Public comments sought for 2019 Off-Highway Vehicle grants

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — For the past 20 years, San Bernardino National Forest has been a recipient of over ten million dollars from California’s Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) grants. The money has gone to creating and maintaining OHV staging areas and trails, route monitoring and education, enforcing OHV regulations, and restoring lands damaged by OHV use. The forest has 65 miles of green sticker trails, 169 miles of green sticker roads, and an additional 734 miles of level 2 roads open to SUV/4WD use, of which 104 miles are 4WD routes.

So what’s next for the program? That’s where the public comes in. Forest officials are encouraging the public to provide suggestions for grants that will improve the forest’s OHV program by either attending an open house or sending suggestions. The agency plans to request grant funds from the State of California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVR) to enhance and manage motorized recreation in the area.

The Southern California Mountains Foundation, a local partner, will also submit a grant to perform work on Forest Service lands.

The open house will be held Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, to discuss the next opportunity in off-highway vehicle grant funding from the state. The informal open house will run from 6 to 8 p.m. at the forest’s headquarters at 602 S. Tippecanoe Ave. in San Bernardino.

Interested citizens are invited to drop in at any time during the open house. Representatives from the Forest Service and the Foundation will be available to answer questions about potential grants and to receive ideas about the types of projects and other opportunities to be funded through the grants.

If you are unable to attend the meeting, or have any questions, the Forest Service would like to receive your input on the grants. The preference for receiving comments is by email. Please send comments to Linda Stamer at lstamer@fs.fed.us by Feb. 9, 2018 with the words “OHV Grant Application” in the subject line. If you are unable to send comments electronically, you may send them to the following address:

OHV Grant Application
Linda Stamer
USFS Supervisor’s Office
602 South Tippecanoe Ave.
San Bernardino, CA 92408

Preliminary grant applications will be submitted to the OHMVR Division on March 5, 2018. The public will be able to comment on the preliminary applications from March 6 through April 2. Final applications must be submitted by May 7. For more information about the state grant process and requirements, visit the OHMVR Division website at http://www.ohv.parks.ca.gov.

If you have questions about these grants, please write or call Linda Stamer at lstamer@fs.fed.us or +1 909 382-2738.