effort to make driving and riding on Forest Service lands more understandable and consistent, Chaudet said.

“It’s just been such a mishmash,” she said.

“The idea of having this rule is to have consistency across all national forests, as well as being able to have better quality recreation for all users, and also resource protection.”

Currently in Central Oregon, people can drive motorcycles, quads, Jeeps and other motor vehicles cross-country, unless it’s in a closed area, Chaudet said. However, determining which areas are closed can sometimes be challenging for riders.

But with the rule, it would be more straightforward, she said — the maps would tell visitors which roads are open, for which kinds of vehicles, during which seasons.

Forest Service employees are putting the final touches on drafts of the maps, she said, which will be available at each ranger district and supervisor’s office, as well as on the Forest Service’s Web site by next Monday. After taking comments, officials will start drafting an environmental impact statement, which will examine different options.

While cross-country travel would be prohibited under the new rule, the agency is proposing to let people drive 300 feet off of roadways to get to dispersed campsites, Chaudet said, which should cover most sites.

The campsite rule would have some exceptions, she said. Those include areas where a 300-foot buffer would encompass banks of rivers or lakes, known archaeological sites, locations with sensitive plants or areas where off-road travel is currently prohibited. But those would all be on the maps, she said.

The new rule wouldn’t limit where people can camp, she said, but it would limit how far they can drive to get to their campsites.

In a separate process, the Forest Service may add more motorized vehicle trails in three different areas — the Boundary Springs/Two Rivers area of the Crescent Ranger District, McKay Creek in the Ochoco National Forest and the Lava Cast area of the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District.

While the new rules would limit people’s opportunities to travel off roads, she said, the local forests have to follow the national rule. And with more people driving in the forest, more needs to be done to protect natural resources and reduce conflicts between forest visitors, she said.

“There’s just so many people out there in our Central Oregon area, it’s just not feasible anymore to be able to have that freedom of access,” Chaudet said.

People can look at the maps and see if they would be blocked from favorite spots, she said, and if that is the case, the agency might be able to designate additional routes or see if there’s a way to open them up. The proposal would not affect off-road use in areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Forest Service proposal takes the opposite approach from what any business would do, said Mike Schwartz, owner of Cascade Motorsports in Bend. There’s more demand for areas where people can ride off-road vehicles, but instead of increasing areas to meet that demand, the agency is closing off-road access.

“There should be more space, because there’s more people,” Schwartz said.

He’s also concerned about access to campsites, and said that the new rules could cut people off from their favorite spots.

“We have generations and generations of people that either live here or have traveled here for years, and have their own favorite little campsite,” he said. “Now, if the Forest Service puts that plan in place, they might not be able to go to that place.”

Plus, most riders are good stewards of the land, he said, and it’s only a few riders who are causing the majority of the damage. But those people probably wouldn’t pay attention to new laws, either, he said.

Patti Pyland, a member of Deschutes County 4-Wheelers, said that while she thinks the 300-foot boundary is sufficient, more challenging trails need to be opened up for Jeeps and 4x4s. Drivers currently only have 21 miles of suitable, undeveloped forest trails with logs, boulders and other obstacles.

“A lot of the off-road damage would be alleviated if the Forest Service provides us with acceptable off-road trails, with significant enough difficulty to challenge us,” she said.

But Tom Landis, a hiker who was involved in the working group for the Forest Service’s plan, said that having these new rules in effect would be welcome.

“I think whatever limitations they need to put on motorized vehicles to prevent the environment from being damaged are good,” he said.

As part of the working group, which included people representing a variety of motorized and non-motorized interests, he said he realized that it’s difficult to make everybody happy. But something needed to be done, he said.

“This is larger than just the Deschutes forest; it’s all over the West and all over the United States,” Landis said. “It’s a huge, wide-ranging problem of unfettered use.”

For more info

For more information on the Travel Management Rule, Click Here.

Maps will be available online or at the ranger districts and supervisor’s offices next week.

People can comment on the proposal by attending a meeting or by writing to the Deschutes National Forest, Attn: Travel Management Team, 1001 S.W. Emkay Drive, Bend, OR 97702.

To learn more about the Travel Management Rule, visit www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon /travel-mgmt/index.shtml. Maps will be available online and at the ranger districts and supervisor’s offices next week.

People can comment on the proposal by attending a meeting or by writing to the Deschutes National Forest, Attn: Travel Management Team, 1001 S.W. Emkay Drive, Bend, OR 97702.

The U.S. Forest Service will hold six public meetings around Central Oregon, all of which will take place from 5 to 8 p.m.
• Monday at Sisters High School, 1700 W. McKinney Butte Road
• May 20 at the Madras Senior Center, 860 S.W. Madison
• May 21 at the Deschutes National Forest Supervisor’s Office, 1001 Emkay Drive, in Bend
• May 27 at the Ochoco National Forest Supervisor’s Office, 3160 N.E. Third St. in Prineville
• May 28 at Gilchrist High School, 201 Mountain View Drive
• June 2 at Redmond High School, Hugh Hartman Building, 2105 W. Antler Ave.