Informational Meeting: Big Bear Road Closures

[curtis]

Ron (bigbearwheeler) Has setup a meetig with the Forest Administration and Greg Hoffman to discuss the road closures up in Big Bear.

Greg has agreed to meet with us in an informal meeting to answer questions and give us his personl views on what went wrong causing these road closures and what we can do about it now.

Originally, we were planning on keeping this meeting closed to just a few interested people, but greg has graciously agreed to open it to the general public.

Please keep in mind that if you attend this will not be a venue to vent on Greg or anyone else within the Forest Administration nor will it be a means for anyone supporting the closures to justify their actions. This meeting will simply be to educate us, off roaders and forest recreationalist in general, on why these roads were closed and what, if anthing we can do to reopen them.

Please do not come to this meeting with the intention of venting your anger pertaining to these road closures in any way.

The meeting is Saturday Jan 22nd at Nottingham's Restaurant at 10:00am.

[Roger]

Where is Nottingham's Restaurant?

[Mitch]

Nottinghams Restaurant in Big Bear

40797 Lakeview Drive

On 18 just west of The Village

[sarah]

I'll be there!

[dirtman13]

I'll be there.

[Black & Tan TJ]

Looks like I'll be there too

[curtis]

If you have a question for Greg and the Forest Administration and cann't make the meeting Saturday please post it on here or PM me. I will try an get you an answer.

Thanks Curtis

[Mike]

Change in plans. I will not be attending the meeting after all. Everyone be nice to Greg. He is our biggest advocate.

[Mitch]

Curtis,

As confirmed when we talked, Tammy and I will be there on Saturday. Looking forward to this meeting as well as Nottinghams tasty lunch!

[RAT]

Change in plans. I will not be attending the meeting after all. Everyone be nice to Greg. He is our biggest advocate.

I'll be by as soon as the meeting is over.

[bigbearwheeler]

Hi Sarah and all MJR members.

So glad to hear your attending the upcoming meeting with Greg Hoffman. I've had extensive conversations with Greg pertaining to this meeting and the new road closures in Big Bear, and I'd like to assure everyone this will not be just a forum for Greg speak. He has assured me that he will attempt to answer all of our questions as honestly as he can pertaining to this issue.

It's looking like we're going to have a good turn out and everyone is welcome. If you have a question, please contact me before the meeting.

Final note. At this stage of the game I'm not really sure as to what, if anything will come out of this meeting. I do believe though that it can't hurt anything. At least we can possibly gain some knowlage as to what went wrong and show some unity in our dissatisfaction to the closures and possible stop any further closures.

Hope to see you all there.

Ron Griffo

[Mike]

Hi Sarah and all MJR members.

So glad to hear your attending the upcoming meeting with Greg Hoffman. I've had extensive conversations with Greg pertaining to this meeting and the new road closures in Big Bear, and I'd like to assure everyone this will not be just a forum for Greg speak. He has assured me that he will attempt to answer all of our questions as honestly as he can pertaining to this issue.

It's looking like we're going to have a good turn out and everyone is welcome. If you have a question, please contact me before the meeting.

Final note. At this stage of the game I'm not really sure as to what, if anything will come out of this meeting. I do believe though that it can't hurt anything. At least we can possibly gain some knowlage as to what went wrong and show some unity in our dissatisfaction to the closures and possible stop any further closures.

Hope to see you all there.

Ron Griffo

Ron,

These closures started in 2007. If I knew then what I know now, I might have been able to help change the outcome. My innocence to the process prevented me from being effective. I hope that this meeting will be a good way to educate the greater-masses of people that love off-roading as much as we do on how to take the proper action in the future.

Just keep in mind that the USFS Road Designation program was our opportunity to speak out about the trails that we love. I thought that I understood and tried to do my part back in 2007. Clearly, most of us missed the significance.

Greg can't undo what the national government did. But he IS one of our advocates to move in the right direction for the future.

[bigbearwheeler]

Yes Mike. I think most of us fall into that catagory. If we only knew what was coming. I'm just as guilty on that.

As far as the USFS Road Designation program goes and our opertunity to speak, many of us hear in Big Bear had no knowledge of it and when it took place. It was not advertised much to local residents. Most of the larger clubs and all the volunteers most likely knew about it, but not everyone who uses the forest is a club member or volunteer. And yes, we did collectively miss the boat on that opertunity.

Hopefully some good information will come out of this meeting. I set it up as simply a forum for a healthy discussion between us and the Forest Administration.

It will not be a pre-canned presentation by Greg, nor will it be a debate between the folks that support the road closures and those who do not.

We'll just have to see how it goes and what information we can get out of it. Thanks for your remarks. Hope to see you at the meeting.
Ron Griffo

[nwoods]

I am interested in going. I am not sure I can get there due to medical reasons.

Questions I have (stemming primarily from Cleghorn)
1. Was it SBNF's intent to leave such horrendous eyesores as trail blocks?

2. Are these trail blocks "permanent", or will some additional work be done to remove the fire hazards and erosion risks?

3. Does the SBNF consider their Cleghorn experience a success? Or, will SBNF modify their "notification" policies going forward for future trail closures based on the negative feedback from the Cleghorn experience voiced here on MJR and dozens of other enthusiast forums?



Open or closed?

[RAT]

Nathan,
Thanks for the input. I will be bringing up this topic and others as well. I'm sure there are many others that will voice the same opinions. And as Ron mentioned, this is supposed to be a question/answer agenda. I hope the FS comes ready to address the many different issues that will brought to them.