edit: this is information on an earlier meeting.  Sorry for the confusion.  More up to date info is later in this thead.

Recreation Use at Coyote Wall (Syncline), Burdoin Mountain and Catherine Creek Areas

 Public Open House - October 4, 2006 – 6 -8 PM

 

 Format

Please gather for a short Forest Service presentation about 6:30.

The remainder of the evening, please discuss your ideas with Forest Service staff.

 

 

Our objectives for addressing recreation use at Coyote Wall (Syncline), Burdoin Mountain and Catherine Creek areas:

§ Formalize an “official” multi-use non-motorized trail system.  The trail system:

*    Should provide a variety of recreation experiences at a range of skill levels.

*    Would minimize resource damage and respect private property.

*     May adopt parts of the current user trails, may modify current user trails, may obliterate current user trails, and may create new trails.

§ Rehabilitate resource damage.

§ End off-trail riding.

§ Identify acceptable parking areas.

 

Our objectives for tonight’s Open House:

§ Verify inventory of trails.  Did we map them all?  

§ Share our resource analysis.  Identify the areas we are most concerned about.

§ Ask your help to locate the formal trail system. 

 

What’s next?

Fall 2006
 Winter 2006
 Spring 2007
 Summer 2007
 
Field locate trail system.
 Share trail system proposal with public.
 Complete environmental documents.
 Forest Service decision.
 
Field locate areas needing rehabilitation.
 Ask for public comments.
 
 
 

 

 

Contact Information: 

We will post materials to our website at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/columbia/forest/projects/

Look for “Recreation Use at Coyote Wall (Syncline), Burdoin Mountain and Catherine Creek” under CURRENT PROJECTS

Project Contacts Stan Hinatsu at (541)308-1708, shinatsu@fs.fed.us and Virginia Kelly at (541) 308-1720, vkelly@fs.fed.us

Mailing Address: US Forest Service, 902 Wasco, Suite 200, Hood River OR, 97031

For more information call Stan Hinatsu at 541-308-1708 or shinatsu@fs.fed.us

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Jeff - Site Admin

Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
S. Chapman

I need three volunteers to represent Portlandhikers at one of these meetings.  I will try to make one of them.

This area is very popular with mountain bikers.  I'm sure they will have a large contigient there to make their voice heard.  As far as I know there will be no one from a hiking organization attending. 

Please respond here if you are interested.

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Jeff - Site Admin

Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
S. Chapman

when are these meetings?

October 4, 2006 is in the past, thus not possible to attend : )

Hey Jeff, "spring forward, fall back" is usually limited to an hour.  




Actually I think this is the meeting Jeff was refering to (from the FSW website):

HOOD RIVER, – On November 14, 2007, 6:00 p.m., the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, USDA Forest Service, will begin the public participation process for planning a trail system in the Coyote Wall (Syncline) and Catherine Creek area. It will be the first of a series of three meetings to collaboratively work with stakeholders and concerned citizens to formalize a trail system in the area. The meetings will be held at the Pioneer Center in White Salmon, Washington.
The Forest Service has acquired several thousand acres of land since 1987 in the Burdoin Mountain, Coyote Wall and Catherine Creek areas. The area has become very popular destination for recreation users, particularly mountain bikers and hikers. Numerous user trails and routes have developed over the past several years. The trails are located on a mix of public and private lands with some trails showing visible signs of erosion and impacts to adjacent natural and cultural resources.
“The purpose of these collaborative meetings is to develop a proposed trail system (non-motorized) that would recognize and address current uses, respect private property, provide a variety of recreation experiences, protect adjacent sensitive resources, and be sustainable (minimize resource damage),” said Dan Harkenrider, Area Manager. The proposed system would then analyzed through the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) process.
Subsequent collaborative meetings will be held on the evenings of November 20th and December 12th at the Pioneer Community Center. For more please contact Stan Hinatsu at (541-308-1708) or by email (shinatsu@fs.fed.us).  

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What do you suppose is around that next bend?

From The Dalles Chronicle Newspaper, here is another article about this matter:

....The Forest Service plans follow a process to make those trails an official part of the agency’s system, Hinatsu said.
     Some of the informal trails need to be brought up to standards, while others run across private property.
     “We have some reroutes that are likely; we may have to eliminate some trails; and we may build additional trails to connect loops to existing trails,” Hinatsu said.

.... The project has been on the Forest Service work list for a while, but other priorities and staffing transitions have bogged it down.
     “We’re resurrecting it,” Hinatsu said.
     The Forest Service has no budget for the project. Hinatsu hopes rely on community partners for the trail work.
     People who attend the meetings should come ready to work together, he added, under the direction of a neutral facilitator, a Forest Service employee from outside the region.
     “It’s really important for us in this collaborative process to get somebody objective to facilitate the meeting, so we can make sure all voices are heard.”
Hinatsu expects the face some concerns by private land owners, and relating to other factors....

the complete article: http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2007/11/news11-08-07-01.shtml

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Jane Garbisch - Site Sherpa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We are here on the planet only once.... might as well get a feel for the place."
- Annie Dillard

Sorry, here is the article I meant to copy.  This is from yesterday's Columbian.  I got sidetracked and ended up copying the info from an earlier meeting:

 

Meeting scheduled Wednesday in White Salmon to start Coyote Wall trail system planning process

WHITE SALMON - A public meeting to start planning a trail system in the Coyote Wall-Catherine Creek area of the Columbia River Gorge will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Pioneer Community Center.

Subsequent meetings are scheduled on Nov. 20 and Dec. 12.

The U.S. Forest Service has acquired several thousand acres in the Burdoin Mountain, Coyote Wall and Catherine Creek areas east of Bingen.

The area is a very popular destination for mountain bike riders and hikers. Numerous trails crisscross the area, causing erosion and other environmental concerns.

Dan Harkenrider, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area manager, said the meetings are to develop a trail system that respects private property, offers a variety of recreation experiences and minimizes environmental damage.

For more information, call Stan Hinatsu at 541-308-1708 or shinatusu@fs.fed.us .

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Jeff - Site Admin

Someday you'll take me home to live forever....up on the mountain
S. Chapman

I emailed shinatsu@fs.fed.us and he said:

All the meetings are at Pioneer Center in White Salmon Wa., 501 NE
Washington.  See link for direction:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=501%20Ne%20Washington%20St&city=White%20Salmon&state=WA&zipcode=98672&country=US&geodiff=1

Purpose of the meeting is to colloboratively develop a proposed trail
system (non-motorized) that would recognize and address current uses,
respect private property, provide a variety of recreation experiences,
protect adjacent sensitive resources, and be sustainable (minimize
resource
damage).  Additional information can be found on our web site:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/columbia/projects/  and scroll down to
                                                                      
       Recreation Use at Coyote Wall                                  
       (Syncline), Burdoin Mountain                                    
       and Catherine Creek                                

I live a mile from the Pioneer Center, so if any of you decides to go, let me know by pm, so we can hook up. I'll be out of town on the 20th, which is just two days before TG, but I will got this coming week.

Dean

from:  http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/columbia/

Small Group Meeting for the Coyote Wall/Catherine scheduled for Jan 16 and 30, 2008

The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, USDA Forest Service, will hold two small working group meetings on January 16 and 30, 2008, 5:00-8:00 p.m. for the Coyote Wall (Syncline) and Catherine Creek Trail Planning project. The meetings will be held at the National Scenic Area office in Hood River, Oregon.

Click here for November 14 Meeting Notes: Coyote Wall Catherine Creek 11/14/07 Public Mtg Notes, Summary of Issues and Concerns 11/14/07 Public Mtg

Click here for background information: Your National Forest - Projects & Plans

Meeting notes from December 12 will be posted soon.

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Jane Garbisch - Site Sherpa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We are here on the planet only once.... might as well get a feel for the place."
- Annie Dillard

Dec. 12, 2007 meeting notes....

some example comments:

 

...Fear of loss of freedom to roam by being required to stay on trails – one of the

great attractions of the area for hikers is the wide open spaces and ability to explore. Need

for loop trail opportunities and longer distance hiking opportunities (5 – 7 miles). Put a

trailhead at intersection of SF14 and County Road 8 by Rowland Lake. Build connecting

trail paralleling County Road 8 between Catherine Creek trailhead and Rowland Lake.

Trail tread and width appropriate to allowed uses (USFS standards). Trail opportunities for

variety of skill levels in all user groups – designate appropriateness of trails (e.g. difficult

level and appropriate uses) like cross country ski trails. Don’t let bikers drive away hikers

by taking over area as has happened on other “multiple use” trails – “shared trail use” isn’t

always equitable: “downhillers” are biggest threat to hiker enjoyment. Where are all the

other hikers? The area is full of hikers on spring weekends yet they don’t seem represented

in this process. It seems stacked by mountain bikers. Where are Friends of the Gorge?....

to read more:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/columbia/about/documents/CoyoteWallCatherineCreek_pub_mtg_notes_12_12_2007.pdf

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Jane Garbisch - Site Sherpa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We are here on the planet only once.... might as well get a feel for the place."
- Annie Dillard

Hmm . . .at the earlier meeting, the bikers and hunters seemed to be at odds, and nobody had any problems with hikers, so maybe hikers didn't feel the motivation. Bikers are always the most threatened when it comes to access, so they are the most motivated to show up. And hunters were the ones wanting to limit the bikers, at least at the earlier meeting I was at.

As a hiker in the area, I do not feel forced out by bikers. There are some steep and advanced mountain biking routes, and if as a hiker you run into an out-of-control biker, it could be bad. But that hasn't happened to me.

One thing is that the Forest Service had made clear that they really didn't have much of a budget to add trails or infrastructure in the area. They will seek grants once their process is done, but the main result of this process is going to be to close some of the excessive social trails that have proliferated, due to ecological concerns. Even some of the bikers acknowledge the excess, but they want to ensure that a good diversity of trail types and difficulties remain open.

Susan Saul, President of the Trails Club of Oregon, gave me permission to post her concerns on this area and the issues:

The current Forest Service management policy at Coyote Rim-Catherine Creek is "dispersed recreation" with users free to roam over the landscape. With increased recreation use -- including downhill bike racers using Coyote Rim as a training site -- and increasing appearance of user-built and "social" trails, the Forest Service needs to institute better management and is developing a trail plan for the area. Hikers don't feel as threatened as mountain bikers so they have not been engaged in the planning process, but hikers are likely to be restricted to a few designated trails in the final plan. Because "Catherine Creek Open Space" (Major Creek to the Labyrinth) is a migration corridor and sensitive for a number of wildlife and plant species, it's likely that there will be only one long trail. Wildlife disturbance is a big concern both there and on Coyote Rim, where bird nesting sites on the cliffs are affected by human activity on the rim. Hikers should be engaged to say what is important to them about Coyote Rim and Catherine Creek so the few hiking trails that are allowed will be designed to give them the recreation experiences they desire. Go to http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/columbia/projects/index.shtml and scroll down to Recreation Use at Coyote Wall (Syncline), Burdoin Mountain and Catherine Creek for all the background information

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Jane Garbisch - Site Sherpa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We are here on the planet only once.... might as well get a feel for the place."
- Annie Dillard

Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

USDA Forest Service, 902 Wasco Avenue, Suite 200, Hood River, Oregon 97031

Visit our website at www.fs.fed.us/r6/columbia

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release Contact: Stan Hinatsu (541) 308-1708

March 17, 2008

The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Holds Public

Meeting for the Coyote Wall (Syncline) Trail Project

HOOD RIVER, – The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, USDA Forest Service, will

continue the public participation process for the Coyote Wall (Syncline) and Catherine Creek Trail

Project by holding a public meeting on April 1, 2008, 6:00pm – 8:00pm. The meeting will be held at the

Pioneer Center in White Salmon, Washington.

During the last two months the Forest Service, numerous stakeholders and concerned citizens have

worked together and used information gathered from the first two public meetings to develop a proposed

trail system. The Agency wishes to solicit input on the proposal which will be analyzed through the

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process.

The area has become a very popular destination for recreation users, particularly mountain bikers

and hikers. Numerous user trails and routes have developed over the past several years. The trails are

located on a mix of public and private lands with some trails showing visible signs of erosion and

impacts to adjacent natural and cultural resources.

For more please contact Stan Hinatsu at (541-308-1708) or by email (shinatsu@fs.fed.us).

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Jane Garbisch - Site Sherpa

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We are here on the planet only once.... might as well get a feel for the place."
- Annie Dillard