Mt. Hood Off-Highway Vehicle Plan

ATVs next to Wilderness? Take action now to protect quiet recreation, wildlife, and water quality from off-road vehicles

The Forest Service has released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for its Mt. Hood Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Plan. The Plan identifies which roads and trails in Mt. Hood National Forest are open to OHV use, but the Forest Service can’t decide what type of OHV Plan it will select. So it has selected two “preferred alternatives.”

Thanks to thousands of comments previously submitted by Oregonians like you, the Forest Service created Alternative 4, which takes a balanced approach to OHV planning. Alternative 4 provides for OHV access in three areas, covering almost 100 miles of roads and trails. Alternative 4’s routes are placed to protect our drinking water and our rivers from adverse environmental impacts resulting from OHV use. And because over a thousand concerned people commented on the Forest Service’s original proposal, Alternative 4 also recognizes the needs of quiet recreationists such hikers, anglers, mountain bikers and equestrians.

The Forest Service also identified Alternative 3 as a preferred alternative. Alternative 3 is an extreme plan that favors the desires of OHV users over all other forest user groups, and the ecosystem. The plan described in Alternative 3 features eight OHV areas around the mountain and 325 miles of routes. ATVs would ride adjacent to the Salmon Huckleberry, Roaring River, Mark O. Hatfield, Lower White River, Mt. Hood, and Badger Creek Wildernesses. Alternative 3 also places OHV routes in remote backcountry, which is difficult for emergency services and law enforcement to access.

Take action today using Bark’s OHV Plan page and let the Forest Service know that you support their fair approach to OHV planning.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1810/t/9368/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27936