Forest Service Backs Down on Closures
Posted: September 23, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: closures, ENF Leave a commentHere is the link to the NEW forest order:
The Eldorado National Forest has redrawn the closure area for the Mosquito Fire. The Rubicon Trail area is now OPEN within the Eldorado National Forest but the El Dorado County website still has the Rubicon Trail closed. I will be emailing Vickie as soon as I stop typing this line.
Vickie emailed, TNF called (left message), LTBMU called (left message). 9/23/2022 1:30pm
Let’s see how long it takes to get the Rubicon Trail reopened.
Friday 5pm: The word on the street is that the ‘Incident Command Team’ running the Mosquito Fire is not allowing the County to reopen the Rubicon Trail at this time. There will be a reevaluation done on Monday that should get the trail reopened. Please respect the unnecessary closure for a little while longer.
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Rubicon Ronin
Eldorado Forest OHV Virtual Open House
Posted: February 12, 2022 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: ENF, grants, maintenance Leave a commentOkay, I missed the Tahoe NF email about their open house. It was on the 10th. Here’s your opportunity to be included in the ENF open house. It’s on the 23rd:
Eldorado National Forest Virtual Open House to discuss
Off-Highway Vehicle grant applications
PLACERVILLE, Calif. – The Eldorado National Forest (ENF) is requesting public input for the California 2022 State Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR) Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program application cycle. The Grants Program is an annual program that provides for off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation in the State of California by providing financial assistance to eligible agencies and organizations that develop, maintain, operate, expand, support, or contribute to well managed high-quality OHV recreation areas, roads, and trails. Also as important, the Grants Program seeks to responsibly maintain the wildlife, soils, and habitat of project areas in a manner that will sustain long-term OHV recreation.
The Forest will host a virtual open house on February 23, 2022, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. using Microsoft Teams. The public may join the meeting using the information listed below. Current application proposals need to reflect current needs and will be informed by prior year monitoring and accomplishments, upcoming projects being planned, and disaster relief efforts following the Caldor fire. Members of the public are encouraged to come with suggestions to assist the ENF’s project development for the upcoming grant application cycle as your ideas and input are important for developing our proposals.
The ENF has been successful in being awarded grants from the OHMVR Division in previous grant cycles. The grants have helped address trail repair and clearing of downed trees on over 300 miles of OHV routes and law enforcement patrol on an additional 900 miles of native surface roads on the Forest, provided for the printing of free Motor Vehicle Use Maps, OHV campground and trailhead maintenance, as well as other planning, development, and restoration activities.
Once completed, the preliminary grant applications will be available on the OHMVR website on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, through Monday, May 2, 2022, for review and comment. To review the grant applications submitted go to http://olga.ohv.parks.ca.gov/egrams_ohmvr/user/home.aspx.
The public may provide electronic comments to the Eldorado National Forest (applicant) by e-mailing both Michelle Zuro-Kreimer at michelle.zuro-kreimer@usda.gov and carbon copying (cc) the OHMVR Division at OHV.Grants@parks.ca.gov.
Microsoft Teams meeting
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New Fork Fire Closure Order
Posted: September 24, 2020 Filed under: Access, Travel | Tags: ENF, fire, fork fire Leave a commentI don’t know why but the closure area has been reduced. The Rubicon Trail is out of the closure area.
Traffic delays to Barrett
Posted: July 30, 2020 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: ENF Leave a comment U.S. Forest Service Eldorado National Forest 100 Forni Road Placerville, CA 95667 530-303-2412 www.fs.usda.gov/eldorado  News Release For Immediate Release July 30, 2020 Media Contact: Jennifer Chapman, (530) 957-9660 www.facebook.com/EldoradoNF Twitter:@EldoradoNF Travellers’ Advisory for Wrights Lake Road in the Eldorado National Forest PLACERVILLE, Calif. – Forest visitors are advised that traffic control will be in place on Wrights Lake Road for the next several weeks while a road improvement project is in progress. Visitors will encounter equipment, traffic control, and delays of 30 minutes or more Monday through Friday between Highway 50 and Wrights Lake. This week, the contractor will be hauling supplies to designated stockpile locations and doing marking tasks. Following theses preparations, the work will include pothole patching, crack sealing and culvert replacement over the next several weeks. The U.S. Forest Service will be overseeing this work which includes approximately 7.9 miles of Wrights Lake Road (11N26). Wrights Lake Road is a surfaced road that provides seasonal access to several wilderness trailheads, the Barrett Lake 4WD trail, summer home tracts, and campgrounds. No work will take place on weekends or federal holidays. Road closures and delays will generally be up to 30 minutes. However, during culvert replacements and chip seal operations ,wait times could be up to an hour or more. Please be patient while this work is being completed. These road improvements will make your visit to Wrights Lake more enjoyable in the future. For alternative destinations, please visit the forest website or call the Pacific and Placerville Ranger District office at 916-500-4712. ### The U.S.D.A Forest Service is an equal opportunity employer. The mission of the Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. |
Rubicon Oversight Committee meeting
Posted: February 22, 2020 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: access, El Dorado County, ENF, Grant funding, LTBMU, maintenance, Placer, TNF Leave a commentLast Thursday, 2/20/20, El Dorado County held a Rubicon Oversight Comittee meeting in South Lake Tahoe. Here are my notes…
Rubicon Oversight Committee meeting
February 20, 2020 South Lake Tahoe
Vickie Sanders & Justin Williams El Dorado County Parks & Trails
Nineteen in attendance: eight users (six Hi-Lo’s & two Tahoe Donner 4-Wheelers) the rest were agency representatives
Not being a professional secretary, I’m just going to type out the notes I took:
Adopt-a-trail
16 segments within El Dorado County, one available for adoption, Buck Lake area
Holding off on adoptions of the Placer side until the major fixes have been completed
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
Many agencies have come together to agree to support management and maintenance of the Rubicon Trail:
El Dorado County Placer County
Eldorado National Forest Tahoe National Forest Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit CA State Parks – OHMVR Division
Vickie Sanders is THE point of contact for all things Rubicon. She will get you in touch with the right person for you question/concern.
Rubicon Trail Foundation
RTF has donated $32,000 for ten hours of helicopter fly time to fly rock in to the trail where it is needed:
Cadillac Hill (gabions to be built on site) Swamp area near Miller Creek Hardening of rolling dips
Grants
Grants are to be written as if the trail is under the management of a single agency. This year CA State Parks wanted letters from each agency but in the future the MOU will prevent that need.
Reroute & Cadillac (not the same issue)
Plans are in the works to reroute the Rubicon Trail away from the section where the trail is about to fall off in to Miller Creek. There are old logging roads that will be used for the reroute. Part of the current grant is to do the studies needed to make this happen. This year is planning, next year is approvals, maybe to be completed in 2022.
A historical analysis of the Placer County section of the trail is just one of the studies that will need to be completed before the reroute and before ANY major work on the trail.
El Dorado County’s system is to do “major” work on the trail every other year. This give the county time to plan for future major projects and to catch-up if a “major” project drags out. 2020 is a “major” year as Cadillac Hill will see “major” work.
The Staging Area
The LTBMU received a grant to pave the staging area four years ago. That grant expires in Sept of 2020 and wasn’t enough to cover the cost of paving. With the new MOU, the Basin has reached out to El Dorado to get more money to fully complete the work. This will include expanding the size of the parking area. It also means the taking down of the trees currently within the parking area.
To Do’s: El Dorado & Placer
There is a small to do list on the El Dorado County website. Anyone, any group, can sign up to complete any of those projects.
Winter issues
There have been talks to pave the quad rental parking/staging area. This could lead to a snow removal contract (paid for with OHV funds) to access that parking area all winter long. Just talking right now.
Placer is still working on addressing the snow berm in Tahoma.
Outhouses
El Dorado County is having an F550 built to be the new Poo Pumper. RTF will no longer be contracted to do poo removal. The County has a poo pumping trailer as a back-up.
Ham
The Spider Lake repeater has been down off and on for some time. Tim Green has a separate repeater on his property that uses the same frequencies.
Tim Green also runs the “Rubicon Gazette” Facebook page. That page seems to be THE place to go for updates regarding the Rubicon Trail.
Jeepers Jamboree events
Jeepers Jamboree must now permit with the Tahoe National Forest and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit as Placer is now not managing the Rubicon. This could lead to possible closures and/or restrictions of the trail within Placer County.
Please contact Joe Chavez is you have any comments, questions or concerns about these possible restrictions.
Maintenance levels
The TNF is also looking for input about the maintenance level the Rubicon will receive. That could be in the form of what type or level of rig should the trail be maintained. As an FYI, the Fordyce Trail is maintained to a level that a competent driver, in a rig on 35” tires and one locker will face a ‘challenge’ but be passable.
Again, contact Joe is you have an opinion.
I tried to do the best I could but I’m sure I missed something or made an error. Please contact me or Vickie is you have questions or see a mistake.
Thanks,
Doug
The 'Other' Rubicon 