Designated on June 9, 2000, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southern Oregon supports biological diversity that is unmatched in the Cascade Range. The Monument covers a portion of the country where several different ecoregions converge bringing together plant and animal species rarely found in close quarters. The area is dominated by towering fir forests, peaceful sunlit oak groves, wildflower-strewn meadows, and steep canyons. The 52,000-acre Monument is also home to one of the most diverse concentrations of butterfly species in the United States and contains habitat crucial to the threatened Northern Spotted Owl and numerous other bird species.

Impacts of Off-road Vehicles: Much of the southern portion of the Monument is bisected by the Schoheim Jeep Trail. The Soda Mountain Wilderness Council describes the Trail as "a long and ugly scar that was bulldozed from Pilot Rock to Agate Flat." The Schoheim dumps sediment into the Monument's clear streams, disrupts the natural hydrology of the region and, before monument designation, was subject to chronic off- road vehicle abuse.

The Trail has been targeted for large, organized off-road vehicle events. The Soda Mountain Council explains: "In 1995 and again in 1996, a southern California company applied for permits to use the Schoheim Jeep Trail as part of a commercial dirt-bike motorcycle ride, which it touted as 'the West's biggest and baddest dual sport adventure.'" Fortunately, the BLM denied permits for this event. The presidential proclamation establishing the Monument recognized that the Schoheim posed a serious threat to the area's environmental health, and directed the BLM to close it. While this directive is a very positive step, the BLM has yet to effectively close the intrusive Jeep Trail with any permanence.

The Schoheim isn't the only off-road vehicle route threatening Cascade-Siskiyou. The Monument contains many other environmentally damaging and/or illegal, user-created routes. Off-road vehicles cause soil erosion, cloud streams with sediment and strip vegetation from the ground. These effects demonstrate yet again that uncontrolled off-road vehicle use damages the environment. Moreover, BLM is failing to effectively monitor and respond to the damage caused by off-road vehicles or to prevent illegal use on closed roads in the Monument.

Requirements of Presidential Proclamation:
"For the purposes of protecting the objects [identified above], the Secretary of the Interior shall prohibit all motorized and mechanized vehicle use off road and shall close the Schoheim Road, except for emergency or authorized administrative purposes."(emphasis added)

"The [Monument] management plan shall include appropriate transportation planning that addresses the actions, including road closures or travel restrictions, necessary to protect the objects identified in this proclamation."

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