Backwoods ethics

[RaymondT]

[QUOTE="But.... it is illegal to reopen a closed road. All those resource roads are private roads owned and operated by the forestry or resource company doing business on them.... I do appreciate your efforts. But we break the law doing it.[/QUOTE]

Well, there is a difference between a deactivated road and one simply blocked with winter deadfall and small growth. Nothing illegal about that. And in B.C. having a successful bid in a TFL (Tree Farm License) does not constitute ownership. It's still crown land and public access has to be considered. Radio controlled roads with active logging present a different hazard but many guys with pickups have radios installed to monitor the active channels. There's so many roads, it's easy to avoid the mains and spurs they're hauling on anyway.

 

[StG58]

Well, there is a difference between a deactivated road and one simply blocked with winter deadfall and small growth. Nothing illegal about that. And in B.C. having a successful bid in a TFL (Tree Farm License) does not constitute ownership. It's still crown land and public access has to be considered. Radio controlled roads with active logging present a different hazard but many guys with pickups have radios installed to monitor the active channels. There's so many roads, it's easy to avoid the mains and spurs they're hauling on anyway.

Same sort of deal here in the NW of Oregon. Getting a successful bid on a harvest only implies that you get to put in or fix the access roads as needed. You own the trees you harvest and remove but nothing else. You are required to replant within a certain amount of time to FS, OFD (Oregon Forestry Department) or BLM specs. OFD and / or the ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) tells you what roads need to be C&B'd, what roads need to be removed and will go in and gate the roads they want to leave open for fire suppression but want to deny public access on. The FS and BLM are notorious for having different interpretations for the rules depending on what district you're in and how militant the local bunny huggers are. A perfectly legitimate activity in one area will get you citations, wailing and gnashing of teeth a few miles away. It makes me sad at the same time it cracks me up sometimes. Our local bunny huggers will literally camp on the doorstep of the local FS or BLM field office until a patch of forest is closed to all access other than foot travel. Do they ever actually travel by foot in the closed areas? It's doubtful, from the looks of them. But they feel much better that no one else can travel in the backwoods either. When fire season comes, the closed patch burns because the access roads are C&B'd, removed or too overgrown to get fire suppression equipment to the scene of the hot spot.

Personally, I'd rather clean up after the occasional idiot than let the countryside burn.

 

[Chris]

Try not paying your property taxes, then say that.

Haha, X2 to that.

As a citizen, I'm not sure you can ever really 'own' land in the United States. You're always paying property tax on it, and if you stop paying that, guess who will come take your land away? The good ol' US government.

 

[Ted]

We do it in groups here. We go out for a day or weekend and clear a trail or 2 every year. We pick up all the trash and have even drug out a rig or 2