Sign up for Reiter Forest Field Tours

User created ORV trails at Reiter cause environmental damage. DNR is planning to limit ORV use in the Forest and develop non-motorized trails. Photo by Karl Forsgaard.

In November 2009, the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) temporarily closed the 10,000-acre Reiter Forest to all motorized use. When it reopens in mid-2010, DNR is planning to limit ORV use to 1100 acres, while creating a new nonmotorized area of similar acreage. DNR wants to hear from trail users about trail standards and locations, so your input at the February 27 field day that the agency has planned is very important.  The field tour will last from 10:00 AM until around 4:00 PM. Participants will travel to different locations in the area during the trip.

DNR is hiring one or more consultants to assist with designing trail systems for the motorized and nonmotorized areas. Reiter Forest stretches between Gold Bar and Index on the north side of Highway 2, and it borders the west end of the federal Wild Sky Wilderness of Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Its northwestern end borders the popular Wallace Falls State Park; its southeastern end borders Forks of the Sky State Park.

WTA, along with a number of other conservation and recreation organizations, are proposing 15 miles of trail in the new non-motorized area at Reiter, including the May Creek waterfalls loop, and the eastern approach to Wallace Falls traversing on an old logging railroad grade. Our proposed trail developments fall within the trail study provisions of the Wild Sky Wilderness Act.

Come on out and help us ground-truth these and other proposed trails. To sign up for a field tour, please contact DNR at reiterfoothills@dnr.wa.gov and let them know your contact information (phone and/or e-mail). The sign-up deadline for the February 27 field day is Saturday, February 20.