END OF 2016 nwtra.com North West Trail Riders Association PO Box 571, Pendleton, OR 97801 Email: contact@nwtra.com Club President: Geoff Reiff Vice President: Brandon Robinson Treasurer: Chuck Overstreet Co-Secretary: Gary & Makayla Humphreys The success of this club and the events it provides to its members is directly related to the participation by its members 2016 HIGHLIGHTS: NWTRA s 31 st year was another solid forward moving year. Led by Geoff Reiff as Club President and Brandon Robinson as Club Vice-President your club saw these things happen in 2016: Super-Cross Saturday night had larger turnouts in the first of the year, with the new Umatilla National Forest supervisor visiting one of our meetings NWTRA took on the short notice challenge of putting on the Poker Run in the Blues @ Morrrow/Grant County OHV park on Mother s Day. This represented a significant financial risk to the club, but the events success recovered those funds and bolstered the club account. 15 confirmed members were gained from the event NWTRA Club Poker Run on Memorial Day weekend (its 2 nd year on this date) was a huge success, with more members attending than in the last 10years. Wal-Mart DC volunteers assisted NWTRA on a handson brush clearing event on Tower Loop Trail. Over the entire riding year, NWTRA members worked with NFJD to complete 5 bridge rebuilds Trail Maintenance hours were down slightly to 923 hours for the club NFJD Trail Crew was very affective and worked late into the year on several brushing projects, specifically Cut-A-Cross trail NWTRA has a YouTube Channel @ North West Trail Riders, check it out Photos are now posted in albums on the club website, nwtra.com POKER RUN IN THE BLUES 2016 POKER RUN 2016
SUPER-CROSS SATURDAY NIGHT 2017: NWTRA is moving back to the Prodigal Son in Pendleton for these events. Prodigal Son offers a larger event TV screen and a different menu. Fox Sports has not specifically set the start times for their coverage. The events on the 2017 Schedule (end of newsletter) are slightly fluid for these supercross events, please pay attention to Facebook or your email for any changes. Our first meeting of 2017 is January 21 st, Anaheim 2, WINOM 100 2017 You may notice that this annual event is not on the schedule. The 2016 Winom 100 was plagued once again by terrible weather. Yes, there was absolutely ZERO dust. But there was also a very low turnout number. This event is by far the most setup labor intensive event that NWTRA does during the year. Yes, it is even more than the great big Morrow/Grant OHV park event. But, it is also the NWTRA event that echo s the club goal of An all-day ride. We as a club need to figure out what to do for 2017 and soon for the continuation of the Winom 100. WINOM 100 2016 FALL RIDE 2016
MEETING WITH UMATILLA AND WALLOWA WHITMAN NATIONAL FORESTS NWTRA met with trail and recreation representatives on November 14 th, 2016. This was the first formal meeting since November 10 th of 2014. Unresolved 2014 items, items completed since 2014, and new items were reviewed. Here is what was resolved: NWTRA will continue to do trail maintenance on Winom-Frazier to have the trails open prior to Memorial Day. This commitment helps US, due to the reality of the forest service trail crew usually coming from college students and their availability being after the first of May. As each of the NWTRA members report their rides and accomplishments and that data is forwarded to the forest service in an agreed to format. NWTRA will continue to maintain valid volunteer documentation. This commitment aids us in keeping a voice in the management of our system. NWTRA is investigating the conversion into a partnership agreement. NWTRA will track and report volunteer hours on the system. This commitment is very important (see Volunteer Hours = Money on Trails article) Seasonal Use conditions on Meadow Creek trail will most likely stay indefinitely. Other stakeholders, from Fish and Game to landowners see no need to remove this restriction. NWTRA did inform the forest service of instances of sabotage and indications of violations of this conditional use by the landowners. The Forest Service expressed some commitment on preventing these violations in the future. Continued joint Trail Assessments: NWTRA worked with UNF in 2015 to assess the Meadow/Martin/Packsaddle route and bridges. Priorities were made and action was seen in 2016. NWTRA will continue this with UNF and expand it to WWNF trails in 2017. These assessments may have additional detail with use of forest service provided GPS units. Forest Service expanded its campground fee collection period to include the hunting seasons to capture this high use time for the campgrounds. FRAZIER BRIDGE BUTCHER KNIFE BRIDGE
Here are items that are yet to be completed but will move forward: ABC Trails recognition: These limited use roads to the east of the Christensen Trail have been utilized for decades. NWTRA have expressed the need to recognize them as trails and put them on the OHV Complex map. WWNF was open to reviewing this and a return route from Chicken Hill Trail. Signage: UNF has purchased a new computer controlled sign machine and is willing to have trained volunteers from NWTRA help with this process. Sign TOWER MOUNTAIN LOOKING EAST ideas from better posting on existing trails, to cross road return to camp signs, to Cell Phone service signs were all part of the discussion. Winom CG Road: Forest Service has as part of the new grant, has funding set aside for a major tread upgrade on the road leading into Winom OHV Campground. Better than the hardening of the road into Big Creek, with some modifications to the switchbacks in the road. Trail Tools: Forest Service is utilizing the new grant for additional tools to aid in trail maintenance. They are considering brushing attachment for their current track-hoe machine. Chimney Rock/105 reroute: In 2015 NWTRA and FS walked down this proposal to reroute the trail off of the highway vehicle open 075 road to the now closed 105. The same issues of Fish and Wildlife persist, but a push to get away from this conflicted road use should help this process. Cut-Across/Hwy 52 Crossing: Since 2014 this change to the road crossing for safety and erosion has been limited by the quality of the locally available fill, equipment, and qualified operators. Forest Service recognizes that the condition of the bridge at this junction is bad and the new crossing will require a new bridge. UNF committed to push forward on this project. Butcher Knife/Private Ground: The land owner still expresses a desire to not have this part of the trail close to his property. He is willing to have the trail completely rerouted on his land and wishes to meet with NWTRA soon. At issue, may be the re-routing required on the Forest Service portion of the trail to get to the land owners desired property crossing area. SWECO: Commitment by WWNF to allow UNF to utilize their Sweco prior to Memorial Day in 2017. NWTRA with agreement of the Trail Crew boss would like to use this time to make Tower Loop from Winom to Woop-De- Doo a Gold Standard trail. Early in 2017, NWTRA will get a plan together on this project.
VOLUNTEER TIME = MONEY ON TRAILS One of the benefits of having a detailed meeting with the forest service, both that manage our Winom-Frazier and Desolation Complex s, is that NWTRA gets to see how our volunteer time is used and how important it is to our system. With all the budget battles on the national level, the forest service funding is a low priority. This means that the budget amount for non-wilderness trails is less than it was for 2014. To able to function at all, both the Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests reach out to Oregon State Parks and Recreation, for grant funding. These grants require a matching fund component. This is where NWTRA and our volunteer hours come in. Each hour of volunteer time has a specific value. For 2016 our work was $23.56/hour. NWTRA was over 900 hours, which is over $21,000 in value. The federal budget for non-motorized trails in UNF/NFJD was only $28,000. So our hours effectively doubled the forests matching fund ability. They match 28% of the grant, so the grant suddenly goes from around $100k to $200k just with our recorded volunteer hours. Therefore, it is so important for everyone that does work on the trails to have that work recorded. These hours also give NWTRA a voice on how these trail dollars are spent. In 2016, NWTRA members rallied the forest service onto specific bridge and tread work, conducted meetings at the Forest Supervisor s level on how current national forest service projects could affect us, and worked together on plans for our future. If our investment of our time is not recorded, we will eventually lose the influence that was one of the reasons the club was formed. The most obvious room for improvement is the lack of recorded hours on the Wallowa-Whitman side of the complex. Of the hours recorded, less than 10% is on these trails, which equal close to half the trail miles. These trails are obviously being cleared each year, but documentation of this hard work is not happening. The WWNF side of the complex is the most likely area of improvement in the system prior to the controls that are yet to be in place with the next Travel Management Plan. But if it looks like NO time is spent there, this improvement will be hard to do. ITEMS IN THE WORKS FOR 2017: The NWTRA/Forest Service meeting did spell out several items on the plate for 2017 and beyond. This is not all the items in the works for 2017. NWTRA is still pursuing more significant trail expansion and improvement that time in that meeting did not allow for discussion. At issue is the costs for funding for the environmental surveys required (NEPA). NWTRA is reaching out to local clubs with experience and direct conversations with Oregon State Parks and Recreation to better understand our options. Oregon Parks and Recreation is creating a trail tool checkout process that is still in its infancy. The big items will be track-hoes and SWECO type trail dozers that can be checked out of this pool. The desire from OPRD is to have a specific project spelled out with a good number of hours on the equipment needed but not months of time. Again, lots of details to be worked out. RecConnect Trail Consultants will be conducting a Great Trails seminar in LaGrande in May 15 th -19 th, field workshop on Mt Emily. Other than the subject and the date not much is known, except the fantastic source material linked above. A NWTRA sub-group is considering Emergency Response and the club s liabilities. At minimum, plan on seeing a better first aid/trauma kit at NWTRA events and hopefully some upcoming training opportunities. Pendleton Bike Week in July is an ongoing success. NWTRA is considering the possibility of being involved, specifically at the hill climb event, to further our outreach. Other than being a spectator this year and observing, not much is known now. Mother s Day Ride; NWTRA will return to Morrow/Grant County OHV park for this event in 2017. Since there is very little poker involved in this large-scale ride, it is up in the air on the right title. The club learned a lot from our first time around and will fix our problems, plus we are looking at some enhanced events as well. Stay-tuned for several items NWTRA is pursuing as well. Finally, NWTRA needs to express a heart-felt Thank You to Geoff Reiff for being our president for 2016. North West Trail Riders Association grew in membership, is more solid financially than it has ever been, and has set the seeds for further growth and strength in the region. Geoff is stepping back (a little) to support the graduation of his daughter in 2017, but don t expect him to stop supporting NWTRA. Thanks Geoff.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2017 JANUARY 21 S T 2017 MAY 17 T H 2017 SUPER-CROSS SATURDAY NIGHT Prodigal Son, Pendleton FEBRUARY 18 T H 2017 SUPER-CROSS SATURDAY NIGHT Prodigal Son, Pendleton MAY 28 T H 2017 CLUB POKER RUN Frazier Campground 8:45 Pre-Ride Meeting SEPTEMBER 20 T H 2017 OCTOBER 18 T H 2017 MARCH 18 T H 2017 SUPER-CROSS SATURDAY NIGHT Prodigal Son, Pendleton APRIL 19 T H 2017 MAY 13 T H 2017 MOTHER S DAY RIDE IN THE BLUES Morrow-Grant OHV Park JUNE 21 S T 2017 JULY 19 T H 2017 AUGUST 16 T H 2017 OCTOBER 21 S T 2017 OCTOBER RIDE Frazier Campground 8:45 Pre-Ride Meeting