Trail Maintenance

[ICEMAN]

Yeah, I hear ya...

[wilsongideon]

If the trail hasnt been cleared since 1988 then who is going to be on the trail to stop you from clearing it? I guess it has never crossed my mind that clearing a trail is anything but a benefit for the NF should make thier work easier. I would say if your cutting a path somewhere off trail as long you werent cutting down any subsanstial live trees then it wouldnt be any harm either. Now digging a path into the ground and disturbing the ground where erosion is a issue yeah I can see the problem, but clearing limbs and downed trees so you can walk I dont see how thats going to make much impact.

[JLS]

I've never gotten hassled for clearing logs off of the trail.  Go do it and keep it to yourself.

[alecvg]

I have cleared miles and miles of trail without permission.  I can't believe they would make an issue over it.  In fact there is a trail I have been trying to dodge the rain this week in order to get up there and cut several logs out of.  Maybe tomorrow the weather will let up.

[Shawn Ryan]

Never considered that I needed permission for removing overgrown or fallen flora from a trail nor for carrying out someone else's garbage.  Don't go overboard and you should be fine.  Thanks for your service.

[Smossy]

Just make sure you chop it out wide enough to get my ATV through

 

just messin with ya'll   

some of those atv threads....whew 

That made me laugh.

[MLHSN]

Ya, I wouldn't go through the process of asking permission but I was wondering if they could write me a ticket if a Ranger comes along.  I know it does seem reasonable to give out tickets,  but it is the government.

I went to the list of work parties on the WTA website and there sure aren't many in Chelan county and I didn't see a single one in the Icicle area. 

[Jingles]

I have come to the conclusion it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission. I mean what are they gonna tell me put all the trees back in the trail and unfill the washouts?

[luvmystang67]

I have come to the conclusion it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission. I mean what are they gonna tell me put all the trees back in the trail and unfill the washouts?

Double on the forgiveness part.

I'm sure that nearly every forest service employee would appreciate your effort and at most give you a small hand slapping because they had to, but I doubt if any would give you permission.  Don't ask, don't tell, woods style.

[netcoyote]

I'll explain what I was told by the FS when I was going to spend a summer clearing a trail
1. in order to cut any logs in the wilderness area you have to be Cross cut saw certified as no mechanized saws allowed
2. Trails must be cut to FS standards as far as width
3. Water bars must be put in where needed.
4 FS Trail boss has the right to inspect your work and progress and note if corrections or more work needs to be done.

Now mind you this was going to be volunteer work done by myself at no cost to anyone but me. The Kicker was I was going to have to pay for the class to become cross cut certified. I politely said a cross cut is a frigging hand saw and I sure as he-- am not paying for a class to learn how to use a hand saw... So the trail still hasn't been cleared and the last time the FS cleared the trail was in 1988 when the FS employee rolled a string of mules down the hill.

I felt the same way about saw certification until I learned more about it. It all goes back to how we are all tangled up in legal processes in today's world. I took the chainsaw and crosscut saw certification classes and am currently certified in both. The land managers have to safeguard the resources they have responsibility for and one of them, besides the trees, is the budget. If they are aware of, or authorize the work to be done and someone is injured while clearing a trail, guess what happens? Everyone lawyers up and thing get complicated and costly in a hurry. If you get hurt on a state managed property you are entitled to L&I coverage, not sure what coverage is available on Fed land. The certification program is a bit of a CYA for the land manager but it does certainly benefit the sawyer.

I figured I didn't need "no stinkin' classes" on chainsaw use either, but I have to say, I learned a lot and saw a lot safer now than I ever have. I've cut into a leg before and it ain't pretty.

Bottom line, when I'm working on a trail crew under a trail boss, I follow the certification rules, we do the water bars and trail dimension specs and work to land manager rules. When I'm just out hiking I carry a small handsaw like others have mentioned, I move logs and rocks where I am able and that's about it. No land manager is likely to fault that.

[Special T]

Permission is hard to get from ANY Gov agency because of liability like netcoyote just said. I belive you can cut firewood on state for fed land without a poermit as long as it does not leave that land.... so how would it be any different by cutting he wood off the trail?

[JLS]

You guys are way overthinking this.

If you ask the Forest Service to "do trail maintenance", then they are going to have to give you the boilerplate answer complete with liability caveats.  Also, don't plan on doing any bridges, boardwalks, or fancy stuff like that.

I have logged hundreds of miles on horses in the wilderness and have cleared a lot of trail.  It's kind of the unwritten rule that if you have a crosscut, you remove the logs that are blocking the trail.

Go clear the trail and be done with it.  It's not a bad idea though, to start 100 yards in as was already suggested.

[washelkhunter]

Im busy now making trails. Plan on 3 different 3 mile loops one of which is going into a wilderness area. Not real trails tho, more like clear paths thru the trees marked with tape. Just clearing brush, deadfall and branches. 

[supagoose]

ive been contemplating this for a awhile. the area I hunt has an old outfitters trail and hardly anyone uses it anymore and a lot of the trail has disappeared and been reclaimed again by nature. those parts I just flag but there are some parts that are still there and over the year big trees have fallen across the trail and makes packing out game a pain. ive thought about just hiking in a chainsaw but then again I really don't want to be explaining what im doing to Mr Gamie. but then again it keeps everyone else out which makes me happy . I hunted a new area last year and the funny thing is that the trail (old FS road) would be cleared for a few miles then it would stop and the trail would be over grown and as you walk through all the thick alders and come across all the logs that fell across the trail would be cut. why would they cut the logs and not just clear the whole trail?