NO Public Land Trails in SC

Y

Yellowjeepcj

#1
#1
Members of Offroad.SC:

I am disappointed that we have no "jeep trails" on our public land in SC. We have some atv trails but nothing suitable for jeeps. SC State Parks plan called for a 10 mile loop trail in Greenville and Pickens counties a few years ago, nothing has happened. all of the RTP (recreational Trails Program) money available for motorized recreation goes to ATV interests. This is money set aside from the gas tax that must be spent on motorized recreation.

We need to make our voices heard in Columbia and with the Forest Service. Manchester Forest would be a great area for 20 miles of jeep trails. The state park in Oconee would make a great place for jeep trails. Most of that area is closed to watch the bears.

Why should you have to drive 4 hours out of state to enjoy your sport?

Let's make some noise at the next general assembly session about this issue.

Director of Land Use and Conservation, SFWDA
 
D

DanStew

#3
#3
I agree. Sad we had more trails in Florida and they shut everything down. Glad to see SFWDA talking about SC. Definately potential here. Biggest thing i see is complacency cause there are alot of hunting leases and it seems alot of people get their trail fix from them.
 
M

MountainGoat

#4
#4
Most of the public land your talking about are not state parks or state owned property. They are owned by the federal government and mangage by US Forrest Service. Very difficult to deal with as you can see with Tellico.
 
matth_85

matth_85

SUPPORTER
#5
#5
I have always wondered why the trails at Parson's Mt. were never available to trucks. Sure would be nice. Wishfull thinking though. Never gonna happen.
 
97TJGUZZY

97TJGUZZY

SUPPORTER
#6
#6
it seems like such a stretch to think that the forest service would let us start a 4wd trail system in SC in 2012, with all of these trails created 20 years ago being shut down. Get us some info on where to be and what we can do as a group. We as SC offroaders havent really had the chance to try to help our own state's wheeling trails other than gulches, most of my public hearing and trail meeting experience is in NC and thats a long drive to just talk.
 
GREASEMONKEY

GREASEMONKEY

#7
#7
Skip, and I both have some experience with this.
When Skip started Gulches he tried to get some Gov funding just like CAW gets. I looked into the same thing a few years ago when I was trying to buy 33.
We both got the same old song & dance. SCEPA, SCDHEC both have a hand in the approval, as well as the types of allowable vehicles. Both agencies are dead set against any form of full size vehicle recreational trail system. They will give you more trouble than it will ever be worth. They will be calling for environmental impact studies, ect..... These are things that have to be accounted for and approved in budget form.
If I remember correctly SCEPA has already given Skip some trouble. I believe it was over silt run off into the river, and we're talking about a river that floods by 10-12' a few times a year. Unless you can get support in the state house, your not gonna get support from these agencies.
 
Y

Yellowjeepcj

#9
#9
Ghost

What do you know about Tellico? Have you been invoked in the process? Have you read the briefs? What have you done on a personal level to "make it happen"? Why do you think Southern has "dropped the ball big time"?

I would like to hear from you as I am invested in the fight and it is not over by a long shot.
 
Y

Yellowjeepcj

#10
#10
SC trails and how we need to work to achieve success.

We can work at Four levels. One is to get involved with the National FS and as they revise the Forest Travel plans and Management plans we need to be making comment and asking for revisions that support OHV recreation. This will take a concerted effort and persistence to achieve. Simultaneously, we need to be working our Federal Congressional Delegation. We need to be talking economic development and jobs related to 4x4 recreation. SC's delegation has some power in Congress. For example Jim Clybrun can make things happen for us in SC as well as others.

We can work with the State Parks system. They have a coordinator and I have tried to work with them some in the past. In SC SCORE has the voice for OHV's and they are focused on ATV's. Join SCORE ( South Carolina Off Road Enthusiast) and attend their meetings and make your views heard.

We can work with our legislature to gain support. We have to keep the pressure on out state officials.

SCDHEC can only permit land disturbance over one acre. I can provide more later...
 
Ghost

Ghost

SUPPORTER
#12
#12
Yellowjeepcj said:
Ghost

What do you know about Tellico? Have you been invoked in the process? Have you read the briefs? What have you done on a personal level to "make it happen"? Why do you think Southern has "dropped the ball big time"?

I would like to hear from you as I am invested in the fight and it is not over by a long shot.
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Yes I have read everything I could get my hands on about it. The 30+ page thing too. I have donated money and have a fish somewhere from the donation. I know about some of SFWD issues that I will nto put up here and also know that before this ever started when I would wheel Tellico every summer SFWD was not being proactive about trail maintanice which was part of the problem. These are JMHO but that is the beauty of this country I'm entitled to it.
 
WolfGT

WolfGT

LIFETIME
SUPPORTER
#13
#13
I hate it that I never had the opportunity to go to Tellico. I just came into this hobby too late. But, Tellico was and is a no win situation. Too much money involved. Now back to the real topic of this thread .... it appears that we have someone on the forum (Yellowjeepcj) that actually cares about our hobby and actually spends time pursuing it's success and expansion. Making things happen when dealing with the government is never easy and it's never quick. But action does need to be taken by everyone that is interested in wheeling. That is the only way to move forward. I can assure you that there are people here that will step up and make an effort. Just feed us the information and we'll do our best with the resources we have.
 
250f4life

250f4life

#14
#14
Ghost said:
Yes I have read everything I could get my hands on about it. The 30+ page thing too. I have donated money and have a fish somewhere from the donation. I know about some of SFWD issues that I will nto put up here and also know that before this ever started when I would wheel Tellico every summer SFWD was not being proactive about trail maintanice which was part of the problem. These are JMHO but that is the beauty of this country I'm entitled to it.
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To put the blame on Southern for Tellico closing isn't really fair. No amount of money the off road community could have generated could have saved it. I've read that the forest service was turning almost a 100k a year in un-used funds for the maintenance of Tellico. That's not really screaming we want y'all here. Did I donate time or money? No because I'm a realist. TU came in with guns blazing and caught the whole off road world sitting on it hands and exploited the fact that the parties to defend it were financially unstable. The only people that could have saved Tellico are the ones that live there and in Hanging Dog period. If they would have realized the financial impact they faced losing us they would have stepped up and we would prob still be wheeling there. I went there a few times a summer for 15 years and I can't remember a trip to Walmart and not seeing tow rigs loaded down headed up the mountain for the weekend. Now it's a ghost town.
 
Southeast Overland

Southeast Overland

#15
#15
OK - lets keep this on topic of how to open new trails in SC. With all due respect, if you have an axe to grind about Tellico and SFWDA then please move it to another thread and we can pick up that discussion there. I'll even add my two cents.

I do not know of the first true "Jeep trail" in SC on USFS land. Yes, there are plenty of USFS roads but none categorized by the USFS as a trail and none open to full size vehicles.

I've worked with a couple of significant land owners in the upstate about opening their private land to full size vehicles. One didn't happen due to the economy tanking - and the other got off of the ground because of the economy tanking but didn't ever move from the 'idea' to the 'design' phase.

Man o man I'd love to have some public trails in SC...
 
rum4b

rum4b

SUPPORTER
#16
#16
I agree public trails would be great. I used to trail ride horses alot and have seen some places that would be great for OHV use. Brickhouse in Newberry. We might even talk to the owner of Lakeview Plantation in Fairfax. Woods Ferry would also be a great OHV place.
Look at this site http://www.horseandmuletrails.com/Sc.htm . I know it is for horse but it has some good references to places that might be suitable for OHV.
 
C

Clemson5.9ZJ

#17
#17
Southeast Overland said:
OK - lets keep this on topic of how to open new trails in SC. With all due respect, if you have an axe to grind about Tellico and SFWDA then please move it to another thread and we can pick up that discussion there. I'll even add my two cents.

I do not know of the first true "Jeep trail" in SC on USFS land. Yes, there are plenty of USFS roads but none categorized by the USFS as a trail and none open to full size vehicles.

I've worked with a couple of significant land owners in the upstate about opening their private land to full size vehicles. One didn't happen due to the economy tanking - and the other got off of the ground because of the economy tanking but didn't ever move from the 'idea' to the 'design' phase.

Man o man I'd love to have some public trails in SC...
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I agree, our club needs local trails. Only having one park for under a 2 hour drive really limits our ability to go riding more than once a month if we are lucky. If any info is found on hearings etc let us know and we can make an appearance too, if we can schedule a date in advance we could bring 20+ people. We want to help cut and run new trails to but the only new place on hwy 11 didn't seem to want our help.
 
Southeast Overland

Southeast Overland

#18
#18
Clemson5.9ZJ said:
I agree, our club needs local trails. Only having one park for under a 2 hour drive really limits our ability to go riding more than once a month if we are lucky. If any info is found on hearings etc let us know and we can make an appearance too, if we can schedule a date in advance we could bring 20+ people. We want to help cut and run new trails to but the only new place on hwy 11 didn't seem to want our help.
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Will do. I've worked (and am working) with a few different property owners in the upstate regarding private parks but these are in the very early stages and not moving very fast.
 
GREASEMONKEY

GREASEMONKEY

#19
#19
I have family with some large property in the upstate. I have had this conversation with them before. The problem I faced with private land is that most people don't want any hassle with trespassing, or the risk of being held responsible for the stupidity of others. That's the 2 biggest obstacles. The third obstacle is who is responsible for the property if it doesn't work out, who will repair the damages done?
I'm not shooting down the idea, I'm just being honest about what you will run into with private property.
Gov. property is an even bigger hassle. SCEPA is no big fan of full size vehicles, so they intentionally make things hard on the offroad community. We're gonna have to start by making some friends with the reach to make changes. If you want OHV trails on Gov. property in SC, your gonna need Congressmen, Senators, and people with influence. The big question is, what do we have to offer them in return? Nothing is free, or friendly in politics!
 
Southeast Overland

Southeast Overland

#20
#20
GREASEMONKEY said:
I have family with some large property in the upstate. I have had this conversation with them before. The problem I faced with private land is that most people don't want any hassle with trespassing, or the risk of being held responsible for the stupidity of others. That's the 2 biggest obstacles. The third obstacle is who is responsible for the property if it doesn't work out, who will repair the damages done?
I'm not shooting down the idea, I'm just being honest about what you will run into with private property.
Gov. property is an even bigger hassle. SCEPA is no big fan of full size vehicles, so they intentionally make things hard on the offroad community. We're gonna have to start by making some friends with the reach to make changes. If you want OHV trails on Gov. property in SC, your gonna need Congressmen, Senators, and people with influence. The big question is, what do we have to offer them in return? Nothing is free, or friendly in politics!
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I agree that management of the property, and associated liabilities, are a significant concern.

I'm not holding my breath for any full size ORV access on SC state owned land with the current economic environment.

By SCEPA you must mean SCDHEC. There will be some erosion and sediment control issues with disturbed land, just like with grading land for development but I don't think those will be so onerous, arbitrary and/or capricious that they will keep a full size vehicle ORV park from opening in SC on private land.
 
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