Unauthorized off High Vehicle Routes (OHVR) in Ashley National Forest.

Background The Ashley national forest was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 located in the north eastern portion of Utah and the south western portion of Wyoming. The forest is comprised of 1.3 million acres of the northern and southern slopes of the Uinta Mountains, the Wyoming Basin, and the Tavaputs Plateau

The Uintah Mountain watershed provides water for a large number of cities and industries Because of this it is important to manage the resource so that it is clean and usable in the here and now as well as for future generations

The Forest service has established Off Highway Vehicle routes (OHV) Bike, hiking and horse trails so the forest can be explored and enjoyed in many ways

Unauthorized routes when individuals and/or groups stray from these established routes either intentionally or unknowingly. Damage to the forest and water supply Motorized travel can destroy vegetation that holds soils in place These exposed soils are more susceptible to erosion. This over time will result in the removal soils needed to support vegetation and can increase the likelihood of mudslides. The increased erosion will also contaminate the water supply by increasing the amounts of debris and sediments in streams and rivers which will later need to be removed at water treatment plants which can result in higher cost and increased wear and tear on equipment

WET MEADOWS Wet Meadows ecosystems Support a variety of plants and animals. Motorized travel through these meadows can damage and disrupt these ecosystems which can take a considerable amount of time to recover.

2003 DATA COMPILATION In 2003 data collected from aerial photographs and old timbers sales records was compiled to create a GIS data set of all potential unauthorized OHV routes data collected from aerial photographs and old timbers sales records was compiled to create a GIS data set of all potential unauthorized OHV routes.

As a result over 5000 individual unauthorized routes with a combined length of 2070 km where identified

Map 1: All potential Unauthorized OHV Roads

Since anything that looked like an a road and the aerial photo was considered one. There was a chance that some were not in reality a road.. Ground checking was essential Starting in 2011 under the direction of Melissa Hendrickson, Hydrologist for the forest service based out of vernal Utah, an effort to ground check unauthorized OHV routes identified on the 2003 map was started Using hand held Garmin GPS units Forest service personnel and student interns would attempt to find and walk UOHVR identified on the 2003 map. This data was then added to ESRI ArcMap using the Minnesota Garmin DNR software program.

Map 2: Unauthorized roads checked A total of km of Unauthorized roads were checked

Once documented these routes could then be closed off Closures methods included in some cases using heavy earth moving equipment to place large boulders and earth to create impassable barriers for OHV’s More commonly crew would use hand tool and manual labor to move existing materials such dead fall, boulders obscure and make motorized travel difficult

Map 3: Unauthorized OHV roads Closed km of Unauthorized roads have been closed

Closed Roads

What about the database….? For the most part this semester I have been figuring out how to do different tasks. Right now I have a rough idea of what I want the database to be. So the Database is still a work in progress.