Forest Service battles creek riders

Last updated 9/27/2005 at Noon

They rumble through the forest in four-wheel-drive trucks and jeeps or on ATVs. They plunge down the banks of Squaw Creek, spinning fat tires and riding as far as they can go up the stream channel.

They’re called creek riders and their activities are both illegal and destructive. The Sisters Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service is trying to shut “creeking” down.

For the past few weeks, Forest Service field crews have been strategically placing boulders at access points along Squaw Creek south of Sisters, blocking the creek off from vehicles. According to Kevin Foss of the Sisters Ranger District, the boulder placement project mimics a similar project along Canyon Creek in the Metolius Basin — a project that has been successful in preserving that tributary to the Metolius River for several years.

The boulder barriers effectively “pull back” dispersed camping spots and access points anywhere from 20 to 200 feet away from the creekbed, depending on the terrain, Foss told The Nugget.

“It allows (people) access to the stream, but it doesn’t allow vehicles access to the stream,” he said.

The barriers are, Foss believes, the most effective way to crack down on abuse of the stream area.

“Technically, if we caught somebody, it would fall under resource damage and they’d be fined,” he said.

But the Sisters Ranger District doesn’t have the budget to fund massive patrols across hundreds of square miles of forest, so a static defense is the best option to combat damage.

That damage is significant. Vehicles cut into stream banks, crumbling them into the water.

“What that does is put more sediment into the stream, which is a concern for fish habitat, as well,” he said.

Foss emphasized that the damage is being done by a tiny percentage of off-highway vehicle (OHV) users. He said the majority of “creekers” are teenagers with little or no parental supervision who either don’t understand the damage they do or don’t care. Foss said that OHV users who see this kind of activity often read the perpetrators the riot act, knowing that their actions taint the public perception of OHV users — and ultimately threaten their access to public lands.

So far, Foss said, the feedback he’s received running into campers in the woods has been completely positive. They seem to like keeping the creek off limits to destructive vehicles.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.