Applegate Valley OHV Monitoring Project fully funded!

OHV damage in the Dakubetede Roadless Area on Goat Cabin Ridge. I surveyed this area on June 4th, the day after fully funding my Kickstarter campaign. This was the first of many field days for the Applegate Valley OHV Monitoring Project. Thanks to the supporters of my Kickstarter, OHV routes throughout the Applegate Valley will be surveyed for environmental impacts and proposed for closure. 

On May 13, I initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Applegate Valley OHV Monitoring Project, a comprehensive monitoring program to document the impacts of OHV use in the Applegate Valley, and advocate for ecological values, non-motorized recreation, wildlife, wildlands, and native plant communities. 

On June 3, I reached my funding goal and am now 123% funded. The outpouring of support speaks to the need for OHV monitoring and ecological advocacy. I believe that with these funds I can survey most of the heavily impacted OHV areas in the foothills of the Applegate Valley and portions of the Rogue Valley. To that end I have begun the project by getting out on the ground surveying OHV routes in the Little Applegate Valley and Forest Creek areas. 

I now have six days left to raise additional funds through kickstarter and have announced that all additional funds raised will support expansion of the project into other areas in need of attention. 

The area of highest priority is Hinkle Lake, a high elevation lake adjacent to the Red Buttes Wilderness, and one of the region's most spectacular landscapes. The region is a protected Botanical Area and proposed addition to the Red Buttes Wilderness. It is, unfortunately, also one of the region's most heavily impacted OHV areas. The region has been damaged by illegal OHV use, despite being officially closed to OHVs for thirty years. Throughout the years the official closure has been neglected and much damage has been done. In recent years environmentalists have successfully encouraged the Forest Service to implement and enforce the OHV closure; however, recently the gate protecting this area has been vandalized and off-roaders have mired the area's magnificent wet meadows with muddy tire tracks and deep, irreparable ruts.

Hinkle Lake, a wild botanical treasure that should not be subjected to OHV abuse.

If I receive additional funds I will be able to monitor the area throughout the summer and document violations of the motor vehicle closure and/or vandalism to gates and other infrastructure designed to eliminate illegal and ecologically damaging OHV use in the area. I will work collaboratively with local non-profits, private citizens, and the Forest Service to see that Hinkle Lake is protected for future generations. Please consider supporting this project or forwarding the links to my Kickstarter and this blogpost to potentially supportive individuals. Help me expand the project—let's protect Hinkle Lake too!

OHV damage in the Hinkle Lake basin.