Sandlick/Bigbend/Slade/Natural Bridge/Red River Gorge, KY

[yellocoyote]

I received this e-mail today after signing a petition. I'm passing it along to those of you who reside in the area, as I'm too far away to personally get in on the action.

Volunteer and participate in activities designed to keep the land open to OHV use, and learn about the benefits of legal off-roading in the meantime.

Dear potential Volunteer,

My name is Jeffrey Dozier and I am the Land Use Coordinator for The Daniel Boone National Forest (DBNF) for the Southern Four Wheel Drive Association (SFWDA). I am the author of the petition you signed indicating interest in a Highway Legal Vehicular Trail System in the DBNF near Slade, KY. Located at this link:http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sandlick/

Thank you for your interest in this cause. It is time to organize. The USFS is developing a scoping notice which begins the process of deciding upon an action to take regarding the Sandlick/Bigbend Watershed project. Their goal is to "Improve water quality and reduce soil loss in riparian and rare areas by managing and maintaining the many open roads in the Sand Lick and Big Bend Watersheds." This could have many outcomes. We surely need to be organized and calculated in our efforts, hence the need to organize promptly.

I am sending this email for two reasons. First, I am building a volunteer database in order to show the public land managers how strongly we support sustainable access and to mobilize our support in the future. It shows the land managers we are willing to work for this cause in various ways including donations of time, skills, material, equipment, organizational skills, administration skills, and money. Also, building a volunteer database is a convenient way for me to communicate information to interested parties through an email list. This will assist in keeping everyone abreast of developments and future actions to fully support our cause. This will serve to keep the current issues accurate and timely.

If you are willing to volunteer and want to be added to the volunteer database, please reply to:

[email protected]

Please type Slade in the subject line.

Please include your name and preferred email address (if different from the one you replied from) along with any skills you possess.

Off-road Clubs or groups can send one email listing names and email addresses to streamline the building of this volunteer database.

Thank you for your time in helping to maintain sustainable access. Please feel free to pass this information to anyone who may wish to join. We will communicate in the near future, so please stay tuned. Here are some informational links on the topic as well as USFS links to help spread the knowledge.

http://sfwda.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=412 (thread about Sandlick on SFWDA forum)

http://wwwSFWDA.org (plug into land use initiatives in our region)

http://wwwsharetrails.org (plug into national land use orgs)

http://www.kentuckykrawlers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5975 (thread about Sandlick on Kentucky Krawlers forum)

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=904836 (thread about Sandlick on Pirate 4x4.com forum)

http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/boone/planning/project/nepa_project.shtml?project=18901 (follow online docs from USFS here)

http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/boone/planning/IRMS/01_cmb/07_natural_bridge.shtml (historical series of meetings in 2009 on Sandlick where wheelers took rangers four wheeling)

http://www.fs.fed.us/sopa/components/reports/sopa-110802-2010-07.pdf (schedule of proposed actions which documents the "project" which spawned the issue)

http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/boone/planning/program/revisedplan.shtml (the Forest Plan which is followed by the land managers)

Feel free to Email [email protected] with your name, email address if different, and any skills you may have along with any feedback for me. This is a big year for Sandlick.

Thank you once again,

Jeff Dozier
Land Use Coordinator, DBNF for SFWDA