Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

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Lurch
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by Lurch » December 4th, 2018, 10:42 pm

aircooled wrote:
December 4th, 2018, 12:41 pm
It appears the heaviest damage -- excessive damage -- was done at entrance points to the Plateau in a deliberate effort to keep people out.
[...]
What troubles me is the loss of public access to public lands that were not being abused. I've found tons of trash on Horsetail/Angel's Rest/Wahkeena, but the only trash on the BV Plateau is a smattering of junk from decades ago before the gates went up. All this was done hastily with NO opportunity for public comment and, it would appear, any environmental review. Excavators mucked around in the creeks and streams and thousands of mature trees were killed, not for the purpose of reducing fire danger or erosion control, but simply to keep people out.
A couple things on that, at least my opinions on them... The FS has a few different levels of road decommissioning efforts, 5 actually. Blocking the entrance is only level 1. All the way to "Full obliteration, recontouring and restoring natural
slopes"

I don't believe that these efforts were to keep people out, more likely to keep vehicles out. But also to provide the area with time to rehabilitate itself. Wildland fire efforts get around a lot of the red tape, and bureaucracies surrounding everything governmental. Look at how long it took to replace the Tish creek bridge, and we have what, 5 or 6 new ones in already as a result of the burn? The lines were definitely cut in fire suppression efforts, to say otherwise would be incorrect. As I said before, from my knowledge and experience, those trees were most likely dropped during the initial line creation, not in the mopup afterwards, and they did try to minimize their environmental impact by using existing road beds..
romann wrote:
December 4th, 2018, 4:00 pm
It could have been added to trails system, like others said - all was needed is trail signs and updated maps. The trails were used by wildlife more than people (especially getting around blackberry thickets) so it wasn't all needed to protect the wilderness - maybe just the opposite.
Few things here too. It's not that easy, if the FS is going to take a trail into their system, it needs to be up to their standards. It needs maintenance, that they would be responsible for, and they adopt the liability, the environmental impacts of it, etc. 'Updating maps' isn't that easy either, most references are decades old. Hell I haven't seen an official map yet that actually has Basin Rd in the proper location :lol: These are the same reasons you won't see the foxgloves, munra, ROA or a number of other unofficial trails brought into the official network
Last edited by Lurch on December 5th, 2018, 12:24 am, edited 2 times in total.

Webfoot
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by Webfoot » December 4th, 2018, 11:56 pm

Lurch wrote:
December 4th, 2018, 10:42 pm
Hell I haven't seen an official map yet that actually has Basin Rd in the proper location :lol:
I haven't been up there since I started using GPS. Does the BLM Carto map have it right, or is that wrong too?

Lurch
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by Lurch » December 5th, 2018, 12:21 am

That seems even worse from most! It has the road ending out near Cougar Rock... The wilderness boundary on that map mostly follows the existing road in the basin..

Webfoot
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by Webfoot » December 5th, 2018, 12:48 am

Thanks!

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aiwetir
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by aiwetir » December 5th, 2018, 10:25 am

Lurch wrote:
December 5th, 2018, 12:21 am
That seems even worse from most! It has the road ending out near Cougar Rock... The wilderness boundary on that map mostly follows the existing road in the basin..
Would putting this on the map help?
Screen Region 2018-12-05 at 08.22.07.png
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aircooled
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by aircooled » December 5th, 2018, 10:28 am

Lurch wrote:
December 4th, 2018, 10:42 pm
Wildland fire efforts get around a lot of the red tape, and bureaucracies surrounding everything governmental. Look at how long it took to replace the Tish creek bridge, and we have what, 5 or 6 new ones in already as a result of the burn?
Agreed, we did get some nice new bridges - and quickly!

As for the "deliberate" effort to keep people out, I say "it appears". I base that on the fact that there are very few logs placed on Smith Road where it runs steeply uphill from Palmer Mill. Almost none at first. (It's likely this was not considered a fire break.) As you approach the hard right turn at the top of the cut, the logs begin - almost exactly where a small user trail leads up from Palmer Mill. Once on the level, the logs are placed so closed that if they were any closer, you could walk on top of them. They extend from one side of the road to the other, leaving no path at all on either side. Not even 12 inches. It's hard to tell if the road was widened here or if the completeness of the coverage is because everything grew in around it. A year has passed and stuff grows quickly.

stevenrbi
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by stevenrbi » December 5th, 2018, 7:10 pm

I know one guy who will love this; the guy with the illegal cabin. He's been trying to decommission the trail up on the plateau for years.
Steve

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by Don Nelsen » December 5th, 2018, 7:22 pm

stevenrbi wrote:
December 5th, 2018, 7:10 pm
I know one guy who will love this; the guy with the illegal cabin. He's been trying to decommission the trail up on the plateau for years.
I'm pretty sure that the guy who built the cabin won't be back. I don't have solid evidence that this was the guy but whoever it was, he hasn't been back for many years. If it's who I think it was, his wife killed him and is in prison for it. Moral of this story: If you are married and spend too much time hunting, (or anything else, for that matter!) watch your back!

Here' the info:

https://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/inde ... s_gui.html

dn
Last edited by Don Nelsen on December 5th, 2018, 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Guy
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by Guy » December 5th, 2018, 8:05 pm

stevenrbi wrote:
December 5th, 2018, 7:10 pm
I know one guy who will love this; the guy with the illegal cabin. He's been trying to decommission the trail up on the plateau for years.
Yep, what Don Said, this is the info I have too! If Jerry stomps has been trying to decommission the trail he's been doing it from beyond the grave ;)
hiking log & photos.
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Peabody
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Re: Bridal Veil Plateau is different now

Post by Peabody » December 6th, 2018, 4:34 am

aiwetir wrote:
December 5th, 2018, 10:25 am
Would putting this on the map help?
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