Kodak Rock Poll

Should FOU make a donation to the Rocky Mountain Loop archaeological study?

  • Yes

    Votes: 6 16.2%

  • No

    Votes: 31 83.8%
  • Total voters
    37
Friends Of Uwharrie

Friends Of Uwharrie

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
The Forest Service is in the final stage of finishing the archaeological study on the Kodak Rock section of Rocky Mountain Loop. They need around $2400 to finish the study. There is no guarantee that financing the remainder of the study will help reopen this section of trail. It may or may not impact the decision. Given that FOU's mission is to assist the FS in promoting, developing and maintaining outdoor recreation in Uwharrie National Forest, should FOU use funds donated for use on the OHV trail system to help finish the study?
 
  • I am going to vote NO on this issue. The stated funding need of the FS archaeologist is to hire civilian workers (archaeologists or college archaeological students) to clean and catalog the Rocky Mountain Loop artifacts so that FS personnel can make a determination as to how to proceed with the arch site re the trail system. As an OHV enthusiast, I feel like my donations to FOU OHV support efforts should be spent directly on the "maintaining" and "developing" aspect of FOU's mission statement. There is no guarantee that providing funding for civilian specialists to clean and catalog the RML artifacts will in any way facilitate the reopening of the closed section of RML. There are other arch sites adjacent to other OHV trails that will need funding too. I don't think that Kodak being closed has impacted my UNF OHV experience that much. While providing the funding might result in some positive PR for the OHV community I feel like concrete projects such as loads of rock, loads of dirt and rental of heavy equipment to move them would be more beneficial to the OHV experience in UNF. Just my .02
 
Whatever their merits otherwise, archaeological investigations seem to be at odds with forest recreation opportunities. Is there a scenario in which an archaeological study would result in OPENING additional areas of the forest to recreation? Seems to me it's more likely to cause areas to be closed, or to cause closed areas to remain so.
 
shawn said:
Whatever their merits otherwise, archaeological investigations seem to be at odds with forest recreation opportunities. Is there a scenario in which an archaeological study would result in OPENING additional areas of the forest to recreation? Seems to me it's more likely to cause areas to be closed, or to cause closed areas to remain so.
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My understanding is it could be possible to reopen/reroute RML after this is done. Do I think it will guarantee a reopening? Highly doubt it but we can go no further with the process of reopening until this is done. This will also hold up the possible opening of the lake view trail because they seem to have an order of events the Forrest service wants to follow. So Yes it possible that it would open a section indirectly...
 
As an "outsider" in my view this an age old argument.

I have $500,000 for retirement. That isnt enough and I want to retire in the future. Do I invest it for growth or do I buy a ticket to Vegas and put it all on Red?

Edit: To fully flesh out the analogy maybe you take a very rich acquaintance along to Vegas. Maybe you make good friends with that acquaintance and they support you through retirement.
 
I can clearly see and understand both sides of this. If there is a role that the organization can play in the larger scheme of things (as Snappy noted) it seems logical that this would be in everyone's interest. At the same time, if money has been donated with the notion that it would be used for certain "tangible" things (such as JC noted) then I can see why someone or group/club might be hesitant to say "yes" to this question.

One thought would be to take the results of the poll, determine who the individuals are who voted "yes", determine what they have donated to FOU and come up with a resulting dollar amount to contribute to the archaeological study... although that's equally as complicated an idea as it is a nerdy one. ;)

Another thought would be to solicit funds to be used exclusively for this purpose, theoretically allowing FOU to contribute an amount of some value, yet in a way that also factors in each individual's personal preference (and previous donations per above). I personally would be willing to donate what I'm able to such a "special fund" if it's determined such an approach makes sense... food for thought anyway!

Shaggy
 
I voted NO. I agree 100% with JC on this topic.

I donated $100 to FOU in 2014, and will likely do the same in 2015. I feel that those funds should be used to keep the existing trails open instead of funding an archeological dig.

Now for my standard 'realist/pessimist' remark. I have been going to Uwharrie riding dirt bikes and wheeling since 1990. I have never seen a trail reopened after it was closed.
 
I also voted no for the reasons above. Not only this but i strongly think that volunteers could be found to do the work. Heck, my wife has a masters in Historic preservation. At one point she did something like this at old Salem for free just to do it. $2500 isn't very much for a hired dig. There can't be much left to do.
 
From my time dealing with the politics at URE, I learned from very good sources that the arch teams that do the evaluations always recommend closure or non-use of areas. And that they are expensive and always cost more than originally planned. The advice I was given was to do your best to not have them come and do it.
Its just like a college getting a grant to study why something is bad for you. The funding comes from a source who has the end result in mind so the study is geared towards that end.
 
JC. said:
It appears that archaeological artifacts may well be Uwharrie's "Tellico Trout" :(
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I hear ya. Let us know what you find out Snappy.

Was thinking a bit more on this. My wife's older sister also is a Historic Preservation expert. They both have years of museum and State Gov't site experience. If we could get the USFS to give us a clear task to perform and specific objectives, I'm sure we could muster up enough man power to get the work done in 1 day and I'm sure my wife would be willing to file a report that would be non-biased and factual.

I'd guess a labor rate of at least $50/hr for an archaeological expert would be 50 hours of work for the $2500. We could easily do that in 1 day with the right amount of people. Would we be able to propose this for one Sat during the seasonal closure? It could be an alternate day to the 3 scheduled work days and would show that we do care about our resources and that we do want to keep it open. I'd love to see $2500 be put toward materials or to a machine, or something of material value.
 
I have an idea. Lets offer the funds from the 4x4 community with the exception the someone or a team from our side such as Broncosbybart's wife's sister gets to physically oversee and document the entire operation.
 
It has already been funded and almost completed from what I was told. We should know the future of the area soon.
 
Yep. Just waiting for the news. Will be up that way on my bike tomorrow.
 
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