South Cow Mountain is an ongoing success story for the OHV community. For many years now local OHV groups have been working with the BLM Field Office in Ukiah, California to maintain and improve trails and restore natural landscapes in the South Cow Mountain OHV Area. Over time this has resulted in an area with lots of good legal trails, many lengthened to create loop trails. In addition, illegal trails have been permanently closed and trails that could have created erosion concerns have been improved, moved, or closed. Staging areas, camping areas and restroom facilities have also been improved over time.

As with any area managed by the BLM, funding to continue improving the area is hard to come by. The BLM uses improvement funds to contract with local CCC (California Conservation Corp), CDF (California Department of Forestry) inmate work crews, and sometimes even local landscaping or equipment contractors to remove fallen trees, install or improve erosion control (brick paths in creek areas and water bars on trails) and correct areas that are deeply rutted. Just by using their own funding the BLM was able to improve or correct 55 miles of trail in the South Cow Mountain OHV Area in 2004.

Volunteers signing up for the day.

The BLM provided all necessary tools, including gloves for those who didn't bring their own.

The problem that the BLM has is that their funding allowed them to do trail improvements to just over a third of their trail mileage, but this did not include cutting back brush, installing new signs, or picking up trash along the trails. This is where the OHV community comes in. The local BLM Outdoor Recreation Coordinator (OHV Coordinator) sets up one or two days each year where volunteers from the local OHV community are encouraged to come out and work on improving trails. The latest volunteer day was November 6, 2004.

I contacted the BLM person responsible for coordinating this event about a week prior to the actual volunteer day to see what kind of response he had gotten from local OHV groups. Brad Colin is the Outdoor Recreation Coordinator for this area and he indicated that he had gotten commitment from at least one local 4x4 club. I also inquired as to the normal turnout for these types of events and found that it typically ranges from 25-75 volunteers. The plan for this volunteer day was to do sign installation in various locations, trail brushing on several trails, and trash pick up along the main road and along several trails.

On Saturday morning I loaded up my eleven-year-old son Josh and myself at 5:30 in the morning and headed for Ukiah. There was some effort in convincing my son that volunteering to clean up and improve the very trails that he always wants to ride on was a good thing to do on a Saturday. I should have taken this as an omen for what was to come. Anyhow, we drove the hour and a half to Ukiah, had breakfast, and then completed the ? hour trek to the top of Red Mountain where the BLM had set up their command post for the day.

Official BLM signs ready to be installed.

Have you ever wondered how those flimsy fiberglass sign posts are put in the ground? Tools on left are the secret to successful installation.

On the way to the top of Red Mountain we passed several large signs indicating that the BLM was holding a volunteer clean-up day. These signs were strategically posted along the road and at the entrance to each staging area.

Registration for the day was from 8-9AM at the Red Mountain campground. Registration consisted of signing form that allowed the BLM to cover each volunteer under workers comp insurance for the day.

Having arrived promptly at 8AM I was very interested in seeing who showed up to volunteer and what their affiliations were. As it turned out, other than my son and myself, nobody there was strictly a motorcyclist. In fact, all of the other volunteers were members of either the Santa Rosa 4x4 club or the Mendocino 4x4 club. Now of course, some of them also ride, but they were there that Saturday as drivers, not riders.

The BLM placed signs in strategic locations to guide people to the sign-up area. Happy Face is a nice touch.

As 4x4 trails continue to improve, so does the quality of the weaponry.

During the registration period I was able to introduce myself to several BLM people that were there to guide the volunteer efforts, including Brad, whom I had spoken to previously. These folks have all been working out of the Ukiah field office for some time and have developed a strong relationship with the local OHV community. They have also been responsible for turning this OHV area from a land of outlaws to one of the best-managed OHV areas in the state.

Right from the beginning it was evident that the BLM folks had lots of experience with this sort of volunteer activity as they had everything set out and ready to go well before volunteers started arriving. This included all of the tools that would be needed on the day. They had plastic trashcans filled with various hand tools to be used to pick up trash, cut brush and install signs. They also brought sign posts and boxes of new signs.

Once all of the stragglers had arrived and everyone had signed in, small groups were organized and assigned different tasks. I needed to get photos of groups in action, so decided to start out by following a group that was picking up trash along the main road, and then join up with a group brushing one of the trails. One of the things that struck me when following the first group was just how much trash had actually collected along the roadway. I ride this road on a regular basis and had never really noticed much garbage, but when you slow down and walk along the road looking for it, it is definitely there.

Picking up trash along the main road.

Young volunteers Josh Mansfield and Kyle Bodda hard at work brushing trails.

We took several photographs, picked up some trash, then decided to make our way up to one of the trails to assist with trail brushing. Because the volunteer effort was nearly 100% made up of 4x4 clubs, the trails that were chosen for brushing were trails that were usable by 4x4 vehicles. If motorcyclists had shown up they would have been assigned single-track trails to work on, but since the only motorcyclists that showed up were my son and myself (and I was also there in a journalistic capacity) no single track trails were worked on that day.

We caught up to the trail brushing crew as they were just getting started. The group had split up with the largest contingent going to the end of the brushing area and working back, leaving two people to work from the front of the trail. We decided to help out the two guys that were at the head of the trail, partly because they could really use the help, but also because there was another pre-teen for my son to work with. Upon arriving we introduced ourselves. The young man was a son of one of the members of the Mendocino 4x4 club. The other person was a guy named Hugh, who just happens to have been riding and wheeling in this area for going on thirty years. He was also the president of the now-defunct Mendocino MC for 12 of their 20 years of existence. As it turned out, I couldn't have hooked up with a better source for Cow Mountain OHV history or volunteer history in this area.

Hugh stays focuses as riders make their way around volunteer vehicle.

With four people we ended up having two people lopping brush and two people throwing brush as far from the trail as possible. With Hugh's experience at trail brushing (and head on collisions) we were able to really focus on clearing brush from blind corners and improving visibility down the trail. Because Cow Mountain trails are not one direction, head on collisions are always a concern, particularly on the faster trails.

The BLM was providing lunch for everyone, so the morning goal was to finish up as much as possible of the assigned task and then meet back at the campground at 1PM for lunch. Thanks to good teamwork, our group finished brushing the trail segment that we had been assigned by 11:30AM. Since we had an hour and a half to kill before lunch we broke up into two groups again. The largest group was going to work on repairing a washout further down the trail while Hugh, Josh and I decided to brush a short trail nearby.

After an hour and fifteen minutes of clearing brush and picking up trash we reached the other end of the trail and decided that it was time to head back to the campground for lunch. It seemed like all of the groups had made this decision simultaneously because everyone seemed to descend on the campground at the same time.

Our friends from the BLM had set up a lunch line for us with sandwich fixings, cookies, chips, and drinks. I focused on each group that came in to see what they had accomplished and how much trash they had managed to pick up. It appeared that most groups had finished their tasks and were planning on calling it a day.

With brush cleared back corner visibility is much improved.

Everyone made their way through the food line and a first class bench racing session began. It seemed that most of the 4x4 guys were planning on doing some work on the obstacle course that is under construction. They were hoping to get some work done in preparation for a rock/hill climbing event scheduled for the following weekend.

I noticed that the folks from the BLM had congregated at a single table and figured that this was a good chance to wrap up with them. We talked about the lack of reliable funding for maintenance, the great job that the BLM had done with the Cow Mountain area, the new rain-closure rules that were proving a bit controversial with certain members the OHV community. Eventually the conversation turned to volunteer efforts and the difficulty in getting the motorcycle community to participate in volunteer efforts.

All of the BLM folks agreed that while they had seen consistent volunteer support from the 4x4 community, the support from the motorcycle community had waned over the years and as of the last few years had become almost nonexistent. This is particularly interesting when you look at the users of the area, of which motorcyclists far outnumber those with four wheels. In fact, recent rains had watered everything down to an almost perfect consistency and when you stopped to look you could see that every possible parking spot in every staging area was filled to overflowing with vehicles loaded with the bikes of people that had come to ride. It is truly unfortunate that none of the folks who showed up to ride for the day could take the time to volunteer.

Trail Brushers taking a well-deserved break.

One group brought in the discarded workings of an abandoned well.

We discussed the possible reasons for this situation and came to a better understanding of the problems. Part of it is a lack of organized off road motorcycle clubs in this area of Northern California. Because of this it is difficult for the BLM to disseminate information and announcements to the local motorcycling community. We discussed ways in which this could be done more effectively, such as posting notices on discussion boards that are frequented by folks who ride in this area. I also asked the OHV Coordinator to email me whenever plans for volunteer efforts were underway so that I could try to assist with getting the message out. I am now motivated to spread the word in hopes that next year a few motorcyclists will show up and allow us to maintain some of the incredible single-track that South Cow Mountain is famous for.

The more disturbing issue is one that has plagued the off road motorcycling community for years, and that is a general lack of interest in participation that seems only to change when a riding area is under imminent threat of being closed or placed under severe limitations. With the South Cow Mountain OHV area being so well managed by the BLM, it is obvious that the motorcycling community has taken it for granted that someone else will maintain the trails and improve the facilities.

Aside from my obvious frustration with the lack of involvement of my fellow motorcyclists, the day ended up quite satisfying in several ways. I had shown up, participated, met the local BLM folks who work hard to make the area such a wonderful place to ride, and in the end, was able to teach my son a valuable lesson about how important it is to take an active role in maintaining the trails that we all love to ride. Prior to the volunteer day I had been spending my time convincing my son that this was a good and noble way to spend a Saturday. Thanks to the great group of people that we met and the great group effort that we experienced, the final word from Josh on the matter was that he couldn't wait until it was time to do it again.

I would also like to offer a special thanks to Hugh. His pearls of wisdom, ramblings on the history of Cow Mountain, and tales of adventure on the very trails that we were maintaining had a strong positive impact on my son. His presence added immeasurably towards making this a truly memorable experience.

Not a bad haul for a handful of volunteers.

Lunch is served. It was nothing fancy, but everyone appreciated the effort put forth by the BLM to take care of their volunteer workforce.

In closing, if you regularly ride on BLM lands and are interested in finding out more about how you can participate in the maintenance and management of these lands, go to www.blm.gov and start digging. Find the phone number for your local office, call and ask for the Outdoor Recreation Coordinator. Ask questions about how you can assist in making your local area a better place to ride. In most cases you will find that they are more than happy to talk to you. They my even be stunned to hear something other than a complaint. Working together can yield results.