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Rec Trails Program and Dual Sport Riding BBRSP

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DoctorXRR

DoctorXRR

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Austin, TX
I had the privilige to testify infront of Parks and Wildlife Commissioners to support the Recreational Trails Program, and say thank you for opening the roads in Big Bend Ranch State Park to dual sport motorcycles. I recommended that the agency study other opportunities in Texas to ride on exisiting roads with street legal dual sports.

The Program is doing well, since it was saved from being cut by the Legislature last Session, and this time they are proposing to give all the OHV sticker income back to the program. Thanks to everyone, because raising the OHV sticker fee saved the program, and now its looking like those $$ will come back to benefit riders around the state! Parks and Wildlife want stakeholders involved in the discussions on use of the program funding, so be involved! They are intersested in innovative uses of this funding, you have to be a local government or 501(c)(3) to qualify and submit a grant proposal.


The Parks and Wildlife will have additional funding to give out to help build riding opportunities in Texas!

Big thanks to Parks and Wildlife, esp Phillip Barret at BBRSP and Steve Thompson for their support of dual sport riding! Big Bend Ranch is the gem of state parks, and thanks to all the riders for helping build a positive relationship with the Parks and Wildlife.

RecTrailsandBBRSP_zps0316a7f2.jpg
 
Finding a way to use a publicly held, historically underused resource...

Two wheels at a time.

Bravo!
 
Well done! Thanks for stepping up to the plate.
 
Thanks for carrying the torch. If you need a hand with anything, let us know. All for the cause.

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Super awesome!!!
Next you should recommend they adopt the same OHV rules as SHNF so I can ride out there :trust:

It would actually be a cool a place to take a side by side UTV thing too. Utah has miles and miles of trails for them and the users seem to be responsible.
 
Wonderful! Bravo and thank you!
 
I hope they will allow unplated dirtbikes. They'll see much more visitors.
Isn't the speed limit 20 mph only; so I don't see any safety issues.
 
Thanks!

I doubt we will see the off-road stuff in BBRSP anytime soon, but who knows. From our interaction with Phillip and parks staff they worry about too much damage from less responsible riders that may result from a much larger base of riders. But we can always hope for it!


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I wonder if there's info out there on other states who allow offroad vehicles on their parks? I know in Colorado there's a bunch you can ride on ATVs and UTVs. Arizona and Utah I believe have a ton of public land for riding.
If there's no mud, the bubbas who cause the most damage won't bother :rofl:
 
TwoSmokeDS said:
Isn't the speed limit 20 mph only; so I don't see any safety issues.
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:tab It depends... In the deep sand/gravel in places, going 20mph is almost impossible. You really need to be running about 30-40mph to get the bike up on top and stable. Also, it is a HUGE park and going 20mph makes it take forever to get anywhere in the park. I would like to see it posted at least 45 mph on the main road in/out of the park to the ranger station and maybe 30 on everything else. Remember, just because it is post 45 or 30 does not mean people HAVE to go 45 or 30. If conditions warrant it, going slower is definitely the smarter thing to do. The big thing I think they are scared about is "racing" and bikes raising up massive dust plumes and creating noise that will annoy other non riding visitors. As for tearing the place up, the bikes are supposed to stay on the actual roads. So long as they do this, I can't really see the bikes doing much damage given the nature of the terrain, certainly no worse than a 4 X 4 jeep/truck.
 
I do not remember any names at this point, but about a year and a half a go when I was there last, we spoke at length with Ranger Barrett, and two of his supervisors from Austin on the porch of the bunkhouse over an ice cold frosty barley pop, no less. They asked us a lot of questions about our riding, what we thought of the park etc.. and we in turn asked about more access in BBRSP as well as the rest of the state. Everything comes down to money, but there is the conservation of natural resources, happiness of all the potential guests ranging from weekend family campers, DS enthusiasts, nature lovers, environmental extremists (hippies), photo bugs, astronomy nuts, historical researchers, geology types etc, etc. We met several of these different types while there and hung out with some as well. It was interesting to hear their perception of "Bikers" in general, and we did our best to educate them about our type of riding, while learning about their interests too. It was apparent there was a little resentment from some guests, but staff was awesome. They actually told us they were reluctant to allow offroad elements because they were afraid of rogue off trail riding, injuries, rescues, damage to historically significant areas, etc.. It seems that they believe the street legal aspect keeps younger less responsible elements out and as a rule up to that point relatively few incidents like the above crimes. I cant remember all of what was said, Silverbullet, Bikedork, MLP911 please jump in here. I hope they can find a way to use the revenue to actually improve the amount of riding in the state, and it will be very interesting to see where all this goes. Thanks again DoctorXRR for your efforts and please keep us in the loop, as well as let us know what we can do to help.
 
It's sad to see all the land in Texas, yet have very few places to ride OHVs. I bought a dual sport a few months just because of this. BBRSP,as said earlier, would be AWESOME for the side-by-side crowd--and let's face it, probably less damage to the terrain than 4X4 Jeeps/pickups. (Trust me, I've seen what the big rigs have done to Hidden Falls--not saying it's bad, just that it happens). I haven't ridden in the Big Bend area yet, but now that I've got two plated bikes, I can't wait. But alas, it may not happen until winter....WHY DO I HAVE TO WORK!! :rofl:
 
When Angelina Nat'l Forest was open to ohv's it was a wonderful thing. The varying terrain was worth the two hour ride to get there. The damage done to the place by the local 4wheelers is what really killed the place for everyone. Thats my opinion and I'm sticking to it. I've seen first hand the amount of damage they can do to trails.
 
my6 said:
When Angelina Nat'l Forest was open to ohv's it was a wonderful thing. The varying terrain was worth the two hour ride to get there. The damage done to the place by the local 4wheelers is what really killed the place for everyone. Thats my opinion and I'm sticking to it. I've seen first hand the amount of damage they can do to trails.
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Yeah, the big 4x4 quads can make a mess, when it's muddy. By. They're attacked to mud. No mud in bid bend LOL



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