Cheryl Caplan, Public Affairs Officer, Umpqua National Forest: Hi, my name is Cheryl Caplan and I work on the Umpqua National Forest.
Like many of you I enjoy driving on forest roads.
Did you know that on the Umpqua National Forest there are 4,382 miles of roads and
motorized trails.
If you hook them up end-to-end, you could drive from the west coast all the
way to the east coast and nearly halfway back!
That's a lot of roads for us to enjoy. We have different types of roads we can
drive, ranging from what we call maintenance level 2 roads that are
suitable for high clearance vehicles to maintenance level 5 roads (think paved
highway).
Nearly all of our paved roads are open for driving year round. But you might
find some roads that are graveled or a native surface that are closed at
certain times of the year.
So how do you keep track of when these roads are open for what kind of vehicle?
We produced something called a motor vehicle use map. MVUM for short.
Each National Forest in the United States is required to publish an MVUM that
shows all motorized roads and trails. That means you can use this map to know
which roads are open for motor vehicle use.
So what's on this map for the Umpqua National Forest?
You'll find 430 miles of roads superimposed with a motorized trail
making them available for any vehicle 50 inches and under like OHVs, quads or
motorcycles but those roads aren't open to passenger car travel.
There's another 85 miles of roads that can be used by any sized vehicle with a
state-issued off-road vehicle sticker. That adds up to 515 miles from 1,263
individual motorized road and trail segments.
Another thing identified on the motor vehicle use map is 487 miles of roads
with 300-foot camping corridors on each side of the road.
This corridor allows people to get to existing dispersed camping sites via
existing routes. As far as off-road driving goes, a lot of people agree that
most of the Umpqua National Forest is too steep rocky and forested so they weren't
planning to dive off the road anyways. What you'll find on our map is an area
east of Lemolo Lake about two acres in size
that is designated as an off-roads area for OHVs.
We found 9 miles of roads scattered around the Forest that were identified as
delivering sediments to nearby streams. We left those 12 small roads off the
map. Again
what you'll find on the motor vehicle use map are roads and trails in areas that
are designated and clearly identified for motorized used by season of the year.
Here's how many roads were keeping open for people to use with the motor
vehicles on the Umpqua National Forest - 4,382 miles.
That's a lot of roads for us to enjoy on a forest the size of the Umpqua which is
slightly less than a million acres.
Scale-wise, that's smaller than Delaware but bigger than Rhode Island. We published
our motor vehicle use map in may 2016.
We checked in with the public a lot while developing it. If you want to know the
history about this map,
contact our main office in roseburg. Okay, I have to admit the MVUM isn't a
snazzy looking map but it does have a lot of information. Use the legend to
interpret the map.
The legend shows roads and trails by type of use. We've included a few
landmarks on the map to help you figure out where things are. You can check out
the legend and tables to find out when routes are open by time of year to
protect wildlife and other resources.
Oh, you can get your free paper map at any of our national forest office during
business hours.
Those locations are the Supervisor's Office in Roseburg and our District
offices in -- starting at the north end of the Forest -- in Cottage Grove, then Glide,
Toketee, and Tiller in the south end of the forest.
There's a map for each of the four ranger district so it helps to know
where you're planning to drive. For you techie people, you can get your free
motor vehicle use map through a cool app called Avenza. Even if you drive out of
cell phone range, the MVUM through Avenza will still be available on your phone
or other smart device.
did I mention these maps are free? That's right, no cost to you!
Now since they aren't intended for navigation, I really recommend you pick
up our Forest Visitors map or the more detailed district map. Those maps do cost
but they are in color and they work great with the MVUM.
So we'll update these maps each year as needed. If you know of a road or a
motorized trail that you think should be on the map, come talk to us at one of our
Forest Service offices. So that's the scoop on the motor vehicle use map. It's a map
you can have for free to enjoy and drive in a responsible manner. See on the road!