Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125890
.Stand e fight During November, the Forest Service held a series of meetings on proposed uses of Little Kern. Planning Unit - one of several in the Sequoia National Forest. Here are the management alternatives the Forest Service has served up for Little Kern: A: Maintain existing management, with 99,700 acres trail access - no roads. Trail, 203 miles, 64 miles open for bikes. B: Trail access, primitive recreation. 215 miles of trails, 95 miles open to bikes BUT with a 125cc engine limit and permit entry control. Provides best access for bikes, but conditions are pretty bad. C: Timber harvest. Favors loggers, but would allow free riding in 49,000 acre logging area, plus 50 miles of open trail in trail access area. If yo u can live wi th logging, the best about this alternative is no engi ne restrictions. D: Wilderness Study Area. The motor-hater's d ream. Not much to recommend it from the biker's viewpoint. E: Trailbike access and timber harvest. Like "C" only with engine size limit. Bummer. now, or sit & stew later F: Wilderness study area, selective timber harvest, and moderate recreation. An .at tem p t at "all things for all people," it just crams the various user groups into tighter areas. In a political stalemale, we'd have to live with it. G: Wilderness study area, trail access, and optimum timber harvest. In a sense, it's like "F," only it gives trail bikers more room. II 0 miles of trails, 60 of them open to bikes. Engine size limit and permit entry control. Big Brother's finest hour. Clubs and individuals with an interest in the area should write their comments and request to be put on the Forest Service mailing list. Write U.S. Forest Service, Sequoia National Forest, 900 West Grand _ Avenue, Porterville, California 93257. If you need a sense of urgency to get you off it, read this letter from one of the few riders who attended a meeting to try to stop another land use rip-off. I was one of the few motorcycle riders at the meeting, The "tote-goat" riders and the local jeep club had more people there than anyone else. In listening to the various comments, I noticed ' a very negative attitude toward motorcyclists and trail riders. A lot of people there at the meeting wanted this area closed to motor vehicles; ie., motorcycles. Plan "0" - The Wilderness Study Area - is being pushed very heavily by the Sierra Club and friends along with our own State Fish & Game department. Of course, if plan "0" or any variation of wilderness study area is chosen, then trail bikers are eliminated automatically and we have another place closed to us. Even the plans that do allow trail biking have permit requirements, control stations and most ridiculous of all an engine size limitation of I25cc. , This little gem was requested by a local tote-goat dealer and the California Trail Bike Club, the tote-goat owners group. Where were the enduro riders, trail riders and motorcyclists? An engine size limit was cited by the Forest Service as a way to stop the ' "motocross" bikes (his words) from using the trails in our national forest. The Forest Service got no input at all from the motorcyclists, so we got the shaft. Cycle News readers, get your comments in to the Forest Service by December 31, 1974. There is still time to change the situation, but it will be an uphill fight because of the riders apathy. o ,., IlJ ..c S IlJ U IlJ o Gerald Davis 23