Parking a priority at Virtue Flat OHV area

Bureau of Land Management employees begin one of the improvement projects Monday at the All Terrain Vehicle area east of Baker City. One large cattle guard and gate will replace two smaller guards. From left to right are Kate Vaughan, Mike Freeland, Bill Owens and Paul Barber in the Bobcat. (Baker City Herald/S. John Collins)

The money, from ATV permit fees, was part of the total of $34,624 that the BLM received from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department for the fiscal year that ended Wednesday.

BLM contributed $21,000 to leverage the state grants, said Kevin McCoy of the BLM’s Baker Field Area office in Baker City.

Although the Baker Field Area extends all the way north to Asotin County, Wash., McCoy said the BLM spent the bulk of its state grant allotment this past fiscal year at Virtue Flat due to the volume of people who ride motorcycles and four-wheelers there.

The 3,500-acre area, between Ruckles Creek Road and Highway 86, is also open to hikers, mountain bikers and full-size vehicles.

BLM employee Kevin Hoskins said Virtue Flat “is unique on the east side of the state in that it allows open riding and rock crawling for Class I, Class II and Class III ATVs.”

On Tuesday, BLM seasonal employees under Hoskins’ supervision used a grader to spread pit-run gravel on a new parking lot near the main staging area just north of Ruckles Creek Road.

“We’re adding an overflow parking area to cut down on congestion in the fenced staging area,” Hoskins said. “We are seeing more users towing ATV trailers behind pickups and recreational vehicles. It doesn’t take long for the staging area to fill up. We don’t allow camping inside the staging area. But with the new parking area, people can park after unloading,” he said.

“It can get pretty dusty and muddy at times, so people are pretty excited that we are getting the overflow parking area done,” Hoskins said.

The new parking area measures about 100 feet by 250 feet, with six inches of gravel.

With the next round of funding approved for the 2010-2011 fiscal year that began Thursday, Hoskins said BLM is planing to lay down a layer of smaller gravel on top of the pit-run rock base. Eventually, the overflow parking will be expanded to 100-feet-by-400-feet.

Hoskins also supervised BLM workers who used shovels and a loader to uproot two 50-inch wide cattle guards and combine them to make a wider gateway from the fenced Virtue Flats staging area to the training area and the maze of trails in the ATV play area.

Under recently enacted laws, parents are required to supervise youth training to ride ATVs and motorcycles. Hoskins said in response to those laws, the BLM created an ATV training area just beyond the east end of the fenced staging area, where kids can practice their riding skills and parents can park to watch, and provide instructions.

“Later on, we’re planning to fence the rider training area to keep other traffic from interfering,” Hoskins said.

He said said a wider gateway from the staging area to the training area and maze of other trails was needed to accommodate today’s wider Class I, Class II and Class III ATVs.

Also on Tuesday,  Hoskins said BLM was working with a group of motorcycle riders from Enterprise, who rode over many of the existing trails in the Virtue Flats play area to rate the trails and make recommendations for improvements.

“We are working with the motorcycle riders to design and improve the runs and jumps, and to identify areas that need maintenance to make damaged runs usable again,” Hoskins said.

“We would like to build a motocross track, but I haven’t found any local motorcycle club to participate in designing one,” Hoskins said. “If there are any local riders who want to get involved in deigning a motocross course, or in recommending other improvements to the play area, I wish they would contact us.”

Other improvements funded with a combination of state grants and BLM matching funds targeting the Virtue Flats staging area included renting, servicing and replacing portable toilets, and replacing deteriorating railroad ties with Jersey Concrete highway dividers to improve the ATV loading and area.

Hoskins said the vast majority of people who recreate in the Virtue Flats play area or go hunting and fishing on other BLM lands appreciate the opportunities and respect the land and facilities like portable toilets, signs, fencing and other improvements provided, but he said “there are a few bad apples” who do stupid things like shooting signs and shooting holes in the portable toilet holding tanks.

  McCoy said a new round of funding from state grants and BLM matching funds kicked in July 1 totaling $84,395, including $50,917 in state grants requiring $33,488 in BLM matching funds.

He said the bulk of the 2010-2011 grant and BLM matching funds are earmarked for increased patrols and educational efforts throughout the region covered by the BLM Baker Field Office.

Some of those funds will be available for adding more trail signs and putting down a layer of finer gravel on the new overflow parking area, but McCoy said "The lions share of these funds for the next cycle is going to be for staffing and patrol”  so there’s more BLM staff on the ground making contact with people using BLM lands outside the Virtue Flats play area and educating them about rules designed to protect threatened and endangered plants, fish and wildlife, including the sage grouse.