Use of Off-highway Vehicles Near Pinhead Buttes

This is a position statement by the Mount Hood Chapter of the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) regarding the Mount Hood National Forest’s Off-highway Vehicle (OHV) Management Plan. The Mount Hood Chapter of the PCTA draws from a roster of 350 volunteers who contribute between 4000 and 5000 hours each year to the maintenance of the Pacific Crest Trail and other trails.

The Mount Hood Chapter of the PCTA supports the Mount Hood National Forest’s attempt to designate specific OHV use areas in order to more effectively manage their impact on our public resources. However, of the six areas proposed for OHV use, the current boundaries of the Peavine area in the Clackamas Ranger District poses serious threats to the Pacific Crest Trail and other fragile resources. Specifically threatened are:

Pacific Crest Trail
Historic Skyline Road
Elk Calving Grounds
Pinhead Buttes Primitive Area

Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail straddles or crosses into the Peavine area for a total of about three miles near North and South Pinhead Buttes. Approved OHV routes would come within a few hundred feet of the PCT making noise a certain problem. Worse, Road 4240-130 (from 4240-120) leads directly to the Pinhead Buttes saddle trailhead and the Pacific Crest Trail. OHV incursion on the Pacific Crest Trail has been limited in the past to a few weeks a year during hunting season, but including the Pinhead Buttes in the proposed Peavine OHV area will make enforcement difficult at this trail junction area on the boundary of the Warm Springs Reservation due to the small amount of effort it will require to get from approved OHV routes to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Skyline Road

Road 4240-110 is one of the few (if not the only) remaining intact sections of the historic Skyline Road in the Mount Hood National Forest. Following the original route of the Skyline Trail (circa 1909), this section of the road still has the original native surface. The remaining parts of Skyline Road have long since been paved over or obliterated by logging operations. Designation as a mixed-use OHV road would cause irreversible damage to this historic resource.

Elk Calving Grounds

Previous Forest Service policy has been to restrict all vehicular traffic between North Pinhead Butte and Lemiti Creek prior to the end of July. This was done to protect elk calving grounds on the southwest shoulder of South Pinhead Butte. Previous burns in this area have created an ideal calving area for the elk population in the Pinhead Butte, Camas Prairie and Lemiti Meadow areas. Large herds (100-140) have been seen here in late spring. To enforce the closure the Forest Service erected a permanent barrier at the lower end of Road 4240-120 (now proposed for conversion to a mixed use OHV route). An additional temporary barrier (gate) closed Road 4230 at the junction of Road 4230-038. Gates were also placed on all logging roads leading north from 4230 (350, 036, 038, 039 040). All of these gates and permanent barriers have subsequently been destroyed by vandalism to allow unrestricted vehicular access to the Pinhead Buttes area.
In addition to OHV use, the Forest Service proposal for Dispersed Recreation Corridors encourages “Motorized Access for Camping” in this same area.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 2007 forecast states: "Elk numbers in the Mt. Hood National Forest have declined steadily over the past 8-10 years and elk are scattered and difficult to locate.” It does not make any sense to significantly disturb one of their most productive calving grounds.

Pinhead Buttes Primitive Area

The area within the three Pinhead Buttes is completely undeveloped and virtually roadless. The only roads within this pristine area are the previously mentioned 4230-120 and -130. These two roads exist not for logging purposes but were the historical routes used by shepherds and wranglers to move livestock from Summit Lake up to summer grazing range east of the Pinheads. Today, the primary users of this route are the equestrian volunteers who maintain the section of Pacific Crest Trail between Clackamas Lake and Triangle Lake. The Pinhead Saddle trailhead is the only accessible point in a 27 mile stretch of the PCT on the Warm Springs Reservation. USFS equestrian volunteers would have to share trails used by ATV and motorcycles, not a compatible mix. If unable to access the PCT from Pinhead Saddle, it will become much more difficult to perform annual trail maintenance on this remote stretch.

Summary

The Forest Service should not allow OVH and dispersed camping recreational activity within the proposed Peavine area south of the Warm Springs River. The northern half of Peavine area can support this additional use much better. It is served by a two-lane, paved road (42) all the way from Highway 26. It is closer to other high use areas such as Timothy Lake and therefore more likely to have new usage regulations enforced.

Steve Queen
President
Mount Hood Chapter of the Pacific Crest Trail Association
http://www.longtrails.com/mthood/