Other TN ORV Parks getting hit as well

[Rob MSHXC]

I saw this in another fourm and thought I would pass it along.

With the Tellico win under their belt, it now looks like the greenies are going on to hit as many ORV areas as they can. I can't help but think it's not going to be long before Wooly's, Coal Creek and Coon Creek start getting visits from the state as well..


This will be passed out when u sgin in.

WITC has receently been visited by the State of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.During their vist to the park. They found many areas of concern, most of which were associated with the erosion of trails which has resulted in silt/sediment being deposited into waters of the state. Other ares of concern were creeks being used as roadbeds and multiple stream crossings.

Wheelin In The Country is addressing the concerns from this department and WILL BE cooperating with the same order to reslove areas of concern and try to continue to provide you (our customers),with an area to enjoy off road riding. As a result of these actions... trails,creek crossings,and areas may be required to be closed, and "be off limits" in order to stabilize siad area to the satifaction of the Department.

Due to the sensitivity and severity of this issue,all visitors wil be expected to stay of of areas in which may be blocked off.fenced off,roped off,marked with signage and/or barricaded by any other means.
ALLDRIVERS will be expected to

1} Stay on marked trails .... Absolutely No Trail Blazing
2) Cross creeks/waterways at Designated crossings ONLY
3) Stay out of Closed and Off Limit areas
4) Stay out of areas that have been seeded & strawed
5) stay out of sediment ponds and catch basins
6) Follow any other instructions of owener/staff


In order for WITC to comply with the order of the department,any visitor who is observed being in violation of these orders/rules, will be asked to leave WITC Park, with the possibility of being permanently expelled. WE DO NOT WANT THE ACTIONS OF A FEW TO SPOIL THE FUN FOR THE MAJORITY,And therefore, we ask YOUR HELP in helping to prevent this from happening. If you see someone violating the order or breaking the rules.......PLEASE REPORT THEM TO US so that we can continue to provide YOU WITH A PLACE TO RIDE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND SUPPORT
Darron Buchanan
Owner/president
Wheelin' In The Country

[biggin]

I know they(greenies, government)have been at windrock watching people cross streams and drive up them. I have heard of a few people being cited for driving up the streams there. hey do have a point on the stream crossings though. a guy i wheel with is a land surveyor for the state and he has noted several ponds down stream from coal creek that are filling in with sediment.

[Rob MSHXC]

What you wanna bet those ponds would be filling up with sediment anyway..??

Remember a number of years back folks started screaming and having a fit about that big hole in the Ozone and everyone had to stop using as much rattle can paint, aerosol deodorant and spray cheese in a can..?? All of a sudden the hole starts closing up and we all go "good job, we stopped the destruction of the Earth".. We keep on eating cheese in little slices rather than going back to our spray cheese in a can and thinking we're doing our little part to save the planet.. Low and behold here comes that big hole opening up again and we panic..

Who's to say maybe that hole in the Ozone isn't there by design as a big pollution release valve..?? You get pollution and it opens up to exhale out into space, it catches it's breath and closes back up. It's prolly been doing this for eons, but we just recently got technological enough to notice it..

Remember back in the 70's when there were reports that the world was heading into another Ice Age..?? Now 30 years later they are having a fit that all the ice is retreating.. hhmmm.. Isn't that what happens at the end of an ice age..?? The ice will come back, maybe not in my lifetime, but it will.. It's what it's been doing since time on earth began.. But hey, I've been wrong before..

[biggin]

I agree with you rob, but sometimes we make ourselves easy targets by posting pics going up creek beds and streams. Im not saying its wrong to do that, but maybe we should be more carefull anf not supply ammo to these assholes.

[Rob MSHXC]

No doubt about that... I'm amazed by some of the stupid pics I see posted around the web.

My latest rant are some pics I saw of folks playing in the mud pits on Slaugther House Gulch in Colorado.. Pics are posted on a VERY high profile off road trail site and some of the pics are folks that are quite notorious for staying on top of land issues and trail closings due to abuse on the Colorado4x4 boards..

Best place for those cool trail pics is on the wall inside your garage..

[CWBYinJEEP]

Coal Creek ORV falls into a different category as it is private land and they have mineral rights which means the water conservation/quality act has less footing there. However that doesn't mean it's impervious to greenie threats.

[redneckengineered]

Amazing when people start telling you what you can and can't do on YOUR OWN PRIVATE LAND. Wow.

[tw89yj]

I may be way off base, but from what I've been told, Coal creek gets fined fairly often. But being a company of their size, they just pay the fees, and move on. The last time I was up there,early Dec., they had started closing off some 4wheeler areas though.

[Mossyrocks]

in regards to coal creek, I like that they bitch at us when on the side of trail 3 there is a massive pile of coal in the stream thats running down to a lake. Not to mention the mud there smells like oil.

[Rob MSHXC]

Heard a Rumor that Wolly's and WITC just got closed indefinately...

Latest is that the National Resource Conservation Service has closed down Woolys and WITC for erosion problems related to the Clean Water Act.

[BigGreenMonster]

damn... any offical word or statment?

[BigGreenMonster]

yup... from witc's site... "Effective Immediately: Trails have temporarily been closed until further notice. If you have any questions, feel free to call, 931-964-3417."

[redneckengineered]

W T F

[yjwith60s]

One of my good friends owns coal creek, I called him about this when this thread started. He talked to someone he knows and they said no big deal they are just saying what could happen so not worried. I told him I would worry now he said nah. I will call him first thing in the morning. Like I said in my post about Tellico, people say oh we need to work with them, I say fuck that . They figured a way to close down shit on private owned and are using it all over and it will get worse. Its mostly a money rhing the family owned or state owned places can't afford the fines or court costs. I doubt you will see them mess with the coal company, they have so much money they might take the fight just to have something to do. Fuck the greenies and fuck working with them. There I said it, I feel better and thats my new attitude. we need to start filing charges on property they fish or fuck trees on so no one can use it because we will never get it back.

[crew991]

wollys did not get hit yet they did sut down on monday afternoon they did this for what they called trail maintanince they did not get hit by tdec they stated that they sould be back open in a few weeks as for witc they did not totally shut down there is still some trails open they are tryin to get the problems they did have taken care of we as a whole in the 4 wheelin community needs to start doin some to to try to keep places like the two of them from gettin the visit from the lovely government i do wheel myself and would hate to have the places that me and my son love to go to close so with that said tread lightly

[Mossyrocks]

wollys did not get hit yet they did sut down on monday afternoon they did this for what they called trail maintanince they did not get hit by tdec they stated that they sould be back open in a few weeks as for witc they did not totally shut down there is still some trails open they are tryin to get the problems they did have taken care of we as a whole in the 4 wheelin community needs to start doin some to to try to keep places like the two of them from gettin the visit from the lovely government i do wheel myself and would hate to have the places that me and my son love to go to close so with that said tread lightly

Does your "period" button on your keyboard not work?

[redneckengineered]

Does your "period" button on your keyboard not work?

x2

[crew991]

no the darn thing broke sorry just got off workin a 48 hour shift.

[broncomania79]

Amazing when people start telling you what you can and can't do on YOUR OWN PRIVATE LAND. Wow.

yep !!!! :mad3:

[BigGreenMonster]

looks like lower 2, peckerwood and slick rock are the beggining of the end! i hope united and blue ribbon can pick up the pieces and get something going in our favor.

[Rob MSHXC]

we need to start filing charges on property they fish or fuck trees on so no one can use it because we will never get it back.
There's a thought.. Although I don't think to many would have the cash to start this kind of fight.. Any lands they manage to pull off getting closed to off-roading, start working towards removing anything from the area becoming a crime.. "Taking fish from their natural area and surroundings should be a crime"

We were up in Colorado on Wheeler Lake Trail last summer and had gotten up to the V-ditch. I was out scoping it out and looking for the best line and the big horse of a woman comes out of the bushes and goes "fancy finding you here, I guess all these signs that say no vehicles beyond this point don't apply to you".. I explained to her that we were on a marked trail and that the signs were placed on illegal trails that had been cut in the past and that the trail was maintained and signs were put in place by one of the local 4x4 offroad groups in the area. I also told her that she was in violation of several federal laws by removing vegiation from the area.

Yes, it's a crime to pick wildflowers in most of the Colorado back country..

She was beatin' feet pretty fast and didn't say another word..

[k9crazy]

Coal Creek is different than WITC and Wooly's. Coal Creek is a PERMITTED use (mining) under the Clean Water Act. So they have a permit that they must comply with. If they don't, they get fined or shut down. So private land or not, they have a permit under Federal Law (NPDES - National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) that was delegated to the state (TDEC) and their program (NPDES and ARAP - Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit).

Now, Wooly's and WITC are different because they are private land, or so I understand. NPDES only applies to industrial facilities (including mining) and construction sites over 1 acre. Wooly's and WITC are neither. I am going to give them a call today to see what the grounds were for shutting them down, even if just partially.

By the way, this IS what I do for a living, so hopefully I can at least translate what's going on.

[Rob MSHXC]

Heather.. Lemme know what you find out.. Be interesting to hear the full scoop.. I was just given the basics of it, in laymans terms from the Tennessee ORV lobbyist for the SFWDA..

[k9crazy]

Will do. I haven't gotten a chance to call yet being all big, fat, pregnant and due to have this kid in a week. But I hope to get to it Monday and do some research. I haven't been able to find anything on the State's website yet.

Happy to help figure out what I can.

[McCracken]

Let me know if I can help. I also work with NPDES permitting and stormwater discharges.