Rex Trail users blast closure of hunting route
Published Thursday, May 15, 2008
Off-road vehicle owners tore into officials from the Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday night for the agency’s decision to close a popular moose-hunting trail south of Fairbanks this fall because of supposed damage caused by their rigs.
About 30 people attended a meeting at the Noel Wien Library to hear why the DNR recently decided to impose seasonal weight restrictions on the eastern Rex Trail, about 80 miles south of Fairbanks. The decision prohibits ORVs weighing more than 1,500 pounds from using the trail between April 15 and Oct. 31. It will go into effect June 13, unless it is overturned.
The Rex Trail is a 50-mile trail through the Alaska Range foothills that starts near Mile 280 of the Parks Highway and ends at the Wood River. It attracts hundreds of moose hunters each fall on off-road vehicles ranging from small three- and four-wheelers to track rigs to modified pickup trucks with oversized tires.
Use on the trail has skyrocketed in the past three years as a result of a liberal, large-scale cow moose hunt in the area, which has attracted more hunters from other parts of the state to the moose-rich Interior.
The DNR made its decision to close the trail after assessing damage to the trail last fall and winter following several complaints about the conditions of the trail from hunters and other users, said natural resource manager Jeanne Proulx.
During an inspection of the trail, DNR officials found ruts 3- and 4-feet deep in some places. In others, there was water flowing down the trail. New trails had been blazed around particularly bad spots, creating a “braiding effect,” she said.
The decision to close the trail was based on the DNR’s policy to manage trails for as much multiple use as possible, Proulx said. Damage to the trail this year was so severe that it even hindered travel by snowmachiners in the winter, she said.
“What we’re managing for here is multiple use all year round, not just one month a year,” Proulx said.
Nearly everyone who offered an opinion at the meeting spoke against the decision, sometimes passionately.
Speakers, many of them owners of track rigs that will be prohibited from using the trail under the new policy, questioned the DNR’s research on what kind of vehicles are doing the damage, wondered why there were no public hearings held before the decision was made and said owners of “monster trucks” from Southcentral are responsible for damaging the trail.
Track rig owners said their vehicles, which have wide treads and exert less pressure on the terrain wheeled vehicles, do less damage than four-wheelers and modified highway vehicles with tires.
“We’ve been using this trail for 30 or 40 years, and we weren’t tearing the trail up,” said Rogge Hunter of North Pole, who owns a track rig and a cabin on the Rex Trail. “It wasn’t until those guys from Anchorage, Eagle River and Wasilla came up here with their big-tired rigs that there was a problem.”
Others at the meeting echoed Hunter’s opinion. If anything, four-wheelers should be banned from using the trail before ORVs, said Greg Shaffer of Fairbanks, who doesn’t own a track rig but hunts with a friend who does.
Shaffer referred to statistics from the Department of Fish and Game that showed the number of hunters using ATVs on the trail has nearly tripled in the past three years since the cow moose hunt along the trail was expanded while the number of large ORVs using the trail has remained basically the same.
It’s the ATVs that are digging up the trail and creating side trails around mud holes they can’t get through, he said.
The lack of public input leading up to the decision was also mentioned, though Proulx said the decision did not require the DNR to hold public meetings.
“You made this decision before any public meetings were held and people could comment on it,” said track rig owner Mel Grove, a Big Lake resident formerly from Fairbanks who still hunts on the Rex Trail. “The route you’ve gone about this is unfair to the public. It lumps all ORV users into one group.”
Restricting ORVs from Rex Trail will create the same kind of problems elsewhere, noted Mike Lewis of North Pole, another track rig owner.
“Are you guys prepared for where everybody is going to go if you close us off from the Rex Trail?” Lewis asked. “If you squeeze it here, it’s going to pop out somewhere else.”
Others said it’s not the ORVs that are the problem as much as it is the drivers.
“The people who are driving their track rigs responsibly to get to where they’re going, I don’t have a problem with,” said John Morack, who has hunted along the Rex Trail for several years. “The people who aren’t ought to be stopped.”
Part of the problem is that DNR does not have any enforcement authority to cite those who are violating generally allowed uses on state land, such as operating an ORV more than 1,500 pounds on a trail without a permit or leaving the trail and plowing over trees, said Proulx. That’s another issue that the DNR is trying to address, she said.
The decision to impose seasonal weight restrictions on the Rex Trail has already been appealed and it will be up to DNR commissioner Tom Irwin whether to reconsider it, said Chris Milles, acting regional manager for DNR in Fairbanks. Milles expects more appeals before the appeal deadline on June 2.
Community Discussion
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You can't fight this ... it's progress. Listen to the "track" guys trying to sacrifice the 4-wheeler guys. Look at what a mess Fairbanks has become, and I mean a real toilet, in just the last 10 years. Unbelievable traffic, people everywhere, exorbitant prices for everything. Now we are trashing the trails and it will only get worse.
The hard fact is that Alaska has attracted for some reason people from big places who come here because they want a change. Then the first thing they do is try to make it like it was where they can from. I've watched this for 38 years. Now, most all of the government regulatory positions are filled with folks of a special mindset. The noose just slowly closes while you let it and you can't stop it so don't fight it.
DNR says it wants to manage the trail for multiple use ... what a crock. In the lower 48 you can't even ride a 4-wheeler except in "designated" areas that are tiny with 50,000 people! The "multiple use" areas exclude motorized vehicles. The day is coming ... and a lot of it is already here.
Consider yourself lucky to still be able to hunt. The day is coming that you won't have to worry about the access anymore.
have everyone pay $.25 per pound of unloaded/dry vehicle weight for a yearly permit to give them access to designated trails. use the money to pay for trail repairs. any one caught without permit on designated trails pays a fine of $.50 per pound of loaded vehicle weight.
"Back in the day", 38 years ago the Rex trail perhaps could handle the traffic it received, the problem is not the regulators, it is that there are too many off road vehicles. Back in the day, 38 years ago or even 10 years ago, there weren't as many different types of vehicles to tear up the tundra.
I'm pretty certain that the ratio of ATVs to "people of a certain mindset" has increased drastically over the last 38 years. Off road vehicle users are creating the problem and destroying trails everywhere that are used by all sorts of other people, and for the most part they are in absolute denial that they are the problem.
I can understand why responsible long time users of the trail are upset, however I am with James. There are plenty of "outdoorsmen" who think they have the right to take whatever large, noisy, damaging machines they want to hunting. They need to be able to take their barbeque, dozens of cases of beer, flat screen TV, and of course plenty of extra fuel. I live right on the Tanana River and get assaulted every season for months with the incessant noise of airboats. Sometimes they start running before the ice is out. They run at night, they usually run without wearing PFD's, they are so noisy I have to shout to be heard inside the house or turn up the TV to hear it.
The high cost of fuel will have one positive effect, peace and quiet!
Lifted Trucks have a right to be on any trails. Responsible drivers take care of the trails we are on because we might not make it back out with out help. I say pay for a yearly permit and use the money to pay for trail damage. What does airboats have to do with anything?
The article is right in that tracked vehicles do a small fraction of the damage that fourwheelers and lifted trucks do.
James has such a defeatist attitude. No wander people in the past have been easily lead to slaughter. We the people can and must fight things like this or the bureaucrats that make decisions like this without sound facts or reasoning will soon remove all your rights and dictate your life. Track rigs have been using this trail for years without causing significant damage but the recent displaced monster trucks have now begun using the trail causing rutting and brading of the trail. Large trucks and 4 wheelers that can't drive the center of the trail cause braiding and continued widening of trails. Checkout http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/fspu... for a documented article. Also, do a quick search here . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_Pres... on the topic of why ground pressure should be considered in our states greneral use guidelines. Within our own set aside recreation areas the definition of an "off-road vehicle" means a motorized vehicle designed or adapted for cross-country operation over irregular terrain, consisting of more than one drive wheel or track, having a gross vehicle weight less than 1,500 pounds or exerting less than 8 pounds per square inch ground pressure, and which is less than 88 inches wide. (11 AAC 20.990) para 21. However under the current state general use regulations 11 AAC 96.020 changed in 2002, they left out or removed the ground pressure and width making general state land use more restrictive then our own set aside state recreational areas. Does that make sense? DNR claims this is because your restricted to trails in the parks but not on general state land. What a crock. Let's base our regulations on sound evironmental reasoning not on the actions of a few irresponsible users. We should allow and permit those vehicles that meet specific criteria like ground pressure, weight, width, ect. and restrict those that aren't. Users acting irresponsible, should be educated and or have their permits pulled. Simple as that. If DNR gave out a license plate along with a permit, users could police themselves and report irresponsible users similar to how many people are busted now for fish and game violations. We need to narrowly tailor our regulations to allow the maximum access possible and perserve our lands for future use the same as we want our fish and game regulations.
As far as Arcticracer is concerned. I would bet that the airboats and noise were there before you chose to build a house along a tradition access point. Building or purchasing a house there was your decision to make and you should live with it. If I built a house along the Parks, would I be right to complain about the traffic noise?
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