A Measurement Decides a Trail’s FateFifty inches. That’s the width of a bath towel laid out flat, or two dining chairs pushed together. It’s also the number a lawyer, not an engineer, chose twenty-five years ago to decide which off-road routes across 44 million acres of national forest are legally protected from repair and which ones aren’t. Twenty-five years.
Mono Lake covers 65 square miles in California’s eastern Sierra Nevada. It’s more than a million years old, has no outlet, and holds no fish. It does hold trillions of brine shrimp, calcium-carbonate towers rising straight out of the water, and enough migratory birds each year to rank among the most important stopovers in the West.
The U.S. Forest Service just opened a rulemaking process that could reshape how motorized vehicles are allowed to move through national forests and grasslands nationwide.Not a proposed rule yet. Just the opening bell – and the window to speak up is now, before that proposal gets written.
Forest managers restrict summit approaches after heavy snow and rescue operations — check official alerts before heading into the San Gabriels.
Forest Service signs off on new e-bike branches, restroom-equipped parking and wayfinding. Construction slated for June 2026.