Green dot road public input

[MADMAX]

Get ready and use the attached link to make your voice’s heard



Reminder
We usually don’t gain access

The Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will host a virtual public meeting next week as part of developing new rules governing the use of motorized vehicles on WDFW-managed lands, with additional opportunity for public comment expected later in March, according to a WDFW news release.

The proposed rule would specify that the use of motorized vehicles — including cars and trucks, as well as smaller vehicles like all-terrain vehicles, side-by-sides, snowmobiles and electric bicycles — would be limited to roads designated as open for use.

WDFW will host a virtual public meeting from 4 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, to present information about and answer questions related to the proposed rule making. The meeting will be hosted on Zoom.

“Motorized recreation is a popular way to get out on public lands, and we want to continue providing that opportunity where it’s appropriate,” Heide Andersen, recreation planner with WDFW, said in the release. “Ultimately, we’d like to see a statewide system similar to the Green Dot system in Yakima and Kittitas counties, which provides designated routes for motorized recreation while also protecting wildlife and habitats.”

In addition to the public meeting, the public can submit comments online for the proposed rules at https://publicinput.com/2025motorizedvehiclescr101.

[Fidelk]

MM....thanks for spotting this. Very familiar with Green Dot restrictions after hunting the LT Murray for 20 + years. They allow you a certain distance from a Green Dot to set up a camp, but restrict you from other easily navigable (but not maintained) roads to gather firewood or to recover downed animals. Maybe allow those two situations......other than that, I'm on foot.

[Kingofthemountain83]

Day before opener of modern deer in 2023 we camped where we hadn't camped for 15+ years... Warden came by about 4pm and was not happy... Said too far off the green dot... I wasn't going to argue so we moved camped... We were 175ish yards off the green dot on a wide open ridge... Didn't get camp set back up to go to sleep in a whole different area until 11 pm... That was fun... Never had an issue before that in that same spot any other time a warden stopped by... So if we could expand that camping to 200 yards on a closed road that'd be cool...   

[ShadowHunter]

Kingofthemountains83

The greendot system in the LT Murray went into effect in 1988, I might be off a year?  Camping off of a road was limited to no more than 100 feet...however most, if not all, existing/establish camps that exceeded that distance were sorta unofficially grandfathered in.  I personally know of several camps that still exist today, that exceed that distance... some by 2 or 3 times that distance.  BUT, once a camp is abandoned for a while (nobody using it) and tire tracks start to disappear, they frown on its use anymore.  It sounds like that's what happened to your old camp.  You can still set up a "camp" anywhere you want...you just can't drive to and from it, including setup and takedown! 

[Fidelk]

"""Green Dot Roads: Only vehicles on green dot roads are allowed. Non-green dot roads are restricted to 100 feet from their intersection with a green dot road.

Off-Road Vehicle Travel: Travel on any roads not identified on the green dot map is considered off-road vehicle travel and is prohibited unless otherwise posted.

Camping and Camping Restrictions: Camping is limited to previously disturbed sites within 100 feet of a green dot road, and no permanent camps or structures are allowed."""

This seems to be saying that camp can only be set up on the site of a prior camp (previously disturbed). Just to add to any confusion.

[HillHound]

That needs to be changed to 100 yards not 100 feet. You’re gonna be dusted out by everybody cruising by your wall tent set up 30 yards off the road.

[Fidelk]

That needs to be changed to 100 yards not 100 feet. You’re gonna be dusted out by everybody cruising by your wall tent set up 30 yards off the road.

This wasn't a problem where we camped for elk in the LT Murray.......same camp site during deer season was mega dusty, according to one of our group who camper during deer. There is also a blanket No Fires rule April 15-October 15, which might impact a few days of deer season camping.

[Kingofthemountain83]

We were in Cowichie... Camped there for a long while before moving areas in the same GMU... Came back one year and decided to give it a go after scouting... Never seen that warden before either... I know of a lot of camps that are more than a 100' from a green dot... No issues... Some have been there since I was a kid some pop up recently... In some cases being 100' from the road would be a dust bowl... Like where we were... Not possible to camp 100' from the road... I shot my first mule deer there when I was 12... 

[EnglishSetter]

That needs to be changed to 100 yards not 100 feet. You’re gonna be dusted out by everybody cruising by your wall tent set up 30 yards off the road.

^^^this

[MADMAX]

I ran in to this last year up near Tamarack springs
Seriously cool location old school elk camp
Anybody that’s on here that uses it, hats off very cool

[MADMAX]

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[vandeman17]

The only "hunting" infraction I have ever received was like 20 years ago up in LT Murray on the opener of deer. I took my old man up there just to drive around, not really thinking we would kill a deer but just to get out. I had went up a couple weeks prior and there was a huge camp set in one spot that was close to a good glassing spot that was around 100 yards off the main road. On the opener I went up there expecting there to be a camp and it was gone so I drove down to where they had camped, parked and we walked out to glass a while. We had just got back in my pickup when a gammie pulled in behind me. I thought he was just going to ask for our licenses and the usual which he did and returned to his truck. Came back a few minutes later and handed me a ticket for being too far off the road. I was probably 60-70 yards off the main road on an obviously very recently driven two track. I was pretty upset but we ended up driving around the rest of the day and passed at least 20 camps that were much farther off th road than where I had parked yet they were fine. Since the ticket was in Kittitas county and I lived on the westside at the time I didn't want to waste the gas and time to fight it so I just paid it. Still chaps my arse thinking about it

[EnglishSetter]

The only "hunting" infraction I have ever received was like 20 years ago up in LT Murray on the opener of deer. I took my old man up there just to drive around, not really thinking we would kill a deer but just to get out. I had went up a couple weeks prior and there was a huge camp set in one spot that was close to a good glassing spot that was around 100 yards off the main road. On the opener I went up there expecting there to be a camp and it was gone so I drove down to where they had camped, parked and we walked out to glass a while. We had just got back in my pickup when a gammie pulled in behind me. I thought he was just going to ask for our licenses and the usual which he did and returned to his truck. Came back a few minutes later and handed me a ticket for being too far off the road. I was probably 60-70 yards off the main road on an obviously very recently driven two track. I was pretty upset but we ended up driving around the rest of the day and passed at least 20 camps that were much farther off th road than where I had parked yet they were fine. Since the ticket was in Kittitas county and I lived on the westside at the time I didn't want to waste the gas and time to fight it so I just paid it. Still chaps my arse thinking about it

Seems like a real poor use of resources.

I think the whole idea is stoopid if you "tread lightly".  But on the other hand there's always someone who thinks spinning tires in their SxS is part of the experience.

[Kingofthemountain83]

I call shenanigans... 


I remember one year in Cowichie modern elk... I was 12... It was cold... I was frozen... I was sitting up on this slash pile on a red dot a couple miles in... Guy pulls up on a quad asking if I seen anything... I lie and say no... Tell him he's not supposed to be in there... Said he owned property he could do whatever he wanted... Told him my dad was farther down... He went on... Came back by in a hurry... A little later a warden came up asking where the guy on the quad was... I told him he went back down the way he came but there's another road that goes down so he must've went there if he didn't see him... He saw the road but thought the tracks went this way... And went after him... The guy owned 5 acres with a little cabin on it about 1/2 mile in and down off the red dot and thought he could drive everywhere back there... He could only drive to his property on the red dot and nobody else could... My dad told him that too when he went up to him... Still don't know who called the warden... But it wasn't his first incident from what we learned from talking with the warden again later that day on our way out... Roads were tore up from him back there... But they closed Nasty Creek so now you gotta have a key anyways... Blocked off so much public... 

[Fidelk]

I ran in to this last year up near Tamarack springs
Seriously cool location old school elk camp
Anybody that’s on here that uses it, hats off very cool

Went up for a few days last season, after not hunting there for a few years. Fewer camps and activity in the area. If you come through the gate, near Thorp, go up about 8-9 miles (Green Dot) and then turn left at another Green Dot. A few large camps that have been there for years. Our camp was past Coors Camp.....no longer there. Beyond our camp was a loop road with some nice fairly flat country to hunt in the interior of that road. Once you entered, you couldn't get lost because the road was a circle around you.....helpful in fog with no GPS.