White Mountains Trail Guide from AZ G&F

[Al_HikesAZ]

AZ Game & Fish recently released a White Mountains trail guide. =D>
http://www.azgfd.gov/artman/publish/article_506.shtml

Free, new trail map will help you find wildlife in the White Mountains

News Media
Apr 26, 2006

PINETOP, Ariz. - With the weather getting warmer and kids getting out of school soon, maybe it's a good time to plan a family vacation to enjoy wildlife viewing in the White Mountains. The Arizona Game and Fish Department has a new field guide called "White Mountains Wildlife Trails" to help you map out a fun trip to enjoy nature in eastern Arizona. The department is offering everyone a copy of the free, new guide, which comes complete with a map and descriptions of several prime areas where you can see a variety of animals.

"The guide will help people to streamline wildlife-viewing trips in the Pinetop, Springerville and Alpine areas," says Bruce Sitko, Public Information Officer at the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Pinetop office. "Families and friends will be able to plan out what types of wildlife they want to see, which areas they want to visit, and how to most quickly and effectively get from one area to another."

The guide gives directions to local wildlife-viewing spots and information about how to best navigate through them. Some sites have hiking trails, while others are driving loops of longer mileage. The guide also tells you what types of facilities, such as restrooms, campsites, picnic areas and parking, are available at each location. In addition, the guide offers a comprehensive description of what types of animals you're likely to find in each spot, from elk or Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep to hawks, wild turkeys and songbirds.

[azbackpackr]

I hike on G & F property a lot, although sometimes I wish they wouldn't develop ("national parkisize") all the old ranches they do own. There is one near Eagar, a few minutes from my house where I go in the mornings before work quite often to hike or mtn. bike. I usually see elk and antelope there, sometimes a coyote, and a lot of birds. Great horned owls nest there in the summer. This particular ranch is soon to be made more public, with interpretive trails and a restroom. I am not too happy about all the development. I won't tell you where it is, either. One of these days there will be a sign on the highway, most likely, and then you can find it.

But at least the G & F guys are all for the wildlife, and try to keep the darned ATVers out of most of these places. Those people are tearing up this mountain, mostly in the National Forest. There may be one or two responsible ones for every ten kids spinning donuts in the meadows and throwing trash, shooting the signs, tearing down fences, riding through springs and wetlands, scaring the elk from their bedding grounds and generally showing no respect at all for the land or wildlife. It has gotten really bad the past couple years, especially. Most of the hiking trails have now been damaged by ATVs, even in well-marked non-motorized areas. It seems very sad to me that a whole generation of kids is being brought up to not know the pleasures of just walking. The outdoors is just a rollercoaster for them, and they have little appreciation other than to get some cheap thrills out of it.

[Al_HikesAZ]

I hike on G & F property a lot. . .
. . .But at least the G & F guys are all for the wildlife, and try to keep the darned ATVers out of most of these places. Those people are tearing up this mountain, mostly in the National Forest. There may be one or two responsible ones for every ten kids spinning donuts in the meadows and throwing trash, shooting the signs, tearing down fences, riding through springs and wetlands, scaring the elk from their bedding grounds and generally showing no respect at all for the land or wildlife. It has gotten really bad the past couple years, especially. Most of the hiking trails have now been damaged by ATVs, even in well-marked non-motorized areas. It seems very sad to me that a whole generation of kids is being brought up to not know the pleasures of just walking. The outdoors is just a rollercoaster for them, and they have little appreciation other than to get some cheap thrills out of it.

AMEN Sister. But you're preachin' to the choir here. I have no idea what to do to change things with these ATV'rs. :-X Especially when they zip around you on these forest roads and pop those little fishtails to show you what they think of you.

[azbackpackr]

Part of the problem is that the Forest Service is trying to please everyone. My friends who work for the Forest Circus tell me that there is to be a new policy governing exactly where ATVs can and cannot go. But they don't have enough law enforcement to take care of it all. And if they did get more law enforcement I'm not sure that would solve the problem either, because of the fact they, like other law enforcement agencies, get money and lots of expensive toys for the "war on drugs" and also from Homeland Security, which I believe influences their thinking somewhat. There is no glory in busting ATVers.

I don't know how much education can help, either. These little towns up here see dollar signs with all the ATVers coming up. The Town of Eagar gave $5,000 to some ATV group to publish a completely useless cartoon map, for example, for a festival they have here in Sept., while at the same time refusing to continue support for a very small mtn. bike festival. Reason? The ATV group was preaching "economic development" while the mtn. bikers were purposely keeping their event small, limiting it to 50 people.

I don't think you can easily teach non-hikers who have that motorhead mentality why hiking is preferable. I just think there is too much gap between the two groups. I would say it's a philosophical gap, but I don't believe they really have a philosophy about what they're doing. Most of those people have never done much hiking, for one thing. Or if they have they got too tired, (oh WAH, boohoo!) In the past, even only 7 years ago when I first moved up here, there weren't too many ATVs. Hunters used them to retrieve an elk. Ranchers used them to check their fences or herds, same as you'd use a horse. It didn't create much of a problem. Now the whole forest has become a big rollercoaster. You should see the area around Green's Peak.

One thing is certain. We have to keep on the good side of the horse riding people if there is any battle to fight about trail access. They also hate the ATVs. So do the mtn. bikers (and there are precious few of us in the White Mtns). So that's three groups who all want non-motorized trails, and want the ATV's limited severely, away from the non-motorized areas.

I have talked to the local forest service people and also to the Superintendent for the Apache Sitgreaves about these issues. I should talk to them again, see what's new on their agenda, find out when the new rules will be established and how they will enforce them.