Designing Sustainable Off-Highway Vehicle Trails


Book Description

Property management of off-highway vehicle (OHV) trails is one of the most important tasks for trail managers today. Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulation Part 212.1, the Forest Service defines an OHV as any motor vehicle designed for or capable of cross-country travel on or immediately over land, water, sand, snow, ice, or marsh, swamp, or other natural terrain. In this report, off-highway vehicles, OVH, include everything from dirt bikes to swamp buggies, off-road vehicles, off-highway motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, utility-terrain vehicles, four-wheel drive vehicles, such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, and tracked vehicles. This illustrated report takes into consideration trail guidelines, fundamentals, assessments, management objectives, and layouts to reinforce the management framework presented to help OHV managers develop sustainable trails and protect the environment of surrounding trails. This framework provides a step-by-step approach to OHV trail management, incorporating sustainable design and management concepts with traditional trail management expertise and modern technological tools. Forest service and land management personnel, including farmers and ranchers that may utilize and manage multiple off-highway vehicles may be interested in this report. Other products related to this title that may be of interest include the following: Code of Federal Regulations, Title 36, Parks, Forests, and Public Property, Pt. 200-299, Revised as of July 1, 2015 can be found at this link: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/869-082-00142-9







Managing Degraded Off-highway Vehicle Trails in Wet, Unstable, and Sensitive Environments


Book Description

Environmental impacts associated with the degradation of off-highway vehicle (OHV) trails have become a serious concern in many regions. Where OHV trails indiscriminately cross alpine areas, wetlands, steep slopes, and other areas with sensitive soil conditions, trails can become rutted, mucky, and eroded. Such areas are referred to as degraded trail segments. Degraded trails develop when trail use exceeds the trail's natural carrying capacity. This document provides land managers and trail users with an introduction to OHV trail degradation and outlines a framework for management responses.




Gravel Roads


Book Description

The purpose of this manual is to provide clear and helpful information for maintaining gravel roads. Very little technical help is available to small agencies that are responsible for managing these roads. Gravel road maintenance has traditionally been "more of an art than a science" and very few formal standards exist. This manual contains guidelines to help answer the questions that arise concerning gravel road maintenance such as: What is enough surface crown? What is too much? What causes corrugation? The information is as nontechnical as possible without sacrificing clear guidelines and instructions on how to do the job right.