Finding a trail to the facts on Peterson Ridge

Judging from recent letters to the editor, there still seems to be plenty of persistent and even harmful misinformation circulating about the Peterson Ridge Trail system. We would all be taking a huge step in the right direction if we could just agree on the facts.

Some continue to believe that the trail is a recent creation and that horses were summarily kicked off the trail after "special interests" with money to spend managed to turn the Forest Service to their way of thinking. The trail in fact was created in 1989, 19 years ago, by a coalition of local mountain bike groups in cooperation with the Forest Service. There was no private money involved, as at that time the Forest Service had money in their budget for trails.

The trail's creation required a lengthy public process, much like the one currently underway for a proposed trail expansion. The resulting trail system is the current Peterson Ridge Trail, open to biking and hiking but not to motorized vehicles or horses.

Building recreational amenities for particular uses while excluding conflicting uses has long been standard management procedure on public lands. Many trails exclude certain uses that conflict with the primary use for which they were constructed. Hiking trails often exclude motorized vehicles, as do horse trails. All wilderness areas and the trail along the Metolius River exclude mountain bikes.

Ultimately, it is the land management agency's job to decide whether an organization's proposal is an appropriate use and fits with the area's long-term management plans.

Back in 1989 the decision was made to exclude motorized vehicles and horses from the trail because the damage that those uses do in our sandy soils ultimately renders the trail useless for cycling. The trail was created. by hand by volunteers from the mountain bike community as bike/hike only, even though signage to that effect was not initially posted.

The sense within the equestrian community of having been "kicked off the trail" derives from the posting of "no horses" and "no motorized vehicles" signs early this decade, when motorcycle and horse tracks began to appear regularly on the trail. Without knowledge of the trail's creation over a decade earlier, it is easy to understand how these accidental users would now be upset.

The comment has been made more than once that horses are being excluded from "the Peterson Ridge area." This is simply false. Horses are welcome throughout the area on all of the many trails and old roads that they currently enjoy. In fact, the current proposal to expand the system will significantly expand the opportunities for the equestrian community.

One of the trails in the proposed expansion is a signed track explicitly intended for their use, connecting the rodeo grounds to the Metolius-Windigo Trail. Furthermore, the proposed expansion involves moving the current bike trail off all the sections that were laid out over old roads, making those sections unambiguously open to horses. In the same vein the offer has been made to help establish a few additional connections between existing equestrian trails and these newly abandoned segments, creating a number of new loops for their enjoyment.

Horses are now, always have been and, according to Forest Service policy objectives, always will be free to ride through the Peterson Ridge area. They are excluded only from the Peterson Ridge Trail itself. The various trails will cross in many places, as they do now, to no one's disadvantage. There is plenty of room for everybody.

When the trail expansion is complete, the finished system will consist entirely of singletrack made from scratch by cyclists and friends. Nothing will have been taken away from the equestrian community. No old roads or trails of any kind are being borrowed or somehow misappropriated, and the expansion will in fact add some equestrian options to the many hundreds of miles of trails and old roads they are currently free to enjoy here in Central Oregon.

John Rahm is a trails advocate and maintenance coordinator for the Peterson Ridge Trail