EENNDD OOFF 22001166 Club President: Geoff Reiff Vice President: Brandon Robinson

Treasurer: Chuck Overstreet

Co-Secretary: Gary & Makayla Humphreys

nwtra.com

North West Trail Riders Association

PO Box 571, Pendleton, OR 97801 Email: contact@nwtra.com

The success of this club and the events it provides to its members is directly related to the participation by its members

22001166 HHIIGGHHLLIIGGHHTTSS:: NWTRA’s 31st year was another solid forward moving year. Led by Geoff Reiff as Club President

and Brandon Robinson as Club Vice-President your club saw these things happen in 2016:

Super-Cross Saturday night had larger turnouts in the first of the year, with the new Umatilla

National Forest supervisor visiting

one of our meetings

NWTRA took on the short notice

challenge of putting on the Poker

Run in the Blues @ Morrrow/Grant

County OHV park on Mother’s Day.

This represented a significant

financial risk to the club, but the

events’ success recovered those

funds and bolstered the club

account. 15 confirmed members

were gained from the event

NWTRA Club Poker Run on

Memorial Day weekend (its 2nd year

on this date) was a huge success,

with more members attending than

in the last 10years.

Wal-Mart DC volunteers

assisted NWTRA on a hands-

on brush clearing event on

Tower Loop Trail.

Over the entire riding year,

NWTRA members worked with

NFJD to complete 5 bridge

rebuilds

Trail Maintenance hours were

down slightly to 923 hours for

the club

NFJD Trail Crew was very

affective and worked late into

the year on several brushing projects, specifically Cut-A-Cross trail

NWTRA has a YouTube Channel @ North West Trail Riders, check it out

Photos are now posted in albums on the club website, nwtra.com

POKER RUN 2016

POKER RUN IN THE BLUES 2016

North West Trail Riders Association, INC.

SSUUPPEERR--CCRROOSSSS SSAATTUURRDDAAYY NNIIGGHHTT 22001177:: NWTRA is moving back to the Prodigal Son in Pendleton for these events. Prodigal Son offers a larger event TV screen

and a different menu. Fox Sports has not specifically set the start times for their coverage. The events on the 2017

Schedule (end of newsletter) are slightly fluid for these supercross events, please pay attention to Facebook or your

email for any changes. Our first meeting of 2017 is January 21st, Anaheim 2, 6pm

WWIINNOOMM 110000 22001177 You may notice that this annual event is not

on the schedule. The 2016 Winom 100

was plagued once again by terrible

weather. Yes, there was absolutely ZERO

dust. But there was also a very low

turnout number. This event is by far the

most setup labor intensive event that

NWTRA does during the year. Yes, it is

even more than the great big

Morrow/Grant OHV park event. But, it is

also the NWTRA event that echo’s the club

goal of “An all-day ride”. We as a club

need to figure out what to do for 2017 and

soon for the continuation of the Winom 100.

FALL RIDE 2016

WINOM 100 2016

North West Trail Riders Association, INC.

MMEEEETTIINNGG WWIITTHH UUMMAATTIILLLLAA AANNDD WWAALLLLOOWWAA WWHHIITTMMAANN NNAATTIIOONNAALL FFOORREESSTTSS NWTRA met with trail and recreation representatives on November 14th, 2016. This was the first formal

meeting since November 10th of 2014. Unresolved 2014 items, items completed since 2014, and new

items were reviewed. Here is what was resolved:

NWTRA will continue to do trail maintenance on Winom-Frazier to have the trails open prior to

Memorial Day. This commitment helps US, due to the reality of the forest service trail crew

usually coming from college students and their availability being after the first of May. As each

of the NWTRA members report their rides and accomplishments and that data is forwarded to

the forest service in an agreed to format.

NWTRA will continue to maintain valid volunteer documentation. This commitment aids us in

keeping a voice in the management of our system. NWTRA is investigating the conversion into

a partnership agreement.

NWTRA will track and report volunteer

hours on the system. This commitment is

very important (see Volunteer Hours =

Money on Trails article)

Seasonal Use conditions on Meadow Creek

trail will most likely stay indefinitely. Other

stakeholders, from Fish and Game to

landowners see no need to remove this

restriction. NWTRA did inform the forest

service of instances of sabotage and

indications of violations of this conditional

use by the landowners. The Forest Service

expressed some commitment on

preventing these violations in the future.

Continued joint Trail Assessments: NWTRA

worked with UNF in 2015 to assess the

Meadow/Martin/Packsaddle route and

bridges. Priorities were made and action

was seen in 2016. NWTRA will continue

this with UNF and expand it to WWNF trails

in 2017. These assessments may have

additional detail with use of forest service

provided GPS units.

Forest Service expanded its campground

fee collection period to include the hunting

seasons to capture this high use time for

the campgrounds.

FRAZIER BRIDGE

BUTCHER KNIFE BRIDGE

North West Trail Riders Association, INC.

Here are items that are yet to be completed but will move forward:

ABC Trails recognition: These limited use

roads to the east of the Christensen Trail

have been utilized for decades. NWTRA

have expressed the need to recognize

them as trails and put them on the OHV

Complex map. WWNF was open to

reviewing this and a return route from

Chicken Hill Trail.

Signage: UNF has purchased a new

computer controlled sign machine and is

willing to have trained volunteers from

NWTRA help with this process. Sign

ideas from better posting on existing

trails, to cross road “return to camp”

signs, to Cell Phone service signs were all part of the discussion.

Winom CG Road: Forest Service has as part of the new grant, has funding

set aside for a major tread upgrade on the road leading into Winom OHV

Campground. Better than the hardening of the road into Big Creek, with

some modifications to the switchbacks in the road.

Trail Tools: Forest Service is utilizing the new grant for additional tools to

aid in trail maintenance. They are considering brushing attachment for their

current track-hoe machine.

Chimney Rock/105 reroute: In 2015 NWTRA and FS walked down this

proposal to reroute the trail off of the highway vehicle open 075 road to the

now closed 105. The same issues of Fish and Wildlife persist, but a push to

get away from this conflicted road use should help this process.

Cut-Across/Hwy 52 Crossing: Since 2014 this change to the road crossing

for safety and erosion has been limited by the quality of the locally available

fill, equipment, and qualified operators. Forest Service recognizes that the

condition of the bridge at this junction is bad and the new crossing will

require a new bridge. UNF committed to push forward on this project.

Butcher Knife/Private Ground: The land owner still expresses a desire to not

have this part of the trail close to his property. He is willing to have the trail

completely rerouted on his land and wishes to meet with NWTRA soon. At

issue, may be the re-routing required on the Forest Service portion of the

trail to get to the land owners desired property crossing area.

SWECO: Commitment by WWNF to allow UNF to utilize their Sweco prior to

Memorial Day in 2017. NWTRA with agreement of the Trail Crew boss

would like to use this time to make Tower Loop from Winom to Woop-De-

Doo a “Gold Standard” trail. Early in 2017, NWTRA will get a plan together

on this project.

TOWER MOUNTAIN LOOKING EAST

North West Trail Riders Association, INC.

VVOOLLUUNNTTEEEERR TTIIMMEE == MMOONNEEYY OONN TTRRAAIILLSS One of the benefits of having a detailed meeting with the forest service, both that manage our Winom-Frazier and

Desolation Complex’s, is that NWTRA gets to “see” how our volunteer time is used and how important it is to our

system. With all the budget battles on the national level, the forest service funding is a low priority. This means that

the budget amount for non-wilderness trails is less than it was for 2014. To able to function at all, both the Umatilla

and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests reach out to Oregon State Parks and Recreation, for grant funding. These

grants require a matching fund component. This is where NWTRA and our volunteer hours come in.

Each hour of volunteer time has a specific value. For 2016 our work was $23.56/hour. NWTRA was over 900 hours,

which is over $21,000 in value. The federal budget for non-motorized trails in UNF/NFJD was only $28,000. So our

hours effectively doubled the forests matching fund ability. They match 28% of the grant, so the grant suddenly goes

from around $100k to $200k just with our recorded volunteer hours. Therefore, it is so important for everyone that

does work on the trails to have that work recorded.

These hours also give NWTRA a voice on how these trail dollars are spent. In 2016, NWTRA members rallied the forest

service onto specific bridge and tread work, conducted meetings at the Forest Supervisor’s level on how current

national forest service projects could affect us, and worked together on plans for our future. If our investment of our

time is not recorded, we will eventually lose the influence that was one of the reasons the club was formed.

The most obvious room for improvement is the lack of recorded hours on the Wallowa-Whitman side of the complex. Of

the hours recorded, less than 10% is on these trails, which equal close to half the trail miles. These trails are obviously

being cleared each year, but documentation of this hard work is not happening. The WWNF side of the complex is the

most likely area of improvement in the system prior to the controls that are yet to be in place with the next Travel

Management Plan. But if it looks like NO time is spent there, this improvement will be hard to do.

IITTEEMMSS IINN TTHHEE WWOORRKKSS FFOORR 22001177:: The NWTRA/Forest Service meeting did spell out several items on the plate for 2017 and beyond. This is not all the items

in the works for 2017.

NWTRA is still pursuing more significant trail expansion and improvement that time in that meeting did not allow for discussion. At issue is the costs for funding for the environmental surveys required (NEPA). NWTRA is reaching out to

local clubs with experience and direct conversations with Oregon State Parks and Recreation to better understand our

options. Oregon Parks and Recreation is creating a “trail tool checkout” process that is still in its infancy. The big items will be

track-hoes and SWECO type trail dozers that can be checked out of this pool. The desire from OPRD is to have a specific project spelled out with a good number of hours on the equipment needed but not months of time. Again, lots

of details to be worked out. RecConnect Trail Consultants will be conducting a “Great Trails” seminar in LaGrande in May 15th-19th, field workshop on

Mt Emily. Other than the subject and the date not much is known, except the fantastic source material linked above.

A NWTRA sub-group is considering Emergency Response and the club’s liabilities. At minimum, plan on seeing a better first aid/trauma kit at NWTRA events and hopefully some upcoming training opportunities.

Pendleton Bike Week in July is an ongoing success. NWTRA is considering the possibility of being involved, specifically at the hill climb event, to further our outreach. Other than being a spectator this year and observing, not much is known

now.

Mother’s Day Ride; NWTRA will return to Morrow/Grant County OHV park for this event in 2017. Since there is very little “poker” involved in this large-scale ride, it is up in the air on the right title. The club learned a lot from our first time

around and will fix our problems, plus we are looking at some enhanced events as well. Stay-tuned for several items NWTRA is pursuing as well.

Finally, NWTRA needs to express a heart-felt Thank You to Geoff Reiff for being our president for 2016. North West Trail Riders Association grew in membership, is more solid financially than it has ever been, and has set the seeds for

further growth and strength in the region. Geoff is stepping back (a little) to support the graduation of his daughter in 2017, but don’t expect him to stop supporting NWTRA. Thanks Geoff.

North West Trail Riders Association, INC.

CCAALLEENNDDAARR OOFF EEVVEENNTTSS 22001177 JJAANNUUAARRYY 2211SSTT 22001177

SSUUPPEERR --CCRROOSSSS SSAATTUURRDDAAYY NNIIGGHHTT Prodigal Son, Pendleton 6pm

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SSUUPPEERR --CCRROOSSSS SSAATTUURRDDAAYY NNIIGGHHTT Prodigal Son, Pendleton

6pm

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SSUUPPEERR --CCRROOSSSS SSAATTUURRDDAAYY NNIIGGHHTT Prodigal Son, Pendleton

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CCLLUUBB MMEEEETTIINNGG Mac’s Bar & Grill, Pendleton

6pm

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MMOOTTHHEERR’’SS DDAAYY RRIIDDEE IINN TTHHEE BBLLUUEESS Morrow-Grant OHV Park

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CCLLUUBB MMEEEETTIINNGG Mac’s Bar & Grill, Pendleton

6pm

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CCLLUUBB PPOOKKEERR RRUUNN Frazier Campground 8:45 Pre-Ride Meeting

JJUUNNEE 2211SSTT 22001177

CCLLUUBB MMEEEETTIINNGG Mac’s Bar & Grill, Pendleton

6pm

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CCLLUUBB MMEEEETTIINNGG Mac’s Bar & Grill, Pendleton 6pm

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CCLLUUBB MMEEEETTIINNGG Mac’s Bar & Grill, Pendleton

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CCLLUUBB MMEEEETTIINNGG Mac’s Bar & Grill, Pendleton

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CCLLUUBB MMEEEETTIINNGG Mac’s Bar & Grill, Pendleton 6pm

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OOCCTTOOBBEERR RRIIDDEE Frazier Campground

8:45 Pre-Ride Meeting