1st Tillamook Recreation Advisory Committee (TRAC) meeting of 2008

Thursday evening (Feb. 28, 2008) was the first Tillamook State Forest Advisory Committee (TRAC) meeting of 2008.  I was selected by the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) to represent the mountain bike community on this committee.  The appointment is for two years.  Let me know if you have mountain bike recreation related issues in the Tillamook State Forest that you would like brought to the attention of ODF staff.  The meetings are open to the public, so feel free to attend and voice your issue personally.

The first meeting served as a meet and greet.  An introduction was provided for the members to eachother and to the Tillamook State Forest (TSF) recreation staff members.  The history of ODF and the TSF, with an emphasis on recreation in the forest, was presented by retired ODF staffer Ross Holloway.  The purpose of TRAC was discussed, including a review of the TRAC Charter.  Informational notebooks were distributed to each of the TRAC members and finally meetings were tentatively scheduled for the next year.  Meetings are held quarterly.

I would like to recognize Wayne Naillon as the outgoing TRAC Mountain Bike Representative.  Wayne has served to positively represent mountain bikers in the Tillamook State Forest through countless volunteer trail work hours, TRAC, and liasson between PUMP and ODF staff on TSF issues.  Wayne is a current member of the State Forest Advisoy Committee (SFAC).

TRAC is comprised of nine representatives of different recreational user types, including anglers, equestrians, four-wheel drivers, hikers, hunters, motorcyclists, mountain bikers, quad riders, and general users.  The TRAC charter is written to allow for addition of new recreational representatives, such as boaters, kayakers, downhill mountain bikers, or free ride mountain bikers.  The addition of a free ride mountain bike representative was discussed at the meeting.

I was provided a copy of the Recreation Management Assessment for the Oregon Department of Forestry, Northwest Oregon State Forests, Conducted by David Reed & Associates (May 30, 2007).  Let me know if you would like me to email you a copy of this document.  I was provided copies of trail damage photos and maps that Roger Warren presented at the February 2008 PUMP meeting.  Due to the heavy rain and wind storms this past winter considerable erosion and numbers of downed trees exists on the Gales Creek and Reheers Camp trails.  A contractor will be hired to reconstruct the Gales Creek Trail.  I can email copies of the damage photos and maps to interested folks.

The next TRAC meetings are tentatively scheduled for:

May 15, 2008 @ 6:30pm
June 14, 2008 Saturday TSF facilities tour
September 18, 2008 @ 6:30pm
January 15, 2009 @ 6:30pm

The facilities tour details will be provided at the next TRAC meeting.  All meetings will be held at the ODF Forest Grove District office (801 Gales Creek Road, Forest Grove, OR).