Celebrating National Public Lands Day at Eight Dollar Mountain

The morning of September 21 we gathered along the banks of the Wild and Scenic Illinois River to celebrate National Public Lands Day and protect this area from illegal Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) use. (PC: Gary Beall)

We rolled out the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) showing folks which roads are open or closed for vehicles. The Forest Service map clearly states the only legal road in and out of this botanical area is the paved road we are standing on, FS Rd 4201. Unfortunately, this area has been threatened by many illegal user created OHV routes stemming off of FS Rd 4201 and these illegal routes are where we focus our restoration efforts collectively. There was ongoing significant concerns expressed that day by KS Wild Staff and Volunteers about the long-term effectiveness and viability of the project’s treatments without physically blocking access with a gate. (PC: Gary Beall)

The MVUM is to be enforced by the Forest Service, however they are neglecting to do so, allowing this botanical wonderland at Eight Dollar Mountain to be turned into an OHV playground. Once soil has been compacted, vegetation has a difficult time regenerating itself and we are then left with these mud bogging scars on our botanical landscape. (PC: Gary Beall)

Our KS Wild Public Lands And You (PLAY) volunteers gathered natural materials and rocks to conceal and restore illegal Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) routes and encourage new plant growth. (PC: Gary Beall)

Our KS Wild Public Lands And You (PLAY) volunteers gathered natural materials and rocks to conceal and restore illegal Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) routes and encourage new plant growth. (PC: Gary Beall)

As the day warmed up we remained in good spirits knowing that we were accomplishing this work together. After lunch we made our way down to Star Flat meadow where we were greeted with new signs of growth from 8 new baby Jeffrey Pine saplings! (PC: Gary Beall)

Our small, but mighty group of KS Wild volunteers got the job done and I’m SO grateful for their hard and persistent work that day to protect this botanical wonderland. (PC: Gary Beall)

Our accomplishments, including making new friends, were outstanding! Together we installed a new welcome kiosk sign at the Eight Dollar Boardwalk, concealed and blocked approximately 1,500 additional feet of unauthorized illegal routes with organic materials, evened out mud bogging ruts made by illegal OHV activity in the Star Flat Meadow, counted 8 new Jeffrey Pine saplings in the meadow, and an estimated 30 bags of dumping and litter cleanup waste was hauled out from both BLM and Forest Service lands, including an entire deserted camp RV trailer! (PC: Gary Beall)

Thank you to all who joined us for a day of restoration on our public lands and if you would like to plug in more to take action to protect this beautiful gem from the destruction of illegal OHV use I urge you to write your RRSNF Supervisor a letter of support for the installation of gates on FS 011 and 016 closed roads in the Eight Dollar Mountain Botanical area.

For the Wildflowers!