Post by: bearpaw on February 08, 2014, 11:27:59 PM
Contact: Mac Minard
Executive Director
moga@mt.net
406449-3578 Date: February 8, 2014
MOGA SUPPORTS REVIEW AND SUPPORT FOR NATIONAL FOREST TRAIL MAINTENANCE
Montana Outfitters and Guides Association announced its support for a collaborative effort that will highlight the value and importance of the Trail System on National Forest Lands and the need for legislative and policy changes.
Use of our national forests has been on the rise since the 1970’s and help fuel a $730 billion recreation industry; yet they receive a paltry investment in return. The Forest Service trail system faces a $314 million backlog in trail maintenance and an additional $210 million backlog in annual maintenance, capital improvements, and operations. Combined, the Forest Service trail maintenance backlog exceeds a half-billion dollars.
MOGA joins others groups, including Back Country Horsemen and The Wilderness Society, in calling on Congress to:
• Create a national forest volunteer and partnership strategy specific to expanding the use of volunteers and partners in maintaining national forest trails.
• Require the Forest Service to study the expanded use of fire crews for trail maintenance.
• Direct the Forest Service to assess potential solutions to legal liability concerns in order to support and facilitate the use of partners and volunteers.
• Study a proposal to permit outfitters and guides to partially offset their fees through trail maintenance.
Additionally the Forest Service is asked among other things to:
• Increase the transparency in the trail maintenance program by providing an annual breakdown of how the US Forest Service’s trail maintenance budget is used.
• Modify the “Volunteer in Forest” program to lower the liability barriers for using volunteers to assist with trail maintenance and stewardship.
• Provide national direction and better coordination to maximize the utilization of fire crews for trail work whenever possible.
Dusty Crary, MOGA Board member and Wilderness Outfitter, offered the following observation on this initiative; “There is a complete cultural decay within the USFS and an intervention is long overdue. I think it is very important to try and get budget transparency and emphasize the fact that as Outfitters we are being asked to pay more for far less service than we have ever gotten.”
**END**
Mac Minard
Executive Director
Montana Outfitters and Guides Association