PEAK PUTTERS

Wildlands CPR and Four Other Groups Seek Protection for Oregon Dunes
Conservation Groups Sue to Protect Roadless Area
December 7, 2009


Five environmental groups jointly filed a lawsuit today against the United States Forest Service to stop construction of a new road for off-road vehicles (ORVs) in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (Oregon Dunes). The lawsuit challenges the Forest Service’s approval of the “Riley Ranch Access Project,â€

Suit disputes plan for ATV road |
A Forest Service idea for a dunes access road draws conservationists’ objections

By Mark Baker

The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Tuesday, Dec 8, 2009


NORTH BEND — Several environmental groups, including Cascadia Wildlands of Eugene, are suing the U.S. Forest Service over a proposed mile-long access road the agency wants to build for off-highway and all-terrain vehicles such as dune buggies and Jeeps in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area about six miles north of North Bend.

Cascadia Wildlands, Umpqua Watersheds of Roseburg, Wildlands CPR of Missoula, Mont., Oregon Wild and the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Eugene against the Forest Service and the rock road proposed last spring by one of its districts, the Siuslaw National Forest, which manages the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area that stretches from Florence to Coos Bay.

Illegal off-road vehicle drivers have already effectively carved the roadway through the federal land off Highway 101, taking short cuts to the coastal dunes, said Josh Laughlin of Cascadia Wildlands.

“The road is basically already there because of past illegal activity,â€

Quote:
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Coos County OHVers Face Day of Infamy


As a student of military history, The General believes the lawsuit filed on December 7, 2009 by the Center for Biological Diversity et al against the Riley Ranch Project is just
the first in a series of aggressive legal attacks to be filed against OHV recreation interests in Oregon.

See Dec. 7 Article on Lawsuit
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/i ... uildi.html


(be sure and scroll down to the bottom of the article and read a response/history of project by former Coos County Commissioner and friend of The General and fellow land use warrior – John Griffith)

As some riders in CA know (and OR riders are now finding out), CBD and their enviro buddies are very busy attacking OHV recreation on both federal and state lands.

Actual CBD/PEER Lawsuit filed recently on Eldorado NF
http://sierraconservation.org/Filed%20c ... 20case.pdf




The BRC Legal Defense Team has been, and will continue to be, engaged in the fight.

See BRC Legal Docket
http://www.sharetrails.org/magazine/art ... =1&nonav=1




The question for OR riders is if they are ready to get some skin in the game and support a strong legal defense of balanced FS travel planning at Riley Ranch and elsewhere?

The General believes the anti-access crowd is watching to see how the OHV community responds to this attack. Just as CA, UT, and other states have seen their share of enviro-lawsuits, I think OR will see a like number filed there against both federal and state OHV travel planning projects.

How OR riders respond to this sneak attack will determine the outcome of the land use battle there and the future of OHV recreation in that state.