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Stand Up For Beegum Creek Salmon!

Despite years of abuse from logging, ill-placed road construction and indiscriminate damage from Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) the Beegum Creek Watershed in the Yolla Bolla Ranger District of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest still provides essential habitat for at-risk Spring Chinook salmon.

To their credit, the Forest Service is attempting to fix the mistakes of the past by repairing, decommissioning and closing old logging roads that are literally falling into waterbodies and dumping sediment into fish habitat. The agency is also proposing to rein-in uncontrolled ORV use that has scarred erosive slopes and trashed riparian areas throughout the watershed.

Unfortunately a small minority of forest visitors see Beegum Creek as their private ORV playground to be trashed rather than as an important watershed for salmon recovery that belongs to all Americans.

Please take a moment to send an e-letter to the Forest Service letting them know that you support their efforts to restore the important values of clean water and salmon habitat in the Beegum Creek Watershed.

I greatly appreciate your proposal to implement road maintenance and decommissioning activities to help restore the Beegum Creek Watershed.

As you know, these Forest Service lands belong to all Americans, and to future generations, and not just to those who value them solely for extreme off-road vehicle (ORV) use. I strongly support your efforts to improve water quality and fisheries values in the planning area.

I am extremely concerned with the impact that old Forest Service roads and new user-created ORV routes have on sediment production, mass wasting, water quality and fish habitat.

I fully support your efforts to reduce the Forest Service road system to a reasonable size. While a vocal minority may want the Forest Service to live beyond its means, I appreciate that you are trying to identify and maintain a sustainable road system that you can afford to safely maintain over time.

Thank you for recognizing and honoring the value that most forest visitors place on water quality, wildlife and fisheries in the Beegum Creek Watershed.

Brad Rust

Tina Lynsky

Alan Olson

Official Comments