stephenfarris wrote:
Wasn't Tellico closed because of environmental impacts from soil and erosion runoff into nearby streams? And wasn't the trout population the biggest thing that they were looking at, all somewhat backed by Ted Turner? They first said that they were going to close the trail down and conduct the research. That brought on a lot of lost business to that area. We knew they would not open it back up. Tellico was closed because of environmentalist I think. These are the same people that make sure that we can not water our lawns so we can send that water downstream to Florida and Alabama to save the muscles(wasn't this the case of the last two years of the drought)? Beasley has no local impact except on erosion of the dirt. At lot of low usage wilderness and OHV areas are being closed right now because there is not enough funding to keep the areas up. I drive by places in Toccoa where the gates were never opened this year. I have been told that they are just closing the gates until these areas grow over. This is more of an economic impact due to the state of our government right now. This includes some hiking and picnic areas. You guys may know a lot more than I do and we would love to help the cause. Looking forward to riding with some of you guys if you will allow us CJ/Wrangles around
After we get John's feet wet maybe he can persuade some more from here to come play.
Yes, Tellico was closed because of the "environmental impact", but what those who did not follow the issue closely do not remember was that the Southern 4WD Association (SFWDA) contributed close to $2M worth of man-power working (clearing trails, building bridges, reinforcing banks, etc.) in 2008 (the USFS budget for the Tellico OHV area for that year was $1.7M) to help keep the area open as it is one of the largest economic draws for the town of Murphy, NC. The "environmentalists" that brought the forced the closure of the Upper #2 Trail at Tellico that was the start of the whole review and process in 2007 were actually paid lobbyists for Trouts Unlimited. I was at Tellico for the 2007 Jeep Jamboree and talked to the local trail guides first hand over dinner one night about it.
In May 2010 they filed a lawsuit against the USFS:
http://www.sfwda.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=381I have a copy of the PDF "book" version of the complete Chattahoochee-Occonee National Forest Off-Road Area Maps from 2007. The differences between that and the 2010 version maps that is online right now are striking. Many of the FS Roads I have listed on my maps have simply ceased to exist on the new ones. Others have been re-numbered. I believe there is an economic impact (in $ spent) that off-roading does provide to the local communities that is not the same as that which is provided by hikers, campers, mountain-bikers, etc... I support (and participate in) all of those activities, but I believe there is a sustainable place for 4WDs as well. The closures of the OHV areas in the N.GA Mtns started in 2004 long before the current economic down-turn. This has been a systematic process.
We look forward to wheeling with you all too... if you can put up with our IFS "Grocery Getters"...
John
. gotta love it.
