Local News Comments

Birds of a feather. I'm glad Bass and Maffei are gone. They are better suited for someplace like Stockton or Oakland so they can be with their own like minded people.

Just another case of national forest land that the public is not allowed to use????LAND OF THE FREE oh land for a fee!!

Thank the tree huggers who are slowly managing to take away our rights and access to the forest Red. The restrictions in place this past summer are pretty incredibly not well thought out. They've restricted access to the trails that are supposed to be usable and getting from parking areas to sites you want to visit is pretty much impossible. We attended the Forest Service meetings when this all orignially came out but it was most clear that they opened these meetings to the public simply to humor the public with no intentions of actually taking input into consideration.

Maybe we could have a plan for a plan? Yeah!!!!! That's the ticket.

ORVs do massive damage and the riders I have seen are destructive and totally disrespectful of nature and wildlife. Haven't we taken enough of their habitat?

90% of the roads south of the Tuolumne are closed right now and no grazing restrictions are in place even tho spread of starthistle is the stated cause for closure. Lies! It's all about money. Who do they think they are? Congress?

rider if u want to take away our freedom to use our land because u have seen something destructive and totally disrespectful then the people who use it respectfully shouldnt be punished. that mind set parallels this whole gun control situation and many other laws. hold individuals accountable for their actions not the people. land of the free. i laugh at that and its really sad.

bchil great comment and so true.

Having worked with the U.S. Forest Service for many years, they have nothing but the best intentions for our Forest & wildlife! It's some, not all of the off roaders who think they can do what they want, when they want with our natural resources. I've seen many destroyed roads, river beds, meadows & camp areas left in terrible condition, YOU, as group need to monitor EACH OTHER, report anyone doing damage & not following rules for off road. Yes, it would be great if we could get everywhere we want in our forest, but until people show they really care about our our forests I will choose the Forest Service every time as a leader in the protection of our natural resources. I want theseforest lands to still be here & in a healthy condition for MANY years to come!

This is how the enviro-nazis work. Sue the Govt. and have the forest closed every time they go to court. The forest is for ALL to use, lets try to SHARE...YEAR ROUND. This is my forest, one would have to be in the forest to find me. If they get too close, I have big teeth.

Rider...people like you are part of the problem. You choose to point the finger at ALL users. We own quads, we ride responsibly and moreover some of the places we've visted in the forest where we've parked our quads and hiked into lakes that were "no OHV allowed" we've found far more destruction and littering than on some of the most used trails. Hikers are quite notorious for littering, leaving filthy campsites etc. There are those in every group. Smokey...we have and do monitor our own ...and the few times we've reported it all we've gotten is..."well unless we witness it, we can't do anything about it". Btw...you want to point fingers, Budlite, Coors and Keystone drinkers are the biggest offenders for littering their beer cans in the forest!

"Land of the Free"? How about Land of the Free for the creatures that were here long before we were? We humans seem to think that we have a right to whatever was originally theirs; just move in and take over.

Blossom

I believe MAN rules the world; not little spotted owls. Some will always be offended by that fact.

Plus 1 to what BChil said. I don't call as much as I used to but rarely get a positive response. Last time I called about a mattress being dumped. I gave a discription of the vehicle and the occupants and it was only 3 miles from the Groveland Ranger station. The mattress rots away as we speak. Next time I guess I should get personal.

ahh....the forest trumps people?>
today the owl sat looking at me.
play...keep on playing
sick fooks.
you wouldn't know conservation if it hit you.
think about it.

I'm just saying to monitor your own, whether it's hikers, hunters, fishermen, call them on what you see them doing, this day & age of cell phones, cameras, pictures say a thousand words.So what if you can't get right up to the edge of a lake your riding too, from what I see most riders can use the walking. Every time I'm out, I spent a part of my time walking the river & trails picking things up, seems you have seen it lying there & just made a mental note..yup that's trash!! I want my forests, lakes & rivers to stay pristine so the next hiker, rider or fishermen can enjoy the same, let's all do our part, if it takes closing off areas to people due to destruction I'm all for it, if this is what it takes to keep OUR forests clean & unmarred, quit being a problem, become part of the solution!

Smokey, just because I own a quad doesn't mean I don't also enjoy hiking, riding bikes, hunting and camping...I do all of the above and more. In fact the quads we use less than our feet and our bikes. My point is this, OHV riders always take the blame for marring the forests...not hardly! You know what happens if you're riding a quad and you pick up the beer cans/bottles along with all the other trash? Well if the Fed law enforcement stops you, you get cited for open container...how do I know this...uh, we were in fact stopped and questioned about the "empties" we were carrying. We do our fair share of cleaning up other's trash but that isn't even the point of this story...the fact is the new mapping and trail closures affect the ability to travel from one part of the forest to another

on a quad when doing it on foot would take days or even weeks....so the majority is being punished for the minority as usual! I think it's high time that we spend more money on enforcement, less on restrictions and honestly....less time behind the desks instead of out in the forests for the rangers...that might just help solve the problem.