Steve

There’s a lot of interest in getting the shooters a designated place on peavine to shoot that they can maintain and we can avoid. But there has to be more than a pile of junk to let us know.

By keeping quiet we risk not being part of the discussion. By keeping the discussion private we risk appearing ministerial and secretive.

Poedunks are and continue to be responsible for increased user activity in this area, and I think we should make efforts to keep thinks happy. Things like parking spaces, congested areas, trailheads, and more hikers will just discourage the problem shooters from shooting in bad areas. The rest of the shooters already don’t like to shoot there because it’s congested. If we can coordinate with the good shooters, we can avoid their areas and if we have a strong trail building/maintenance machine we discourage bootlegging in areas that create conflict while creating more trail in areas that are already appropriate. Let’s not forget that we essentially want to restrict MTBers from running amok too. Exactly what we’re asking of the shooters.

I’m going to go to that meeting and make some personal comments. But on behalf of Poedunks (and the fact that I’m writing an article on this issue) I will pick out the fiercest commenter on the other side, walk up to him/her after the meeting, smile, put out a hand and introduce myself.

Thanks for the comment Steve. I think this public forum is a good thing!

-M

I’m very concerned that taking a political stance on issues like this will have a negative effect on our ability to promote trail building on Peavine. I fully respect the fact that every individual is entitled to their own opinion – I just don’t think that a trail building club is the venue to voice them. We risk too much in alienating fellow mountain bikers, volunteers, land managers, politicians, members of the public, other user groups and club members.

Steve

Having a gateway would definately provide better direction for users. When I go to that meeting I’m going to try to talk to the gun guys. The congested area is probably necessary(maybe just in the basin below Goddess Point (hippy cairn), but we can probably handle a lot of the rest of it ourselves. i.e. Coordinate with the shooters where they want to shoot, show them our map, put their spots on our map and come up with an encounter protocol.

-M