FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kurt Schneider
Tel. 925-596-0432
E-mail: kurt@friendsofeldorado.com
El Dorado County: December 3rd, 2007
Friends of Eldorado Inaugural Success
Forest users pitch in to help the Forest Service staff maintain Eldorado National Forest
Nearly 100 volunteers comprised of OHV and forest recreationists traveled a more than a combined total 13,000 miles to spend a day of their weekend maintaining Eldorado National Forest in California. The Friends of Eldorado volunteers logged more than 800 volunteer work-hours into their forest. With strong cooperation from the USFS, this group of volunteers and USFS professionals spent a full day clearing and chipping 4 total miles of roadside brush, cleaning up abandoned automobiles, and removing appliances and scrap.
This was more than just a light pick-up – winches and heavy trailers were required to load and haul off illegally dumped household garbage, furniture and construction debris. Volunteers removed just under an estimated 2 tons of illegally dumped material.
Duane A. Nelson, the Placerville District Ranger who was on site had this to say about the Friends of Eldorado first work party:
\"This was one of the largest and best organized one-day volunteer efforts ever pulled off on the Eldorado National Forest. I\'m very impressed with the commitment of the individual volunteers and the \"Friends\" leadership to pull off not only a well attended, but also very effective work day. The logistics were impeccably handled and we got a tremendous amount of work done. You folks really know how to deliver!\"
While the volunteers were comprised of mainly OHV users, many different groups, clubs and organizations were involved in the work party and in supporting the effort. Cameron Park Crawlers, E Clampus Vitus, Four Dice 4x4, Kyburz Krawlerz, Motherload Rock Crawlers, The Rock Zombies, The Rubicon Rockheads, Friends of the Rubicon, SN4x4, Santa Cruz Four Wheel Drive Club, and URJB were some of the larger groups that appeared in force to support the Friends of Eldorado National Forest Organization. The organization has also received support and donations from: 4X4 Ventures Inc, Blue Ribbon Coalition, CAL4Wheel, CRAWL Magazine, Pirate4x4.com, Squeelers Meat, The Rubicon Trail Foundation and the USFS.
It is important to note that this area and the route maintained by the Friends of Eldorado is not an area of the forest that the OHV community normally frequents. These volunteers have shown that they care about the entire forest and all the roads and trails within it, not just the ones they use. By maintaining this area and this route, The Friends of Eldorado National Forest are insuring continued access via motorized vehicles for all types of people to recreate in the forest responsibly, including campers, fisherman, hikers, horseback riders, hunters, bird watchers, miners and the like.
The Friends of Eldorado National Forest (FOE) is committed to maintaining and improving the relationship between forest users and forest managers, and helping to maintain and retain access to our Forest. The mission of FOE is to not only maintain trails, campsites and the like, but to educate forest users in responsible use and help support other organizations in their conservation efforts.
More information is available at
www.friendsofeldorado.com
