Some food for thought. I took this from another group I belong to...
"What the heck happened to our message board? Has the Nations economic problems got you down? Maybe it is the rising unemployment rate, the rising foreclosure rate or our newly elected president?
I am privy to some information that will get the talk going again.
The gate at Butcher Jones will soon be permanently closed. Not to be misunderstood I will repeat, PERMANENTLY CLOSED. The only access the Rolls/Coves area will be at the Pobricito Staging area just north of the Butcher Jones turnoff, but as I write this the tube fence is being built there. The entire Rolls area will soon be locked down with permit access required, just like Bulldog Canyon. I know this because I have been involved in an organization called TRAL (Tonto Recreation Alliance) This non-profit organization meets with Tonto Forest officials once a month to discuss ways to help preserve our off highway use in the Tonto. This new organization is local to the Mesa Ranger District for now. It will be expanding to the Cave Creek District after the Mesa District gets a little more established, and then further north. I have volunteered our group to "Adopt part of a Trail" in the Bulldog area. More information on that to follow in the upcoming months. Some more news on the subject of gated areas. The Lower Sycamore Creek area (Widowmaker) will soon have a new entrance at the newly constructed overpass at the intersection of Bush Hwy and Beeline Hwy. Where Bush Hwy meets the Beeline you will go over the overpass and continue on into the Lower Sycamore area, and I believe I failed to mention, there will be a locked gate there also! Four Peaks and Upper Sycamore roads will also be gated and locked. There is more at stake here than just the 4X4, ATV, UTV and motorcycle users. You have the commercial users like the Hummer, Jeep and ATV tours. They have to have permits to run specific trails in these Tonto Forest areas. I got involved with this group at the request of Desert Dog Hummer tours which some of you know I drive tours for. This is not going to happen overnight but the Rolls/Coves area is high on the list and is being worked on as we speak. It is not new to anyone who uses that area that the drunken kids tear the area up, cut new trails and leave their beer cans and trash all over the place. This is the same reason that they gated and locked Bulldog 20 years ago. For the most part the forest service feels that the Bulldog program has worked, not perfectly, but it did cut down on misuse in the area and they are hoping that gating these additional areas will do the same. If anyone would like to attend one of these meetings with me they are on the first Tuesday evening of every month, the next one being April 7th at 6:30. The meeting place is at the Mesa Ranger District office, the same place where you get your Bulldog permits. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. I think this post might create a little talk on the message board."
And my response...
"Geez... that's pretty drastic to start locking everyone out that doesn't have a permit like the one you need for Bulldog Canyon. Yet on the other hand, maybe that's what is needed to preserve our lands. If you have ever been involved in clean-ups in the Rolls or the Four Peaks areas, you know what i mean. No sooner than an area gets cleaned up, it's trashed again (last months Four Peaks Clean-up is a perfect example).
If they have had good luck with the Bulldog Canyon area, then I say go for it. The one downside would be the Coves... boaters are responsible for trashing that area as well as four wheeling rednecks and kids out partying. I'd hate to see permits required for our public lands, but if that's what it takes, people have brought it upon themselfs and no amount of clean-ups would keep the area from getting continuously trashed. Who knows, the areas might one day turn into fee areas, or even worse... someday closed to all vehicle traffic. I'd rather have locked gates with a permit required for access than have everything closed off.
AJ"
_________________ '06 Jeep KJ Sport... w/some stuff '08 Jeep JK X... w/more stuff It's an AZ LOST JEEPS thing.... other folks don't understand!!
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