As a Missouri taxpayer and adventure motorcycle rider, I strongly object to the Forest Service’s use of Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUMs) to exclude the public from longstanding routes in the Mark Twain National Forest.
In the Potosi unit and nearby areas, I have encountered maps that recognize the beginning and end of historic routes while omitting the connecting sections—even though those sections physically exist and have been used for decades. The resulting gaps make complete loops unavailable to legal motorized travel. In my view, this is an abuse of the mapping process that demands an independent review.
I also object to berming and blocking usable logging roads and restricting access roads to agency personnel without a clear, publicly defensible justification. These routes provide recreation access, connections through the forest, and potential fire access. Closing multiple entrances and exits can leave the public with a single way in and out.
The maintenance argument misses the point: I am not asking for paved roads or maintained gravel everywhere. Primitive roads and historic trails are valuable precisely as they are. Maintenance costs alone should not justify blanket exclusion. Street-legal, registered, insured adventure motorcycles deserve meaningful access, including consideration of shared equestrian trails where conditions permit.
I urge the Forest Service to:
Audit MVUM omissions against existing routes, historical records, and topographic maps, with public participation.
Restore connected routes and multiple access points wherever feasible.
Require specific, documented reasons for closures and agency-only access.
Provide a practical process for challenging mapping omissions and unjustified restrictions.
Revise the policy toward open unless specifically closed, with closures supported by evidence.
Public forests belong to the public. The MVUM must be accurate, fair, and accountable—not a mechanism for making longstanding access disappear through omission. The presumption of exclusion must end.