Mt. Shasta Sno-Mobilers, Inc.

P.O. Box 341, Mt. Shasta, CA 96067 Snow Phone: (530) 926-2824 Home Page: http://www.shastacascade.org/snomobilers/ CLUB OFFICERS: President: Eileen K. Maier, 842-2609 graphicsbyei@snowcrest.net Vice President: Dick Cowardin, 459-1903 aldcrek@snowcrest.net Secretary: Ginger Berryhil, 842-5838 Treasurer: Daphne E. Pont, 842-2609 Board Members: Ken Anderson, Russ Elgin, Dion Meadows, David Patrick, Daren Valdez Newletter: Contents... Regular Meeting Page 1-3 People for the USA Page 3 CWC Wilderness Page 4-5 Stats-Classifieds Page 5 Horseshoe Ranch Page 6 Sponsor Mt. Shasta Sno-Mobilers Mission Statement A nonprofit organization of dedicated snowmobilers working together to promote the safety and pleasure of snowmobiling for everyone s greater enjoyment of the sport. We work to retain for your multiple-use and enjoyment your National Forests and other public lands. We provide you with a vital link to others whom enjoy your sport. REGULAR MEETING MINUTES: FEBRUARY 11, 2000: CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order by Eileen Maier at 7:13pm at Silva s Restaurant in Weed. TREASURERS REPORT: Balance as of last meeting, 1/ 14 of $2525.16 Checks Written: $100 Blue Ribbon for Clinton/Gore land grab, $25 for CNSA Charity (ALS fund), & $11.95 Snow Phone. Deposits: $140.00 50/50 raffle, & $130.00 Memberships. Balance as of 02/11 is $2655.21. Out of our balance, $268 will be going to CNSA for the 50/ 50 raffle. STANDING COMMITTEES: Nordic Bypass: Club ride through the Nordic Center scheduled for Saturday March 11, 2000. Chairperson is Eileen, meeting places and times TBA. Warming Huts/ Sheds/Snoparks: 1) Deer Mt./Chuck Best Park: Nothing. 2) 4 Corners/Medicine Lake: Nothing. 3) Door Knob: Nothing. 4) Pilgrim Creek: Nothing. USFS: 1) Klamath National Forest: Eileen wrote a letter to Sierra Pacific requesting permission to groom through the Xmas tree farm, and we did receive a permission letter back. It does expire on June 1, 2000, so we ll have to write another letter next season too. Jim is working on the O&M part of the Grant Request for next season. Is there anything that anyone would like to see or have him add in. Members attending the meeting had no ideas. 2) Shasta/Trinity Forest: On February 4th, the Mt. Shasta FS District held an avalanche course. Six of our Club members attended the course put on by Matt Hill. First we watched a slide show and received handouts covering avalanches. The most common slope for an avalanche to occur is 38 degrees, but avalanches can occur for 25 to 50 degree slopes. Weather is a major factor in avalanches, wind, temp., snow and rain all contribute to avalanches. If it s snowing 1 inch or more per hour, avalanche risks are at their highest. After the indoor class, we all headed up to bunny flats for some handson practice. We practiced with avalanche beacons and snow probes. Val Hall barred her backpack and we formed a search party/line and started looking for it with only our snow probes. After missing it 5 times, we finally found the pack. It was barred less then a foot deep and we had a small area and about 20 people looking for it. If it had been a person, they would have never lived through the search. To tell you the truth, it scared the shit out of all of us. This could have been a Club member, a friend, a riding buddy or a family member and we would not have found them in time. If you want to increase your chances to survive an avalanche or to save someone caught in an avalanche you must be prepared. Carry a shovel and avalanche probe in your sled! Also purchase yourself and family members an avalanche beacon and ware it! Demand your riding buddies have an avalanche beacon and know how to use it. If you want to cut down your search and rescue time and increase your chances of finding someone alive, or being found alive, you must have a working avalanche beacon. We ve found the Tracker DTS by Backcountry Access the easiest to learn and use. Rollie at A&R Power Sports is giving Club members a big discount on the beacons, trying to promote safety. Rollie is letting the beacons go for around $200. That s $100 off their selling price. With all Page 1

the money we spend on snowmobiles, gear, and accessories, safety is no place to cut costs. Avalanches are real, and snowmobilers are number on the fatality list and have been for the past three years. Please protect yourself and your friend, be prepared, be safe! Matt Hill has offered the Club another training course whenever we can get people together. Contact Eileen if you are interested, if we can get a large enough group, we ll do another one this season. Members attending the meeting put in an order for 3 beacons. Thank you!!!! Groomer Reports: 1) Klamath report (Tucker): Jeff groomed Lyons Peak on Wednesday. Watch out for the green gate going around Whale Back. The snow level is right at the top and you could catch it with your skis. 2) Shasta/Trinity report (Bombardier): They have been all over the place. CNSA (Dave Holleman): Dave attended the meeting in Chester on Feb. 5th. We voted and gave Dave permission to vote for the persons running for CNSA offices this year at the Convention in Elko. Dave will be attending this meeting too. Dave asked for mileage to the Chester BOD meeting, he had 210 miles at 31 cents per mile for $65.10. He received the check at the meeting. If you have not already don so, you need to get your letter to the CNSA Awards Committee nominating Chuck for the grooming award. The letters must be received by Feb. 17th. Eileen had the copy of the letter she wrote for the Club. CNSA 50/50 raffle tickets: If you have any tickets, please get them back to Eileen, she ll be mailing them and the check to CNSA on the 19th of this month, so everyone needs to get them back to her. Eileen had tickets for anyone wanted to purchase last minute tickets.. Safety (Dave Holleman): Nothing new. Public Relations: We had an excellent turn out for the South Sis-Q 4H ride held on January 15th. 16 kids showed up and we had 16 sleds. Thank you to Dick Anderson, Ken Anderson, Ginger Berryhill, Chris & Shannon Bushnell (all the way for Douglas City), Michele for the Fun Factory, Dick Cowardin, Dennis Fitzgerald, Bill & Lynnette Jasmer, Eileen Maier, Dave & Donna Patrick, Greg & Wendy Shipman, and Greg Skeahan! Matt Hill gave an avalanche course for the kids and Val Hall showed off the Bombardier. You can refer to the article in last month s newsletter for the details. We have had several other 4H groups around the county want to get involved with the ride. If we are going to take on other groups, we will need more help and sleds or maybe the possibility of taking turns, like every other year. Eileen is looking for input. Medicine Lake Projects: The Club received information from People for the USA regarding Soda Mountain/ Medicine Lake areas. We have a copy of the California Wilderness Coalition s (CWC) Wilderness Alert - National Monuments. (FYI: The CWC s web page has a lovely picture of Mt. Shasta on it.) The CWC is asking people to write letters to ask Clinton to proclaim 38,000 acres in the Soda Mountain area and Medicine Lake as National Monuments. (There are usually fees to get into National Monuments, no new construction, no hunting, no OHV ing) Pat Davison from PFTUSA and Nancy Ingalsbee from KARE will be having a meeting on Wends, Feb. 23rd at 6:30pm at Black Bear Dinner in Yreka. Any interested party should let Eileen know so she can let Nancy know how many will be attending. (They will be ordering dinner there.) Eileen waned to know if the Club would like to take a stand on these issues. Medicine Lake is a touchy situation considering what has happened with the geothermal projects. As far as Eileen knows, the cabin owners at Medicine Lake are just talking about a historical site for the Lake, but she doesn t know if they are aware of the CWC s intentions with the area. There is a letter in Snow/Tracks blaming Eileen personally for the Club s involvement with the geothermal projects, but it doesn t bother her because the things that are said are just not true. Doc said that since the blaming is directed to Eileen and not the Club that it don t bother him. Eileen wanted to know what we should do about the latest issues on National Monuments? It was deiced that a few members would attend the PFTUSA meeting and find out what is going on and what they have planned for action. Then we d deiced from there. Mercy Air Ambulance (Barbara McPherson): Nothing. Adopt-A-Highway (Eileen): Nothing planned. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Emergency Sled: Jim Stout said the emergency sleds were stocked with much-needed equipment at the snowparks. OSSA Convention: The OSSA Convention was held in Medford, OR on January 22nd. We had a great time. We had a ride out of Chuck s Park on the 19th, it was great, just very wet. There was over 75 sleds attending. Thanks to all Club members who help with the tours. E-mail Address : We currently have 36-email addresses (48 if I send to Blue Ribbon & People for the USA, more for CNSA) out of the 103 address we send newsletters to. We have 87 current paid memberships with 193 members. CORRESPONDENCE: IN: 1. Snow Tracks, Blue Ribbon Mag, OS- SA, Rough, Klamath Basin & Sno-Riders newsletters 2. Snowmobile Jamboree in Lakeview Oregon, weekend of the 18th. 3. Club received a general letter from Senator Larry E. Craig regarding national resource issues. OUT: 1. Club letter for nominating Chuck Best for the CNSA Grooming Award. Page 2

2. Club letter to Chief Mike Dombeck regarding the roadless issue. 3. Club letter on the Nation Forest System Land and Resources Management Planning Proposed Rule. NEW BUSINESS: New Memberships: Steven Elgin from Fremont. Renewed Memberships: Kevin Cattani, Russ Miller, David & Mary Palmer, Gary & Debbie Sarti, Greg & Wendy Shipman, & Daren & Michele Valdez. Dealer Giveaway Memberships: None. Snowmobile 2000 calendars: Eileen got some calendars from All West Adventures in Utah. They cost $1.25 each and feature Polaris snowmobiles. Eileen ordered 20 calendars for the Club and thought we could sell them for $5.00 or so. Anyone interested please contact Eileen. (Not in minutes: As of today we still do not have the calendars, so my thought is they aren t coming. eileen) Mt. Shasta Ski Lodge: Weekend evenings the Mt. Shasta Ski Lodge is Environmental extreamism has reached the point in our state that soon only the most primitive forms of recreation such as backpacking, cross country skiing, kayaking, etc. will be blessed by public land managers. This is not a workable policy! It must be stopped! It s time to ask ourselves, If we don t do it, who will? People for the USA has been doing it and doing it well! And they need your help urgently! REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Cont.: opened to snowmobilers. They have been helping groom the M31 Road to allow us access to the lodge. There is parking provided for snowmobiles down behind the lodge. You can use the M31 Road through the Nordic Center or from Pilgrim Creek to get to the parking area. We are thinking about having our ride through the Nordic Center an evening ride so that we might stop at the lodge for dinner. If you d like more information, call Eileen. GOOD OF THE ORDER: Your Riding Areas: Chuck s Park (Deer Mt.), Pilgrim Creek Park, 4-Corners Park, Door Knob Park, Alder Creek Divide, Dry Creek, Ash Creek Butte, Trout Creek, Hemlock Ridge, Rainbow Mt., Little & Horse Peaks, Mt. Eddy and surrounding area, Goosenest, Willow Creek, & Siskiyou Mnts. Duck Award: There were no recipients named for the Duck Award. Classifieds: See page 5. UPCOMING EVENTS: 1) February 19, 2000, Saturday = Potluck/Night Ride (Full Moon Night) at Chuck s Park. Meet at 6pm. 2) February 29 thru March 5, 2000, Week = CNSA Convention, Elko, NV. Election year. 3) March 11, 2000, Saturday = Club Ride through the Nordic Center. Call Eileen if you are interested, we are thinking of changing this to an evening ride and have dinner at the Ski Lodge. Chairperson: Eileen NEXT MEETINGS: Board Meeting: None scheduled. Regular Meeting: March 10, 2000, Friday = At China Dragon in Yreka, order dinner at 7pm, meeting at 7:30pm. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 8:28pm. Page 3

California Wilderness Coalition (A Voice for Wild California): WILDERNESS ALERT: Across the State of California, unique ecosystems remain open to logging, mining, road building, off-road vehicles, and other development. Faced with a hostile, anti-wilderness Congress, grassroots groups across the nation are turning to President Clinton for help. There are a variety of proposals for designating National Monuments in California, but no concerned statewide effort to protect all of the areas in need...until now. Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, President Clintion has the authority to grant protected status by declaring an area a National Monument. This is the same legal authority that was used to protect the Grand Canyon, Death Valley and more recently the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah s Red Rock Wilderness. ACT NOW! *SODA MOUNTAIN: A 38,000 acre ecological transition zone where Great Basin, Cascade, and Klamath Mountain ecosystems come together, this area is home to dozens of sensitive plants and animals, including the northern spotted owl, mountain lady slipper, Greene s Mariposa lily, redband trout, bald eagle, dwarf Klamath small-scale sucker, marten, and others. Fossil beds and impressive rock formations are also found here. MEDICINE LAKE: One of California s most spectacular volcanic regions with abundant wildlife and a rich Native American Cultural history. The above was sent to us by Pat Davison, field rep for CA People for the USA. She has requested that chapter members and affiliates hold a strategy meeting. It was brought up at the last meeting about this issue. Eileen and Ken attended the meeting on behalf of the Club. Meeting held Wens., Feb. 23rd at Black Bear Dinner in Yreka at 6:30pm. Pat Davison started the meeting. There were about 20 people attending, along with Kay Bryan and Joan Smith, Siskiyou County Supervisors. Nancy from KARE, North Siskiyou Chapter members from PFTUSA, and others attended too. Here is a time frame of the current situation: 12/99-CWC Alert with Soda Mt and Medicine Lake listed on their National Monument agenda 2/14/00-Sen. Boxer letter on Soda Mt. 2/ 17/00-Babbitt Announcement on Soda Mt. 2/18/00-Babbitt visit to BLM offices in Medford, OR. 3/24/00-HRWA scoping ends. Sometime this Spring-CSEEA DEIS. Kay and Joan said they were looking into De-Fund these types of land grabs. It was agreed by the people attending the meeting that we would put together a position statement on these areas, one for each area. Nancy said that she would put together the one for Soda Mt, and Nancy volunteered Dick Cowardin (who was not at the meeting) to work on one for Medicine Lake. We have received a draft copy of the position statement from Nancy on Soda Mt and she said she d get one to us on Medicine Lake as soon as they could. Here is the draft, the motorized acre numbers are being researched: ISSUE: Creation of a Soda Mountain National Monument The Soda Mountain area is in southern Oregon, adjacent to the OR/CA border, southeast of Medford and Ashland. Soda Mountain, and most of the land surrounding it, is under the administration of the US Department of Interior-Bureau of Land Management office in Medford. Current BLM management responsibilities include approximately 5,867 acres as the Soda Mountain Wilderness Study area, 36,774 acres in 4 grazing allotments, and???? acres for motorized recreation. Within the Soda Mountain region area about 6,860 acres of private land. The BLM is currently involved in the Cascade Siskiyou Ecological Emphasis Area planning process (CSEEA). The CSEEA, which encompasses 49,000 acres, was established in 1995 in the Medford District Resource Management Plan. In September of 1999 the BLM requested comments on a plan to be finalized by the fall of 2000. Not only did the BLM propose to address management concerns in the Soda Mountain region of Oregon, but BLM also wanted to expand the CSEEA to include an area called Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area (HRWA) in California. HRWA contains some 7,000 acres of private land, incorporated into the Wildlife area over the objections of private landowners, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors, and numerous others. The placement of private acreage into a Wildlife area has generated a substantial amount of controversy. The Redding office of BLM is initiating the amendment process to reduce the size of the HRWA and exclude the private acreage. Recently, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt visited the Soda Mountain region and has stated that he is looking for management options for the area. Residents of Siskiyou County are concerned over the potential addition of the California lands, either public or private, into any Clinton Administration National Monument. The President has exercised authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act to make similar designations in Utah, Arizona and California. The 1906 Antiquities Act allows for a President to designate land as a National Monument, however, this presidential action is supposed to take place only when an area is threatened, and only upon the smallest amount of acreage necessary to eliminate the perceived threat. The area in question, both on the California and Oregon side, appears to be in no immediate environmental danger. The California and Oregon landowners have carefully stewarded this land for more than 100 years. Much of it is remote and inaccessible by the public. The uses that the recreationists, ranchers and private citizens wish to continue have Page 4

been taking place for numerous years, and their careful stewardship has retained the rugged beauty and environmental health of this entire area. POSITION: We, the undersigned, are opposed to National Monument designation of the Soda Mountain area by Executive Order. We believe this is the kind of land management decision deserves to be carefully reviewed by the public, and then enacted by Congress, following all the environmental checks and balances of our legislative system. There is no current development threat to this land. The uses that are taking place there are compatible with the environment. There are very basic private property issues that are of great concern, specifically to the people of the area, and as a matter of principle to all Americans. President Clinton seeks to leave behind an environmental legacy when he leaves office in January of 2001. The best environmental legacy he could leave is to show by his actions that he has respect for the environmental laws that have governed this Nation for many years now, and that he also respects the rights of families who have spent generations nurturing their private property, and whose activities pose absolutely no threat to the ecology in the region. National Monument status for Soda Mountain is not necessary, subverts the proper planning process that is now being conducted, and must be opposed. It is important that you attend the next Club meeting on Friday March 10th at China Dragon in Yreka. We will be voting on these issues and several other important land grab issues. Your ideas and concerns are important to the Club, and attending meetings is an excellent way of sharing them. If you can t attend the next meeting, please call Eileen and talk with her. She can share your views for you. Thank you! Membership News: Newsletter Label: Please check your address label. The (Sept. 00) next to or below your name means your membership is good through September, 2000. If there is a (Sept. 99) there, we have not received your membership renewal or you have not paid yet, and you will not be receiving a newsletter after this one. If there is a (Comp) there, the newsletter is a complimentary copy for nonmembers. Copies go to every member, to local Chambers of Commerce, local Visitors Bureaus, to local FS reps, and to State snowmobile organizations. This mailing we sent out 109 newsletters. The e-mail campaign is going great, we have lots of addresses, over half. I have been forwarding any and all information that has to do with snowmobiling and/or and rights. I don t expect you to read all of it, but some of it is very interesting. I d like to thank everyone for renewing and welcome our new members. It is important that we keep our total Club numbers high. We are having to fight harder and harder to keep our riding areas open, and with all of your help, we will make a difference. Eileen CLASSIFIEDS: CLUB STATS: CITY: MEMBERS: Bend, OR 1 Central Point, OR 1 Chico 1 Cottage Grove, OR 1 Cottonwood 1 Douglas City 1 Dunsmuir 9 Fairfield 1 Ft. Jones 1 Fremont 1 Gazelle 2 Grants Pass 1 Grenada 1 Jacksonville, OR 1 Klamath Falls, OR 3 Lake Shastina 1 Livingston, MT 1 Livingston, TX 1 Macdoel 3 Magilen 1 McCloud 2 Medford, OR 4 Montague 2 Mt. Shasta 1 Oroville 2 Red Bluff 2 Redding 6 Salem, OR 1 S. San Franisco 1 Shasta Lake 1 Simi Valley 1 Truckee 1 Weed 2 Yreka 16 -------------------------------- Total Memberships=89 Total Members= 199 Childeren= 46 New Members= 5 Dealer= 3 Numbers as of 02/19/00 Remember to list your snowmobile related classifieds here. 93 XLT Polaris Special, SLP pipes, 1 inch full block track, quad angle helix, new clutch, electric start, 500 miles on fresh motor, cover & trailer hitch. $2995, call Tres at 589-2896 or 533-4626. (2/00) 95 Polaris Incy Lite, 1000 miles like new. $2000, call Chris at 623-6768. (1/00) 94 Ski-Doo 583 Summit. $2700 OBO, Call Dick at 459-1903. (11/99) v v v v v To place your snowmobile related ad in the Mt. Shasta Sno-Mobilers Newsletter contact the Editor, Eileen K. Maier at 842-2609 or e-mail Page 5

Mt. Shasta Sno-Mobilers, Inc. The Boundary of the Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area is another issue we d like members to vote on at our next meeting. This has been going on for several years now and the North Siskiyou Chapter of People for the USA has been working on it for over a year now. A brief background; in 1981 an agreement was signed between the BLM Redding and CA Dept of Fish and Game to cooperate in the development of a Wildlife Habitat Management Plan for the Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife area. In 1993, BLM s decision included doubling the size of the HRWA, to the west along I-5. 720 acres managed by the Klamath NF and significant blocks of private land (about 7,000 acres) were part of the expansion area. The position of the North Siskiyou Chapter of People for the USA supports multiple use of public lands and protection of private property rights. In that the expansion of the Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area provides virtually no multiple use opportunities and seriously jeopardizes private inholdings, the Chapter strongly OPPOSES the 1993 expansion and seeks administrative action to amend the authorization and map in the BLM Redding Resource Management Plan back to the original 1978 mapped area of 7,477 acres. BLM has set a comment period to end on March 24, 2000. We need to have the Club take a stand on this issue at the March 10th meeting. Please be there to let your voice be heard. For further information please call Eileen, she has more information that will be brought up at the meeting in March. Page 6

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Mt. Shasta Sno-Mobilers: ---DMP=Deer Mountain Park ---TBA=To Be Announced ~March 10, 2000, Friday = Regular Meeting - China Dragon in Yreka. Dinner at 7pm, meeting at 7:30pm. ~March 11, 2000, Saturday = Club Ride through the Nordic Center. TBA. Chairperson; Eileen 842-2609. ~April 14, 2000, Friday = Regular Meeting - Silva's in Weed. Dinner at 7pm, meeting at 7:30pm. ~May 12, 2000, Friday = Regular Meeting - China Dragon in Yreka. Dinner at 7pm, meeting at 7:30pm. ~May 13, 2000, Saturday = Adopt-A- Highway Cleanup, meet at A12 and 97 at 10am. Chairperson; Eileen 842-2609. ~June 10, 2000, Saturday = Work Day/ Regular Meeting - Clean around the hut, DMP at 10am. ~July 15, 2000, Saturday = Work Day/ Regular Meeting - Trail Cleaning, DMP at 10am. ~August 19, 2000, Saturday = Wood Cutting Day, DMP at 10am. Club BB-Q CLUB SCHEDULES FOR 98-99 SEASON: Sno-Riders: *All events are subject to change due to whether etc. 3/16 - Club Meeting 3/18 - Ride at Pilgrim Creek - Full Moon 4/1 - April Fools Day Potluck and ride at Ashpan 4/13 - Club Meeting 5/11 - Club Meeting 5/13 - Adopt-A-Highway Cleanup 6/24 - Club Picnic - Chambers House 7/21 - Club Charty Yard Sale Save your STUFF 9/16 - Wood Cutting & Road Cleanup Rogue Snowmobilers: ---TBA=To Be Announced MARCH 7th - General Meeting at Roosevelt School 7pm 18th - Pelican Butte Ride & steak feed at Lake of the Wooods 19th - Radar Run/Poker Run at Lake of the Woods 28th - Board Meeting APRIL 1st - Mt. Shasta Ride Klamath Basin Snowmobilers: ~Mar. 11-12 - Sat-Sun, STEAK FRY, Medicine Lake Four Corners ~Mar. 14 - Tue, General Meeting, Potluck, Museum 6:30pm ~Mar. 18 - Sat, Lake of Woods Steak Feed & Pelican Butte Ride w/rouge Club ~Mar. 19 - Sun, Lake of Woods Poker Run- Radar Run w/rouge Club ~Mar. 26 - Sun, Club Ride, Food, Medicine Lake 4 Corners, Bob & Jackie ~Mar. 28 - Tue, Fun Meeting, Time & place Mt. Shasta Sno-Mobilers, Inc. P.O. Box 341 Mt. Shasta, CA 96067 Page 8