Apparently, the Tonto National Forest has elected to close the entire Mesa Ranger District to all off-highway access, private or commercial, motorized or otherwise. This, of course, leaves my company in a very precarious position, and leaves other Hummer tour companies in the Phoenix area in a panic. We have another trail we can work with, though it isn't a perfect solution, and is overcrowded.
The given reason is fire danger. Certainly, the forest has a lot of dead grasses from all the spring rain we experienced. But no wildfire has ever been started by any Hummer tour company operating in that forest. And it's still a few weeks early for the wildfires to start up.
The National Forest is significantly understaffed. In two seasons, I have seen rangers out in the open countryside, away from paved areas, exactly twice. We tour companies serve as the eyes and ears of the National Forest. I have the Forest HQ phone number in my cell phone. I called MCSO to report a suspected firearms violation (automatic weapons) on Saturday. My boss called to report a very serious violation (shooting blindly across multiple roads, coincidentally in his direction) yesterday. A few weeks ago I called from the trail to report what was obviously an attempt at illegal dumping in progress. Investigators consulted with our guides on a suspected arson a couple months back. The point is, we are out there every day, and they are not. Where's the benefit in shutting us out of the area?
It's the all-or-nothing method of abuse management. If TNF can't trust the populace to act responsibly, and can't effectively police the area, then they *have* to deny the populace access to the area. Anything less makes them, at least in part, at fault in the event of an act of negligence. The public had a privilege, they abused it, and now that privilege is gone. They can't pick and choose who among the public has that privilege, because there is no fair and legal way to make that determination without some sort of licensing system, and if they can't afford to staff the area sufficiently, they surely can't afford a licensing system.
The solution, of course, is to increase funding for TNF, which is an issue all its own.
Posted by: Cyfir | 24 May 2005 at 22:16
Ahh, but in this case a licensing system is already in place. We have permits to drive on those trails. Of course, our contracts specifically state that the roads may be closed at any time, so I'm not suggesting that we can force the issue. I'm saying it would be a wiser use of the land to continue allowing tours, even while banning the general population, both from a revenue and a protection standpoint. Certainly, such a system prevails on many NPS roads, that are open to permitted tour vehicles but not to private cars.
Posted by: Dan | 25 May 2005 at 03:58
Ah. Know this, I did not.
Posted by: cyfir | 26 May 2005 at 10:01