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Regarding the future of Gorman - it will still take place on August 18 but stages may be limited to Hungry Valley O.R.V. park. Treeline has already moved to a new location in the Arizona desert near Quartzsite/Blythe, on September 15.

If you want to send a letter or email to the Regional Forester and/or the Chief Forester (copying the Angeles Forest Supervisor), you might consider including the following points, below. NOTE: If you choose to send a letter, please be sure to send us a copy for our files and future use, to Donna@RallyUSA.com or mail to P.O. Box 1388, Ridgecrest, CA 93556 - thank you):

1. Until now performance rallying has been considered an appropriate activity in the Angeles National Forest. It is even included in the Angeles Forest Land Management Plan that was published in September, 2005 (see p. 26 at http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/scfpr/projects/lmp/docs/angeles-part2.pdf). We have complied faithfully with the permit requirements for 23 years and the Forest Service has told us that returning the permit was due to "policy, not performance." It is not clear what parts of the sport are inappropriate or which parts of Forest Service policy have changed.

2. Performance rallying IS an appropriate activity for the National Forests. For a given event, between 40-80 competitors, 150-300 volunteers, and 50-300 spectators all enjoy rallies as a chance to recreate in the Forests. Events run with demanding procedures such as ham radio nets, road marshals, and medical support to assure the safety of the public and competitors. Since 1984 we have run over 50 performance rallies in the Angeles National Forest without any serious incidents.

3. Changing maintenance plans for Angeles roads:

As background, "Level 2" (i.e., "rough-graded") roads constitute most of the roads in the Angeles National Forest and most of the roads used by the rallies. In years past, Level 2 roads have been "smooth-graded" by USFS and RIM to Level 3 standards. This is not going to be done in the future. Due to liability concerns, OHV routes in the Angeles can no longer be graded or smoothed, but must be allowed to stay very rough to discourage speeds and therefore prevent accidents between OHV vehicles and passenger cars.

The Forests that have extensive designated OHV routes like the Angeles National Forest will, over the years, suffer from increasingly degraded roads that will make visiting the Forest difficult for anyone in a passenger car.

An answer to this problem is to designate roads that EXCLUDE OHV travel. These roads need to be allowed to be "smooth-graded" for the benefit of passenger car traffic (campers, hunters, equestrians, special events).

SUMMARY:
In order for us to be able to return rallying to the Angeles National Forest, the following changes will need to occur:

• If liability concerns continue over dual-use roads (OHV and passenger cars), some roads would have to be designated as non-OHV routes.

• It would need to be possible to smooth-grade Level 2 roads requested for rallies. This grading could be done by the rallies themselves, as was done for Rim in 2006.

• Our renewal application would have to be accepted. It was submitted in September, 2005.

Contact addresses are:

National (Washington D.C.):

Dale Bosworth, Chief Forester
email address: dbosworth@fs.fed.us
USDA Forest Service
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C.
20250-0003
(202) 205-8333
http://www.fs.fed.us/aboutus/national.shtml

Region 5:

Regional Forester Bernie Weingardt
email address: bweingardt@fs.fed.us
Pacific Southwest Region
1323 Club Drive
Vallejo, CA 94592
707.562.8737
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/

Angeles National Forest:

Forest Supervisor Jody Noiron
email address: jnoiron@fs.fed.us
Angeles National Forest
701 N. Santa Anita Ave.
Arcadia, CA 91006
(626) 574-5216

For more information on the new requirements to designate OHV routes, go to:
http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/ohv/