“DUDE, WHERE DID MY TRAIL GO?”: A COLLABORATIVE ASSESSMENT OF USER CREATED OHV TRAILS ON THE OZARK-ST. FRANCIS NATIONAL FOREST

The Ozark-St. Francis National Forests partnered with non-federal entities to assess the impacts of user created Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) trails on public lands. Three divisions of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the City of Fort Smith, AR, and the Watershed Conservation Resource Center contributed to this project. Funded under the Clean Water Act section 319(h), this project assessed erosion from OHV trails, the relative sediment budgets from roads and trails, and the effectiveness of management practices to reduce erosion. This collaboration showcases how non-federal stakeholders can compete for funding which serves multiple needs.

An inventory was conducted on 61 miles of OHV trails and 39 miles of unpaved roads. Trail and road densities were found to average 2.2 mi/mi² and 1.1 mi/mi² respectively. The maximum trail density recorded was 15.5 mi/mi². The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model estimated annual sediment loading from trail segments to range between 3.1 – 15.1 tons/mi/yr, while unpaved roads were estimated between 9.8 -32 tons/mi/yr. Sediment production from trails averaged 8.2 tons/mi/yr, contributing 499 tons/year, while roads averaged 22.3 tons/mi/yr, contributing 865 tons/ yr to watercourses. A sediment load reduction of 58% was realized from the closure of 18 miles of trail during this project.

Surveys of 14 trails, across multiple landforms, were used to determine the dominant erosion processes. Erosion rates between -.12 and +.11 ft per year were measured on trail surfaces, indicating both erosion and sedimentation process were active. Non-trail soil disturbances were evaluated using 10 random and 5 selected sites. Development of new user created trails was not pervasive and high severity forest floor impacts from visitor use ceded to moderate severity under managed situations. Use exclusion practices implemented on 36 sites were determined to be effective for reducing erosion in 86% of the instances.

Section 319 funds are exclusively for use by non-federal entities. These rules challenge federal participation on similar projects; however collaboration can result in the successful implementation of 319 projects on, and adjacent to public lands. This is an example of how natural resource conservation can be accomplished through an “All Lands Approach”.