We loose another road

[Creative Fab]

I took this off from the MJ site, it came from Marv Farley an individual member of GL, he lives in West Branch:


Quote:
I went on a recovery today up off Fairview rd . The road on top of long hill says
" unmaintained county rd " 1.5 miles later there is DNR signs that say closed to ALL motorized travel . Since when can they close a county rd ?

For that matter i still can get no answer to or find no law that allows them to close these forest rds at all .

Ogemaw co is losing our 2 tracks at an every increasing rate .

I feel our best chance to stop this is

1 . Call your state rep and give them hell about this issue .

2 . GLFWD to join force with as many other user groups as possible ( there headed that way ) . Its going to take big numbers and money to stop this . Pay your dues and get your name in on the game .

I am really sorry to see clubs drop out of GLFWD , as a member for several years i finally see it going in the right direction .

[Roadhouse]

Okay, I'm gonna be man enough and admit this, even tho' it makes me sound like a stupid idiot. But I have no idea who my state rep is, or how to contact him. Pat I believe you do, as he has an office somewhere in Midland. Please help me out, I have a lot of things I would like to say.

I'm just tired of seeing land closed. One of the worst situations is clear cutting. Look how bad they leave that area.....then berm it all off, so we can't access 100's of acre sections.

[Jeremy]

Find your appropriate contacts here

http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp

:)

[Roadhouse]

Thanks Jeremy ;)

[Bult4mud]

I want to write a letter but i realy wouldnt know what to say

any suggestions?

[Creative Fab]

All you have to say in your letter is that you are tired of seing long standing public forest roads being closed to the public. Every time you venture onto public lands there are more and more trails and roads being closed and that you as a tax paying citizen are concerned that our rights to use public land are being threatened.
And you are also concerened that these closings were not done with due process, meaning that there was no public input and that the actions to close were done illegally.

The GL VP just talked to a gentleman up in Atlanta this weekend when we were there for trail maintenence, he said the DNR hires his excavating company to come in and berm forest roads and trails when they want the closed not when the public wants them closed.

I personally have had enough and I am not going to take it anymore!
So please get ahold of your congressamn or senator and let them know what is going on.

[WhiteRhino]

Let me say on my first statement: "I AM NOT PROPOSING TRESPASSING!". With that said, if these roads are not legally closed, what could happen if state residents continued to use them? If there was a ticket issued, would there be any chance of winning in court? What governing body decides to close a road and for what reason? Just thinking out loud...........

[Bult4mud]

Hey jeremy can you e mail me that link or something when ever i click on it my comp freezes up

or look up my rep for me

Livonia Mi 48150 Wayne county

thanx

JIM

[Creative Fab]

From talking with a few DNR folks the last couple of weeks these decisions are being made at the unit level. Meaning that the few folks that are actually "on the ground" are putting up signs as they see fit to try and "make their jobs easier" as it was explained to me.

Jennifer has made so many cut backs that they have fire officers doing ORV tech inspections on the trails and routes when we get done doing our maintenence. These folks do not have the time or the desire to do it but they have no choice.

So if they throw up some signs in the woods on places they do not want folks traveling than it makes their jod easier, in their eyes.

I am not by any means saying that all trail closings are made this way, just saying that this is what I have found out about some of them.

It does take an executive order to close any road on public land. Before that order can come to fruition there must be a public comment period. If no one from the public attends the "compartment review and helps in the decisions being made at local levels then things get closed. These compartment reviews have small adds placed in local papers as to the location and time of the meeting. If you do not recieve every new paper in the state you might not be privy to this information.

[Bult4mud]

I emailed him today and i plan on writting a actual letter soon

[WhiteRhino]

Hey Pat,
In today's world of internet and email, why couldn't you propose to the DNR/DEQ that they MUST post on a web site any hearings for road and trail closures? In this way, we could monitor the site and be informed as to when a hearing is scheduled. This would keep them from sneaking in a small posting in a local newspaper and then claim that "they followed the rules". Just a thought.........
Jim

[JohnnyJ]

Seems like something that could be brought up at an ORV Advisory Meeting. It seems like a reasonable enough request.