Nevada Backroaders

yesterday several of us attempted to pre-run arrow canyon before running it for hump & bump. as we were airing down and getting disconnected we were joined by mr. tom brady, the owner of the arrow canyon ranch, who's land we cross to get into the canyon. there has always been a sort of gentleman's agreement with mr. brady regarding our crossing his land to get to the trail which is actually on blm land. tom informed us that the canyon was now officially part of the arrow canyon wilderness and that motorized travel is no longer alowed. i told him that i had talked to the recreation ranger at blm and he told me the trail was going to be cherry stemed and would still be open. tom said that wasn't what he'd been told. i called the recreation ranger right then and there and he said that he may have been wrong and turned me over to the wilderness planner for the las vegas blm. this person informed me that the final wilderness boundry did indeed close the canyon to motorized use. like sloan canyon they want to put in a parking area/trailhead for people to hike to the petroglyphs and into the canyon. in this matter blm and tom brady have issues and currently blm does not have an easement to get across tom's property. i looked at the map of the new wilderness, if you want it i can e-mail it to you in .pdf format, and coming in from the other end of the trail the new boundry is at the top of dead bug butte above the old mine operation so there will be no driving in to the canyon from the backside. there is still motor vehicle access to war sheild canyon and the limited parking area but trying to drive down dead bug butte would be running out of bounds. it sucks but it is a done deal and is not reversable. please pass the word and let others know so they don't get into trouble driving in an area where they shouldn't be.

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1994 jeep yj wrangler-"d.d." []lllllll[]
Retired Trail Boss and Website Director
Founder of Uncle Brad's Misguided Children
NVBROFC
Re-located from my beloved Mojave to Texas. Where did all the mountains go???

That's a bummer. Arrow Canyon was my first real offroad trip. In a way, I hope Mr. Brady refuses BLM's request for access to the area. If I can't go there, then nobody needs to go there. JMHO. Sorry for the rant, but that is how I feel. I guess we all should try to do whatever we can to keep our trails open.

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"I'm not sure where the trail went, but I've got a Jeep and gas so who cares"

Rubicon Bob
Club President
Rescue Ranger
NBMC / NBCC
03 Rubi/2017 Grand Cherokee
2020 Gladiator Launch Edition

It's funny how the other BLM offices are working to open land up for OHV use, yet the Vegas office is closing everything down as fast as they can. I'll be so glad when I finally leave California County.

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All Jeep trails had to first be Scouted.

1978 IH Scout II Lifted, locked, blah,blah,blah.
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Her car.
1992 Ford F350 XLT 4x4

well, at least I got to run it a couple times.

I just don't understand why existing routes that are used by everyone are sucked up into the wilderness thing. I don't have a problem with protecting land from development or for studies that never end, but I do have a problem with shutting down these routes many people like to use for recreation. It is simply not practical to hike everywhere. My feet can kill a plant every bit as much as my tires.

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ɹǝʌo ǝɯ ןןoɹ sıɥʇ pɐǝɹ uɐɔ noʎ ɟı

It would be interesting to find out who wanted this property added to the wilderness designation? Earth First, The Wilderness Project, or Sierra Club? There are many other clubs like these, but the first two can be very forcefull. This is also the way that The Wilderness Project works to get areas added to their wilderness cooridors, and buffer areas.

The BLM should have held hearings before this was closed? Was any of that done?
If not, wonder if the state association could sue to try and get it reopened?

Sorry to hear of your wheeling loss.

Navy-Jeepster

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Member of the following:
BRC, Cal4Wheel, and my local clubs.

Really sad because the ones who did the most damage to Arrow Canyon WILL hike in and continue to bolt the walls. Now we cant drive through and report any of it. And I'm sure we did SO much damage to that hardpacked trail that wont grow anything that travels through an area infested with non-native species. Did the wilderness activists walk all the way in to deadbug? Bet they were in an MUV to look around and they didn't even drive out of the canyon because they got intimidated by the trail. I loved the debates between "scientists" and locals and ranchers when I was in SE Arizona near the research station. The enviro guys saved a grass and destroyed the entire canyon in the process, especially the grass. The ranchers said "Told ya so, leave things alone". When they gave up the canyon recovered. The locals were in better harmony with the land than the enviros. Make wilderness into wilderness areas and leave it alone. Areas in use are not "wilderness".

Maybe we left too much paint on that one rock at the pinch.

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WS7BR
2019 Cherokee Trailhawk 2.0T
Rescue Ranger & Training Dummy
I'm not stuck, I'm providing recovery training opportunities!

What's really funny is if they really want to protect the Native American sites, which I agree with, then why did they close off Arrow Canyon and the one small 'glyph site, and leave Warshield Canyon open? Warshield is more valuable than the rest of trail put together. I'd close off Warshield and leave the rest of the trail open myself. But that's not going to stop vandals, Red Rock has proved that. In fact, if they want to "do the right thing" give it all back to the Moapa Tribe and let them decide what's right for it.

They better get in there and tear down the CCC damn too, wouldn't want anything done by man to affect nature in any potentially negative way.

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All Jeep trails had to first be Scouted.

1978 IH Scout II Lifted, locked, blah,blah,blah.
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Her car.
1992 Ford F350 XLT 4x4

It may be too late to do anything now.
Not sure if a lawsuit could be started against the BLM for closing this trail.
Did they do their trail inventory like the USFS is doing?
A lawsuit claiming Prescriptive Easements may possibly win with enough backing. What Prescriptive Easements is, is a bunch of people have to say how long they have been using this trail. Depending on the state, you have to show usage for like 20 to 30 years. It becomes like squatters rights to the trail, because you have been using it for so long.
Not sure if any of this will help after the fact though.
Maybe contact Del, or the Blue Ribbon Coalition to see if they can provide some insight on ways to possibly re-open the trail.
We just finish a course taught by Del Albright up at Robbs Resort on Ice House Road, near the trail head of the Rubicon Trail. We had 16 total participants in the course for Volunteer Leadership and Land Stewardship training.
We highly recommend this course for anyone that wants to learn new leadership methods, and ways of running an event, or trail run.

Here is also a link to Dels web site for the correspondence course.
http://www.delalbright.com/RLTC/rltc.htm

We have not completed the correspondence course yet, but will in the near future.
The workshop was a wealth of information.

Todd & Teresa
Navy-Jeepster

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Member of the following:
BRC, Cal4Wheel, and my local clubs.

Not sure if you guys or any of the local clubs are going to fight to try and reopen this trail? Not sure how much use it got during the year.

Wonder if the BLM, or USFS completed the NEPA or National Environmental Policy Act. Here is a link to info on it also. http://www.delalbright.com/Access/nepa_intro.htm

Here is info from the site:
Key Point: NEPA is a process that includes notification rules, public involvement in decision making and timelines for decisions.

While NEPA applies to federal actions, certain nonfederal activities that require a permit, regulatory decision, or federal funding may be subject to NEPA. The NEPA process starts with a planning process for a proposed agency action, often advertised in the Federal Register. During this step, the agency develops a general description of the proposed action.


There are four main objectives in this step: 1) collect information and document the area; 2) determine the objectives of the planning effort; 3) develop a timeline and budget for the plan; and 4) identify stakeholders.

At this stage, the public has an opportunity to become involved in the planning process and express comments and concerns about the proposed action. It is not necessary to wait for a formal announcement of a proposed action to become involved. Comments and concerns from the public may be submitted at any time and may be used to develop proposed actions. Members of the public should be presenting data and proposals to the agency, as well as, compiling information about what the agency should be looking at during the planning process.

Not sure if you guys can use any of this info to help to reopen the trail?

Might be an option if you can prove that they failed to follow the NEPA rules for closing this trail. They would have to list who the stakeholders are, and that would clue you in to who wanted the trail closed possibly?

Just some other ideas for trying to reopen the trail.

Todd
Navy-Jeepster

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Member of the following:
BRC, Cal4Wheel, and my local clubs.