Stand up for Hinkle Lake

Hinkle Lake Botanical Area, west of Applegate Lake in Josephine County, consists of extensive wet meadows containing numerous high elevation serpentine species, including endemic species such as the trifolium howellii, or Canyon Clover.

While it is an easy and enjoyable walk into the botanical area, some people only value this special place as a spot to trash with their off-road vehicles. While Hinkle Lake road has been formally closed to off-road vehicle use since 1980, continuing illegal ORV use is tearing up the wetlands, and putting extremely rare plants at further risk. Unfortunately the closure has been unenforced and the damage intensifies with each passing year. A gate was installed a few years ago in an effort to limit ORVs, but it has not acted successfully to restrict access off-road vehicles for more than a month or two at a time, due to continued vandalism.

Subject:

Your Letter:

I value Botanical Areas like Hinkle Lake, and want to see them protected from continuing illegal off-road vehicle use. Hinkle Lake has been identified through numerous agency documents as an area of concern in regards to ongoing "resource damage" and an area to be prioritized for restoration.

Unfortunately, even though Hinkle Lake road has been formally closed to off-road vehicle use since 1980, continuing ORV use is tearing up the wetlands and threatening the botanical values for which the area was designated. The closure has been largely unenforced and the problems grow more extreme with each passing year. Even though a gate was installed in 2009, it has not functioned to restrict access of ORVs for more than a month or two at a time, due to continued vandalism.

The road needs to be adequately closed and made impassible to motorized traffic. In addition, I support the idea of officially designating the old road as a hiking trail for public use that will benefit all forest users. A trailhead already exists at the beginning of the closed road and the trail would tie directly into the Fir Glade Trailhead.

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 use.

I am extremely concerned with the impact that user-created ORV routes, and other threats such as grazing, have on endemic species in the Hinkle Lake area, and hope that you will look toward a solution to enforcing laws put in place to protect biodiversity and rare botanical resources.

Scott Conroy

Forest Supervisor

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Stand up for Hinkle Lake

Scott Conroy