Cumberland Off-Road adheres to the "Tread Lightly" principles (http://www.treadlightly.org/) and the Blue Ribbon Coalition (http://www.sharetrails.org/), and even has three members who are registered "Tread Trainers". We work very hard to protect the environment which we enjoy so much so our children can one day get as much pleasure from it as we do.
Help Save Tellico!!!! - Act by October 17th, 2007
There are now instructions on Southern's web site (www.sfwda.org) for writing a letter to the Forest Service to try to prevent their proposed closure of trails 2, 7, and 9 and the winter closure. The instructions state what to write and how to write it. There is also a template letter that you can download and easily customize for your use.
Please remember to keep letters polite and courteous - as if you were writing a business letter.
Deadline is October 17, so do it now.
August 11th, 2007: Tellico Emergency Workday:
We need all hands on deck the weekend of 08/11/2007 at the Tellico OHV area.
There is a bunch of work that is still needed to be completed as soon as possible and Gunner Byrd/Griff Shirley has asked for all the help www.SFWDA.org <http://www.sfwda.org/> can pull together.
Please post this notice to all club sites and all your web pages on the interweb, heck email all your club members and your friends.
Questions or Volunteers - Please feel free to shoot me an email, I will respond as soon as possible (On the road this week).
This is the "Must attend" work weekend event of 2007 for all of us.
We need the following:
* Work gloves
* Trash bags
* Shovels
* Chain saws
* Welders if you are certified
* A few ATV's needed
Let me know team - Uncle Sam needs YOU~!
Happy Trails,
Greg Griffith
gregg@sfwda.org
Concerned Citizen
"Pickin' up Pickett" State Forest Clean-Up & Ride, July 28th, 2007:
Cumberland Off-Road Club, based in the Upper Cumberland area of Middle Tennessee, worked in concert with the Pickett State Forest Rangers and the Fentress County Solid Waste Department to organize an event titled “Pickin’ up Pickett” on Saturday, July 28, 2007. There was a GREAT turn-out with 25 volunteers and four Rangers all working together to pick up trash throughout the local Off-Road Vehicle trails in the Pickett State Forest.
A large tent was set up and manned all day near the most commonly-used crossroads of the riding area where the Club handed out Tread Lightly! and Blue Ribbon Coalition brochures in order to help educate any riders passing by about why it’s important to help keep our trails clean, and how we can all work together as many different groups to ensure they stay open for ALL of us to enjoy.
After a quick meeting at the tent, the volunteers split into four different groups to ride through most of the State Forest and pick up trash along the way. Many miles of trails were cleaned and a lot of fun was had by all volunteers of all ages. An entire 6 yard dumpster, provided by the Fentress County Solid Waste Department, was filled with debris collected from the State Forest.
The Pickett State Forest Rangers provided maps and low-pressure tire gauges to all volunteers, and the Pickett County Solid Waste Department provided “Stop Litter” T-shirts, trash bags, rubber gloves, vests, and the dumpster service. Wal-Mart and Mayfield Dairy Farm donated drinks and ice and the Fentress Courier and W.D.E.B. Radio donated two weeks of free advertising to help get the word out for this great event!
Special thanks to Gabe Choate for working so hard to organize and spear-head this event!
Mine Lick Creek in Baxter Closed to Public
In the Summer of 2007 Cumberland Off-Road tried to organize a clean-up at
Mine Lick Creek. In doing so we found out the
riding area at Mine Lick Creek was privately owned land and the landowners were
more than fed up with how poorly it had been treated. Fences have been cut,
trash has been dumped everywhere, and people shoot guns in all sorts of unsafe
directions while trespassing on their land. We discovered all of this when we as
a club approached the landowners about doing a clean-up and education effort to
keep things from getting so bad down there. Unfortunately, things have progressed so far that the landowners not only don't want to work with us, but
are working with the county to officially close and permanently block all access
roads to the area.
Anyone who rides Mine Lick Creek should understand that they are doing so
illegally, and are trespassing on private property.
This is a great example of how not taking care of our places to ride can lead to
them being closed. Make sure you are not part of the problem on the trail - and
almost as importantly, call people out or gently educate them (depending on the
severity of what they are doing) if you see some that ARE part of the problem.
They'll ruin it for the rest of us.
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Saturday, August 5, 2006: Big Bottom Clean-up and Ride
We had a GREAT turnout with 14 people showing up to help clean up the Big Bottom area of White County. We had an overflowing truckload FULL of trash by the time we were done, and the trails look much better because of it. Click Big Bottom for all the pictures of a great day of cleaning and riding!
March 11, 2006: Tellico Clean-up http://www.sfwda.org/trails/tellico/cleanup20060311/index.html
As part of the Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, we participated in a large clean-up effort at Tellico in order to help keep the park beautiful. 295 total people came out to help clean up, and 183 of those were from local and regional four wheel drive groups.
Cumberland Off-Road had five adults and three children working for five hours on trail 9 from the garden below slick rock to the top. They picked up mostly stuff from the "bystanders" area and off to the sides of the trail.
June 14th, 2003: POW Road Cleanup
POW Road and Mine Lick Creek, in Baxter TN, is an abandoned public road and popular local riding spot. For many it is a favorite place to test their newest creation or modifications. The area has many high cliffs, a waterfall that is easy to get to and offers several challenges to play on. The area is also, unfortunately, used heavily as the local trash dumping grounds. Apparently many area users see the trash and decide it is easier to contribute to the problem than to fix it. Fed up with the junk everywhere, Rich Pieper started the ball rolling and on June 14th members of Cumberland Off-Road took a day off from riding and made a day of cleaning the area. Hopefully this will start something with the others that play there.
A few phone calls netted us trash bags and gloves from the Putnam County Clean Commission along with some of the finest orange fashion wear that the state can afford (which we returned undamaged). Kim made another call that got us lunch from a local restaurant. We started early hoping the rain would hold off and split into two groups. One group started on the road and the other went down to the creek. Interesting, the road leading to the creek- the part you don't need a 4WD to get to- was by far the most littered? Nick Pieper was the first to go INTO the creek and came back with half of a burned office chair. Nick is "nine and a half -going on ten" to be exact and nearly took a spill getting back to dry land. Nick asked all day "why would someone bring trash all the way out here". We all asked ourselves that same question Nick!
Several members walked the road with trash bags and picked up beer bottles and cans and everything else you can imagine. Rich, Terry and Derek stayed busy rounding up assorted burned tires, wheels, and general crap while Chris Knox used his Jeep to drag the larger stuff, like burned cars, up to the trailers. About 12:30 we all stopped and had sub sandwiches and chips provided by our local Subway. COR provided the drinks. Everyone enjoyed the day, just talking about upcoming rides, their latest plans for Summer Convention and story telling, all while collecting up other people's trash. The rain stayed at bay just long enough to get all the junk to the collection center.
At the end of the day we had removed 2 charcoal grilles, a wash tub, a tin roof, an old section of fence, 6 wheels, the remains of untold burned tires, several large sections of steel plumbing, 1 Toyota Celica, 1 Chevy Citation, 1 Volkswagen of unrecognizable model and around 30 bags of trash. It was a sizable dent and plans are forming to go back again. The county was pleased with the effort and we are discussing adopting the road to help keep it open and usable for everyone to play on. We hope that works out so everybody can get a chance to join in the fun!
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